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A comment on The Great Purge (1933). Parent comment

Re:The Great Purge (1933) by Tainnor on Tuesday April 16, 2024 @12:40AM (#40048423)
It was the same thing in mathematics. For example, when Edmund Landau defined pi as "twice the value of the unique zero of cos in the interval [0, 2]" (a very common definition) instead of geometrically, this was attacked as being "un-German" (even though you can obviously go from the geometric to the analytic definition and vice versa).

https://institucional.us.es/blogimus/en/2017/03/pi-and-the-n...

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Re:The Great Purge (1933) by perihelions on Tuesday April 16, 2024 @03:41AM (#40049345)
Here's a remarkable quote: "The Cauchy-Goursat theorem arouses intolerable displeasure in us Germans".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Bieberbach

https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/arts-letters/articles/hit... ("How German Mathematicians Dealt With the Rise of Nazism" (1967 / 2016))

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Re:The Great Purge (1933) by soperj on Tuesday April 16, 2024 @02:12AM (#40048858)
Haven't multiple states done the same thing? (trying to redefine pi)
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Re:The Great Purge (1933) by vundercind on Tuesday April 16, 2024 @02:25AM (#40048926)
Multiple? No.

Indiana, in 1897, tried, but the bill failed (after notable early success!).

https://www.straightdope.com/21341975/did-a-state-legislatur...

(Other sources seem to agree)

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Re:The Great Purge (1933) by Tainnor on Tuesday April 16, 2024 @06:34AM (#40050396)
Not the same thing. Twice the unique zero of cos in [0, 2] is provably equal to the circumference of a circle of diameter 1. It's not equal to 3.2 or whatever the Indiana Pi Bill was trying to legislate.
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Re:The Great Purge (1933) by radu_floricica on Tuesday April 16, 2024 @05:13AM (#40049893)
The disease is independent of context. It's about taking a political club and using it to hit anybody you don't like. And we're far from being immune to it even now.

The correct reaction is to identify people using this particular pattern and penalize them regardless of political or cultural affiliation. Especially if they're in your own tribe - you're the one in the best position to censure them.

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Re:The Great Purge (1933) by Tainnor on Tuesday April 16, 2024 @06:27AM (#40050345)
> And we're far from being immune to it even now.

Please stop trivialising Nazi atrocities by attaching your pet personal grievances to it.

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Re:The Great Purge (1933) by wizzwizz4 on Tuesday April 16, 2024 @08:11AM (#40050985)
Thank you for the demonstration. (But to avoid downvotes, you might want to add a smiley or something: Poe's law holds now as it did then.)
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Re:The Great Purge (1933) by rightbyte on Tuesday April 16, 2024 @09:43AM (#40051759)
> The correct reaction is to identify people using this particular pattern and penalize them regardless of political or cultural affiliation.

Ohh no. The correct reaction is to do nothing if censorship is on the table. It is trivial to push BS by blaming fighting BS.

I believe the correct action is to pretend they are sane and calmly explain why I think they are wrong in combination with ignoring them.

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