• LePoisson@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    He wasn’t that eloquent honestly. Just … Boisterous, loud and probably about on par with Trump when it comes to just packing stadiums and getting people riled up over social problems. Problems that were complex but he had simple answers to.

    I’m really tired of all this “Hitler was a genius” bullshit, not only did he make terrible military decisions but he ran a government that was in disarray all the time. Constant turmoil followed him and many changes in personnel in important offices oftentimes just seemingly at a whim.

    Not saying you’re making that argument and honestly I get what you’re saying but my God I have met too many people IRL and online that would suck Hitler’s dick in an instant. You’re right though, this timeline is dumb as fuck.

    • Glide@lemmy.ca
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      20 hours ago

      Yeah, you gave me the benefit of the doubt and I appreciate it, but I want to say clearly that Hitler was anything but a genius. He had a penchant for sticking his nose into professions that he had no business involving himself in, and making decisions that he had no background in, education on, or understanding of. Like Trump, he was a narcissist who thought he knew best just because he is who he is, and was not self-aware enough to let the professionals work.

      Perhaps eloquent was the wrong word, as I wrongly assume Mein Kampf was his words, when in reality it was likely the words of his editor, followed by a translator. Instead, I would say that when you hear him speak, Hitler’s voice is powerful. I cannot the same for Trump. One feels like a commanding leader, and the other feels like a toddler throwing a tantrum, though they were both, ultimately, the latter.

      Also, just so it’s on the record, I read Mein Kampf as part of a minor in history. This was not personal interest, though it is an incredibly interesting text. It was fascinating to discover he devoted ~2.5 chapters to the importance of the same kind of simple, yet powerful finger-pointing rhetoric used by right-wing ideologists to this day. I joking say it’s one of the earliest texts on meme theory, and it’s only half a joke.

      • Schadrach@lemmy.sdf.org
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        3 hours ago

        This was not personal interest, though it is an incredibly interesting text. It was fascinating to discover he devoted ~2.5 chapters to the importance of the same kind of simple, yet powerful finger-pointing rhetoric used by right-wing ideologists to this day. I joking say it’s one of the earliest texts on meme theory, and it’s only half a joke.

        I still find it funny that just a few years ago a feminist social work journal called Affilia published an article that was essentially a rewrite of a section of Mein Kampf in terms of sex and with some “fashionable buzzwords” included under the title “Our Struggle Is My Struggle: Solidarity Feminism as an Intersectional Reply to Neoliberal and Choice Feminism.” Especially since the bit is spelled out right in the title (for anyone who doesn’t know, “Mein Kampf” literally translates as “My Struggle”). It was part of the grievance studies affair.

      • LePoisson@lemmy.world
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        17 hours ago

        Oh yeah I won’t pretend he didn’t move crowds to coalesce around the Nazi philosophy, he was obviously popular enough to pack stadiums.

        Hitler and Goebbels, hell the whole Nazi party, we’re really good at the propaganda game. I’d say they really were one of the early pioneers of the use of mass media to steer people into alternate reality. Much like how we see social media being taken advantage of today.