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Please note that Tsar Nicholas II was a horrid authoritarian ruler with a lot of fucking blood on his hands. We’re talking to the tune of millions.
But this is what many authoritarians look like. Ordinary people, with ordinary fascinations and family.
Please note that Tsar Nicholas II was a horrid authoritarian ruler with a lot of fucking blood on his hands. We’re talking to the tune of millions.
The Podcast Behind the Bastards did an excellent, four part series, on good ol’ Nicky the Second. Great listen.
But this is what many authoritarians look like. Ordinary people, with ordinary fascinations and family.
A lot of people like to cut him some slack, like “oh but he loved his family and was a great family man!” It reminds me of people who say Hitler was a great public speaker and artist or whatever. 🙄
A lot of people like to cut him some slack, like “oh but he loved his family and was a great family man!” It reminds me of people who say Hitler was a great public speaker and artist or whatever. 🙄
I think learning about Nicholas II really contextualized fascism for me. The tsar was a traditionalist authoritarian rather than a fascist, but he really shows, I think, how ordinary people can hold totalitarian beliefs and still be ‘good people’ (note that I would never call the tsar a good person, but bear with me). Oftentimes people say “X is fascism” but quickly backpedal if real-world comparisons are drawn between family or friends. “They’re a good person!” they object, “Just misguided! Not like the other rubes!”
But Nicholas II shows the face of genuinely conservative authoritarianism. The face of the mediocre man, who puts no deeper thought into his beliefs than to parrot what he was raised with and stubbornly resist all challenge to that. He was not exceptionally cruel in terms of personality. I think probably a significant minority of ‘nice’ people, in Nicholas II’s circumstances, would have turned out just as big a piece of shit as he was.
Not rubbing their hands with glee as minorities are murdered, like a ‘normal’ authoritarian, but shrugging when racist pogroms erupt across your empire. Going out to picnic as thousands die on a foreign front you caused. Being more interested in the trinkets in the shop window than the soul-crushing poverty around them. Saying that changing things will just make things worse; you can tell because what we have now ‘works’. Holding onto traditional ways because “that’s how it’s done” despite the wave of reformists and revolutionaries shouting at you in the Duma.
We are surrounded by Nicholas IIs. You can say it’s related to the ‘banality of evil’, how normal people commit terrible crimes; but instead, how ‘nice’ people can hold horrible and sincerely held beliefs. If we knew a Nicholas II in our lives, we probably wouldn’t hate him. If he was family or friend, we would say “He’s just misguided, not a fascist!” or simply note that dear Nicky isn’t very political. He’s a good guy. He’s the sweetest fellow on the block. Our dear Nicky is a good father and a good husband, attentive to his kids, loving to his wife, gentle and kind in person. He’s not a fascist, we say.
But Nicky is also the kind of person who will give no thought to his bigotries or how the outside world affects him. Nicky is the kind of person who is indistinguishable from a fascist, or other authoritarian ideologue, in his political choices. Our Nicky is an authoritarian, even if not a frothing-at-the-mouth political junkie. Our Nicky, when fascism comes, will welcome it. Our Nicky is a fascist.
Our Nicky is Nicholas II. He wasn’t power-hungry, he wasn’t exceptionally cruel, he wasn’t exceptionally fanatical. He was a mediocre man without imagination. And in power, he is ruinous. A tyrant who sent millions to their graves. An autocrat who crushed the opposition and resisted all calls to give it up. A careless spendthrift enjoying baubles while millions suffer in poverty. An obstacle to all progress, and an enemy of all reform.
Mediocre men like Nicholas II rarely get far in politics, so we rarely think about them in that context. But Nicholas II had the ‘good fortune’ to be born into autocracy. He is a rare example of the real ‘nice guy’ who holds authoritarian views, in a position of power. He’ll be nice to you, and mean it. He doesn’t parade his politics around; he may not even care all that much, or express sympathy for the arguments of the opposition. His ‘niceness’ coexists with his authoritarianism. But given power, this ‘nice guy’ will be indistinguishable from the ‘cruel man’ who is given power, without suddenly changing personality or revealing that it was all a charade.
Holy fuck, I got wordy with that. Got a bit out of hand, I think.
This reply is really late, but just wanted to thank you for the really good write up on this post.
Thanks for taking the time to write this. This is so true, I know so many people like this, you can see their tendencies when you see how they raise their own children
So like, Ronald Reagan colluding with terrorists to be elected or watching as a major disease breaks out among populations he doesn’t care about.
There are pictures of Adolf kissing babies and petting his dog… and chasing nude women while blindfolded
if it weren’t for the whole holocaust thing you might mix him up with your wild but still kinda racist uncle.
and chasing nude women while blindfolded
First I’ve heard of this. I did a quick Google search but I got a LOT of noise in the results. Not really an accurate result.
Is there context to help? Seriously, never heard of this before.
http://www.realitista.org/files/tag-naked.php
I’ve seen it a few times in the past. I don’t know the veracity of it, given the Internet and all, but there you go.
Why isn’t that game more popular?
I’m certain there’s a playboy edition that had an article about Hitler’s sex life. Idk if this picture was included because I mostly remember it because it educated me about what a golden shower is. Hitler allegedly liked them.
It’s good to remember this, and not demonize, dehumanize them.
Every one of bullies, authoritarians, nazis, mass murderers was a human. There are no aliens and demons. Treat people well, and maybe we’ll have one less.
The lesson is that monsters appear human.
The lesson is that regular humans like us can behave monstrously. Every time we deny their humanity, we ignore the fact that this is a human problem, not just a matter of a few random inhuman monsters. If we can recognize that they’re not special, they’re people like us, we can better guard against repeating what enables and encourages people to go this way.
We might not have our current problems with the rise of fascism if we hadn’t spent decades telling ourselves that the Nazis were unusual monsters, and gradually forgetting the reality that they were ordinary people just like us.
It’s weird how similar he is to Medvedev and just as miserable. I wonder if he had the same vodka-induced rants if he wasn’t shot. The secret I would never uncover is why tf he’s praised by monarchists even though he sucked even at being tyrant and speedran the socital disdain for monarchy at a surpising rate.
Is this the guy that Putin idolizes?
No, Putin’s hero is the mass murdering sociopath, Stalin. Tsar Nicholas the 2nd was the royalty that the revolution deposed and installed (eventually) Stalin as leader.
I mean the Tsar wasn’t a good guy either, but Stalin was a world-class monster and possibly the only person in history to out-murder Shitler.
