"Progressives should not make the same mistake that Ernst Thälmann made in 1932. The leader of the German Communist Party, Thälmann saw mainstream liberals as his enemies, and so the center and left never joined forces against the Nazis. Thälmann famously said that ‘some Nazi trees must not be allowed to overshadow a forest’ of social democrats, whom he sneeringly called ‘social fascists.’

After Adolf Hitler gained power in 1933, Thälmann was arrested. He was shot on Hitler’s orders in Buchenwald concentration camp in 1944."

  • Dagwood222
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    2 months ago

    “Every great leader is born already possessing certain traits that will enable them to rise and lead on instinct”.

    “The need for them has to be great for these traits to then arise, allowing them to lead.”

    From the article you provided.

    I never said Carter or Reagan had special traits, I just used their names as a placeholder for their administrations.

    I never said that there was a giant need, they were both elected as part of the regular election cycle.

    So again, you are proven wrong by your own article.

    • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      I am not proven wrong, the frame of your analysis necessitated the rest of the theory.

      Why do you believe Reagan was elected?

      • Dagwood222
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        2 months ago

        Moving the goal posts again?

        I never explicitly or implicitly endorsed the Great Man Theory. You were unable to show I did.

        Adios

          • Dagwood222
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            2 months ago

            Why do you believe Reagan was elected?

            Why did you need to move the goal posts? If you’d proven your point you’d have shown where I was wrong. You couldn’t, so you tried a different approach.

            That’s the funny thing about you. You keep shooting yourself in the foot and call it a win.

            edit =by your ‘logic’ any historian who talks about a particular leader/inventor/general believes in the Great Man theory.

            • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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              2 months ago

              I thought you said “Adios?”

              I proved it by illustrating your portrayal of history as important people doing important things, then I contextualized why they happened. Asking you why you believe events happen isn’t “moving the goal posts,” it’s the entire point of this conversation. If you truly reject Great Man Theory, then give an explanation for why Reagan was elected that rejects Great Man Theory.

              • Dagwood222
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                2 months ago

                You’re right.

                I should have stopped responding to you several messages ago.