Reactionaries and the underlying cruelty of society?

[SomeRandom]

So I’ve always been a little morbidly curious about the rise of The Third Reich. I understand intellectually how the society was turned cruel, for lack of a better phrase. But never emotionally. How does a seemingly liberal welcoming country like 1920s Germany become.....well Nazi Germany, I thought to myself, naively.

But I’ve seen these kinds of turns happen in my own time.(Thankfully not on such a scale.)
When that stupid GamerGate thing happened. It was almost like a light switch. Otherwise good natured nerds started to adopt more vicious tactics. Prominent common enemies they could use to unite the GG allies in the “battle” emerged. Anita Sarkeesian and Quinn.

It seems so inconsequential, taking place mostly online and just trolls trolling. So who cares, amirite? But truth be told there were real life affects for those heavily involved. All the swatting and harassment. It’s easy to brush it off as just trolling if you’re used to laughing at trolls online. But I realise now that lacks empathy. An understanding that our words and actions can impact someone so negatively. And that by simply dismissing it as unimportant losers being losers, as was the common etiquette in the day, is implicitly allowing such cruelty to occur unchallenged.

A more real life scenario happened to me when the Same Sex Marriage debate raged through Australia. It was again like a light switch. People who I thought I knew, otherwise humble rational and caring people, started spewing out hateful homophobic diatribe. Often unbidden. It was honestly scary to watch.

I understand that visceral reactions are probably inevitable with social change.
What do we do to combat this as feminists? Is there like a game plan or something? Lol

 

[Brickjectivity]

So I’ve always been a little morbidly curious about the rise of The Third Reich. I understand intellectually how the society was turned cruel, for lack of a better phrase. But never emotionally. How does a seemingly liberal welcoming country like 1920s Germany become.....well Nazi Germany, I thought to myself, naively.

Germany was formerly called Prussia, and it had the strange fortune of a previous philosopher king named Fredrich II. Because of its past Germany believed in certain things that swayed it towards nationalism, and it was as you say very liberal, relatively educated, innovative. There had been no place like it in local History and in many ways no place like it ever. Its musicians were the best. Its Science was the best. It was easy for Germany to fall prey to the argument that its success was due to breeding. Even now its a very beautiful sort of country where everyone insists upon artistry and uniqueness. Even the drains are beautiful. The language is like an oiled machine, very precise relative to many languages.

A more real life scenario happened to me when the Same Sex Marriage debate raged through Australia. It was again like a light switch. People who I thought I knew, otherwise humble rational and caring people, started spewing out hateful homophobic diatribe. Often unbidden. It was honestly scary to watch.

I understand that visceral reactions are probably inevitable with social change.
What do we do to combat this as feminists? Is there like a game plan or something? Lol

People are ignorant about progress, the history of progress. We're ignorant about the default human position and the patterns that civilizations can fall into and what can feel normal yet be extremely different from what we know. We tend to presume that our childhood reflects what is automatic.

Try getting someone to eat foods that they aren't used to. They'll tell you those foods are bizarre, strange, disgusting; yet food is food. People enjoy all kinds of food that you and I have never head of, smelled or imagined. Would you eat a raw clam? No way its disgusting! No human would ever eat that! People do though and love them.

 

[SomeRandom]

Germany was formerly called Prussia, and it had the strange fortune of a previous philosopher king named Fredrich II. Because of its past Germany believed in certain things that swayed it towards nationalism, and it was as you say very liberal, relatively educated, innovative. There had been no place like it in local History and in many ways no place like it ever. Its musicians were the best. Its Science was the best. It was easy for Germany to fall prey to the argument that its success was due to breeding. Even now its a very beautiful sort of country where everyone insists upon artistry and uniqueness. Even the drains are beautiful. The language is like an oiled machine, very precise relative to many languages.

Oh I think you just sparked an old memory of History class for me. That sounds vaguely familiar.
Incidentally I’m currently reading Travellers in the Third Reich. Which is a non fiction account of.....well travellers in Germany before during and after WWII.
What struck me was two things.
The large amount of sympathy immediately following WWI people seemed to have for Germany and its plight. It’s “unfair” taxes it was paying to France per the Treaty of Versailles. Even accounts of hardened diplomats slowly becoming more and more sympathetic.
And the large amount of pride German people had for it’s army and fighting prowess. Both indignant at the idea they were defeated and the bristling at the idea that they were somehow responsible for WWI.
The hatred for the “traitorous coward” that was the previous Kaiser.
When you learn about what set up WWII, the conversation is usually focused on the economic aspects. But there’s a very real raw human element there as well.

I guess with hindsight and being born much later than WWII, it’s easy to think of 1930s Germany and the Third Reich in simplistic terms of good and evil. Good people allowing the evil of Hitler by doing nothing and all that Jazz. It’s an easy narrative. But I suppose unrealistic at the end of the day. No one thinks of themselves as the bad guy, right?

People are ignorant about progress, the history of progress. We're ignorant about the default human position and the patterns that civilizations can fall into and what can feel normal yet be extremely different from what we know. We tend to presume that our childhood reflects what is automatic.

Try getting someone to eat foods that they aren't used to. They'll tell you those foods are bizarre, strange, disgusting; yet food is food. People enjoy all kinds of food that you and I have never head of, smelled or imagined. Would you eat a raw clam? No way its disgusting! No human would ever eat that! People do though and love them.

I agree. People often lash out at change or are even indignant of progressing.
Your food example reminds me of a Facebook meme that I only saw yesterday. In Australia it’s an easy quick snack to eat toast with canned spaghetti or canned baked beans. (Figures an Aussie “delicacy” would be something that sounds like a drunk person invented lol.)
Either as a single piece or in a toasted sandwich. An Aussie with thousands of twitter followers put up a poll asking which the preferred topping was. Beans or spag.
The international response was one of revulsion. Whilst the Aussie in question was shocked by the response, thinking of the sandwich as a normal meal, but was amused nonetheless.