Worst prediction ever
Worst prediction ever
EDIT:
Context: This is an archived article from 1939 by "Foreign Affairs".
https://www.foreignaffairs.com/articles/germany/1939-04-01/will-hitler-save-democracy
20 comments
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No one seems to have actually read the article, just the headline. This is the ultimate click bait title - kudos to the headline writer in 1939.
The tl/dr: It's saying Hitler's authoritarian actions were galvanising other countries to step up and protect democracy after the failures after WW1.
In the final paragraph:
It is one of the most interesting phenomena of Hitler's political activity that it has resulted in bringing about so soon such an overwhelming and unprecedented manifestation of defensive solidarity amongst the democratic peoples.
And the final line of the article:
It would be the height of paradox if Hitler, of all persons, were destined by his statesmanship finally "to make the world safe for Democracy."
The article is surprisingly prescient.
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Lmao OP caught in 4k
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In my defense, the contents were blocked by a paywall
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When the headline of an article is a question, the answer is always "no".
Interesting that unwritten rule applied back then as well.
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I'd love to read it for myself but it's paywalled. Do you think you could run it through archive.is?
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I think I get the point they're trying to make, democracy had become complacent and Hitler gave it a common threat and enemy, but in retrospect... Didn't work out that great now, did it
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It's difficult to quantify, but I think there is a compelling argument to be made - just off of my head, WW2 led to:
- the fall of German autocracy/restoration of German democracy (though Hitler did kinda break that one in the first place)
- Italian and Japanese democracy
- redistribution of wealth/power in Britain
- the 4th french republic
- alignment of the European democracies
- establishment of the UN
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- end of the British empire
- eventual formation of the EU to replace the League of Nations
But also
- invention of the nuclear bomb
- by extension, escalation of the cold war
- numerous coups against democratic leaders and proxy wars due to it
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Italian and Japanese democracy
And, albeit on a longer timeframe, Taiwanese and South Korean democracy.
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It worked fine at the time, the problem is that all of that motivation to defend democracy was artificial, and slowly faded from the public as the war faded into the past.
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Journalism has an adage that any headline ending with a question can be answered "no" by the readet who then safely ignores it.
I guess this article was from before they figured that out
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That authors name is Comfort Ero?
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Soon, we will get the same with Trump, Putin, etc.
20 comments