Asklemmy

The hated minority being inferior but also immensely powerful is a pretty standard feature of anti-minority world views of all kinds. It is pretty much required to justify the extreme actions they want to take against the minority.

The reasoning goes that certain races are more inclined towards physical strength while being mentally inferior, such that they can't accomplish anything on their own but can contribute if "directed," while Jewish people are the opposite, such that they can understand things and manipulate people, but not build or accomplish anything on their own. White people are supposed to be a sort of "happy medium," not necessarily the smartest or the strongest but smart enough to figure things out with enough strength and gumption to follow through - the image being similar to the highly idealized capitalist innovator, building a company from the ground up with hard work and vision. In the Nazi worldview, white people's fatal flaw is being too moral and kind, which Jews exploit by spreading socialist ideology, and which can prevent whites from taking action and exerting strength. So in the Nazi worldview, Jews control the world only because white people aren't really trying hard enough, and because of that, conditions are declining because Jews only want to take over existing structures and not build anything new.

This worldview is obviously complete bullshit that exists to justify violence (whether organized by the state or street violence) against vulnerable people, because Nazis are cowardly bullies looking for someone to pick on to feel strong. It ignores (or glamorizes) the entire history of slavery and colonialism, and it makes sweeping generalizations about people based on idiotic stereotypes grounded in racist eugenics bullshit.

But it had appeal in Germany because it provided a simple explanation for why conditions were declining, and it allowed people to redirect feelings of frustration or grief into anger and hate - while at the same time dividing the working class and getting people to oppose left-wing reforms that would've eased their burdens. At the same time, it was amenable to existing power structures, because most of the people in positions of power were white, and kept their power in the transition to fascism, while at the same the Nazis could pretend to be enacting "socialist" policies by nationalizing minority-run businesses.

On the one hand, I hate that I even know what they believe, but I guess there's some utility in knowing the enemy in order to better fight them and better predict their movements.

:::

Fuck Nazis.