Summary
Support for Germany’s far-right AfD is surging among young men, driven by concerns over immigration, conservative values, and distrust of mainstream politics.
A Pew study found 26% of German men view AfD positively, compared to 11% of women.
Social media, particularly TikTok, has helped spread its message. Some young supporters reject accusations of extremism, while others openly embrace far-right views.
Analysts warn that if mainstream parties ease their opposition to the AfD, it could become Germany’s dominant right-wing party.
sooooo…ummmm…here’s the craziest thing; hold on, you’re not gonna believe this:
the nazis were SUPER into astrology, homeopathy, and similar shit!
nazi occultism is essential to nazi ideology, so not only are these concepts intimately intertwined, they form one of the pillars on which nazi iedology is built: “alternate science”
“alterantive science”, “aryan science”, or whatever else it’s called (it doesn’t actually matter, all of it is the exact same shit: NOT science), is an important part of fascist power structures in that it serves as a vehicle to legitimize the crazy racist and supremacist shit they want to believe.
phrenology, homeopathy, eugenics, and all the rest of the dogmatic bullshit played a major role in the 3rd reich by delegitimize the “jewish science”.
sound familiar? it should!
the modern equivalent is “woke science”, which, you know, is just regular science…
so, no, nazi ideology doesn’t “compare” to astrology and homeopathy: those are essential parts of nazism and the associated anti-intellectualism!
(ExtraHistory has a recent video series on the topic of nazi occultism; it’s on youtube and nebula, if you’re interested to learn more!)
not sure how it would play out nowadays, especially in the U.S., but in the 3rd reich the church was a significant source of resistance against nazi rule.
the reasons for that include the church having a vested interest in keeping some control over the population and it’s own propaganda, but the vast majority of resistance came from individual clergy members refusing to bow to the cruelty of the nazis, and defending their communities.
these priests resisted both directly and indirectly, rallied rebels, organized smuggling operations, provided meeting places, sheltered refugees, sabotaged, and generally made the jobs of the nazi oppressors that much harder.
many, MANY clergy members were murdered by the nazis for their resistance, and quite a few officially received martyrdom status, and a few are regarded as national heroes for their efforts!
so i’m an atheist, vehemently against the church and think that:
…but you chose the one period in history that actually makes it kinda clear what benefits the church does provide.
like i said, i’m not a fan, and if it wasn’t the church i’m fairly confident others would have stepped up and taken on similar roles of resistance, as many indeed did at the time, and yet this is one of the few instances in which the members of the clergy were quite clearly on the right side of history for once…possibly the only time.
sooooo…yeah…unlucky example in this (very specific) context…
there’s a lot fascinating history around these two topics, highly recommend checking it out! ;)