The Meaning of "NAZI"

Posted by Herb7734 6 years, 12 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 term2 6 years, 12 months ago in reply to this comment.
    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 $ allosaur 6 years, 12 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Now me dino better understands some of the donation seeking mail I no longer open but toss in the trash and phone calls I stopped answering thanks to caller ID. And there's certain emails I blink at twice before I click delete.
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  • Posted by 6 years, 12 months ago in reply to this comment.
    That's the very thing that caused me to start this discussion. I think that most Nazis didn't know what Nazi meant.
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  • Posted by 6 years, 12 months ago in reply to this comment.
    You got it. Both are lousy ways to die. Better in a place of your own choosing being held by someone who loves you. "Good night sweet prince."
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  • Posted by 6 years, 12 months ago in reply to this comment.
    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 6 years, 12 months ago in reply to this comment.
    It morphs into communism. What's in a name? Fascism by any other name would still stink the place up.
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  • Posted by 6 years, 12 months ago in reply to this comment.
    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 6 years, 12 months ago in reply to this comment.
    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 6 years, 12 months ago in reply to this comment.
    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 mccannon01 6 years, 12 months ago in reply to this comment.
    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 $ Olduglycarl 6 years, 12 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 Storo 6 years, 12 months ago in reply to this comment.
    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 $ allosaur 6 years, 12 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Ron Paul don't strike me as kiss-up one of the guys wannabes.
    Trouble is, me dino can't think of anyone else.
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  • Posted by KevinSchwinkendorf 6 years, 12 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 6 years, 12 months ago in reply to this comment.
    Being "one of the guys" -- i:e: as corrupt as I am. The swamp's sweet smell of decay.
    I think that it is not possible to be a politician and have morals.
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