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  • The concerns should have been raised long before it even reached this point, but I guess even in Germany the willingness to preserve the memory of the atrocities they committed as a nation is beginning to wane.
    And it didn't even take 100 years, though when you look at who they're playing against (the even bigger imperialists and colonisers who have never even pretended to be sorry), it's almost impressive.
    But only almost.

    • The concerns were raised but ignored by the media and in politics. It doesn't stop people from voting for right-wing parties if you just insult them as right-wing and never do anything about their concerns. At some point they just accept that mark and act accordingly.

      • So let me just clarify before I jump to the wrong conclusion, in case there's some language barrier going on here or something, though I'm pretty confident I understand you perfectly well:

        You're saying it's the concerns of the Nazis that should have been listened to, and think that because they weren't, a Nazi got elected? As, what, "payback"?

        • What? No, what I mean is that it was known how people were increasingly aligning their opinions to the right for probably more than a decade now. Especially in exactly those areas which now voted for AFD. But instead of doing anything about it then, it was washed aside with: "Eh well it's all Nazis there anyway! What a bunch of idiots!" and that was it.

          Again and again there was the occasional article where all people agreed upon how bad those people are and for a while perhaps being called right-wing or Nazi had some weight in persuading people they should seriously question their opinions. But without any further action, I wonder what people were thinking how this would prevent those people from voting a party like AFD further down the line?!

          Now some of them are already at a point where they will just proudly agree that they are right-wing or conservatives. What a surprise.

          Depending on how it works out with the AFD in that town, I am sure people in similar places are watching closely. This can escalate quickly. I believe, when this doesn't turn out as a complete desaster for the town, a kind of domino effect will happen and more people will feel comfortable voting for the AFD. I mean, they are already branded as right-wing Nazis, why not vote accordingly? When a 60 yo village dweller finds he agrees with some of the points the AFD makes and that makes him right-wing, perhaps being right-wing is a good thing? That's how people work and we need to step in at that point and not wait for a miracle of them suddenly making a mental U-turn.

          • Ok, I'm really glad I asked now, thank you for the clarification, and apologies for the misunderstanding!

            And yes, I agree that raising concerns is far from enough, my previous comment was more in reference to the headline, not really an answer to the problem. That answer would be zero tolerance, which is what Germany likes to say they have, but obviously the reality is very different, and it's really quite scary that even in a place that has supposed zero tolerance laws, the kind of hate theses people survive on still manages to win elections.

            Hitler said it himself - the only way to stop him would have been if people saw his party for what it really was and destroyed it then and there, but he, and we, know the power of propaganda, and those with no shame or aversion to lying will always win the propaganda war because they can say whatever the hell they want and need to. Then if you actually fight back, they frame you as the aggressor and win a little more. The system really is designed to perpetuate itself and maintain the power in the hands of a few.

            Scary times.

91 comments