Just like Hitler
Well. I’ve refrained from saying anything about the US elections so far, partly because I’m not a US citizen (albeit sharing a bed with one) and partly because I’m a porn author (albeit a political porn author). Then again, it could be argued that every story is political, just by the way it choses to portray people, characters, events and environments, and porn is no exception. Let’s take, just for a random example, your run-off-the-mill gangbang scenario (one of the more popular porn tropes). How is the woman portrayed? How are the men? What’s the interaction? Are there black peope, white people, other ethnic minorities? How are they protrayed? (And what does it say about our readership that a token black dude makes the story sell even better?)
So, lately I’ve started writing a new series, set in Germany’s Weimar republic, and as the thorough little writer I am, I’ve done some extensive research into the subject matter to make it as authentic as I possibly can. I know I don’t have to do that, but I like it. I’m not even kidding myself into thinking that it would make the story any better, I’m just curious about things and like to learn about them before I use them for a story setting. So anyway, Weimar Germany was a very tumultous, exciting, stressful, revolutionary, chaotic and awesome time, but will also always be looked at through the lens of “this is the kind of environment in which Hitler came to power”. And since there are a lot of Hitler comparisons going around lately about not just one candidate, but mainly about one in particular, I thought I’d add in my own two cents of what I’ve learned.
It’s important to remember, but easy to forget, that Germany was a very young democracy in the 1920’s. In fact, it could be said that it was the first time it had a truly democratic government in all of its history, which created the usual frustrations that we’re used to today, but were new and strange for people back then. Things just take longer to get done in a democracy, there’s a lot of debate, a lot of compromise, a lot of in-fighting, a lot of, well, politics. If the emperor said something had to be done, it got done. If the president said something had to get done, it needed to get through parliament, it needed a majority, it needed to be debated, voted on, passed, put into effect. It’s a different process. It’s no surprise, then, that Weimar Germany had a sizeable amount of people who just wanted to return back to the monarchy. And there’s the first difference already: These people just don’t exist anymore. Not in any real capacity. So, overthrowing democratic principles and installing oneself as dictator was much easier in the 1930’s than it would be today. People might want a certain demagogue for a president, but they don’t want that same demagogue as dictator. In Hitler’s time, a dictator wasn’t seen as a particularly bad thing in itself, but that time is over.
Then, it’s likewise easy to forget how volatile the general mood in Germany was at the time. There were violent shootouts in the streets between police and different groups of partisans, militia, protesters or plain upset workers. Additionally, pretty much every year also saw a violent coup d’etat which aimed to overthrow the current government. In fact, Hitler’s own party, the NSDAP, had a militia corps (SA or “Sturmabteilung”) that regularly engaged in clashes with police or other groups and carried a coup of its own (unsuccessfully). How many coups d’etats are being carried out in modern western societies? How many armed militia groups are openly patrolling the streets, engaging in firefights with police? Some, admittedly, but not nearly as many.
And finally, crippling debt. Don’t get me wrong, poor people today have it hard enough as it is, and it is a stain on our societies if we allow people to remain in poverty while our economies are as strong as they are. But that’s just the point: Our economies are strong. Germany’s economy in 1930 was not. It was dragged down by war reparations, destruction of its industry, loss of workforce due to the war and a harsh economic downturn due to the financial crisis of 1929. Unemployment was rampant and even those who had employment weren’t much better off due to hyperinflation and lack of supply. Yes, unemployment exists today too. Yes, there’s a financial crisis. Yes, countries are in debt. But the amount of people affected by this is nowhere near as large as it was in Germany in the 1930’s.
Don’t get me wrong, of course there are similarities too. Hitler was a demagogue, was openly racist, used the government to provide jobs for people, Germany was extremely nationalistic and militaristic. Some of these things apply today too. But they in and of themselves don’t make for a Hitler. Not even a Mussolini. Not even close.
So yeah, I wish there were better candidates. I wish there was a better mood overall, in many countries. But so far, I’m hopeful. This whole thing will die down, and we’ll get better afterwards. Because in the end, the people that make us hate others, will draw hate on themselves.