this post was submitted on 27 Jan 2025
268 points (97.2% liked)
Europe
1928 readers
1627 users here now
News and information from Europe ๐ช๐บ
(Current banner: La Mancha, Spain. Feel free to post submissions for banner images.)
Rules (2024-08-30)
- This is an English-language community. Comments should be in English. Posts can link to non-English news sources when providing a full-text translation in the post description. Automated translations are fine, as long as they don't overly distort the content.
- No links to misinformation or commercial advertising. When you post outdated/historic articles, add the year of publication to the post title. Infographics must include a source and a year of creation; if possible, also provide a link to the source.
- Be kind to each other, and argue in good faith. Don't post direct insults nor disrespectful and condescending comments. Don't troll nor incite hatred. Don't look for novel argumentation strategies at Wikipedia's List of fallacies.
- No bigotry, sexism, racism, antisemitism, dehumanization of minorities, or glorification of National Socialism.
- Be the signal, not the noise: Strive to post insightful comments. Add "/s" when you're being sarcastic (and don't use it to break rule no. 3).
- If you link to paywalled information, please provide also a link to a freely available archived version. Alternatively, try to find a different source.
- Light-hearted content, memes, and posts about your European everyday belong in !yurop@lemm.ee. (They're cool, you should subscribe there too!)
- Don't evade bans. If we notice ban evasion, that will result in a permanent ban for all the accounts we can associate with you.
- No posts linking to speculative reporting about ongoing events with unclear backgrounds. Please wait at least 12 hours. (E.g., do not post breathless reporting on an ongoing terror attack.)
(This list may get expanded when necessary.)
We will use some leeway to decide whether to remove a comment.
If need be, there are also bans: 3 days for lighter offenses, 14 days for bigger offenses, and permanent bans for people who don't show any willingness to participate productively. If we think the ban reason is obvious, we may not specifically write to you.
If you want to protest a removal or ban, feel free to write privately to the mods: @federalreverse@feddit.org, @poVoq@slrpnk.net, or @anzo@programming.dev.
founded 7 months ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
Modern day Germans themselves say Hitler's style is very comical. The Mein Kampf is basically incoherent ramblings. So it's very likely that 1930-40s Germans also thought the same of Hitler. Nonetheless, he still managed to be influential and capture the imagination and attention of the world (I will get to that later).
It's a misleading to think of intelligence as being broadly both knowledgeable and rational. Many psychologists are now rethinking what intelligence means. For many, intelligence means excelling more at specific cognitive ability. It's well known that autistic folks are extremely skillful at certain things, even if they lack skills or knowledge in others. That being said, an AskHistorians post discussed about that many people did think Hitler was stupid. But if he is that dumb, he would not be able to rile up the emotion of masses and gain power now, would he not? Would a conventionally stupid person be able to pull that and attain power? Politicians and authoritarians are able to exploit gaps to take power for themselves. That still takes certain skills and cognitive ability that most of us don't have. Ancient Greek philosophers have already observed how demagogues manages to convince the average people to vote certain way. Trump have done the same.
Cope all we want and call someone dumb all we want, but we're not the ones in charge. We have said the same to other dictators like Gaddafi, Amin, Mussolini and Hitler. Even if they got themselves killed at the end and lacking foresight to realise never get too drunk in power, but they're the ones who got grabbed the reins of power and lasted for as long as they could. That again take certain skills (even if they are lacking in other areas).
Maybe the we're the ones who are dumb for not seeing it. The ones in the White House, in the fiftieth floor of GM or Facebook headquarters, or presidential palace; those with power are thinking those in prisons, receptionists working for bare minimum wage, kids working to mine lithium for Tesla's electric battery for its vehicle, and a mother of two working two jobs to make ends meet are still the dumb ones electing and worshipping them rich. And those who think of themselves as "smart" are probably the ones who are actually dumb for underestimating a supposed dumb person who are in power.