rhetorical gimmick which ignores that you can only determine the simplest explanation with enough contextual awareness.
p.s. Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity" = rhetorical gimmick employing absolutism (instantly invalid) and ignores that criminals frequently (if not most of the time) hide behind the shield of accident and ignorance.
Disinformation agents LOVE using Hanlon's razor and Occam's razor to "debunk" conspiracies. All they must do is prove the possibility of coincidence and Hanlon claims no ill intent.
Likewise, Occam claims wrong conclusions are most likely true based on limited access to information. You can see how this is a bane of Conspiracy investigators, as information is nearly always quite limited.
a thinking man needs no such rhetorical mind-killing crutches.
for example: It is widely accepted the 3rd Reich was interested in the Occult. No occultists remain ignorant of powerful (widely used if not universal) symbols and their meanings. It could thus be likewise argued that the simplest explanation is that after thoughtful consideration Hitler chose a symbol recognized world wide as a symbol of peace, luck, and good will. A unifying symbol. It was not selected while at war, after all.
Someone skilled at, and perhaps obsessed with, symbolism just randomly chooses a symbol as the most important mark for their movement because it looks nice? Or, perhaps even cursory research was performed and the selection was purposeful.
When one understands the greater context then one sees the most reasonable answer is that the swastika was not a chance selection. Hitler no doubt saw many symbols in his young life. The swastika just also happened to represent a particular occult meaning which matches his message, by chance? Come on, think.
The conspiracy here is that in order to present propaganda that claims Hitler's symbol is one of hate, one MUST disassociate the symbol's selection from the fact of its well known meaning of anti-hate. This means the narrative of chance selection is most certainly a conspiracy. Anyone with a working brain can see this is true. For if the histories tell of a man trying to peacefully promote his cultural unity, and the unity of other cultures world wide, then the Hollywood caricature of "Evil Crazed Nazi" doesn't work. A read of Mein Kampf will illuminate the reality of National Socialism's ideals matching the existing old world meaning of the swastika.
TL;DR: Only those who don't know about the existing, ancient, widespread meaning of the symbol think it was a chance selection. Isn't it simpler to explain that Hitler selected a symbol with a meaning that matched his message, rather than explain that was an unlikely but happy accident? Or Worse: Hollywood would have us believe that Hitler, known occultist, was completely ignorant about the meaning of his movement's prime symbolism.
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DearClaudio ago
Seems more likely that the Nazis co-opted a popular symbol. I ammhard pressed to find the exact reasoning behind the Nazis choosing this symbol.
I find it more interesting that this many cultures had this symbol represented in their artworks.
Tancred ago
Hitler saw the symbol regularly during his teenage years and liked it.
That's it. That's the whole story.
DearClaudio ago
Occam's Razor
who-am-i ago
rhetorical gimmick which ignores that you can only determine the simplest explanation with enough contextual awareness.
p.s. Hanlon's Razor: "Never attribute to malice what can be explained by stupidity" = rhetorical gimmick employing absolutism (instantly invalid) and ignores that criminals frequently (if not most of the time) hide behind the shield of accident and ignorance.
Disinformation agents LOVE using Hanlon's razor and Occam's razor to "debunk" conspiracies. All they must do is prove the possibility of coincidence and Hanlon claims no ill intent.
Likewise, Occam claims wrong conclusions are most likely true based on limited access to information. You can see how this is a bane of Conspiracy investigators, as information is nearly always quite limited.
a thinking man needs no such rhetorical mind-killing crutches.
for example: It is widely accepted the 3rd Reich was interested in the Occult. No occultists remain ignorant of powerful (widely used if not universal) symbols and their meanings. It could thus be likewise argued that the simplest explanation is that after thoughtful consideration Hitler chose a symbol recognized world wide as a symbol of peace, luck, and good will. A unifying symbol. It was not selected while at war, after all.
Someone skilled at, and perhaps obsessed with, symbolism just randomly chooses a symbol as the most important mark for their movement because it looks nice? Or, perhaps even cursory research was performed and the selection was purposeful.
When one understands the greater context then one sees the most reasonable answer is that the swastika was not a chance selection. Hitler no doubt saw many symbols in his young life. The swastika just also happened to represent a particular occult meaning which matches his message, by chance? Come on, think.
The conspiracy here is that in order to present propaganda that claims Hitler's symbol is one of hate, one MUST disassociate the symbol's selection from the fact of its well known meaning of anti-hate. This means the narrative of chance selection is most certainly a conspiracy. Anyone with a working brain can see this is true. For if the histories tell of a man trying to peacefully promote his cultural unity, and the unity of other cultures world wide, then the Hollywood caricature of "Evil Crazed Nazi" doesn't work. A read of Mein Kampf will illuminate the reality of National Socialism's ideals matching the existing old world meaning of the swastika.
TL;DR: Only those who don't know about the existing, ancient, widespread meaning of the symbol think it was a chance selection. Isn't it simpler to explain that Hitler selected a symbol with a meaning that matched his message, rather than explain that was an unlikely but happy accident? Or Worse: Hollywood would have us believe that Hitler, known occultist, was completely ignorant about the meaning of his movement's prime symbolism.
WS2016 ago
We should be friends, I feel like we'd get along.
who-am-i ago
You're not a nigger, are you?
WS2016 ago
I can assure you, I'm as WASP as they come lol