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Nobel Winner Says Internet Might Have Stopped Hitler
There can be little doubt that the internet has changed everyday life for the better, but Nobel literature prize winner Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clezio has upped the ante by saying an earlier introduction of information technology could even have prevented World War II. "Who knows, if the Internet had existed at the time, perhaps Hitler's criminal plot would not have succeeded — ridicule might have prevented it from ever seeing the light of day," he said. I have to agree with him. If England had been able to send a "Stop Hitler Now!" petition to 10 friendly countries, those countries could have each sent it to 10 more friendly countries before the invasion of Poland, and one of history's greatest tragedies might have been averted.
The internet of that time was the ham (amateur radio) community. A German kid, Hans Shergold, was in a hospital in Poland with a case of inoperable acne. He told his step-father, Marshall Goering, that before he died, he wanted to get into Guiness for receiving the most QSL cards from around the world. As the cards poured in and the room filled up, the hospital staff had a harder and harder time getting to Hans to treat him. On 31 Aug, 1939, Hans suffered a serious flare up. The blackhead pressure alarm went off, but doctors and nurses could not get to Hans before his head exploded, just one, giant pimple. His step-father, furious at the Poles for not enforcing safety codes, appealed to Hitler for help. The next morning, Hitler called the head of the Polish Hospital Safety Code Office (Zgnblowski Trzblowski Schnappse Polska). Unfortunately, a translator misinterpreted a cordial remark by the ZSTP office, "we are very sorry for the Goerings", as "What a weinerschnitzel that Goering is".
The rest is history.