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Would you join the National Socialists if "it" were happening right now?
I ponder this question after reading a few articles written in a, somewhat of an opinion magazine, as it's clearly not a newspaper.
http://www.oorlogskranten.nl/k0065_01.html
and http://www.oorlogskranten.nl/k0063_01.html
Truth be told, if things are held in the right perspective, you could even apply some text to the here and now. How often have one of you not pondered the downsides of capitalism and the wrongdoing by countries like the US. I certainly have plenty. Of course that doesn't mean I'm a nazi or a communist, I'm just willing to weigh the alternatives to try and see if there are other ways to survive on this dying planet.
And so as I read a couple of paragraphs of this magazine, I could somehow see their trail of thought, emphatize even, but at the same time it smells of populism - try to say things in a way that people can say "he's right, that's true!" - of course forgetting about a few details that are quite relevant to the entire story.
Let's take a look at the following out of context, and let's "true that", because I did.
"Wij wisten dat het kapitalisme uit den tijd was. Het kent geen geestdrift, het heeft geen ziel. Het is de slaaf van het kasboek en van het reglement. Het kapitalisme weet niets van het leven maar het weet alles van effecten en van bankrekeningen. Wij kiezen het leven, het leven voor en van ons volk; wij strijden voor de grootsheid, de eenheid en de vrijheid der Nederlanden."
One might say "dude you just quoted something from a fucking nazi fucking propaganda, how can you fucking agree with that you fucking fascist asshole" - but hey, let's be honest here, anyone sane and intelligent will agree - especially after such money-centered crashes all around us - that kapitalism and it's consumption have their downsides that push the boundaries of our understanding and/or knowledge of what's right and wrong.
In any case, it's still propaganda, and you might wonder, how unimaginable you might find it from your current perspective and knowledge of the history - would you consider supporting the National Socialist movement if you didn't know the history books and would be in that point of time?
Questions to consider I think:
- Would you actually be aware, even after a few years, that jews were being deported for slavery and death? I personally cannot be sure, given the situation of lesser news sources and probably a limited to no amount of knowledge of jewish people in your area.
- Would you remember the invasion and occupation that was performed by the Germans in other countries and yours? I personally cannot imagine how you can't notice or not remember that.
- Would you know about the destruction and killings in various cities? Perhaps not, you might have missed it, but truth be told - unless you work on a farm with no radio and no other people around - I cannot imagine you missed it. I might be wrong of course, the news might've been delayed for a year max. until inhabitants of those cities had spread their awful news, but 4 years and not knowing?
Perhaps there's more to consider, I can't think of a lot at the moment.
But in the end, considering these things, would you even be considering to accept the following texts. They are of course ripped out of context, they are prepared with lot's of "yes that's true, he's right" texts, but also various other twisted, 180 degrees, texts you might agree with. Imagine yourself even saying "yes you're right" to a text declaring the allied army liberators a bad bunch of destructors of our beautiful city buildings as they throw grenades at the germans.
"Met volle medewerking van de Duitsche bezettingsautoriteiten waren Nederlandsche instaties er in geslaagd, tot in het zesde jaar van den oorlog de bevolking van een land als het onze, dat in zoo sterke mate van den aanvoer van over zee afhankelijk is, voor den ergsten honger te bewaren. De rantsoenen waren ongetwijfeld laag, maar de aangewezen bonnen werden nog steeds in iederen winkel in Nederland gehonoreerd."
"Het is niet onze schuld, dat vele tienduizenden te kortzichtig en te naief zijn om in te zien, dat juist het gewapende kapitalisme en het gewapende bolskewisme de belemmering vormen voor de schepping van een geordend, arbeidzaam, gelukkig en welvarend Europea, dat het nationaal-socialisme beoogt. Wij, nationaal-socialisten zijn den oorlog niet begonnen. Het kapitalistische Engeland begon den oorlog, opgehitst door het joodsch-kapitalistische Amerika. Het kapitalisme zag een Europa ontstaan overheersching; daarom ontketende het den oorlog in Europa, een oorlog die ellende, armoede en ontbering met zich brengt welke zwarigheden door het huigelachtige kapitalisme worden geschoven op het nationaal-socialisme, dat strijdt voor een vrij Europa!"
Somehow I still think, with these paragraphs, I'd say: "ho there wait a minute, you think the german army taking our food and giving us measly stamps for food is a good thing, and claim we'd be starving without the germans occupying our country? You think the allied came to start a war, while I distinctly saw the germans first?"
In the end, I'm thinking it might even be tricky to see through the propaganda. It's easy now because the magazine goes to far in their defensiveness and twists reality in their favor too obviously. But what if they wouldn't have made that mistake, would you consider? I fear, even in this age of a lot of communication streams, one might consider and say yes too soon.
Of course, we already have streams of media that propagate untruths and incomplete considerations. If you don't have some vital knowledge of the area that's being talked about, you're easier to accept what the media is telling you. And their lies a danger. Luckily we have multiple sources of information, and you'll probably hear or read both pro's and con's to various issues and newsfacts. All above else, it's still important to keep thinking with your own head instead of accepting what you're told. There's still a lot of shit going on, and we're just eating it like delicious chocolate cookies...
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