You Would Have Been a Nazi
Yes, you. Time for a reality check: that comforting belief that you’d have been the lone courageous hero in history’s darkest chapters? It’s a lie. This satirical smackdown will show, with sharp humor and brutal historical truth, that your modern moral superiority is largely hindsight hype. Spoiler alert – if you lived in past societies, odds are you’d have conformed to the crowd, not nobly rebelled against it. Don’t believe it? Buckle up, because we’re about to rub your righteous ego in some inconvenient history.
The Hindsight Hero Delusion
We love to imagine that we’d automatically be on the “right side of history.” In our cozy armchairs, we play time-traveling hero: “I totally would have spoken up during the witch trials/slavery/Holocaust!” Sure you would, Champ. It’s easy to virtue-signal courage when the risk is zero and you’re armed with 20/20 historical hindsight. In reality, being a moral outlier is never trendy or safe in the moment. The uncomfortable truth is that most people – including probably you and me – go with the flow of their time.
Why? Because societal norms shape our morality more than we admit. We’re social creatures; we crave approval like Wi-Fi. In every era, the vast majority didn’t realize their society was doing something horrifically wrong – or if they did, they kept quiet to avoid trouble. Meanwhile, a tiny minority raised objections and were usually dismissed as crazy, dangerous, or unpatriotic. (Sound familiar?) This isn’t cynical; it’s historical fact. As we’ll see, those “heroes” we all admire now were extremely few in their day – and widely hated. Meanwhile, the average Joes and Janes of the past were just going along, convinced they were decent folks.
In other words: most people conform, rather than rebel. Still think you’re the exception? Let’s test your mettle against a few historical case studies, shall we?
Nazi Germany: No, You Wouldn’t Have Resisted
Look at the massive Nazi rally below. See that sea of people zealously sieg-heiling Hitler? That would include you, most likely. It’s comforting to believe you’d be in the one tiny corner of Germany printing anti-Nazi leaflets or plotting to save Anne Frank. But statistically speaking, you’d be another face in the crowd, if not an enthusiastic supporter then a passive bystander. In 1930s Germany, Nazism was the norm. By 1945, the Nazi Party had 8.5 million members – millions of otherwise ordinary citizens who joined the movement. Meanwhile, organized German resistance was scarce and extremely dangerous; those who actively resisted were a brave few who risked (and often lost) their lives. After the war, many ordinary Germans claimed they were just uninvolved “bystanders” ( Bystanders | Holocaust Encyclopedia ) – which tells you that most did not openly oppose the regime when it mattered.
Let’s be real: had you grown up under Nazi rule, you would have been fed Hitler’s propaganda from childhood (Hitler Youth, anyone?). You’d have likely found it pretty normal to see antisemitic posters on the street and hear Hitler raving on the radio. You might have thought the Führer’s ideas about national greatness sounded patriotic – the guy did promise jobs and pride for a defeated nation. You wouldn’t magically be born with modern enlightened values to see through the lies. Conformity is powerful. Remember the famous Milgram experiment decades later, where 65% of regular people obeyed authority enough to deliver (seemingly) lethal electric shocks to an innocent stranger (Milgram experiment | Description, Psychology, Procedure, Findings, Flaws, & Facts | Britannica)? Under a totalitarian Nazi authority, imagine how much more pressure there’d be to obey and fit in. If a dude in a lab coat can get people to “electrocute” someone, a dictator with a whole society backing him can definitely get people to salute, follow along, and even partake in evil – all while believing they’re doing the right thing.
“But I hate Nazis! I never could have supported that!” you protest. Sure, now you hate Nazis – because you were taught from birth that Nazis = evil. German kids in 1930 didn’t get that memo. In their world, Nazis were the good guys restoring order. You’d likely have believed what your teachers, leaders, and friends all reinforced. Even Adolf Eichmann, one of the architects of the Holocaust, turned out to be “terrifyingly normal,” not a psychopath – just a bureaucratic conformist, a career-climber who drifted into the Nazi Party as a ‘joiner’ without deep ideological belief (What did Hannah Arendt really mean by the banality of evil? | Aeon Ideas) . Evil often wears a boring, everyday face. It’s the banality of evil: ordinary people committing horrific acts because that’s what everyone else is doing, or what they’re told to do.
So no, you probably wouldn’t have been the lone German handing out anti-Nazi pamphlets while the Gestapo hunted dissenters. More likely, you’d attend the rallies, hang a swastika flag because your neighbors did, and convince yourself you were just a normal law-abiding citizen. At best you’d privately feel uneasy but keep your head down (“I don’t like what’s happening to the Jews, but what can I do? I have a family to think of…”). At worst, you’d cheer the victories and maybe turn in that odd neighbor who refused to fly the flag – you know, for the good of the Fatherland. Harsh? Yes. True? Take a hard look at those crowds and at human nature.
Slavery in America: You Probably Wouldn’t Have Freed the Slaves
Time to burst another bubble. If you picture yourself in 1850s America as the brave soul helping slaves escape via the Underground Railroad, odds are you’d be on the wrong side here too. Slavery was not just the evil hobby of a few villains; it was an ingrained social institution, upheld by average people. In the antebellum South, the vast majority of white citizens accepted slavery as normal. Only about 25% of white Southern families even owned slaves (slaveowners were a minority), but here’s the kicker: abolitionists – the people actively fighting slavery – were an even smaller minority, and an unpopular one at that (The Demise of Slavery, Freedom's Story, TeacherServe®, National Humanities Center). They were despised by mainstream society. In fact, abolitionist meetings were attacked by Northern mobs; abolitionist newspaper editor Elijah Lovejoy was murdered by a pro-slavery crowd in Illinois in 1837. That’s right – even many Northerners found the abolitionists obnoxious and extreme at first. So if you were a typical 19th-century American, North or South, you likely wouldn’t be penning inspirational anti-slavery pamphlets. More likely, you’d shrug it off as “just how things are,” or even argue that abolishing slavery was too radical and would mess up the economy.
Consider the social scene: In the South, if you’re white, your family, friends, church, and leaders all defend slavery. The newspapers are filled with justifications for it, the economy is built on it, and the whole legal system protects it. You’ve grown up being told Black people are inferior and slavery is God’s plan or the natural order. Would you magically see through all that? Unlikely. You’d probably think folks like William Lloyd Garrison or Frederick Douglass were troublemakers. If you were a plantation owner’s son or daughter, you might even inherit slaves and tell yourself you’re a “kind” master, as many did. If you were a poorer non-slaveholder, you might not love the rich planters, but you’d still view abolitionists as threatening your society. Maybe you’d have some private doubts (not everyone was totally on board with cruelty), but speaking out would mean social suicide – or worse. Are you really sure you’d risk being ostracized or jailed to defy the only way of life you’ve ever known?
Even in the North, where slavery was outlawed in many states, racist attitudes were widespread. Most white Northerners weren’t championing full equality; many just didn’t want slavery spreading to new territories or competing with free labor. In short, being truly anti-slavery before it was cool was a lonely, often dangerous road. It was reserved for a principled few labeled as radicals in their time. The average person? Likely sitting on the fence or mildly against slavery but also against doing anything dramatic about it.
So, if you imagine yourself boldly sneaking onto plantations by night to rescue slaves, ask: do you take similar bold risks against social ills today? (Retweeting a hashtag doesn’t count.) If the answer is no, then you have your answer about 1850 as well.
Other Times, Other Crimes: Conformity Over Courage
Lest you think these are cherry-picked examples, history overflows with normalized moral nightmares that most people went along with. A quick tour:
Witch Hunts (1690s and earlier): During the Salem witch trials or European witch hunts, odds are you wouldn’t be the one skeptic defending the accused “witch” in your village. More likely, you’d join the panicked crowd, nodding sagely as the local authorities explained that yes, your odd neighbor is obviously in league with Satan. You might even attend the hanging, because that was the popular thing to do. (Fun fact: in 1692 Salem, one of the few who publicly opposed the trials, Reverend Francis Dane, was largely ignored. Most people either supported the trials or kept quiet in fear of being accused next.)
The Inquisition & Religious Persecutions: If you lived in medieval Europe when heretics were burnt for deviating from Church doctrine, would you stand up and say “Hey, maybe different beliefs are okay!”? Given that could earn you a spot on the pyre, you’d probably keep your mouth shut and perhaps even join the crowd in chanting against the sinner du jour. Conformity and self-preservation for the win.
Segregation and Civil Rights (1950s–60s): This is more recent, so it stings: during the civil rights movement, most average Americans did not initially side with Martin Luther King Jr. and the marchers. In fact, Dr. King was widely disliked by the public while he was alive – when he was assassinated in 1968, 75% of Americans disapproved of him (Even Though He Is Revered Today, MLK Was Widely Disliked by the American Public When He Was Killed | Smithsonian). Imagine: three out of four Americans thought MLK – now the icon of justice and equality – was too extreme or causing trouble. So if you were a white adult in 1960, statistically you might have thought those sit-ins and Freedom Rides were agitating things “unnecessarily.” Maybe you wouldn’t throw rocks at protesters (congratulations), but you might mutter that activists should “be patient” or not break the law. Only a minority actively supported civil rights at first; most had to be dragged along by events and generations of changed attitudes. Today everyone claims they’d have marched with King – just like everyone now claims they’d have hidden Jews from the Nazis – but back then, that’s not how people saw it.
Everyday Atrocities in Other Cultures: Think you’d do better in some other context? If you were an ancient Roman, you’d probably enjoy the gladiator games (literal people killing each other for sport) with the rest of the cheering masses. A 19th-century Brit in colonial India? You might tut-tut at some cruelties, but still believe the British Empire was a civilizing force and you deserved your gin and tonic on the club veranda. The examples are endless, but the pattern is the same: when cruelty or prejudice is socially acceptable and institutionally supported, most people comply or participate. The rare rebels who refuse? Often ostracized, punished, or written off as crazy.
Why We Comply: The Comfort of Conformity
It’s not that people in the past were just morally inferior to us. They were us. Human nature hasn’t changed in a few generations. What changes are social norms, laws, education, and leadership. Context is king. Put any one of us in a society where an immoral practice is as common as your morning coffee, and chances are we’d swim along with the tide. It takes extraordinary principle (or personality) to swim against a strong current.
Think about the psychological pressures: Fear (of punishment, of ostracism) is huge. In Nazi Germany, if you spoke out, you could end up in a camp yourself. In the Jim Crow South, a white person advocating Black equal rights could be socially shunned or worse. Even without direct fear, there’s the pull of belonging. We don’t want to be the weirdo, the traitor, the one guy not saluting when everyone else is. Then there’s self-interest: going along often benefits you, or at least keeps you safe. And if you do have doubts, the mind conveniently finds ways to rationalize inaction: “Things will sort themselves out,” “It’s not my business,” “The authorities know what they’re doing.” Hello, complacency.
Social science backs this up. Besides the Milgram obedience study we cited, there’s the classic Asch conformity experiments where people literally agreed that a shorter line was longer just because everyone else in the room (who were actors) confidently said so. When group consensus says something patently false, a lot of folks will question their own eyes rather than speak up. Now extend that to a whole society saying “this atrocity is fine” – it’s not hard to see how regular people get swept along. Conformity is comfortable; dissent is hard.
Ditch the Halo – You’re Not Immune
The point of this satirical roasting is not to call you personally evil – you haven’t enslaved anyone or saluted any fascists lately (I hope). The point is to humble our modern self-righteousness. We pat ourselves on the back for having the “correct” moral views today, but we largely have them because we were born into a time and place that taught us these values. Had we been born in 1850, or 1930, or any other era, we’d likely believe and do as that era believed and did. Our moral opinions are strongly shaped by societal norms. It’s easy to judge our ancestors and feel superior, but much harder to admit that we’re products of our time, too.
Before you insist you’d be different – remember, everyone thinks they’re the exception. But mathematically, we can’t all be exceptions. By definition, most people are… well, most people. And historically, “most people” have not been glorious freedom fighters; they’ve been followers. If you have any doubt, just recall how many times you’ve seen something wrong happening in your own daily life and chose not to intervene or speak up because it was awkward or risky. That little twinge of “I should say something… but nah” – multiply that by a thousand when the wrongdoing is backed by your entire society.
Getting Off the High Horse (and Doing Better)
So what now? Should we despair that we’re all secret Nazis or slaveholders in the wrong timeline? No – but we should drop the smug virtue posturing. Recognize that you’re not magically moral outside of context. As a result, practice some empathy for those in the past (most weren’t cartoon villains, just conformists) and more vigilance about the present. Yes, the present – because it’s quite possible that right now we’re complicit in something future generations will find appalling. Think about it: Do you participate in systems or habits you suspect might be unethical, but you shrug because “everyone else does it”? (Perhaps the treatment of workers who make our cheap gadgets and clothes? Factory farming and environmental destruction? Just saying.) We all have blind spots. Self-righteousness is the enemy of self-improvement.
The truly important question isn’t “Would I have been a Nazi?” – it’s “Am I doing anything like that now, without realizing?” It’s easy to boo the villains of history from a safe distance. It’s harder to identify the subtle evils of our own time, especially those we benefit from or find convenient, and take a stand when it’s unpopular. If you want to believe you’d be one of the few good guys in the past, start by having the courage to question the crowd today.
In conclusion, wipe off that imaginary medal of historical heroism. You probably wouldn’t have been abolitionist Harriet Tubman or a secret Schindler; more likely just another person who “went with the program.” This isn’t an insult – it’s a call to self-awareness. Use that knowledge to cultivate humility about your moral luck in being born now, and determination to actually live your values even when they’re inconvenient. Stop assuming you wear a halo in hypothetical history, and instead work on having a spine in the here and now. History isn’t done testing humanity’s conscience – and next time, there’s no cheat code that guarantees you’ll be on the right side.
