Who goes Nazi?

If the worst happened and this country collapsed into fascism, who would be among the first to raise die Fahne hoch? Who would happily don brown shirts (or black, or whatever color The Leader deemed to be consistent with pure American virtue)? Conversely, who would join the Resistance? And who among the Glitterati on the Right would be purged, when push came to shove, for their lack of commitment for the Glorious Cause of American Righteousness?

"Who goes Nazi?" by Dorothy Thompson (Harper's Magazine)

It is an interesting and somewhat macabre parlor game to play at a large gathering of one’s acquaintances: to speculate who in a showdown would go Nazi. By now, I think I know. I have gone through the experience many times–in Germany, in Austria, and in France. I have come to know the types: the born Nazis, the Nazis whom democracy itself has created, the certain-to-be fellow-travelers. And I also know those who never, under any conceivable circumstances, would become Nazis.

I have my own thoughts in these matters, as did Dorothy Thompson; what do you think?

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