Meanwhile, in Germany....

I was in Las Vegas just a few days ago, but of course I wasn't drinking Cristal out of a strippers vagina...I was reading the New York Times in my hotel room, as my parents celebrated their 25 anniversary.

For those of you lucky enough to have access to the NY Times online (as I do, thanks to my super best friend and fellow news nerd Lauren Bardsley), you should be able to access this article; Where History Casts a Fearsome Shadow, Murmurings About the Far Right
Why should you read this article about neo-Nazi's? Because it's not just about a bunch of skin head East Germans stomping around spraying swastikas everywhere. In fact, without fear mongering (in my view at least), the reporter is pointing out that there could be another Holocaust starting in the land of beer and lederhosen.
It is, as it always is. You have the fringe group of extremists, who are violent and irrational, but surrounding them is the rest of the population who (surprise) agree with the underlying sentiment the extremists hold. In this case, the sentiment is that Muslims and immigrants are ruining Germany. "...found that nearly a third of Germans believed that foreigners were here to take advantage of the welfare state, and that close to 60 percent of those surveyed favored restrictions on the practice of Islam." Over 60 years of German's both legally and socially repressing their past atrocities has made this kind of thinking attractive to some...because it's taboo, and 'damn the man for stopping me.'
The scary point that the reporter, Nicholas Kulish, brings up, is a quote from Daniela Kolbe, a social democrat and member of Germany's parliament "My greatest fear is that someone charismatic will emerge who can harness that potential.”

Country is going to shit? Massive economic issues? Blame the people who are 'different' and who is fashionable to dislike. That sounds awfully familiar...