Wow, pitting Hitler on his (anti-)birthday. How bold.
What did he ever do to you?
I didn’t say he should be exempt from responsibility, I’m saying that the Nazi phenomenon should not be treated as something Hitler did all by himself as though the people had nothing to do with it. I’m not saying let Hitler off the hook, I’m saying don’t let the people off the hook. Nazi Germany was not about one person it was about millions of willing citizens who bought into his bullshit. I’m saying that Nazi Germany has to be looked at as a mob phenomenon and not mythologized as a magical act by an evil superhuman.
When I was growing up in a small town in southwestern Pennsylvania in the 1970s, whenever we studied World War II and the Holocaust, my classmates were always certain it couldn’t happen here, that we were somehow different from the Germans. These were the same classmates who ruthlessly, daily picked on my best friend because she was handicapped and on me because I was English and different. I knew damn well it could happen here; I saw traces of the roots of it in the way my friend and I were treated and I vowed to fight it.
Neither Hitler nor the German people were inhuman monsters; the German people were ordinary people who were given someone acceptable to blame for their economic ills. Remember the situation in the 1930s. The Great Depression was raging in Europe as well as in America and Germany was particularly hard hit because of reparations from World War I. Inflation was rampant and anti-Semitism was more or less normal. Hitler gave the people an acceptable target to blame for their ills, much as I gather some of the mullahs in Saudi Arabia are doing today, only the mullahs are using America.
Oh, by the way, Carnal K, Hitler’s attacks on England during the Battle of Britain are why my mother was evacuated as a little girl and her first memories are of hiding under a kitchen table during bombing raids. During the Holocaust, he also killed family members of one of the few friends I had in high school. Does that answer your question?
CJ
Riiiiiiiiight. It’s not like Stalin invaded Poland to start WW2. Oh, wait…
Yes it answers my question. You were not born when Hitler was alive.
Seriously, I find it quite comical that someone would give a mild ass Pitting to Hitler. Surely you see that? It struck me as particularly funny because I had just heard the A Whitney Brown stand up a few weeks ago with the bit (paraphrased):
"You know everyone accepts Hitler as the most evil guy ever. Not many people however, myself included, sit around stewing and think ‘Oh I wish I could get my hands on Hitler for just 5 minutes!’. You know why?
Because Hitler never stole my bike."
(that’s the guy he wants 5 minutes with)
Aside from almost kill my father? Nothing. But we need to remember his evil lest it happen again.
Well if you miss my point & joke, fine. Just don’t everyone start calling me a Hitler defender. lol
He didn’t invade Poland to *start *WW2 – he waited for the Germans to invade first. Of course, the non-aggression pact certainly didn’t do anything to discourage Hitler, and the secret protocol for dividing Poland proves that his intention to invade Poland predates the German invasion.
*"And looking very relaxed, Adolf Hitler on vibes.
Nice!"*
[Gag Halfrunt]
He’s just zis guy, you know?
[/Gag Halfrunt]