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Originally Posted by jadis
Right. The real effect of comparing everything to Nazis and Auschwitz, which is a real hobby for some, is that it obscures the very real dangers posed by the rise in extremism today.
I heard an interview with a Jewish historian of anti-semitism on French radio and he was 1) very concerned about the rise in violence targeting Jews in France today 2) annoyed that some compare it to the 1930s. The situations have nothing in common, he said, and lead people to misunderstand and minimize the uniquely desperate situation of European Jews in the 1930s, who were utterly abandoned and couldn't expect help from any quarter. We live in a different world today that poses its own multiple dangers and those should be assessed in their specificity.
I get it that it's more exciting to think of yourself as an anti-fascist warrior rather than another guy from the suburbs. That's perfectly human. But it's funny to me that the Soviet victory over the Nazis (which fueled the myth of communist anti-fascism in the West and was a reliable tool to recruit useful idiots to the cause) was always a Russian nationalist myth within Russia, with only the thinnest veneer of universalist values even during the Soviet era. Now that it's mobilized by Putin in Ukraine, some of the self-professed anti-fascists are temporarily embarrassed and scrub all the heroic Soviet imagery from their twitter profiles. Wonder if that's the end of that or is it due for another rewarming.
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well it's funny you mention the antifascist angle cause a lot of people seem to harken back to this sort of WW2 model for antifascism when trying to find direction for or justifications for elements of the modern antifa ****.
Like one argument I remember hearing a lot a few years back was that it was good strategy to punch Nazis (Richard Spencer) cause we've tried negotiating with them and the only thing they understand is violence. I've specifically heard Vaush make this kind of argument.
But my recollection of history is that all the failed communist coups and all the brawls where communists fought brown shirts in the streets did **** all to prevent the rise of Nazi power. But the USSR did actually take on the lions share of the burden of actually defeating Nazi power. Which is like... Go Russian military industrial complex I guess?
It's funny though, I feel like both modern Russia and modern USA share the same foundational myth , which is beating the Nazis. I feel like we've outgrown 1776 at this point. The modern version of America didn't start until The Fonz was on TV