Re: The Mohammud Cartoons

In message <dtn7c9$gdu$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Nancy Lebovitz <nancyl@xxxxxxxxx> writes
In article <11vu7q75ec6do5e@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Richard Eney <dicconf@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

In the Weimar republic, though only a plurality voted for nazism, a
majority voted for some form of totalitarianism that was clearly going
to liquidate large numbers of people.

Excuse me; this was not clear at the time. Instead, there was much gabble
about how the responsibility of government would cause the Nazis to
moderate their talk and quietly drop their more extreme programs. Just
like Hamas is going to.

Ok, that's a conspicuous example. Does getting political power ever cause
extremists and/or terrorists to moderate themselves?

Oh yes, that is pretty much the normal pattern, the ANC in South Africa for example. What often happens is that the extremists moderate when gaining power becomes a realistic prospect, as they need the support of some more moderate people in order to attain power. Hamas for example have actually moderated quite noticeably recently, they have been keeping to a ceasefire for the last year and several of their leaders have indicated that if Israel were to end the occupation then they would have no reason to use force against Israel and would then be willing to negotiate.

The Nazis were only just short of a majority in 1933, with 288 seats, out of 647 when you added the 52 seats held by their allies in the also extreme right DNVP the far right did actually have an absolute majority.
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