If Hitler had died of the flu in 1936...

[cthulu2016]

he would probably be remembered as the father of modern politics. (He would be recalled as evil in any scenario, of course.)

It is quite a case study... how does such an extraordinarily evil person end up taking over a electoral democracy?

Because of things like the Holocaust and conquering Europe, his career as an electoral politician is a footnote, but during the "candiate Hitler" phase of his career he really did pioneer just about everything we associate with a modern political campaign. A generation ahead of his time... and not in a good direction.

Radio, film, airplanes, modern advance work and a willingness to say anything. Anything. (Like... anything! In Triumph of the Will he promises a crowd of young women that when he is in power every German woman will be able to find a husband.)

His analysis of least-common-denominator politics is jarring stuff, including the observation that the larger the audience the stupider the message must be. And his analysis of the role of lies in politics seems to have been quite influential... that huge lies that are almost impossible to believe are more influential and more believed than smaller lies.

[malthaussen]

1. "Triumph of the Will" should be required viewing.

But the PTB would never allow that, because even the dumbest might pick up the similarities...

-- Mal

[joycejnr]

2. And what if Rush Limbaugh was aborted in 1950...

...things might have been a lot better too. I've maintained that Limbaugh has been one of the most effective propagandists *in the World* since the team of Hitler and Goebbels, changing the face of this country in less than a decade. "...a wilingness to say anything Anything." I'd bet the farm that Limbaugh studied the Big Lie as assiduously as any Freshman Poli Sci major.

[Lint Head]

5. Agreed!

[SoutherDem]

3. Some time when you are with some friends conduct a thought experiment.

Some of the topics could be Hitler was aborted, died of the flu, was kill in the failed assignation attempt, escaped at the end of WW2 or won the war.

I have done this and was amazed with some of the possible outcomes.

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. he was just operationalizing LeBon

Who was himself just cribbing Tarde and Singhele.

[mick063]

6. Hitler lives

Replace:

Judaism with Islam
Swastika with bald eagle
Gestapo with Dept. of Homeland Security



Points of commonality....

The relatively "peaceful" coup of a supposed democracy.
Disdain for the old, the sick, the disabled, the mentally ill, the "inferior" races, and homosexuals.




Just waiting for the hyperinflation (it's coming) to trigger impending events. Then we will likely see us try something foolhardy like ruling the world. You don't think the powermongers are just going to "settle" for North America do you?

Hitler is smiling in his grave. His vision was, after all, not in vain.

[BlueIris]

7. I really hate posts championing Hitler's 'effectiveness' at anything.

These posts seriously creep me the hell out.

[coalition_unwilling]

8. Hard to say how Hitler would have been remembered had he died in 1936, imo. In the

last parliamentary election before Hitler was appointed Chancellor by the senile Hindenburg at the behest of the weasel van Papen, the Nazi Party's share of the vote actually declined from roughly 33% to some 31%, suggesting that the Nazi's electoral success had peaked and was starting to level off and even decline.

Those fucking conservative Germans thought they could co-opt Hitler by bringing him into the government. And anything was better than the Social Democrats and Commies, in their minds.