Why we fear Hitler
December 29th 2007 00:32
[I]"Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'let me do the most evil thing I can do today.' I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good.' "[/I Will Smith
The above quotation comes from actor and former rapper Will Smith. When I first read it, I unlike some other people didn't find anything horrific in what he said. I had to agree with him. I unfortunately think there is something good in all of us. We just use what we have the wrong way.
Let me use the example of Hitler. He was the perfect example of twisted, backward logic. He in his own way of thinking did want what was "best" for the German people. I tend to think that he had some leadership qualities. Am I praising Hitler? No far from it. Hitler was a murderous dictator. What my point is and follow me carefully I am saying the man must have had had at least one or two good points. Otherwise he would not have risen to where he did. If he had decided to build up Germany in a positive way, without resorting to genocide, annexation of countries and a world war then the world would be different today. If he was a peace loving man who brought wealth to Germany, then he would have been hailed a hero. The fact that he did what he did was the sign of a very disturbed mind. However, when we look at that aspect of him, it doesn't take into account the other parts of this man. He whether we want to believe it or not he was a human being who let power, hatred and greed get to him.
This reminds me of a story that I read many years ago about a nun that worked in a prison amongst some of the hardest, coldest, meanest, most violent people, including murderers and rapists. Yet she had never been attacked by any of these men. When she was asked why she worked in there, she used a paper napkin and made a dot on the paper. She asked the interviewer what they saw and they replied "A dot" the nun replied "I see the whole paper". We tend to look at people and judge them only by the black dot and not by the rest of the napkin.
In the end the issue here is deeper than Hitler. People on a whole like to see the worst in others, simply because it gives them a chance to have moral authority over another "I'm so glad I'm not like that!" We love to say that don't we? It gives us a sense of power and we feel better about ourselves. It think that's a reason why Hitler is so hated today. He has become the benchmark of evil for humanity. More importantly, he is a mirror into our own dark souls which some of us refuse to admit we have or if we do we won't even go there. We fear him simply because what was in him, in one form or another lives in us as well. in the end, it is our own darkness that we fear, not his. Because when it comes down to it he was one of us. He was human.
The above quotation comes from actor and former rapper Will Smith. When I first read it, I unlike some other people didn't find anything horrific in what he said. I had to agree with him. I unfortunately think there is something good in all of us. We just use what we have the wrong way.
Let me use the example of Hitler. He was the perfect example of twisted, backward logic. He in his own way of thinking did want what was "best" for the German people. I tend to think that he had some leadership qualities. Am I praising Hitler? No far from it. Hitler was a murderous dictator. What my point is and follow me carefully I am saying the man must have had had at least one or two good points. Otherwise he would not have risen to where he did. If he had decided to build up Germany in a positive way, without resorting to genocide, annexation of countries and a world war then the world would be different today. If he was a peace loving man who brought wealth to Germany, then he would have been hailed a hero. The fact that he did what he did was the sign of a very disturbed mind. However, when we look at that aspect of him, it doesn't take into account the other parts of this man. He whether we want to believe it or not he was a human being who let power, hatred and greed get to him.
This reminds me of a story that I read many years ago about a nun that worked in a prison amongst some of the hardest, coldest, meanest, most violent people, including murderers and rapists. Yet she had never been attacked by any of these men. When she was asked why she worked in there, she used a paper napkin and made a dot on the paper. She asked the interviewer what they saw and they replied "A dot" the nun replied "I see the whole paper". We tend to look at people and judge them only by the black dot and not by the rest of the napkin.
In the end the issue here is deeper than Hitler. People on a whole like to see the worst in others, simply because it gives them a chance to have moral authority over another "I'm so glad I'm not like that!" We love to say that don't we? It gives us a sense of power and we feel better about ourselves. It think that's a reason why Hitler is so hated today. He has become the benchmark of evil for humanity. More importantly, he is a mirror into our own dark souls which some of us refuse to admit we have or if we do we won't even go there. We fear him simply because what was in him, in one form or another lives in us as well. in the end, it is our own darkness that we fear, not his. Because when it comes down to it he was one of us. He was human.
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