You can both think that the guy is justified and a hero for doing what he did, and also think that comparing him to Anne Frank is in very bad taste, at best. He chose to do what he did, Anne Frank was persecuted and murdered just for who she was.

[–] ALoafOfBread@lemmy.ml 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

That's not really what's happening in the meme. There's a common philosophical thought experiment about moral relativism and that takes issue with Kantian ethics that basically says: okay, you think lying is wrong, but in some situations it's morally correct - like if you're a gentile in Nazi Germany and Anne Frank is in your attic & a Nazi comes to your door demanding to know if you've seen any Jews. Because lying is wrong, do you just rat Anne Frank out? Obviously no. But if you believe that not ratting out Anne Frank is morally right, then you have to admit that lying is not wrong per se.

Kant though was a removed and would have ratted Anne Frank out. Source:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_a_Supposed_Right_to_Tell_Lies_from_Benevolent_Motives

Meme goes back to 1797 when Benjamin Constant pointed this out to Kant in an essay. The thought experiment was about a murderer at the door looking for someone who is in your house because Nazis didn't exist yet.