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By David Futrelle
In 1941, writer Dorothy Thompson invented what she described as “an interesting and somewhat macabre parlor game” called “Who Goes Nazi?” The idea was simple: the next time you’re at a party, or some other social gathering, take a look at those around you and try to guess which ones would, “in a showdown … go Nazi.”
You don’t do this out loud, of course, unless you really want to be punched.
The game feels as relevant at this point in history as it was when Thompson wrote her classic Harper’s essay explaining the rules of the game and offering a series of descriptions of the assorted social types she thought would (or most definitely would not) turn into literal Nazis when the chips were down — from the bank vice president who “has risen beyond his real abilities by virtue of health, good looks, and being a good mixer” (definitely a Nazi in embryo) to the downwardly mobile editor who manages to be intellectual without being a snob about it, about whom Thompson remarks that she “will put my hand in the fire that nothing on earth could ever make him a Nazi.”
Thompson’s portraits of these assorted social types, and her theories about who would and wouldn’t go Nazi, are a little too pat for my tastes; she basically thinks that nice people are immune to Nazism while mean and bitter types are drawn to it like moths to a lamp.
“Kind, good, happy, gentlemanly, secure people never go Nazi,” she wrote.
They may be the gentle philosopher whose name is in the Blue Book, or Bill from City College to whom democracy gave a chance to design airplanes—you’ll never make Nazis out of them. But the frustrated and humiliated intellectual, the rich and scared speculator, the spoiled son, the labor tyrant, the fellow who has achieved success by smelling out the wind of success—they would all go Nazi in a crisis.
Not far from the truth, I think, just a little oversimplified.
Still, the game itself is genius.
Over the last couple of years, for obvious reasons, Thompson’s article has been resurrected and passed around on social media, and several writers have proposed modern updates of her famous game, from the “office edition” to one focused on media figures. The only trouble with playing the game now is that so many of those who would have gone gone Nazi in Thompson’s day already have, in ours.
While the original game is still worth playing, let me propose an alternate version that might be even more entertaining for readers of this blog: Who Goes Red Pill?
Think of the various people you’ve recently met — in real life or online — and try to figure out who among them is most likely to embrace the toxic misogynistic ideology that unites the otherwise disparate groups that make up the manosphere, from MRAs to MGTOWS to incels to PUAs. What personality traits do they exhibit? What behaviors are obvious (or not-so-obvious) tells?
Are they NiceGuys (TM) stewing in aggrieved entitlement? Do they like South Park maybe a little bit too much? Do they get suspiciously angry about female superheroes? Are they fans of Pewdiepie, or Joe Rogan, or Jordan Peterson? Do they complain that women are sexually harassing them by wearing yoga pants? Do they know more than Chris Hansen does about age-of-consent laws? Do they describe themselves as “equity feminists” or “egalitarians?”
The game is a little trickier than it might at first appear. Some of these Jordan-Peterson-loving NiceGuys have already swallowed the Red Pill (and sometimes have even embraced the even more nilhilistic Black Pill), thus disqualifying them as candidates for the game.
Others may exhibit several seemingly obvious tells — but their flirtation with the Red Pill may end up being little more than a passing phase. I’m not sure I quite understand just what makes one person a Red-Pill-swallower and another a Red-Pill-spitter-outer. But maybe you do.
Share your own thoughts below as to what personality types you think are most drawn to the Red Pill (or to Nazism, if you’d prefer to play the original version). Let the games begin!
@Naglfar
They’re more inclined towards economic matters than social issues, though even so their records are significantly better than the status quo in regards to said social issues.
@Aaron
Which, as I believe I’ve already noted, is one of the many reasons I despise her.
@StaceySmartyPantsTwiceRemoved
Woman, no one says that some guy openly gawking at you with the Charles Manson stare isn’t creepy. But other than that, what other people think when they look in your direction is none of your business.
– mansplains how perfectly OK it is to use the term “divorce rape” (in a forum where a number of people are survivors of rape)
– addresses a person whose nym they know as “Woman”
– has not yet said anything of interest, nor stopped saying things which are both creepy and crap
… not looking promising there. And the trolling isn’t exactly entertaining either.
Won’t miss this one when they’re gone.
If they’re thinking of doing me harm then yes it is very much my business.
Because in this context, “America First” does not mean “adopting racist immigration policies and culturally isolating the country”, as right-wingnuts mean by these words, it simply means “not bombing poor countries into the Stone Age and not sending American working-class men and women to their deaths”.
I support LGBT rights and equality of the sexes, but I have nothing but contempt for the whole “MORE FEMALE DRONE PILOTS” bullshit. When people die in stupid and useless wars, they don’t care how many women and Black people are in the boardrooms of corporations profitting off theirs deaths. And when kids from poor families die from preventable diseases in the world’ richest country, why would they care about skin colour of those who put them in this position?
We can *maybe* keep RustedCthulhu a little longer as I kind of like laughing at him.
His type is exactly the reason I’m grateful for my gorgeous slave who is 1 in a million and who I can’t wait to see and pet and play with tomorrow night which I really need considering all the shit going on in the world.
@Dengler
Yet supporting dictators who kill their own people is just fine?
I must refer you to a post by Rhuu in a thread about this very topic. Class oppression is definitely real, but to ignore the role that race and gender discrimination play would be very ignorant of other factors. POC in America are much more likely to live in poverty because of institutional racism, for example.
@RustedCthulhu
It absolutely, 100% of the time, means exactly this. Always.
@Troll
Shoo, fly.
If the other option is “starting a military invasion, removing him and creating a Hobbesian hell, killing orders of magnitude more people than he did, just like in Iraq”, then supporting him and\or trying to negotiate is the lesser of two evils.
Sure, it’s true. But without a solid economic program for poverty reduction and field-levelling for classes, all the self-proclaimed progressive measures will benefit only the tiny portion of middle- and upper- class minorities. And we remember, how Obama, despite all his progressive rethoric, started his presidency with the bail-out for the banksters.
Quoth my homeboy Bert Brecht,
@Dengler
I am reminded of how many authoritarian states have echoed that same “rice, not rights” sentiment to avoid responsibility for those issues.
@Anonymous
This is a fallacious argument. The states you are talking about meant economic development and industrialization, that supposedly require their dictatorship. America, on other hand, already is the richest and most technologically(in most aspects) country in the world, and the desperately needed redistribution of wealth can only be done by popular movements influencing the government, by democratisation of the American system.
ok comrade
To keep with the theme of this post: I think you would absolutely go nazi if the chips were down.
That you consider bigotry and cozying up to dictators a minor blemish compared to the greater good of… ethnocentrism, apparently, well, need I say more?
You might not be enthusiastic about going nazi, sure, but even Sargon of Akkad claims not to be.
@Dengler
There’s a difference between denying someone a visa and starting a war against them. None of the candidates are suggesting that we go to war with India.
And without addressing racism and other bigotries, economic measures will mainly benefit white people.
@Beyond Ocean
Key word is claim. He seems pretty enthusiastic.
Of not slaughthering innocent Black and Brown people in the Thirld World and sticking it to the Wall-Street where it hurts.
@Naglfar
Of course. But I find his bullshit a great example of those people who cry that they would be all-loving liberals if only those darn progressives didn’t force them to be nazis. If only.
@Dengler
Funny way of doing that when you seem to care so little about the “innocent Black and Brown people” right here, which you might be surprised to know aren’t part of a nebulous blob that can be labeled “proleteriat” and have all their unique concerns dismissed from there.
Oh, and there’s a difference between avoiding imperialism and pretending that the world outside of North America doesn’t exist until doing so is counterproductive.
@RustedCthulhu
Lots of men say that and I resist that claim all the damn time. And when they claim that shit they claim that they were “aaaacktshully” “just” “looking in my direction”. I know what a leer is. I know when I’m getting creeped on. And I’m not compromising my safety but even if I’m in a place where I feel safe a guy I’m not attracted to isn’t allowed to look at me disrespectfully, like staring only at my body below the waist like they do all the time.
If I like a guy and he meets my standards then dammit *his* gorgeous eyes stay there and I will pose all day. But I get to say!!!
*I get to do what I want* whether redpiller or MRA or (grosser) MGTOW or incel (grossest) or whatever other flavor of misogynist likes it or not.
That simple.
You are so completely dense and I think it is funny.
Oh and as for the “Woman,…” part. Maybe you’re a little frustrated? I think that’s why you went to calling me just “Woman”. Well tough shit. Start acting like a human and maybe you won’t be. It’s not that difficult.
So if Mr. Cthulhu comes here and argues with people to “let off steam” from his job, who wants to bet that if he had a wife and/or family, he’d “let off steam” by yelling at them?
I definitely wouldn’t bet against it.
@Definitely Not Steve
I’d be a bit afraid he’d go beyond yelling into violence.
Recall it being used as a weak attempt to pull rank. That were back in the 60’s though.
@Shadowplay
Yes, thank you that’s more what I was getting at. I meant he seemed frustrated that a woman who he suspects is attractive by cishet standards talks like she resists patriarchy, so in frustration he resorts to trying to pull rank.
@Jenora Feuer: Personally I find the horrible messed-up dynamics of the family one of the best parts of the show; I feel they manage it better than either The Simpsons or Seth McFarlane’s shows do, as despiste lots of fans’ reactions it’s more than just point and laugh. Plus your examples were pretty spot-on.
Also, judging by what you wrote about it, I’m probably not just rational but “super-rational” and that’s a good thing… Thank you very much, I mean it. for a low self-esteem guy like me ego boosts like that are real nice. I’ll try not to let it go too much to my head lest I become an asshole though XD.
@StaceySmartyPantsTwiceRemoved: Shit, probably forgot about it; been busy and sleep-deprived lately, sorry. While as you pointed out the bitterness, entitlement and misogyny are key points (which fortunately don’t apply to me, methinks), other traits stereotypically attributed to incels (by themselves and others) that I have are geekiness/nerdiness, being virgin/celibate and still living with my mother at 40, feelings of frustration and inadequacy concerning my lack of success developing meaningful romantic relationships with women, and not being very good at fostering such relationships due to lack of awareness, difficulty with social cues, and difficulty expressing myself due to a mix of social awkwardness and anxiety. Hope this answers your question.
@Paireon
I did not intend to distress you by pushing you to talk about difficult things and I admire your courage. I just see it as a warning sign when someone says they’re like an incel. I know that’s not quite what you said and recognize that you said you see yourself as having traits that incels themselves see as stereotypical incel traits. I am sorry for the pain of the challenges you face but if you act like a human to other humans no matter what you look like you are absolutely unlike an incel. You are respectful to me here and not only that but wished me well so I have no problem and wish you well too. I’m just saying that when somebody suggests they are in some way similar to incels that can raise flags. Like a decent person would though you respected and acknowledged my desires about what I want when it comes to men.