"Who Goes Nazi?" -1941 Parlor Game by Dorothy Parker Thompson

[TygrBright]

Source: Harper's

Eerily relevant, well-written, and razor-edged, Dorothy describes who will:

"Mr. B" the banker, whose sole measure of value—success. Nazism as a minority movement would not attract him. As a movement likely to attain power, it would.

"Mr. C" the brilliant and embittered intellectual. ...a snob, loathing his own snobbery.

"Mrs. E", who's married to a man who never ceases to humiliate her, to lord it over her, to treat her with less consideration than he does his dogs. ... She will titillate with pleased excitement to the first popular hero who proclaims the basic subordination of women.

...and so many more.

And she describes who won't:

Kind, good, happy, gentlemanly, secure people never go Nazi. They may be the gentle philosopher whose name is in the Blue Book, or Bill from City College to whom democracy gave a chance to design airplanes—you’ll never make Nazis out of them. But the frustrated and humiliated intellectual, the rich and scared speculator, the spoiled son, the labor tyrant, the fellow who has achieved success by smelling out the wind of success—they would all go Nazi in a crisis.

Believe me, nice people don’t go Nazi. Their race, color, creed, or social condition is not the criterion. It is something in them.

It's worth reading.

It's worth playing the game, next time you're in a group.

It's surprisingly easy.

sadly,
Bright

[guillaumeb]

1. Recommended.

Much the same could be written about racists, and misogynists, and any who build themselves up by tearing others down.