I know a lot of people used to ask the question, "If I was alive during the Holocaust how would I have responded?"
Well... now we know.
this post was submitted on 09 Oct 2025
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Most people just blithely act like it isn't happening. Cool cool cool.
Not sure what the average person is supposed to do from where they live. I go to protests and try to contribute to my local community, while giving money to orgs that are better positioned to do stuff, but I hate this narrative of "nobody is doing anything". I'm not going to pick up a gun and start deciding on targets, and fuck anyone who does generic calls to violence.
At the end of the day, people are just trying to live their lives, and they don't have a lot of individual levers to pull to make an impact. It requires organization and belief that good things can still happen, which are sorely lacking in left leaning spaces.
I'm not really talking about those people at all. I agree with you entirely.
I'm talking about the third of people who seem like they're happy to watch the conservative third of people murder the "left" third of people because they just "don't care about politics."
Everyone who gives a damn is doing what they can.
Wrong ending.
Other guy gets beat to death too.
And then the other, off-screen murderer gets beat to death by the on-screen one even though they're partners.
I can deal with people not believing. It's the ones cheering for with that i just can't...I can't understand.
It's not hard - they're hateful, selfish assholes who should be the ones being deported. But only hateful assholes would do such a thing. Decent, empathetic people try to understand and help even those assholes, but they never truly appreciate it - even if they act like they do because they know it gets them what they want.
There's a significant difference in all the extra ways we have to distract ourselves from reality now. Back then they had little choice but to see what was going on, but nowadays so many people are burying their heads into gaming, social media, streaming video, etc. that they (often deliberately) aren't even aware of the horrors happening next door. I can't say as I entirely blame them because it's depressing and overwhelming AF - especially when it's your own fellow countrymen behind it all.
Back then they had little choice but to see what was going on
I think you're underselling the impact of early newspaper and radio, or the ideological influences of the Catholic Church.
Back then they were unusually blind. It wasn't easy to know what was happening in Zurich or Frankfurt from Berlin, nevermind what was happening in Poland or France.
Lying was much easier.
They lacked access to the information.
The regular citizens, and even low level soldiers, didn’t know about the extermination camps. Allied forces forced German soldiers to watch footage of the camps and even forced the local civilians to walk through the camps.
Most people were complacent because it looked like people were ‘just’ being arrested, detained and deported. It wasn’t until after the war that they learned about the extermination camps.
We’re not running extermination camps yet, though it’s hard to imagine a good outcome for a person who is deported into an African country in the middle of a civil war. So people are largely complacent because it looks like people are only being arrested and detained.
As the poem says:
“First they came for the immigrants and I didn’t speak up because I was not an immigrant.”
gonna be honest, when i was in high school learning about the Holocaust i didn't imagine i would be a target in another one. i always figured we'd find some new stupid bigotry instead of falling into the old uncreative ones, but i guess i gave xenophobes too much credit.
A decent portion of lemmy users just sat on their hands and did jack shit.
Couldn't even be bothered to vote.
Worse, they campaigned against the Democratic party. They admitted their campaign motivated the party to change candidates, but did not admit their campaign changed people's voting positions. They thought they could send propaganda only to politicians without it affecting ordinary people.
They admitted their campaign motivated the party to change candidates
George Clooney?
Preemptive?
Just for myself. Figured some others might appreciate.
Bold of you to assume the supporters of this regime made it far enough in middle school to read Anne Frank's diary if they were allowed to at all.
Banned books aren't banned for their content, their banned for the ideas inside them.
Oh I absolutely presumed they did not.
Hmmm... I am wondering if the book was banned from my school now because I am remembering that we only ever saw the film adaptation; we didn't read the book. Same with Schindler's List; though with that I just assumed it was 100% always just a movie.
does that include lolita? only major "banned" book i havent read
I'm pretty sure thats banned from schools for entirely different reasons.
was just thinking, if every banned booked had some important meaning to it then what's lolita's shtick.
like if you really wanted to hide something profound for whatever reason, than best place is in a plain sight so off putting the majority of people cant even bring them selves to bother finding a copy.
all the other banned books have some clear ulterior motive being banned
It has a schtick, it's whole thing is normalize grooming and abuse. The idea that men with power can have what they need.
I mean it's not universally banned, it's just plain harmful literature, just like anything conservatives say or tweet.
huh. like i said, never read it. all the other banned books I'v read have just been some manner of "hey bro, ever thought you deserved fair days pay for fair days work just like everyone else? ever thought about whose telling you to hate your neighbor?"
didnt know if lolita had some "secret" meaning behind it too
Wow, this is powerful right now, thanks for posting
I recently visited her house (now a museum) in Amsterdam and these words were chilling to read.
I visited the attic she stayed in in Amsterdam once. It was a sobering experience.
"In spite of everything, I still believe that people are really good at heart."
Props to you for being able to believe that, Anne. I don't know that I can. I grow more misanthropic by the day. We've learned nothing. NOTHING!
Meanwhile, in the cesspool:
https://www.reddit.com/r/FreeFolkNation/comments/1o2kxhd/nazi_snowflakes_gonna_be_triggered/
(the comments are mostly horrific)
At least those kids got to come home from school. In Gaza they're blowing them up.
And the hospitals.
To catch Hamas don't you know. Whom they allegedly know the exact spot that they're in at any given moment (otherwise why blow up the schools and hospitals?)
But have no idea where the hostages are except that they're not exactly where they're bombing at any given time.
Oh. And Israel's hostages aren't called hostages, so don't confuse them as such. They're called prisoners.
At least those kids got to come home from school. In Gaza they're blowing them up.
Neither of these things are good, and we don't need to rank them in how horrible they are.
Both are horrors that shouldn't be happening. Thats it.
True. I am on my third hot whiskey of the night trying to beat a dose. Not sure if I am starting to get drunk or just dizzy from the flu. I thin I was trying to say that something something made more sense and something else. I have no idea what I was trying to say, so happy christmas. Think I am drunk. Just no fire in the fireplace yet.
holy shit! did you know that eggs are $16 a dozen in some places?
I bet you didn't know that I can balance a spoon on the tip of my nose either.
Yes. Well inserted.