Sorry, but this one doesn't wash.

[velvetpage]

The Expatriate Achtung! You are 38% brainwashworthy, 18% antitolerant, and 33% blindly patriotic

Congratulations! You are not susceptible to brainwashing, your values and cares extend beyond the borders of your own country, and your Blind Patriotism ("patriotism" for short) does not reach unhealthy levels. In Germany in the 30s, you would've left the country. One bad scenario -- as I hypothetically project you back in time -- is that you just wouldn't have cared one way or the other about Nazism. Maybe politics don't interest you enough. But the fact that you took this test means they probably do. I'm gonna give you the benefit of the doubt. Did you know that many of the smartest Germans departed prior to the beginning of World War II, because they knew some evil shit was brewing? Brain Drain. Many of them were scientists. It is very possible you could be one of them, depending on your age. Conclusion: Born and raised in Germany in the early 1930's, you would not have been a Nazi.

My test tracked 3 variables How you compared to other people your age and gender: You scored higher than 56% on brainwashworthy You scored higher than 15% on antitolerant You scored higher than 50% on patriotic

Link: The Would You Have Been a Nazi Test written by jason_bateman on OkCupid Free Online Dating

Okay, here's the problem. If I had been born in Germany in the early years of the twentieth century, I would have been raised to be much more racist, more religious, and probably more blindly patriotic than I am. The racist thing is almost a given. I have friends who grew up in rural Ontario whose parents say things I would never dream of saying, because they grew up at a time and in a place where people of other races just weren't within their immediate frame of reference. Having spent my formative years moving around the country, including four years in the world's most multicultural city and many more right on its doorstep, I've had Canada's anti-racist, multicultural policy drilled into me my whole life. Would I have been more racist in a different environment? Probably. Some of you may remember a story about two of my students a few months ago, who matter-of-factly discussed something that made me cringe for the racism inherent in it. Good kids of good families who are almost totally integrated into Canadian society, having been here more than a decade now, but that racism is there in their families.

Next fact: people who left Germany in the 30's were mostly people who had been children during the first war, or just barely too young to fight it; I'm sure some were veterans, as well. Wars lead to propaganda, to swelling patriotism, to countries trying to drum up support for their war. This is especially true when the entire GNP of a country is geared towards an all-encompassing war. Would I have been more patriotic in that situation than in peace-loving Canada? Again, probably.

What this quiz missed is that people are a product of the culture in which they are immersed. I am a product of a country that has attitudes and institutions dedicated to removing racism, to celebrating diversity, and to accepting different faiths, both here and abroad. If my answers reveal someone who would have been appalled and scared at the rise of the Third Reich in my country, that's mostly because I've grown up in a place that treats that section of history and its causes as an example of the worst evil ever to have gripped the world.

I would like to think this quiz is accurate, but the realist in me, and the history teacher, says that it probably isn't. You can't simply take someone and transport them back in time to say how they would have acted in a certain situation. It doesn't work.

Comments

[collie13.livejournal.com]

I can certainly see how the sense of belonging would be nice for everyone, and the discipline would be helpful to a teacher. Astonishing that it all happened in less than a week -- and that three years later a student happily gave the hand signal, even after having been graphically shown it was all a dupe.

Overall it was mostly creepy to me, but then I've always been the outsider who couldn't/wouldn't fit into the group, like the three girls the teacher mentioned. I wish we could have read about what they thought; reading of the teacher's moral struggling was quite fascinating.

I wonder if it was true?

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

I think it's quite likely I would have been one of the three girls. I've always been good in school, and that system prioritized types of learning that were not necessarily my strong point; I would have felt somewhat aggrieved to lose my place of prominence, and I would not have bought in, at least not initially. Later on, I may have, though.