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Culture War Roundup for the week of January 2, 2023

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And if Mao Zedong happened to create shelters for dispossessed landlords...

...no, wait, he has done exactly the opposite.

What? How is this a response to my hypothetical?

Well, it isn't. I was just completely surprised that you'd come up with that hypothetical among all possible ones, considering that, as far as we know, Hitler planned to erase cities in occupied Russia, not found them.

But I'll say this: had the Nazis ever actually founded new settlements in present-day Ukraine, and at least one of these still existed, there's only one political group that would ever conceivably honor its founding, and that is Azov symphatisers.

The goal of Generalplan Ost was to replace Slavs in the east with Germans, not to just leave the land barren post-cleansing. Certainly there would have to be some cities founded afterwards if the plan were put into action. In any case, the use of Hitler is mostly arbitrary as a stand-in for a generic {bad man} for the purpose of the hypothetical. You could replace him with anyone you think is horrendously vile that was also capable of founding cities.

there's only one political group that would ever conceivably honor its founding, and that is Azov symphatisers.

The question isn't "is it bad to honor Hitler?", it's "do you have to honor vile people just because they founded a city?". You haven't said it explicitly yet, but it seems you have a double standard on this issue where if it's a historical figure you like (e.g. Cathy) then you think people shouldn't ever take down the statue, but if the situation is precisely inverted to a historical figure you don't like (e.g. Hitler) then suddenly the situation isn't so clear-cut.