Did any other US Americans hear this shit growing up from pretty much every teacher or authority figure? Maybe I did just because I grew up in a conservative area. Like, you can talk about how overwhelming majorities of Americans support increasing the minimum wage or universal healthcare. But the response is always something along the lines of "well sure but people aren't smart and you can't just going along with giving people what they want. That's how you get another Hitler!" I'm sure there's a lib version of this argument but growing up I heard this particular variant from conservatives around me.

And yet these same people tout how wonderful our "democracy" is and how anything other than liberal bourgeois democracy is "authoritarianism".

FWIW I also sort of grew up among people who while not rich, were usually upper middle class and fairly comfortable. There was always a decent amount of classism / hatred of the poor in what they said. As if they are the wise parents telling children they can't have any candy or something. Hatred of the poor is such a huge driver of political opinions in the US, but that's a topic for another thread.

  • cornoffthecob [they/them,she/her]
    ·
    4 years ago

    I always got told about the dangers of mob rule, except they never even tried to give me an example of what that would look like

    • star_wraith [he/him]
      hexagon
      ·
      4 years ago

      In my experience the rise of the Nazis in Germany is the only example they have and they fall back on it 100% of the time. Of course they ignore all the other context of how the Nazis came to power, as if one example somehow proves the rule anyway.

      • shitstorm [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Also Nazi's weren't the majority when Hitler took power. He took power through undemocratic, parliamentarian compromise.

        • eduardog3000 [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          lmao again proving all right wing (including lib) arguments are projection