Levka on Nostr: (1.) Totalitarianism predates capitalism by millennia. (2.) Hannah Arendt was indeed ...
(1.) Totalitarianism predates capitalism by millennia.
(2.) Hannah Arendt was indeed very racist. That does not, however, make anything anything else she said, be wrong. Some of it is right, some of it is wrong. Each and all of it must be judged on the basis of its own validity and relevance. In this, she is not alone. Wilhelm Reich was wrong about orgone. That in no way invalidates what he said in *The Mass Psychology of Fascism*, some of which was right, some of which was wrong, and all of which must be judged on its own merits or lack thereof. Lincoln himself was a racist. That in no way detracts from the Emancipation Proclamation, limited in intent as it was. And so on.
(3.) What you believe matters only to the space between your ears. What you do matters to the world. A great many racist white men from the Jim Crow South fought and died to stop Hitler. Should they have been disallowed to fight because they were less morally enlightened about race than we are? I think not. Anybody who did anything at all to stop Hitler, for whatever their personal reasons happened to be, did the right thing, and benefited us all, and me personally. I'm what Nazis call a "race traitor". I sleep with a Jew, the same one for forty years, as of last July. That puts both of us on the short list for what they call "special treatment". Nazis don't need to attain state power before they can kill. The Tree of Life massacre proved that. It wasn't the only time, either.
The Red Army was never the most moral army in history, but even its atrocities benefited us all, myself not the least. If it wasn't for the Red Army, I'd have grown up speaking German and the love of my life would never have been born. This in no way excuses Bolshevism. Bolshevism is just as totalitarian as Nazism. Just because they wore different uniforms didn't make the Red Army morally superior to the Wehrmacht. They, too, were wrong about a great many things, chief among them Bolshevism itself, but also their loyalty to that monster Stalin. They were right, however, about the one thing that mattered most of all and is still true even today: Nazis must die. So I forgive the Reds' moral imperfection and celebrate their victory. May 9th is the *real* Victory in Europe Day. Russians did most of the heavy lifting. Russians did most of the dying. The Nazis' fate was sealed at Kursk. Normandy was a sideshow. Give credit where credit is due.
Anti-fascism is, and always has been, a big tent. Not all anti-fascists are moral paragons. So what? Anti-fascists need all the help we can get. We choose our friends. History chooses our allies.
(2.) Hannah Arendt was indeed very racist. That does not, however, make anything anything else she said, be wrong. Some of it is right, some of it is wrong. Each and all of it must be judged on the basis of its own validity and relevance. In this, she is not alone. Wilhelm Reich was wrong about orgone. That in no way invalidates what he said in *The Mass Psychology of Fascism*, some of which was right, some of which was wrong, and all of which must be judged on its own merits or lack thereof. Lincoln himself was a racist. That in no way detracts from the Emancipation Proclamation, limited in intent as it was. And so on.
(3.) What you believe matters only to the space between your ears. What you do matters to the world. A great many racist white men from the Jim Crow South fought and died to stop Hitler. Should they have been disallowed to fight because they were less morally enlightened about race than we are? I think not. Anybody who did anything at all to stop Hitler, for whatever their personal reasons happened to be, did the right thing, and benefited us all, and me personally. I'm what Nazis call a "race traitor". I sleep with a Jew, the same one for forty years, as of last July. That puts both of us on the short list for what they call "special treatment". Nazis don't need to attain state power before they can kill. The Tree of Life massacre proved that. It wasn't the only time, either.
The Red Army was never the most moral army in history, but even its atrocities benefited us all, myself not the least. If it wasn't for the Red Army, I'd have grown up speaking German and the love of my life would never have been born. This in no way excuses Bolshevism. Bolshevism is just as totalitarian as Nazism. Just because they wore different uniforms didn't make the Red Army morally superior to the Wehrmacht. They, too, were wrong about a great many things, chief among them Bolshevism itself, but also their loyalty to that monster Stalin. They were right, however, about the one thing that mattered most of all and is still true even today: Nazis must die. So I forgive the Reds' moral imperfection and celebrate their victory. May 9th is the *real* Victory in Europe Day. Russians did most of the heavy lifting. Russians did most of the dying. The Nazis' fate was sealed at Kursk. Normandy was a sideshow. Give credit where credit is due.
Anti-fascism is, and always has been, a big tent. Not all anti-fascists are moral paragons. So what? Anti-fascists need all the help we can get. We choose our friends. History chooses our allies.