Sunday, August 29, 2021

Public Service Announcement: Always Verify Any Quotes About the Nazis before Re-Posting on Social Media

There have been a lot of memes recently about 1930s Germany on social media--either things the Nazis supposedly said, or things the Holocaust victims supposedly said, etc.
But whenever you get the urge to repost one of these memes, google the quote first.  Chances are you'll see the same quote replicated on a number of Facebook pages, and Reddit pages, and blogs.  But keep searching until you can find the quote in context in a legitimate credible source.  If you can't find that quote in a legitimate source, then assume that the quote has been manufactured or altered.
If you see a quote about the Nazis that supports your own political position, always google it before you repost it.
If you see someone on Facebook post a quote about the Nazis that goes against your politics, don't get sucked into debating the implications of the quote until you've googled it first.  Then, point out to your friend that the quote is fake, and don't waste time debating the implications of the quote.

(And, yes, this blog post has been inspired by interactions on Facebook.  There have been a lot of memes about the Nazis popping up on Facebook recently.  My own anecdotal observation is that more than half of them are manufactured quotes.)

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