A Hypothetical Question
On Resisting Nazis:
You’re in Germany in 1930. You’ve just been visited by a nutty old guy in a DeLorian, so you know more or less what’s going to happen in the next 15 years: The Nazis are growing in power and are going to do bad things, then very bad things, then celebrate with a world war. What do you do?
If you are a Craven Weakling Without A Single Moral Fiber In Your Body, you flee to America. But suppose you’re not, and that you want to do something to help. And assassination is off-limits.
Do you do something right away, in 1930? At the moment, the Nazis are just another political party. Your resistance will take the form of campaigning for the opposition. In 1933, civil rights get suspended and all of the opposition leaders get locked up. Unless you beat Hitler at public speaking, you’re in jail for the rest of the war. You are the weakest link. Goodbye.
Suppose you wait until 1933, when communists attack the Parliament building (or so we’re told). Now you’ve got grounds for real complaint! Civil rights suspended! Arrests without crimes! Except that the only people in jail are communist terrorists, and public opinion is very much on Hitler’s side (except for the communists on the left, who’ve been banned).
Maybe this is as good a time to speak as any. But if you do, I wonder how much headway you’ll make, since most people are okay with denying civil rights to terrorists. And you make yourself a target for the next round of arrests later that year. If you don’t do anything, of course, you’re standing by and letting the Nazis abduct people.
The longer you wait, the more obvious it becomes that the Nazis are abusing their power, the more obvious that people are being abducted. On the other hand, the public is and remains on Hitler’s side and people who oppose Hitler are gradually disappearing, one way or another, so you’ll have a less and less reception audience. And “waiting” in this case means turning a blind eye when your neighbor is abducted in the night.
On the other hand, you could do more than trying to rally the public. You could act, joining the resistance, fighting the Nazi war machine and smuggling Jews out of the country. But here, you’ll be more effective the more the Nazis trust you. If you’re in jail for opposing the Nazis in 1933, you’re no good to anybody. But if you’re Schindler…
On the other hand, Schindler is making bullets for the war, isn’t he? If you want to be Schindler, you need to work with the Nazis. You want to make friends with Nazis. You might even want to join the Nazi party. You certainly don’t want to speak out against them, because then they’ll be watching you. So do you spend the next nine years as a Nazi supporter?
Give me some reader response on this. It’s 1930 and you want to stop those darn Nazis. How do you do it?
You’re in Germany in 1930. You’ve just been visited by a nutty old guy in a DeLorian, so you know more or less what’s going to happen in the next 15 years: The Nazis are growing in power and are going to do bad things, then very bad things, then celebrate with a world war. What do you do?
If you are a Craven Weakling Without A Single Moral Fiber In Your Body, you flee to America. But suppose you’re not, and that you want to do something to help. And assassination is off-limits.
Do you do something right away, in 1930? At the moment, the Nazis are just another political party. Your resistance will take the form of campaigning for the opposition. In 1933, civil rights get suspended and all of the opposition leaders get locked up. Unless you beat Hitler at public speaking, you’re in jail for the rest of the war. You are the weakest link. Goodbye.
Suppose you wait until 1933, when communists attack the Parliament building (or so we’re told). Now you’ve got grounds for real complaint! Civil rights suspended! Arrests without crimes! Except that the only people in jail are communist terrorists, and public opinion is very much on Hitler’s side (except for the communists on the left, who’ve been banned).
Maybe this is as good a time to speak as any. But if you do, I wonder how much headway you’ll make, since most people are okay with denying civil rights to terrorists. And you make yourself a target for the next round of arrests later that year. If you don’t do anything, of course, you’re standing by and letting the Nazis abduct people.
The longer you wait, the more obvious it becomes that the Nazis are abusing their power, the more obvious that people are being abducted. On the other hand, the public is and remains on Hitler’s side and people who oppose Hitler are gradually disappearing, one way or another, so you’ll have a less and less reception audience. And “waiting” in this case means turning a blind eye when your neighbor is abducted in the night.
On the other hand, you could do more than trying to rally the public. You could act, joining the resistance, fighting the Nazi war machine and smuggling Jews out of the country. But here, you’ll be more effective the more the Nazis trust you. If you’re in jail for opposing the Nazis in 1933, you’re no good to anybody. But if you’re Schindler…
On the other hand, Schindler is making bullets for the war, isn’t he? If you want to be Schindler, you need to work with the Nazis. You want to make friends with Nazis. You might even want to join the Nazi party. You certainly don’t want to speak out against them, because then they’ll be watching you. So do you spend the next nine years as a Nazi supporter?
Give me some reader response on this. It’s 1930 and you want to stop those darn Nazis. How do you do it?