The Meaning of "NAZI"

Posted by Herb7734 5 years, 11 months ago to Philosophy
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The word Nazi is actually the symbol for the National Socialist Party in the German language. It has, however, come to be used as a way to call a person or organization a nasty epithet. It symbolizes a totalitarian mentality which has no regard for human life and requiring total obedience to the state or the dictator or both.Many years ago in his book "The Ominous Parallels" Leonard Piekoff expressed rejection of five of the most common
interpretations of Nazism. Each is dismissed in order to present a serious analysis of the subject. So I'm presenting this challenge to the Gulch to provide a definitive explanation of this often misused and incorrectly used word. This is not a sum total quiz. Piekoff's definition might not be even be the best one.I have a feeling that that there are better ones in the Gulch that are better used. Here are the five incorrectly used explanations of Nazism:

1. Nazism is caused by ignorance; The Nazi criminals and their supporters were primitive barbarians.
2. Nazism is caused by the accidental seizure of power by a small minority of vicious men.
3. Nazism is caused by the innate depravity of human nature.
4. Nazism is caused by a corruption of the people. It is a disease of the people.
5. Nazism was caused by a specific military, economic, and governmental crises.

Your answer can be as long or as short as you wish. Piekoff's definition ran on to become an essay. I'll try to slice it into its cogent parts. Nazism is a philosophy of an array of theories , doctrines, opinion, notions and beliefs, which by using propaganda at top volume via all forms of media.It is to be heard by those who voted for them and sympathized and embraced them.

Note, that the philosophy covered as many premises as possible in order to include the interests of as many people as possible. Its point was to gather up followers because even 10% of the people when gathered in one place, makes a formidable crowd.


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  • Posted by rtpetrick 5 years, 11 months ago
    Herb,
    I think the use of the term "Nazi" in today's lexicon has very little to do with the historic sense of the word. Labelling someone as a "Nazi" today has a powerful emotional reaction, but it doesn't conjure visions of jack-booted Storm Troopers nor the entire list of Nazi atrocities. Rather, the term "Nazi" is used to demagogue, much like the term "Racist" is used. And so it could be said that the term "Nazi" and/or "Racist for that matter, can be defined as "someone who wins an argument against a liberal /progressive /leftist /socialist /Democrat.
    Regards,
    Ferrari Yooper
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  • Posted by $ blarman 5 years, 11 months ago
    Nazism is one of a whole host of ideologies bent on gaining power. It depends upon a small cadre of domineering idealists who know exactly what they are doing, another slightly larger cadre of those who like the minor positions of power they are put in by the elite idealists, a still larger cadre of those who are fooled into going along with things, and the still larger general populace who aren't interested enough in their own freedom to object or oppose the movement - sometimes until it is too late.

    Nazism, Communism, Socialism, Feudalism - all are power-hungry ideologies meant to create castes of people in a rigid social hierarchy benefiting those at the very top at the cost of those at the bottom. The primary difference is merely the focus of the ideology itself.

    Feudalism was largely the result of a patriarchal/religious system that endowed those of a certain lineage with supernaturally-endowed authority - authority which could not be challenged. Feudalism largely fell apart throughout the world, but still holds on (curiously) in England, Saudi Arabia, and a few other nations.

    Communism has largely been the result of the overthrow of the Feudalistic society (France, Russia, China) but taken so far the other direction that it resulted in merely another form of Feudalism that was based on who was the most bloodthirsty during the overthrow. What is interesting is that while one can certainly argue the merits of divine appointment to lead, the very merits claimed by Communistic societies are inherently hypocritical as their instigators are largely those seeking power of their own and who instigate their own rules with massive purges of their own people which far surpassed anything committed by Feudalists. I view Bernie Sanders as a Communist (which he has admitted).

    Fascism (which IMO includes Nazism) is intellectual Feudalism. It asserts the unquestionable authority of a supreme ruler, but one which is appointed by the People as opposed to one appointed by God. Both Hitler and Mussolini rose to power through populism and then turned their reign into an egomaniacal power trip. The problem with Fascists is that they are never satisfied with the extent of their power and seek to gin up excuses for war. Italy's claims to parts of African fueled their association with the Axis Pact while Hitler was able to play on the very real grievances which were a result of the Treaty of Versailles following WW I. (What not widely known is that if Italy hadn't been the Fascist's France during WW II, it is very likely that British naval superiority in the Mediterranean - and as a result their air superiority - would have been crushed.) I view Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama as fascists.

    Socialism is similarly a revolt away from either democratic or republican forms of government toward a more authoritarian kind of rule primarily by bureaucrats. The socialist claims that he is neither a communist nor a fascist simply because they still live under an elected government, despite the fact that the elected officials have almost no real power. The socialist also claims that because the power is separated into silos overseen by subject-matter "experts", that this constitutes an acceptable homage to a separation of powers and that the merit of those in power is a result of their self-imposed intellectual "superiority". The major problem is that the recognition of intellectual "superiority" is done not by actual achievement rigorously vetted by science, but by a popularity contest among the ideological elite - a self-perpetuating cycle that more often than not is driven far more by the ideology than the true intellect. I view Elizabeth Warren as a Socialist.
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    • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
      Your anilyzation is quite correct. My point, however, is the use of the word Nazi as an epithet describing anyone and everything that is negative and despicable no matter what action or attitude caused it, When used in that way, the word is used to cover such differing nagativity that its true meaning becomes obscured and is just another word for bad.
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      • Posted by DeanStriker 5 years, 11 months ago
        This is why I opt always for "Collectivst" to cover the spectrum of those who believe in, and act to, empower the Force of Rulership. I don't see a dime's worth of meaningful difference between the whole sorry lot of tyrants.
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      • Posted by $ blarman 5 years, 11 months ago
        I completely agree. "Nazi" is an imprecise term used today more for the shock value than to describe any real correlation to the original offenses committed by the German Fascists from whence sprang the original moniker.
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        • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
          Nazi and Fascist, are basically the same terms, The only difference might have been that the German required a stronger unquestioning loyalty. Both allow private ownership which is heavily controlled by the state.
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          • Posted by $ blarman 5 years, 11 months ago
            I would argue that today's Democratic Party is about as Fascist as one can go loyalty-wise without the nation itself actually embracing Fascism. They castigate members of their own party who don't march in lockstep, hands raised to "heil" the new/anointed glorious leader. That's what happened to Bernie Sanders in the Democrat primaries of 2016. It's also happened to a few lawmakers who have been effectively shunned by their own party: see Montana's Jon Tester. The fascism also steps up specifically in the case of Hillary who kills anyone who gets in the way of her political ambitions, whether it be State Troopers, her husband's prostitutes, business partners, or even campaign workers like Seth Rich.

            I would also point out that "private ownership which is heavily controlled by the State" is an oxymoron.
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            • Posted by Steven-Wells 5 years, 11 months ago
              I am about two-thirds through Dinesh D'Souza's latest book, The Big Lie: Exposing the Nazi Roots of the American Left. The book presents in extreme detail the various elements of Nazi and Fascist ideology and practice, and all the subtle differences, along with equivalent parts that permeate the past and present Democratic Party. I have always considered that fascist dictator for life, Franklin D. Roosevelt, was a major force of destruction to American society, freedom, and legitimate government process. The book documents why I have thought that way, but in (immensely footnoted and attributed) detail of all the wreckage by the Left, FDR, and the Democrats, including the historical and ongoing mess. As to blarman's oxymoron, historian Aryeh Unger calls it, "voluntary compulsion."
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              • Posted by LibertyBelle 5 years, 11 months ago
                As much as I don't agree with trashing the dead (as they cannot defend themselves), there are exceptions, in cases where the deceased have been rammed down people's throats so much. I got so tired (even in my early adolescence) of hearing FDR hailed as a hero and a savior; I didn't agree with most of what he had done (he lived before I was born), when I thought about individual rights and the proper purpose of government. And later, I found that he was even worse than I had thought. In fact, I think he was the worst President this country ever had, with the possible exception of Barack Obama.
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                • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
                  As far as the worst was concerned, I'd save that honor for Obama. But it's true FDR is right up there in the realm of Presidents out to destroy the nation. When I was a kid, he was most revered, to the point of occulpying a spot on Mount Rushmore. By the way, the other Roosevelt who IS up there doesn't deserve the honor either..
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                • Posted by Steven-Wells 5 years, 11 months ago
                  De mortuis nihil nisi bonum applies to ordinary dead persons, not to those whose past actions continue to crush the living. So, let's not forget the proto-fascist, Woodrow Wilson, who initiated the process of government mega-expansion and taxing income. The latter, unconstitutional without the amendment by his sycophant congress and courts, placed a permanent negative feedback mechanism onto all personal and corporate productivity. Prior to Wilson, direct interaction from the federal government onto the lives of the citizenry was a rarity, mainly reserved for major criminals.
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                  • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
                    Indeed.
                    Like Theodore Roosevelt, Wilson was one of the most undeservedly lauded presidents. I think they were ignorant men, in Teddy's case a doofus. The difference of Obama is that he was an actively UnAmerican and hated the country he led.
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                    • Posted by Steven-Wells 5 years, 11 months ago
                      Obama?! Don't get me started. Oops, too late. Started a year and a half ago when I put this together: http://www.stalincare.com/home/obama/
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                      • Posted by Dobrien 5 years, 10 months ago
                        Treason , is what Obama will go down in history for.
                        I think the parallels in the speech was spot on.
                        . "I despise John Iselin [Barack Obama] and everything that Iselinism [Obamunism] has come to stand for. I think, if John Iselin [Barack Obama] were a paid Soviet agent, he could not do more to harm this country than he’s doing now."
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                        • Posted by 5 years, 10 months ago
                          And yet, even with all the revelations, there are still millions out there who thinks the man should be on Rushmore. I never thought I'd say this, but "Thank goodness for Trump."
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                          • Posted by Dobrien 5 years, 10 months ago
                            What if the steel used for military-grade projects was made-inferior by our enemies as a method to weaken?
                            What if Hussein knew and authorized?
                            Renegade.
                            How many Marines volunteered to serve Hussein during his term?
                            Why?
                            What if his name we don’t say organized the deal? McCaint.
                            The US taxpayer subsidizes the WORLD.
                            AMERICA has been sold to the highest bidder.
                            AMERICA has been weakened on purpose.
                            The depths of their TREASON is unimaginable.
                            Pure EVIL.
                            HELL on earth - was a HRC victory.
                            Q
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          • Posted by Solver 5 years, 11 months ago
            Some would say that evidence of Fascism is where government and business merge so as to be indistinguishable from one another. The Federal Reserve is a good example of this.
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            • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
              Great point! The Federal Reserve remains the most collectivist idea hiding under the skirts of Lady Freedom. There's so much crap needing immediate attention that I doubt if Trump will get around to it before his 8 years are up.
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  • Posted by Solver 5 years, 11 months ago
    Before SJWs started calling anyone they didn’t like a Nazi, they were the National Socialist German Workers’ Party. The Nazi collective operated using 25 Points of the National Socialist Programme,
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natio...

    ...
    “#4. Only a member of the race can be a citizen. A member of the race can only be one who is of German blood, without consideration of creed. Consequently, no Jew can be a member of the race.”
    ...

    Those were the real Nazis. Everyone else is just some copycat.
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  • Posted by DrZarkov99 5 years, 11 months ago
    Technically, Nazism is just another flavor of totalitarianism, like many others. The term "totalitarian" was invented by Benito Mussolini, intended to mean that the state would have total responsibility for the care of its citizens, to give them a sense of security.

    I keep going back to the best book on the subject, Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer, a Study of Mass Movements." Hoffer breaks down what exemplifies the leaders and the followers of such movements in plain language, and his book is an enjoyable, if unsettling read.

    As for the use of the term "Nazi" as a polemic, it's merely the latest in a long line of accusatory labels designed to shut down rational discussion. In the age of the religious state, to be labeled a blasphemer, heretic, or infidel left the accused with no hope of refuting the charge. When terms like Nazi, racist, or homophobe are hurled at a conservative or libertarian, the intent is to make it clear the accuser's mind is tightly shut.
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  • Posted by Storo 5 years, 11 months ago
    Part 1
    I have always had an image of politics and political systems as a continuum - but not in the form of a line, but in a circle. That circle is divided into Left and Right hemispheres by a line from 12:00 to 6:00.
    At 12:00 you are at Democracy - that is, pure democracy. Perhaps the US, under the Constitution, is to the Right slightly at 1:00 as a Constitutional Republic. I would put say Britain slightly left at 11:00 as a Parliamentary Democracy, only because that system allows for turnover of the leadership by way of a vote of “no confidence” in the Commons.
    Any government can swing left or right depending on the leadership and it’s agenda.
    Today, both the US and Britain, as well as France and other Western Democracies are tending ever more Left. The US is probably somewhere between 10:00 and 12:00, while Britain and France are probably between 9:00 and 11:00.
    While I might spend a lot of space on this circle, the subject is, after all, a definition of “Nazi”, so I will focus on the part of the circle below a line from 9:00 to 3:00.
    At 6:00 are the most totalitarian and oppressive regimes one can imagine. Think Oceania from Orwell’s 1984.
    Nazism was characterized by a governmental system based on a 1) singular leader, 2) a political philosophy of conformity, 3) a pervasive and powerful military, 4) enforcement via secret police, 5) indoctrination of the youth of the country, 6) the elimination of all political opposition, 7) persecution of ethnic and political minorities, and 8) a certain amount of isolation of the population from the outside world. There were, of course, other aspects.
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  • Posted by CaptainKirk 5 years, 11 months ago
    Well, after learning about Hitler, and the brownshirts which started attacking the Communists, and they were unemployed thugs who started at pubs complaining loudly until they started taking their actions.

    The government shielded them as long as they focused on the communists, he had some side deals, and it was one of those deals (not voting) that landed Hitler in power.

    When I think of a NAZI, I think of someone who enforces the totalitarian rule from above. Someone who BELIEVES they are acting with support of the government, and in fact are doing what MUST be done for the government to FIX THINGS.

    And that is why the LEFTISTS are TRULY the NAZIs in todays story. They believe they have the right to RUIN BUSINESSES, CAREERS, NAMES for violating the rules of "their governmental/societal beliefs".

    It is NEVER a single person that is the issue. It is the MOB Mindset. The thought of seeing an old man being beaten generates a natural reflection to protect the old man.
    Not to join in. But in those days, call that man a despicable jew, or notice that all the people doing the attack are DRESSED JUST LIKE YOU, and you shut off that natural response,
    and the PACK ANIMAL response takes over.

    And I think it is INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT to point out that the action in NUMBERS is the real problem. SJWs are just morons. But when they can ruin you because a 17 year old kid calls for a nationwide boycott, and you suddenly have to think "Hitler Youth Program" to get the picture.

    Finally, every time I think about it, the CLEAR relationship between the LEFTISTS and NAZIS gets clearer. Hitler liked ideological youth he could get to turn their parents over with... So doe leftists. They went after the media, and labelled people INSANE who did not agree with them (ahem, Kanye attacks). They used HATE and DIVISIVE language. They had their EVIL group that was responsible for all your suffering. They also were totally against capitalism, because it is unfair... And they LOVED to play the FAIR/UNFAIR and hurt feelings games. They were FINALLY totally against FREE SPEECH.

    and when a Leftist reads the previous paragraph, they are thinking I got it wrong somehow, its exactly reversed from that.

    As a side note, Jordan Peterson has a comment on YouTube about capitalism, and HOW Marx was wrong in his assumption that free markets are not fair. Life is not fair, and the Pareto principal (80/20 rules), says that the square root of ANY population will have 50% of the productivity/money/property/etc. It's an unfair balance in human nature. And I believe it exists to drive us to be better, and to recognize better. [Spoiler Alert: That's why communism and socialism always fail]
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  • Posted by $ Olduglycarl 5 years, 11 months ago
    If it's about power, government control, racism/"Superior race", world domination and a lot of death as a consequence...then it's what we call:
    THE LEFT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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    • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
      It used to be that lefties were Americans first looking for bandages for their bleeding hearts. Now, they are bandaging things that don't need it and to hell with America.
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  • Posted by lrshultis 5 years, 11 months ago
    Ludwig von Mises in the revised 1951 edition of his 1937 Socialism, had a short description of Nazism. It played upon the anti-capitalistic Gemeinnutz geht vor Eigennutz ( the commonweal ranks above private profit), Lebensraum (the desire for the nation to a land self sufficient in resources), and Nahrungsfreiheit (freedom from importing food.) It took decades of propaganda in schools to instill the racism against any Jew or other non-Aryan but to also accept many non-Aryans, some who had Jewish background, as leaders. Just a lot of non-capitalistic mentality.
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  • Posted by Dobrien 5 years, 11 months ago
    Here is an example IMHO.
    "After we win this election. It's our turn!
    Payback time everyone not with us is against us and they better be ready cause we don't forget.The ones who helped us will be rewarded.
    The ones who opposed us will get what they deserve. There is going to be hell to pay. Congress won't be a problem for us this time. No elections to worry about after this one . We have 2 SC Judges ready to go." Valerie Jarrett to Barrack Hussien Obama Oct 2016
    Apparently they were not ready to finish their terms.
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  • Posted by $ allosaur 5 years, 11 months ago
    To call someone a Nazi is to also call them a racist.
    Me dino recalls photos of the KKK waving swastikas shortly before World War 2 and some Jim Crow white supremacists sporting swastikas during the 60s and later on.
    Hitler had Germans taking pride in their phony "Aryan" race that, through ethnic cleansing, was supposed to produce blond supermen ruling a Third Reich for the next thousand years.
    When I was a corrections officer for 21 years, a few white inmates were members of the Aryan Nation. They did not cause much of a problem. Blacks sharply outnumber whites at an Alabama state prison.
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    • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
      That's a clue to the nature of such groups. They are cowards, and unite in order to protect each other. But they remain quite tame until the odds are in their favor.
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      • Posted by $ allosaur 5 years, 11 months ago
        Yes, the so-called "numbers game" definitely favored the German Nazis when they sent the scapegoated Jews, Gypsies, homosexuals, nonconformists, etc, to extermination camps.
        American Nazis and/or other white supremacists hold peaceful demonstrations, though they tend to be the only ones blamed by the media when Antifa beats them up.
        The only thing that irks me dino about that is the "blame game" media hypocrisy.
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        • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
          I'm glad that you included Gypsies,etc. instead of just jews. The Nazis were more ecumenical in their hatreds of just the Jews. Do you find it interesting that the Arabs hate the very same groups as the Nazis?Yet, they are never called Nazis. Something to ponder, I guess.
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          • Posted by $ allosaur 5 years, 11 months ago
            IMO, not so much. It's easy enough to call a Muslim a Muslim for being a Muslim.
            As for Muslims hating Jews, the Koran instructs Muslims to convert or kill anyone for not being a Muslim.
            And some Muslims take this a stretch further, killing other Muslims for not being their kind of Muslim.
            And The Evil Hag as a candidate said, "I dream of open borders" so this kind of a "religion of peace" can freely cross over here?
            Nutty Nancy, Mad Maxine and Crying Chucky would applaud with approval as well as all those dimwit Dem voters demented enough to reelect, reelect, reelect them.
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            • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
              Why do you buy Chevrolets? We've always bought Chevies. They are a tradition. We don't even think of a different brand. That is the type of mentality that votes Democrat. Not all, but many.It accounts for a big percentage of voters. "Democrats are for the working people." That's all changed and it is now the Republicans who are the workers party, even if they're at loggerheads with the unions. Many cannot grasp the topsy-turvy world in which the middle class workers are doing best with Republicans. Just as Roseanne described it. Some Democrats simply refuse to believe what has happened since the advent of Trump.
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              • Posted by freedomforall 5 years, 11 months ago
                Neither party is for the"working people", unless they work at Goldman Sachs.
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                • Posted by term2 5 years, 11 months ago
                  I am not sure it makes a difference what we call collectivists. They all have no regard for my rights as a person, and will take whatever they can get away with from me, and imprison or kill me if I object.
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                  • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
                    There is a difference in the way they enslave you.
                    Socialism and communism control the means of production. As a result, everyone works directly for the state.Nothing is privately owned. Nazism and fascism, the means of production are privately held but are rigidly controlled by the state. That means that you could own thing within the parameters dictated by the state. This gives the illusion of greater freedom than it actually allows. Since the government holds the power and is in control of everything in all four cases, the heads of state inevitably become dictators, regardless of what they call themselves.
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                    • Posted by term2 5 years, 11 months ago
                      So, its preferable to be under Nazi-ism or fascism so you can get rich by being part of the system like Oscar Schindler. By your definition, we have a really mixed system here- socialist if you work directly for the government, but fascist if you work for a private company doing contract work for the government. We dont have any communes here, so I guess communism is restricted to like Cuba and probably other places.
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                      • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
                        Not quite fully fascist as yet. Less so since Trump's getting rid of myriad regulations.The constant addition of more and more regulations under Obama were leading us down the path toward fascism.Fascism is a really good deal for the government. Private enterprise puts up the money and takes the risks and is regulated by the state so that being in business is in truth, working for the government.
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                        • Posted by term2 5 years, 11 months ago
                          I would say we are substantially fascist. One has to have a license in order to operate a business, sign up for taxes of many types, adhere to employee regulations etc etc. but you can put up your money to start and run the business !!
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                          • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
                            You are right. That's what happens when you have a mixed economy. Part controlled and part free. Under Obama we almost lost the free part.
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                            • Posted by term2 5 years, 11 months ago
                              I voted for Trump bacause I felt he could slow down the march to collectivism. He has done that, but only to the extent that he doesnt need the congress. The eatablishment is decidedly fascist.
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                              • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
                                Let's see: There's Iran, North Korea, Syria, immigration, the wall, the economy, and a myriad of other problems, but Trump has to concern himself with the nonsense Mueller probe. What a waste of time, money and resources. They should be ashamed that they're hurting the country by wasting time trying to impeach or otherwise discredit the President.
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                • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
                  Politicians and their party could care less about the people they supposedly represent. Follow the money. Translate the power. That is what it is all about. And Goldman Sachs employees aren't any better off.Which is why hard work and ambition is what allows a person to get out from under the thumb of their employers.. If you can be a big producer or go into business for yourself .
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                  • Posted by $ allosaur 5 years, 11 months ago
                    What helped create the swamp is career politicians becoming more beholden to donors and all the just as $$$ influenced conniving "good friends" seated all around them, leading recently voted-in newbies into sundry temptations in what's called "learning the ropes.".
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                    • Posted by Storo 5 years, 11 months ago
                      I attended a seminar in Washington a couple of years back, and learned that our Senators and Representatives, at the beginning of each session of Congress, are given a directive from Party Leadership to raise $XX,XXX,XXX dollars for their party. This is a requirement if you want a committee assignment, or a say in anything. Thus most Congressmen and Senators spend as much as 60% of their time making phone calls to donors to hit them up for more money. It’s even become ritualized. You see, it is illegal for our representatives to make fund raising calls on Federal property and/or using government resources. So the D and R parties have set up offices just a couple of blocks down the street from the Capitol, and each day there is a parade of Reps and Sens that walk down to the phone banks and make fund raising calls. And to keep it within partisan bounds, the Dems walk down on one side of the street, and the Reps walk on the other side.
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  • Posted by $ puzzlelady 5 years, 11 months ago
    Name-calling is a national pastime, especially in social media. And language evolves inexorably to keep up with the morphing of concepts.

    Throwing "Nazi" around to denounce those whose ideas one disagrees with devalues the historical context of the Holocaust, specifically as it applies to the extermination of Jews.

    Of course, even that application of "Nazi" was already a one-stage removal from the original, purely political title. It became the label for utter evil. So it became a useful handle to apply to any other evil. People are only too ready to grab on to such handles to spread that meme farther and demonize any target. It's probably too late to shove that trend back into its original box.
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  • Posted by LibertyBelle 5 years, 11 months ago
    It seems to me that the best policy would be to just call a thing whatever it is. If you mean Communism, say "Communism". If you mean totalitarianism, say "totalitarianism". If you mean fascism, say "fascism". If you mean statism, say "statism". And if you mean National Socialism, (Nazism), say "Nazism".-- There has been, in my lifetime, considerable effort to oppose Communism to Nazism (or fascism) but, in my book, they are both different sides to the same counterfeit coin.
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  • Posted by KevinSchwinkendorf 5 years, 11 months ago
    The official name of the National Socialist party in German is "NSDAP: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei", or, translated into English, "National Socialist German Worker's Party." The Allies during WW-II took the first couple of syllables (as pronounced in German) and called it "Nazi". That is why old vintage film clips of the Nazi era show banners and standards with the letters "NSDAP" on them.
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  • Posted by Storo 5 years, 11 months ago
    Part 2
    The political and social philosophy of the Nazi State were not necessarily bad or malevolent in and of themselves. After all Hitler was Time Magazine’s Man Of The Year in 1938 and praised for the German Miracle. But the actions of the leadership of the Nazi regime, and the crimes carried out later in the name of National Socialism, which gave complete control to a very small number, showed us that under such a system it was impossible to have individual freedom of thought, speech or action, to say the least.
    Primarily for these reasons I place Nazi Germany at 5:00 on the circular continuum. Perhaps even 5:30.
    But here is the kicker.
    If one looks at Stalinist Russia, what is seen is that Stalinist Russia applied a nearly exact copy of the rules of National Socialism, only under the name of Communism. Look through the list of characteristics above and you will realize that the systems of National Socialism and Communism as practiced by Stalin are nearly identical. There were, of course, some differences. In Soviet Russia the State owned all means of production. It confiscated nearly all private property, and so on. But the basic political and social philosophy of Soviet Russia was nearly identical to that of Nazi Germany!!
    So was Stalin a Nazi? One might say “Yes.” with a straight face.
    The Nazis killed nearly 12 Million people in their concentration camps. And it is estimated that Stalin killed nearly 30 Million in his gulags. For all of these reasons I place Soviet Russia at 7:00 on our scale, or perhaps 6.30.
    As you see, despite their being political arch enemies during the 1920s and 1930s, these systems are very, very much alike.
    Jonah Goldberg, in his great book “Liberal Fascism”, begins the book by demonstrating the impossibility of clearly defining “fascism”. Attempting to do so is like playing philosophical whack-a-mole. I think the same can be said of trying to define “Nazi”. On February 24, 1920, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party (Nazis) published their platform for Germany which contained 25 demands. You can read this document at jewishvirtyallibrary.org. But reading it will not define Nazi as we came to know it. While most of the demands sound nationalistic, most can also be viewed as not outrageous, given Germany’s position at the time, and the difficulties it faced under the Treaty of Versailles.
    If I were to offer a definition of Nazi, as it is used in our political discourse today, I would probably define it like this.
    A Nazi is someone who wants power, and to control, manipulate and dominate others by whatever means available. A Nazi wants others to shut up and accept his or her ideas, opinions or rules as indisputable fact. A Nazi is racist (persecution of the Jews), sexist (women are of secondary importance), homophobic (the German Nazis sent them to the concentration camps), and all the other “...ist” and “...phobic” labels so easily bandied about. A Nazi, in power, will round up those who disagree and shoot them. A Nazi has no concern for you or your concerns.
    I think it is interesting and telling that those of us who honestly want to have an honest dialogue are labeled Nazis by those with whom we want to talk, while they at the same time try ever means to demonize us, try to shut us up, attack us in the streets (think Antifa) and use lies and deception to impune our concerns and our very character. Sounds a bit like a Nazi, don’t you think?
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    • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
      Hold on there. All of the "isms" are pretty easy to define, especially economically.
      Socialism/communism: The means of production are held by the state.
      Nazism/fascism: The means of production are privately held, but controlled by the state.
      The end result is almost the same. The heads of state invariably find themselves with so much power that they inevitably become dictators, no matter what illusions are foisted on the population.
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      • Posted by mccannon01 5 years, 11 months ago
        I always figured fascism lets you pretend you own something where socialism/communism makes it more clear that you don't really own anything. With that thought, the US is more like a fascist country where you can pretend you own your house, but miss a few payments on the "royal rent" and you'll discover you don't really own anything. There are enough rules, regulations, and ordinances that while you pretend to own other things, too, you may find that transgressions of such can result in a lesson of what you actually don't own. Constitution? What Constitution?
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        • Posted by 5 years, 11 months ago
          I still wonder at the brilliance of the Constitution. If correctly applied it pretty much cures most every current problem. What foresight and smarts had the founders.
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  • Posted by ArtIficiarius 5 years, 11 months ago
    Full length: Nazional Sozialiste Democratisch Arbeiters Partei (NSDAP). Parse this form of fascist motion (socialist cubed) however you will.
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    • Posted by Solver 5 years, 11 months ago
      The “D” stood for “Deutsche” (“German” in English)

      Although there are parallels to the growing collective of self professed morally superior pure blooded Democrats.
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