Farewell

[Associate Justice PiT]

ag was definitely a good poster before election night. I hope he comes back when he's calmed down a bit.

     Agreed. He has been acting oddly ever since then. Hopefully he returns once he has had the chance to cool off.

[Associate Justice PiT]

If Santander really did post what has been implied here that he did... um... then why hasn't he been banned? Honestly a lot of people have been kicked off this forum for a lot less. Or is it really true that popularity matters massively? It would be very disappointing if that were actually true.

We've had posters who were very straightforward about being admirers of Stalin and other commie mass murderers.  Did anyone consider banning TNF or WinstonDisraeli over this?   Or do you mean because for Santander it is obvious trolling?

     It's curious that, not just on this forum but also in society at-large, communism is somehow tolerated even though fascism is rightly reviled. Not the most relevant point, but something I have been thinking about for a while.

[Associate Justice PiT]

communism sounds nice in theory...fascism doesn't.

Plenty of things about fascism sound great in theory. Societal order and cohesion, scientific advancement with unified goals, lack of political gridlock and dysfunction, high levels of societal efficiency, business interests made to serve the common good, high levels of communal care for the poor, very little unemployment, etc.

The bad parts of fascism come about in the means... just like in communism.

     This is the important thing to note; fascism and communism are both highly authoritarian ideologies that seek to plan and tightly control the direction of society. It wouldn't be the worst thing if these systems were to arise naturally and voluntarily, but they never will. They arise instead through brutal and repressive applications of power. For this reason, it doesn't make sense to regard either in theoretical terms and ignore the practical reality involved.

[Associate Justice PiT]

In German elections, the Nazis found unlikely allies not only among conservatives, but among socialists who supported a sort of "anti-bourgeois" bloc.

Um... no. Whoever told you this was lying.

     Perhaps not direct allies, but the German Communists were quite aggressive in agitating against the mainstream parties, with the effect of contributing indirectly to the Nazis' rise to power. You might say that they played the role of useful idiots for the Nazis in doing so.

[Associate Justice PiT]

In German elections, the Nazis found unlikely allies not only among conservatives, but among socialists who supported a sort of "anti-bourgeois" bloc.

Um... no. Whoever told you this was lying.

     Perhaps not direct allies, but the German Communists were quite aggressive in agitating against the mainstream parties, with the effect of contributing indirectly to the Nazis' rise to power. You might say that they played the role of useful idiots for the Nazis in doing so.

Some of the might have been, but "my way or the high way" has long been the communist M.O., after all, even under a fascist dictatorship they can present themselves as the only genuine opposition since they have been the most intransigent and plot revolution- unless Moscow orders them to hold off of course.

     Even before the dictatorship they insisted that they were the only genuine opposition. When I characterize them as "useful idiots", it is because they did a decent bit of the legwork for the fascists in terms of assailing the mainstream parties and setting the stage for the ultimate catastrophe.

[Associate Justice PiT]

     Yeah, I am sure I am overstating their role in the affair. Perhaps the biggest reason Hitler was able to rise to power was that he referred to concerns that people had and that the existing political paradigm couldn't address.