How many Hitlers does it take...
Shalom!
I would not consider myself a "history buff" in the least. However, I have been fortunate/unfortunate enough in possessing the propensity for understanding the world around me; a nagging curiosity that would have otherwise killed me if I were the proverbial "cat".
With that said, let me just pre-cursor this entry with the fact that I do not have a vast knowledge of the events between WWI and WWII, and that "Adolph Hitler was an extremist obsessed with an unrealistic idealism that lacked a very good foundation of logical reasoning to support it."
However, my focus today is mainly upon one man, his message, the cultural climate that fostered his rise and fall, and the fact that his reincarnation is not only a possibility, but a likelihood.
The Climate
In the vein of Sofia from "Golden Girls"; "Picture it.. Germany, post WWI...." The country is in shambles. WWI for lack of a better term, "whooped that trick!" The German people are poor, defeated, and without hope or inspirational leadership. People are thirsting for someone who can give them an answer to their despair and provide them with light and leadership to rebuilding the future.
The Man
Adolf Hitler always fancied himself an artist. He was a painter and dabbled as an architect, but was rejected from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. His desire for designing fashion and aestheticism would have made him a great cast member of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"; but most likely it would have been called something else, like "Crazy Eye for killing Queer Guys", or something to that extent.
Throughout his life, Adolph was raised a Catholic (where some claim, it was the Jew that turned against Jesus...yadda yadda yadda) and anti-semitic influences from Richard Wagner (a musical composer who was idolized by Hitler), Lanz von Liebenfels, Karl Lueger among others who targeted the Jewish people as scapegoats to their own economic or societal problems. Anyway, without getting too far into the psychological profile of the man, Hitler dropped out of school at 16, lost both of his parents by 21, was rejected from his dream of attending the Vienna Academy of Art, lived the life of the starving artist, and then enlisted into the military when Germany entered WWI.
First Stab at Power:
Post WWI Adolph began to instrumentally work his way into power and became Fuhrer of the Nazi Party, otherwise known as the "National Socialist German Workers Party". Developing his oratory skills and mimicking fascist strategies of Mussolini, Hitler tried to overthrow the German government in 1923; however, some of his supporters turned against him, he was left out to dry, accused of high treason and the government "whooped that trick!"
Second Time's a charm?
After Hitler served less than 1 year of his 5 year sentence, because the courts regarded him as relatively "harmless" after listening to his influential Nationalist ramblings, he worked to re-build the Nazi Party again, but this time with a little longer of a timeline. He built a top-down dictatorship and surrounded himself with "yes men", while hounding on Nationalist ideals that denounced the previously mentioned climate of Germany. After some work and finagling, Adolph finally gained power over Germany in 1933 following the impact of the Great Depression and worked to embeded Nazi party members into every aspect of government and social influence.
The Message
In a nutshell, Hitler's agenda was to re-build a greater and more Utopian Germany. He worked to sell Germans on the ideal of creating a "hygienic society" where art, family, education, and lifestyle are "pure". He believed that man has transcended natural selection by allowing "degenerates" to live. "Degenerates" included the mentally/physically handicapped, homosexuals, and you guessed it.... the Jews!!!! He utilized a huge propaganda initiative including operas, pamphlets, movies, etc. illustrating how these "degenerates" are at the root of all of German, and the world's problems. He promoted the necessity of Euthanasia and Eugenics strategies for "cleansing" Germany, because he believed that the "idiots are taking over" and that by the 1980s (50 years later) that 1 in every 4 people would be defective.
Okay, now that I feel like I've written a short essay (granted, an abridged one), I have some questions for y'all:
What do you think is the formula between cultural conditions and personal characteristics for the incarnation of a "Hitler"?
Granted, I don't have a formula for how a "Hitler" can happen, all I know is that it does, and continues to happen. Look at the Middle East, basically throughout all of Africa, Yugoslavia, etc. How does it happen?
Is ethnic cleansing and the majority of our wars just expressions of human nature that will never go away?
Our last chronicle was on evolution of belief and talked about how people need to make sense of things... given that, have we evolved at all from the times of virgin sacrifice? Isn't it silly to believe that a particular race or belief of certain people is the root of all of our problems and by sacrificing that group, our societies will be utopian?
Do you feel that Hitler was an idealist who had a few good ideas, but just one fucked up methodology of initiating change and development? Hey, I like to throw gasoline on the fire....
All right, click the "comments" link right below to read the responses of others, as well as jot down your own responses. "NO" you don't have to be a member of Blogger to put in your $0.02; Just select "Other" for your identity, type in your name, and post your comments... that's it.... simple as drinking water when you're really thirsty!
I'm going to grab another cup of SUMATRA!!!
I would not consider myself a "history buff" in the least. However, I have been fortunate/unfortunate enough in possessing the propensity for understanding the world around me; a nagging curiosity that would have otherwise killed me if I were the proverbial "cat".
With that said, let me just pre-cursor this entry with the fact that I do not have a vast knowledge of the events between WWI and WWII, and that "Adolph Hitler was an extremist obsessed with an unrealistic idealism that lacked a very good foundation of logical reasoning to support it."
However, my focus today is mainly upon one man, his message, the cultural climate that fostered his rise and fall, and the fact that his reincarnation is not only a possibility, but a likelihood.
The Climate
In the vein of Sofia from "Golden Girls"; "Picture it.. Germany, post WWI...." The country is in shambles. WWI for lack of a better term, "whooped that trick!" The German people are poor, defeated, and without hope or inspirational leadership. People are thirsting for someone who can give them an answer to their despair and provide them with light and leadership to rebuilding the future.
The Man
Adolf Hitler always fancied himself an artist. He was a painter and dabbled as an architect, but was rejected from the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. His desire for designing fashion and aestheticism would have made him a great cast member of "Queer Eye for the Straight Guy"; but most likely it would have been called something else, like "Crazy Eye for killing Queer Guys", or something to that extent.
Throughout his life, Adolph was raised a Catholic (where some claim, it was the Jew that turned against Jesus...yadda yadda yadda) and anti-semitic influences from Richard Wagner (a musical composer who was idolized by Hitler), Lanz von Liebenfels, Karl Lueger among others who targeted the Jewish people as scapegoats to their own economic or societal problems. Anyway, without getting too far into the psychological profile of the man, Hitler dropped out of school at 16, lost both of his parents by 21, was rejected from his dream of attending the Vienna Academy of Art, lived the life of the starving artist, and then enlisted into the military when Germany entered WWI.
First Stab at Power:
Post WWI Adolph began to instrumentally work his way into power and became Fuhrer of the Nazi Party, otherwise known as the "National Socialist German Workers Party". Developing his oratory skills and mimicking fascist strategies of Mussolini, Hitler tried to overthrow the German government in 1923; however, some of his supporters turned against him, he was left out to dry, accused of high treason and the government "whooped that trick!"
Second Time's a charm?
After Hitler served less than 1 year of his 5 year sentence, because the courts regarded him as relatively "harmless" after listening to his influential Nationalist ramblings, he worked to re-build the Nazi Party again, but this time with a little longer of a timeline. He built a top-down dictatorship and surrounded himself with "yes men", while hounding on Nationalist ideals that denounced the previously mentioned climate of Germany. After some work and finagling, Adolph finally gained power over Germany in 1933 following the impact of the Great Depression and worked to embeded Nazi party members into every aspect of government and social influence.
The Message
In a nutshell, Hitler's agenda was to re-build a greater and more Utopian Germany. He worked to sell Germans on the ideal of creating a "hygienic society" where art, family, education, and lifestyle are "pure". He believed that man has transcended natural selection by allowing "degenerates" to live. "Degenerates" included the mentally/physically handicapped, homosexuals, and you guessed it.... the Jews!!!! He utilized a huge propaganda initiative including operas, pamphlets, movies, etc. illustrating how these "degenerates" are at the root of all of German, and the world's problems. He promoted the necessity of Euthanasia and Eugenics strategies for "cleansing" Germany, because he believed that the "idiots are taking over" and that by the 1980s (50 years later) that 1 in every 4 people would be defective.
Okay, now that I feel like I've written a short essay (granted, an abridged one), I have some questions for y'all:
What do you think is the formula between cultural conditions and personal characteristics for the incarnation of a "Hitler"?
Granted, I don't have a formula for how a "Hitler" can happen, all I know is that it does, and continues to happen. Look at the Middle East, basically throughout all of Africa, Yugoslavia, etc. How does it happen?
Is ethnic cleansing and the majority of our wars just expressions of human nature that will never go away?
Our last chronicle was on evolution of belief and talked about how people need to make sense of things... given that, have we evolved at all from the times of virgin sacrifice? Isn't it silly to believe that a particular race or belief of certain people is the root of all of our problems and by sacrificing that group, our societies will be utopian?
Do you feel that Hitler was an idealist who had a few good ideas, but just one fucked up methodology of initiating change and development? Hey, I like to throw gasoline on the fire....
All right, click the "comments" link right below to read the responses of others, as well as jot down your own responses. "NO" you don't have to be a member of Blogger to put in your $0.02; Just select "Other" for your identity, type in your name, and post your comments... that's it.... simple as drinking water when you're really thirsty!
I'm going to grab another cup of SUMATRA!!!
posted by Don the "Head Chimp" at
7:40 AM
3 Comments:
How to Bake a Hitler
Ingredients
1/2 cup of disenfranchised populous
24 grams of economic hardship
8 oz. of societal scapegoat
1 charismatic leader
Fear of Violent Retaliation
Mix in bowl and bake in over at 425 degrees for 3-5 years. When your Hitler begins to rise, sprinkle liberally with Fear of Violent Retaliation to help avoid open debate and demonize any ideological opposition, which may increase cooking time or, in extreme cases, create a pocket of reason that may cause your Hitler to fall.
By
D a n i e l, at 7:19 PM
Classic!
I love it, I can't wait to try it; it sounds "Fascist-nating"!
I bet it tastes like pure "genocide"?
Oh, I say, I could go on and on...
By
Don the "Head Chimp", at 7:57 PM
Ok. First time caller...long time...uh...reader.
I'll start off by saying that yeah, I think that there's a little of the caveman still in all of us, and that we're not always that far from "virgin sacrifice." The difference is that today, in the age of "comfort and convenience" we're all too afraid of losing the ease that we love, and in that fear are willing to let anyone do what they have to to protect us.
Furthermore, I also believe that it is deep seated within us to fear and sometimes (though all too often) hate that which is different than us. So as long as differences exist between culture, religion, income levels, on down the favorites like skin and hair and eye color, even gender that the possibility for genocide and ‘ethnic cleansing’ continues to exist. In today’s world with so many lines blurred between race, culture, and gender, I believe that the added confusion (which tends to lead to fear) for the average joe opens the possibility for another history, someone that average joe believes will rescue him from the ‘godless heathens’ so to speak.
On one end, I would say it’s the result of a lack of education and understanding from one group to the next. People fear that which they don’t understand. At the same time, it depends on one’s sources and the subjectivity of history by both the writer and the reader (ie. History is written by winners, baby). Pol Pot, another wonderfully genocidal guy, was a history teacher. Many of today’s Neo-Nazi’s are ‘well read’ but one only has to look at the sources or the perspective from which they are reading these sources to see the slant. If anything, it ultimately comes down to a matter of exposure. Most of the hate groups I’ve seen in the last few years seem to have had woefully little experience with the groups they’ve come to hate so much.
The other end to me is history itself. The English and the Irish have hated one another for centuries. The different groups of former Yugoslavia trace back tribe rivalry for centuries. Muslims and Christians have this wonderful shared history called The Crusades. And while we’re at it, the Muslims still hold some major betrayals against the Jews from back in Mohammed’s day. Not to mention the vilification of the Jews in the persecution of Christ. (Which if you take a look back, it’s easy to see that Jesus was a threat to the power structure and status quo of the day, not to the Jews as a people, and it was those in power that sought to remove him in order to protect themselves.) Most cultures have a moral policy of ‘forgive and forget’ to some extent…but we’re not so good on acting on that.
Ultimately, the differences between us tend to lead to either some form of competition (the Olympics, for instance), and in others, wars and ethnic cleansing. Take Genghis Khan, who was also known for whole sale slaughter. On one end, he killed everyone in sight regardless of race, creed, or religion. On the other, he built roads, a postal system, and lead to the accelerated evolution of most of Asia by leaps and bounds. In fact many of the advance in history have been the result of horrific violence (not that I’m advocating it…but look at the history…take Rome for instance…or that Alexander the Great’s campaigns led to one of the largest repositories of knowledge in the world…until Julie Caesar burn it once…and a later Muslim leader finished the job…how’s that for balance?)
In any event, I don’t think we’re immune to potential Hitlers, I think we also need to look into when and why we fight them. If you take WWII, Joe Stalin wiped out entire villages and slaughtered millions, and that’s not counting all the Russians that died in the war; however, we didn’t make any effort to stop him. Or Pol Pot. Or the various situations in Africa. Or the fact that we bolted out of Afghanistan a little too quickly. Why fight one injustice only to turn a blind eye to all the others? How about that?
Ryan
By
Ryan, at 1:15 PM
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