History Repeating

[Professor S]

Originally Posted by manasecret

Vladamir who? Oh, right.

Well maybe you could fill us less history-conscious people on which part of history exactly this is repeating. Something to do with a previous Russian guy taking over power, but which one?

Actually, I was thinking more German than Russian. Remember, Hitler was an elected official before becoming dictator.

Think about Hitler's run up into power. He took a people demoralized by the first world war and the bitter international sanctions and manipulated the situation to create a nationalistic frenzy centered on himself as the leader.

The Russian people have still not recovered from communism, and its fall, and have the same sense of demoralization. Putin comes off as a strong leader, even using hegemonic masculinity to curry favor, and slowly begins the process of ventralizing power in himself and his people love him for it because they see him as a force that will create a sense of national pride again.

Is Putin another Hitler? No. There will never be another Hitler. He was the epitome of self-justified evil. But the similarities of how a democracy can turn into an oligarchy or dictatorship should be examined and remembered.

History does tend to repeat itself.