Thread by @pavel23

Thread 2 of 2:
Turning Hitler into this mythical uber-villain also takes away responsibility from other people and denies the fact that there is a potential Hitler or Nazi living in everyone, waiting to come out and take power over you at the right opportunity.

Not everyone has the personality traits to become a powerful Nazi, and most people can resist, but denying that you might become or behave like a Nazi under the right circumstances does not reduce the probability, in the opposite.

There is also the problem that terms get mixed and muddied, especially most people are not aware about the difference between Nazism and Fascism, and that Hitler for example despised Mussolini's Fascism, while Mussolini did not buy into Hitler's racism.

The main difference is that in Nazism the in-group is based on race, while in Fascism the nation is the defining category. Nazism is inherently racist, while Fascism is ethnic, based on national identity, although both tend to have large overlaps, ...

...and in practice both ideologies were more about power than anything else and were pretty flexible in defining the in-group, like the Nazis making Japanese and other peoples "honorary Arians".

The difference between Fascism and Nazism becomes apparent in how differently Jews were initially treated in Germany and in Italy, so Putism would be closer to Fascism than Nazism, but also substantially differs from both in many aspects and is deeply rooted in Russian history.

All three are mainly about power and a strong leader, all three lead to massive corruption, but in Putism corruption is a more central and integral part of the system, while in Facism and Nazism it played a different role, but in the end they were or are all corrupt systems.

What about comparing Putin with Hitler? I think is legitimate to do that because there are similarities, but also differences, and doing that does not exonerate Hitler in any way, but I see how the way I put it in a previous thread might have caused that impression.

Sometimes I just think and write too much like a nerd, not taking into account how people with a different background and perspective and who don't know me will perceive things differently and react impulsively.

However, if you put out Hitler as a benchmark for evilness, the whole purpose of it is to compare, and you can not seriously claim that Hitler is worse or more evil in every category you come up with.

I see that even mentioning that Hitler might have done good things or had any good intentions is a technique typically employed by Neo-Nazis and seen as trying to exonerate him, but Hitler is beyond any exoneration, ...

...and the technique also works only because Hitler has been turned from a real person into a myth, so it seems impossible to rationally talk about the real person unless you just stick to the negative parts, but I think this is wrong and incompatible with my values.

Yes, not everything that is true needs to be said, and truth can be even harmful when people can not properly handle it, something we all have difficulties with, but I deem understanding Nazis and Hitler as crucial to better fight the spread of toxic ideologies, ...

...and not being able to freely talk about Hitler is not helping in the long run. I may be wrong though and can offer no evidence for that.
I see many similarities between Nazi Germany, China, Russia, Turkey and even the United States, ...

...but it is basically impossible to seriously discuss them, also, because the people from the left side of the political spectrum are so liberal with calling someone a Nazi that in my view they trivialized Nazism to a point that makes them unfit for a serious debate.

As a member of the G10-Commission I had the task to protect the rights of all kinds of extremists, left-wing, right-wing, Islamist, Separatist, Cultist (e.g. Scientology), as well as mostly Russian, Iranian and Turkish spies and agents,...

...and I knew their names, photos, biographies, observation reports, their letters and wiretapped communication, and I had to decide whether the government can lawfully continue to monitor them, which I tried to do as diligently and with as little prejudice as possible,...

...and you just can not do that if you get triggered all the time by some labels. I primarily saw all of them as humans, most of them deeply flawed and leading fucked up lives, often with a history of violence, alcohol- and other drug abuse, trouble holding jobs and so on,...

...but in the first place they were human beings who deserved compassion and and a better life, but they somehow did not find a place in general society and banded together with other outcasts or groups or ideas that gave their life meaning. I did not hate any of them,..

...but many of them were dangerous, and some of them got themselves or others killed, e.g. by running what we called "Jihad travel agency" or by joining fights. While it was fascinating to see behind the curtain, it also substantially changed my view of the world and humanity,...

...and made me focus more on the question how to bring such people back into society or maybe not losing them in the first place, like a plane crash investigation where is does not help to blame things on the pilot but e.g. address deficiencies in training or airline policies.

I see myself also as a flawed human being, but my way of coping with it is to put myself out here, not holding back too much, and also allow myself to make mistakes here in public, and by dealing with them I learn a great deal about myself and other people who give me feedback.

I think many people appreciate that and get some inspiration or orientation from it. Despite being showered sometimes with attempts to insult and hurt me, I do enjoy the interactions here. Insults tell more about the person insulting than the insulted, and I can cope with that.