Originally Posted by
Venomous Mask
Jokes about Godwin's Law aside, despite how monstrous a leader Hitler was, I hate how constantly compare any politician/regime/administration that they don't like to him. Not only does it cheapen the memory of the true horror of what he did, doing so ignores other horrid regimes like those of Pol Pot, Mao, or the myriad different paramilitary groups of varying ideologies who have committed countless atrocities over the last few decades. Also, on some level, the real dictatorial threat these days are often not those of megalomaniacal lunatics who are loud and proud about their autocratic ways, but sneakier autocrats who often hide their true nature beneath a thin but somewhat sturdy veneer of simply preserving law and order, 'traditional values,' the reclamation of land formerly held at some point in time, and/or national sovereignty, often using tactics like open but rigged elections to create the illusion of real democracy, going after political foes by having them charged with seemingly mundane crimes like slander/libel or tax evasion that still have the effect of silencing and often tarnishing the reputation of major opponents of the regime, and using divide and conquer strategies to keep their various opponents more preoccupied with attacking each other instead of attacking the regime. I'm talking about guys like Putin, Erdogan, Orban, Xi Jinping, and Lukashenko, devious politicians who know when to bring down the hammer on opposition and when to appear to ease off, keeping both their internal and external foes in a constant state of confusion and thus often not able to mount a sustained resistance that can keep average people engaged over in an effective, protracted opposition movement.