The Affordable Care Act (ACA or "Obamacare") had started in 2010, and every election after that it became an issue. Some wanted to replace it with single payer systems, or expanded government run systems (e.g. Medicare for all). Others wanted to get rid of it completely, and not replace it with anything.

Those who want a more expansive or comprehensive system than ACA often cite the systems of other countries as potential models for the US. Those opposed to that point out what they perceive as flaws in those systems.

Wikipedia tells me that the Nazis did actually have a healthcare system [1].

I could see someone saying some particular system is a good approach for the US to take, and someone who disagrees seeing that it has some similarities to the aforementioned Nazi system, and so dismissing it as "basically the same as nazis".

The rest of the comment would then be meant in a "look how bad that turned out" sense with the (ridiculous) implication that if the US gets free healthcare we too will end up committing large scale atrocities.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_People%27s_...

(edit: see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25813184 which adds some additional context. I assumed when writing this comment that the nazi healthcare joke was part of the 1/6/2020 thread & a direct response to warning about violence in DC. Apparently that post was NOT made a direct response to the thread on 1/6, but was instead made in a context where it's meant to be taken as a tounge-in-cheek criticism of nazi<->X equivocation rather than as a basal joke... Unfortunately, I wrote this comment assuming that the joke was basal and now I can't delete this comment but there's substantial down-thread discussion already. Therefore, I am leaving my original comment, which I wrote before seeing that clarifying post, so that the down-thread discussion doesn't cause even more confusion.)

Original comment:

I've interacted with people who think jokes like this are funny, even when there's no extra layer of hidden meaning or anything like that. Where the joke is literally "haha nazis gave jews healthcare haha get it because they actually killed all the jews haha". That's it. No hidden meaning, no second layer, just... a really stupid "joke"? in terrible taste.

Probably it's safe assumption that most of the people who think these sorts of jokes are funny are in fact actually genocidal or at least anti-Semitic?

I have met one person who would laugh at these sorts of "jokes" and who I sorta don't think was actually anti-Semitic. Or at least that's not all that was going on. Both because he was a practicing jew and also because he laughed at a lot of other really stupid and tasteless but not overtly bigoted "jokes". Stuff like taking pictures of his poop.

I really can't explain why he thought these sorts of jokes were funny. I'm not a psychologist so I genuinely don't know the word for what's wrong with him.

There are A LOT of people with undiagnosed psychological disorders for whom complaints about "PC police" are an entry-point to radicalization. The "spark" is being fired or socially marginalized for lacking any amount of social awareness. Through that entry point, they find people on the internet who tell them that there is nothing wrong with them and that it's all the fault of the "PC police" and "cancel culture". And then the radicalization starts.

IDK what the solution is. To be clear, people really should not be expected to work alongside others who make jokes about genocide or harass co-workers with scat pics. But also, to be just as clear, there's a very dark strand of US politics that is growing stronger, can't just be ignored anymore. That movement is making an intentional effort to radicalize people who are fired from their jobs, or fear being fired from their jobs, for their lack of social etiquette.

What's the difference between 100 dead babies and a Ferrari?

I don't keep a Ferrari in my garage.

Here's a sampling. https://thoughtcatalog.com/clint-conway/2016/08/50-of-the-fu...

Anyway, the thing that makes it funny is how absurd it is that the joke-teller would be an enthusiastic baby-murderer, -torturer, and/or -cannibal, depending on the joke (plus general surprise and shock).

For people who have grown up thinking that Nazis are obviously evil monsters and no civilized person could possibly be one of them, making jokes about gassing the Jews and that kind of thing can have a similar kind of appeal.

Not since maybe middle school?

I'm not sure what to say. If an adult made a joke like this -- especially in a workplace -- I would assume they have some sort of developmental disorder. I understand that assumption might be wrong and that in any case I'm not qualified to make a determination, but... I've literally never met a normal and functioning adult who laughs at jokes like these.

It's a whole genre of humor.

And pretty often they are not socially marginalized either. They have friends and families and are interested into society. And they happily do those jokes with their friends and families.

It's not a joke. I can only assume this is a reference to the abhorrent "medical" experiments the Nazis were doing on prisoners, Dr Death being one of the more famous proponents.

The wikipedia article barely scratches the surface of the depravity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazi_human_experimentation

Reading all this drama I’m glad that I don’t have to work for a living anymore. Looks like you wouldn’t get any work done over the constant drama. Very depressing.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_People's_We...

I am 100% sure it was not joke about that, it was joke about holocaust.

The germans of jewish descent were not considered citizes in Germany, so anyway I doubt the above benefits fully applied to them anyway.

And dilate

https://www.vice.com/en/article/93wnja/neo-nazis-boast-about...

"I am afraid to ask this but can someone explain the "nazi joke" to me?"

"It wasn’t a joke. It was quite literal. Stay safe, fellow employees, there are literal goose stepping Nazis in the streets."

And the I said: "How do you know from this little context?"

Turns out I was right, it was a joke about Obamacare, not some nazi at Github: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25813443 Also I was right about judging, 2 negative comments that assumed I'd support nazis.

If we're on the topic of 'free healthcare' then with what we know about how the Nazis treated all their prisoners, with what they documented about systemically murdering disabled people, what possible context could this ever be acceptable in?

Edit: as I've said in another comment, there wasn't "free healthcare" (which is phrased to make it sound like some sort of socialist utopia), there was mandated health insurance: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Socialist_People's_We...