1303
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] danc4498@lemmy.world 26 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Honest question, did we fight the Nazis because they were Nazis as we know them today (genocidal/racist/fascist)? Or did we fight the Nazis because they were attacking our allies?

[-] Objection@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 week ago

That's a complicated question without a clear answer. It's hard to establish the motivations of an individual person, but much harder when you're talking about the entire country. Generally, people were united in the war effort, but for a variety of reasons. The NYT downplayed the Holocaust and specifically tried to avoid focusing on antisemitism, in part because they were worried that people wouldn't like the idea of fighting a war to protect Jewish people, as racism and antisemitism were very much present. On the other hand, you had people like folk singer Woody Guthrie who explicitly connected the war to anti-fascism in his songs. But there were also plenty of people and media who had been praising Hitler, before he started invading everywhere.

Basically there were lots of reasons for lots of people to dislike the Nazis, so it's kind of hard to detangle who was motivated by what and to what degree. Generally though, if they had kept to their own borders, it's unlikely that any other country would have invaded them just for being fascists, and many countries went through great lengths not to go to war with them, because nobody wanted to recreate the devastation of WWI. Even then the US wasn't willing to get directly involved until it was directly attacked.

[-] Prunebutt@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 week ago

Wasn't Pearl Harbor also a main reason?

[-] Objection@lemmy.ml 7 points 1 week ago

Yes, that's what I said at the end. The US didn't get involved until directly attacked.

It's notable that the US decided to get involved and to focus on the European theater, despite being attacked by Japan. But that doesn't really tell us about motivations. It could be that the US considered Nazi ideology more dangerous than Japan's ideology, or it's possible they were more interested in Europe for the sake of their allies, or it could've been a purely strategic decision.

load more comments (8 replies)
this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2024
1303 points (98.9% liked)

Political Memes

4652 readers
4425 users here now

Welcome to politcal memes!

These are our rules:

Be civilJokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.

No misinformationDon’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.

Posts should be memesRandom pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.

No bots, spam or self-promotionFollow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS