starman2003 wrote:Like I said, totalitarians emphasize the State over the individual, so of course they're not really popular hence have to resort to coercion and violence to put joe blow in his place. But no regime can survive without substantial popular support and the nazis had it. Their ideology is their source of legitimacy.
What are you a Marxist? A fundamentalist religious type? ideology is the source of legitimacy. Rubbish IT's thugs and violence. The Nazi took and maintained power by force, authorities regimes rely of the military or para military thugs to beat people up and murder people. Thats how the get power thats how they maintain power.
starman2003 wrote:Like Heisenberg and Speer?
Exceptions do not prove rules. Many top scientists fled Nazi Germany. We're talking about book burners here. The Nazis were against intellectuals, scientists , thinkers. They imposed arbitrary dictates about books, culture and learning. Authoritarianism is opposed to thinking by it's very nature.
starman2003 wrote:The nazis were only human. They were misguided, notably in their racial doctrines and made mistakes. Two key points though. First, this group of people you say was so worthless propelled Germany from weakness and bankruptcy to veritable superpower status, in under a decade, in the process routing all European democracies combined, but met their match in another totalitarian power. Second, while the reich was ultimately defeated, that owed much to geopolitical accident not inherent faults. Basically fascism was an ideal system for strengthening the state vis a vis others, but the odds against the reich were too great.
But lets be honest about the Nature of that Regime. The Nazis relied of violence . thuggery and murder to stay in power. They were opposed to thinking in general. And they were corrupt to the core.
starman2003 wrote:The top nazis were capable people who tended to be from the middle or lower classes in a society usually run by aristocrats. Their system would've reflected their point of view.
Capable. Goring? Really? The fact is the nazi regime tended too promote yes man and non entities, sure they weren't all useless, but they were corrupt. like look at the Gaultiers. Corrupt cronies.
starman2003 wrote:fuser, the fascists weren't against intellectuals just those who opposed them.
they were opposed to thinking. The Nazis you had to for them, there was no middle ground either you submitted and were compliant and complicit in the regime, or you were out.
starman2003 wrote:Goebbels and Rosenberg were intellectuals, as were early fascist thinkers.
thats the best you got? How many Nobel prize winners fled Germany? Nazi germ nay was against free thinking and science or culture that wasn't approved.
The fact is fascist regimes, rely of thugs, brutal people who don't mind killing, torture and beating people. They are core group which defines these regimes.
Fascist regimes are not accountable. Dumb decisions are opposed from above. People are appointed for ideological or crony reasons rather than being the best person for the job. Non entities, yes man, corruption these are the effects on fascism on administration.
German High command in ww2 was populated with yes men, non entities who agreed with the leader. They told him what he wanted to hear. The Nazi administration was corrupt form top to bottom. cronyism and empire building.
These regimes attract these sort of people. They repel thinkers.
You simply cannot have an authoritarian regime without corruption, thugs and anti intellectualism. They are core parts of the program.