this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2026
723 points (98.8% liked)

World News

52150 readers
3651 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] jjpamsterdam@feddit.org 17 points 21 hours ago (1 children)

It's hard to make that distinction. Even in Germany under the jackboot of National Socialism there were still good people, some even dared to take action while others dragged their feet as much as possible without endangering themselves and their loved ones. This is where the difference between guilt and responsibility arises. In my opinion not all US Americans are guilty, just like not all Germans were, yet all US Americans share a responsibility to rid themselves of their political polarisation and the hatred at its root, just like the good people of Germany managed to do in the decades after the war.

[–] gigachad@piefed.social 5 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I agree. However one can address this responsibility in many ways, depending on ones skills and situation in life. Telling people to just go out on the streets and overthrow the government or get rid of their leaders is an easy appeal, but not everybody is able to translate that into action. Caring for yourself, for your family, your neighbors and your community is what most people care for in the first place. In hindsight it's always easy to say you would have joined the resistance. Many young Germans today would claim they would have prevented the rise of the Nazis, but I doubt very many of them would have done so.

[–] jjpamsterdam@feddit.org 1 points 9 hours ago

I'm absolutely with you on that point. The primary concern for the vast majority of people will always be for themselves and their loved ones. It's the reason fatalistic compliance is so common in dictatorships. I'm convinced that in most countries, including modern day Germany and the modern day United States, people can be led into fatalistic compliance. In France on the other hand I wouldn't be so certain. Imagine a scenario in which Marine or one of her stooges wins the presidential elections and tries to pull off the same march into fascism as we're currently seeing from the party formerly known as the Republicans, there would be a general strike and major upheaval in no time.