Don't Google the War

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According to recently released data from Google, countries behind the sexual liberation curve, naturally, top the charts in sex-related searches: "Internet users in Egypt, India and Turkey are the world's most frequent searchers for websites using the keyword 'sex' on Google." Rather more disturbing is this tidbit from the Sydney Morning Herald's story on search trends, which notes that "Germany, Mexico (?) and Austria were the world's top three searchers of the word 'Hitler.'" Who knows, perhaps Germans are looking for copies of a certain banned book.

In other disturbing National Socialist-related news from Germany, a poll cited by the Associated Press finds that Germans believe that, besides that pesky genocide and war-mongering, the Third Reich had its moments:

A quarter of Germans believe there were some positive aspects to Nazi rule, according to a poll published Wednesday - a finding that comes after a popular talk show host was fired for praising Nazi Germany's attitude toward motherhood.

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The poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, showed that people 60 or older had the highest regard for aspects of the era, with 37 percent answering "yes" [there were good aspects to Nazism]. Those who grew up directly after the war, now aged 45 to 59, were the least enthusiastic about the Nazi era, with only 15 percent responding "yes."

In fairness to Germans, the poll question is a bit leading: Did Nazism have "good sides (such as) the construction of the highway system, the elimination of unemployment, the low criminality rate (and) the encouragement of the family." What, no mention of the fascist war on cancer?

Oddly, the AP finds it necessary to mention that "Praising the 1933-45 Nazi dictatorship is taboo in Germany." And here I was thinking that praising genocidal anti-Semitism was sort of taboo everywhere.

I reviewed Götz Aly's book on the Nazi welfare state here.