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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Daniel Jonah Goldhagen's hypothesis was that there was something different about Germany that made antisemitism flourish there in as murderous way. I don't necessarily agree with this hypothesis, as a lot of historians have criticized his methodology. However, he asks whether one can envision everyday Danes or Italians participating in the Holocaust the way Germans did. The fact that I can't envision that makes me want to do more research on this topic.[/quote]

Under the right conditions, any majority group will participate in the type of behavior the Germans engaged in. Stanley Milgram's research and Phillip Zimbardo's research show this pretty convincingly. Even Americans, who have a highly individualistic culture, will do things like that. [b](Just look at what happened at the prisons on Iraq for more evidence.) [/b]

Germans weren't special. They were humans. They were in desperate political and economic straights and they turned to political leaders who were charismatic, evil men. It can happen anywhere.  The identity of the scapegoat will be different, but it could happen here.

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Uhhhhh.. No comparison [/quote]

The impulse and behavior are the same of those prison guards is the same as the behavior of SS guards at Nazi camps, even if the scale isn't.  Germans aren't any different than Americans when given power over a scape-goated enemy.

This is a human impulse and one that Americans are currently caught up in. In the wake of 911, Americans as a people have embraced a number of fascist political strategies. We support the use of torture (waterboarding, stress positions, etc.) against our "enemies." We support the use of indefinite detention at Gitmo by a majority. We support the extrajudicial murder of American citizens by drones by a majority. We support the use of extraordinary rendition so that our allies can torture people for us. We support the use of widespread domestic spying to ensure domestic security.  We supported the invasion of Iraq, which has resulted in the deaths of thousands of Iraqis, including children, on the basis of a manufactured excuse by our leaders.

Americans who stand up against these actions by our government are called "un-American" and "commies" and "enemies of the state."

All we needed was a few leaders who were willling to send Muslims to camps and we would have been right there with the Nazis, shipping them off.

We held Africans in slavery, we engaged in genocide and ethnic cleansing with Indian Removal policies, we practice Jim Crow and segregation, and we sent Japanese Americans to detention camps.

There is nothing special about Germans. It's the dark side of human nature to lean towards facism when threatened and desperate.

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