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Philosophy and other Silliness

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Your Text: Insert Slimies » Insert UBB Code » Close Last Tag \| All Tags UBB Help	[quote]?Among German historians, there?s really not much debate about whether or not Hitler was a social Darwinist,? said Weikart. ?He clearly was drawing on Darwinian ideas.?[/quote] No, he was drawing on nationalism, racism, and a psychopathic hatred for anyone who did not fit his ideal. Darwin's theories (or the distorted view of Darwin's theories known as "social Darwinisim"), if they played any part at all, were simply a justification after the fact. Because the truth of the matter is that we very often make up our minds about something [i]first[/i] and [i]then[/i] seek a rational justification for our opinions. If it hadn't been Darwin, it would have been something or someone else. I actually read [i]Mein Kampf[/i] (in English translation) when I was younger, and at no point did I think, "Wow, if Darwin hadn't existed, Hitler never would have thought or written any of this." That is absurd. What I did think was, "Here is a very intelligent and charismatic individual who has the ability to make lies and hatred seem proper. No wonder he was so dangerous." There were times when I read a passage and thought, "That makes sense." And then I realized, with horror, that I was agreeing with Hitler. But what if I hadn't had the lessons of history to shock me into that realization? I can see how the German people, not knowing what was to come, might have been swayed by his speeches (which were undoubtedly more powerful than his writing, simply because of his charisma). Not to justify what happened, of course. I'm just saying, I can understand how it could have happened. And I'd like to float a tentative idea here. It's been so long since I read [i]Mein Kampf[/i] that I honestly don't remember if Hitler specifically mentioned social Darwinism, but when I read that quote above it makes me wonder. Here in Asia, Japan has been doing everything in its power for the past sixty years to deny any wrongdoing in World War II (and just about everything after that--the inability to take responsibility for wrongs seems to be a characteristic of the Japanese government, even when it comes to domestic matters). In this process, many (although not all) historians have drawn on all sorts of theories in an attempt to exonerate their country. Is it possible that German historians are doing something similar, perhaps trying to distance themselves from the evil of Hitler by explaining it away as "social Darwinism," or at least qualifying it as something that can be explained and thus understood and dealt with? I don't even know if it is true that there really is a consensus among German historians, but if there is you have to wonder why. Also: Ann Coulter gives me a serious case of the heebie-jeebies. [img]http://www.liminality.org/asylum/sigs/suho_taegeuk_sig2.gif[/img] ___________________________ Suho: [url=http://www.liminality.org]www.liminality.org[/url] \| [url=http://www.ozoneasylum.com/4837]Cell 270[/url] \| [url=http://www.ozoneasylum.com/5689]Sig Rotator[/url] \| [url=http://www.ozoneasylum.com/22173]the Fellowship of Sup[/url] Loading...
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