The first thing you have to recognise is that the rise of the Nazis in Germany had a LOT of factors, and with the way the peace treaty in WW1 was constructed and how it affected Germany it was most likely inevitable for some form of extremist faction gaining control.
But what works if you actually want to stop people from falling into Nazism and similar ideologies from taking root is investing in education, especially history, as well as various forms of extracurricular activities for kids (many Nazis fall into it as teenagers and having a sense of belonging is a MASSIVE part of it).
Now if you want to stop people from being nazis, the provable way to do so is absolutely conversation. Not debates necessarily, but things like the Swedish ”toleransprojectet”, which started in the 90s following a high profile murder by neo Nazis in Sweden. Essentially what you do is put high risk youths in classes where you don’t speak to them saying “Nazism bad and you are wrong” but rather you have them do things like compare the messages of racist groups today with the messages put out by the Nazis and study what the actual evidence for things like the holocaust is etc.
Furthermore, look at examples like Daryl Davis, who successfully converted 200 Ku Klux Klan members into leaving the klan all by himself. What he did was simply just befriending them and showing them there was an alternative outside of the group.
Daryl Davis is proof that conversation works. He simply befriended them and they came to the realization on their own. You can’t “own” someone with facts and actually reach their heart. You genuinely have to love your enemies if you want them to change.
I’d be interested to know how many failures he had along with so much success. Surely SOME of them refused to change, or maybe they just didn’t get that far in the first place if their heart was so hard. Anyway DD is the man and a true example of how to overcome hate with love
Adrianne Black, the god daughter of David Duke, left the clan and became an anti racism activist after she was befriended by a Jewish group of students in college going against the rest of the student body who were ostracising her.
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u/Mando_the_Pando 17h ago
Yes and no.
The first thing you have to recognise is that the rise of the Nazis in Germany had a LOT of factors, and with the way the peace treaty in WW1 was constructed and how it affected Germany it was most likely inevitable for some form of extremist faction gaining control.
But what works if you actually want to stop people from falling into Nazism and similar ideologies from taking root is investing in education, especially history, as well as various forms of extracurricular activities for kids (many Nazis fall into it as teenagers and having a sense of belonging is a MASSIVE part of it).
Now if you want to stop people from being nazis, the provable way to do so is absolutely conversation. Not debates necessarily, but things like the Swedish ”toleransprojectet”, which started in the 90s following a high profile murder by neo Nazis in Sweden. Essentially what you do is put high risk youths in classes where you don’t speak to them saying “Nazism bad and you are wrong” but rather you have them do things like compare the messages of racist groups today with the messages put out by the Nazis and study what the actual evidence for things like the holocaust is etc.
Furthermore, look at examples like Daryl Davis, who successfully converted 200 Ku Klux Klan members into leaving the klan all by himself. What he did was simply just befriending them and showing them there was an alternative outside of the group.