We’re all kind of schizo about Hitler, don’t you think? Our Nazometers are set on high. We see Nazis in anyone and everyone we don’t agree with. Yet at the same time nobody seems to believe that anything like Hitler could really happen again. Not here. Not there.
Recently we’ve had lots of talk about countries walking out on Ahmadinejad at the United Nations because he’s a Holocaust denier. But isn’t this the same UN that essentially ignored the holocaust going on in Darfur. Ahmadinejad should fit right in there. And he does.
Sure, he might hit an awkward moment or two when he says something derogatory about gays at brunch but a few huzzahs of “Death to Israel” and they’ll all be eating out of his hand again at the UN.
And while Ahmadinejad may deny a holocaust which occurred 60 years ago, I’m more worried about those who deny present genocides or think we’ve evolved past worrying about another Hitler rising. I worry that there are those who believe the lessons of Nazi Germany have been learned, internalized, and bear fruit.
Hearing people talk of Hitler and Nazis worries me. They seem to speak of Nazi-ism in a vacuum as if it had no precedent or future. They speak of Hitler as if he were the product of an almost supernatural confluence of circumstances which birthed the embodiment of true evil.
Hitler was evil to be sure. But as far as pure body count he had rivals. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot are just a few of them. In today’s day and age we don’t lack for evil. (See: the unborn)
The plain truth of it is that Hitler was not and is not an anomaly. Churchill was. The world is full of Hitlers. It is Churchill’s we lack.
Milosevic, Saddam Hussein, Ahmadinejad…the list goes on. All vied for their place in the Evil Hall of Fame.
But somehow other mass murderers just get categorized differently. Do you hear anyone in power talk about the hundreds of millions killed in the name of communism under Mao, Pol Pot, or Stalin. You never hear about those. Where’s the museum erected to the victims of communism? Where’s the movies about them?
We say “never again” while it’s going on around us. Violence is around us everywhere. Government sponsored violence is a regular routine in many parts of the world.
The formula is a large centralized government and an unwillingness to acknowledge the sacredness and God given rights of the individual. Shake well. Results should appear within a decade. Let’s face it. Hitler happens.
And we can keep saying “Never again” like some kind of spell or mantra that wards off Hitlers of the future but Hitlers happen. All the time.
September 25, 2009 at 7:18 am
The silence is ending now, thank God, about Stalin's horrific genocide of the freedom-loving Ukrainian people in 1932-33. Google "Holodomor" (literally 'death by hunger'), and you'll see. There are short films on the net, and the first full-length documentary will hopefully be finished in time for Academy Award consideration for 2009. For info on that, see http://www.holodomorthemovie.com.
This could happen again, because those who learn from history die, and are followed by those who no longer remember that there was anything to learn.
September 25, 2009 at 7:36 am
First, I for one do not bandy about "like Hitler" or "Nazi" at all. I think it is stupid, childish and insults the memory of those who actually lived through it. Second, there was no "holocaust" in Darfur. The Infidel Darfurian Sudanese rose up in arms against the Infidel Arab Sudanese, who then quashed them like bugs with far superior fighting power and merciless tactics. This scenario is NOTHING like the German/Nazi regime targetting an entire people as sub-human with the ultimate goal of anihilating them down to the last baby. You are so way off here I'm embarassed for you.
If ANYTHING, you could equate the Infidel Arab Sudanese' war of genocide against the Christian South (this lasted about 15 years at the expense of up to 2 MILLION deaths, but you probably never heard of it) where the north's goal was to wipe out the entire Christian tribal population unless they converted to Islam. This only stopped due to the efforts and pressure of President George Bush.
Lastly, the UN has not only monitored the situation in Darfur but has also sent in troops via the African Union (mostly Kenyans). You can argue on whether this was "enough" or "not enough", but either way the UN loses, just like any nation or organization that faces whether or not to enter a conflict.
Bottom line, are there dictators and tyrants who have wracked up high body counts in recent years? Absolutely. Have any of them a) sought to track down an entire ethnic group and wipe them off the planet down to the last man? sought a cultural and linguistic hegemony over all conquered lands c) targetted the Catholic church for anihilation d) kill off their own population of old, infirm and disabled e) impose a caste system based on blood lines to the "master race" ALL AT THE SAME TIME? If the answer is no, then can you please appreciate the magnitude and uniqueness of Hitler and the Nazi regime? Otherwise you simply look stupid(er).
September 25, 2009 at 9:02 am
Technicalities of a situation aside, I'm glad, in a way, for this sobering reminder that stuff like, in any degree at all, the Nazi genocide of the Jews does still happen, and did happen elsewhere…
September 25, 2009 at 2:07 pm
Anon, whether someone kills millions because they're Jewish or whether they own property doesn't really matter to me or the victims. They're still dead.
Murder is evil for whatever reason it's undertaken.
September 25, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Evil is evil… no matter how massively planned.
Just one thing to watch carefully here as this healthcare debate has gone on is how attitudes towards the elderly and disabled have come into focus. We've already been long familiar with the gross dehumanization of tiny womb dwelling folk. This debate has made much clearer the level of dehumanization of the elderly and disabled which we have already allowed in this country.
For instance, our care of the elderly in many cases leaves them lost in the nursing home waiting for a visit from family who has deemed it too inconvenient to care for them. There are genuine cases where the burden of care is too sophisticated or demanding for a family to handle without the help of trained professionals, but in many cases I've seen elderly who are in need of basic care: food, clothing, bathing and supervision, which can be provided in the home. Either way, once you take people out of the general view of society and lock them away in institutional homes, it becomes easier to forget their humanity. Just like it's easy to ignore the humanity of a developing fetus inside the womb. Out of sight, out of mind…
From there, it's not a far step to, "Well, grannie's not going to be getting any younger, and since she probably wouldnt enjoy the nursing home, maybe we're better off euthanizing her."
It's already been talked about in the bills in Congress. Who knows? Maybe the next silent genocide will happen right here, alongside the one already taking place (What is it? 40 million children lost?). Only this time it's could be coming for grannie.
Don't mean to be so dark, but this is an evil topic and one I fear we haven't held up to the light enough to see it for what it truly is: EVIL.
September 25, 2009 at 4:53 pm
Did Hitler happen or was he made?
Did we get the government that we deserve? Did we make this bed?
September 25, 2009 at 5:43 pm
The difficulty can be, as the Germans found, a "leader" who says he will "solve all the problems" "throw off the yoke of___" "get for the poor/used/ignored what they have a 'right' to" are supported
until suddenly
the supporters find
they have no freedom
they have no money no stuff and can't say a thing without finding themselves in a golag
We are currently dealing with an elite/cabal which is telling us to shut up
do what they say
accept their financially excessive oppressive even murderous plan or else
some might say its not that bad but when we will be expected to accept no treatment if aged or disabled and infants are aborted or refused premee care …..
then equating what ones sees happening in this country now
with the kinds of things which lead up to entire populations being lead by Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao…
then to save word count
use of the words such as Hilter-esk or Stalin-esk are kicks which can get people thinking and protesting
Now when the internments camps have not yet appeared
September 25, 2009 at 6:32 pm
I agree with Mark- the whole Hitler phenomenon started with a populace with some deep seated hatreds towards a successful upper class- namely the Jews. The people of Germany were looking for a scapegoat for their economic troubles and loss of national pride post WWI. They were no longer a glorious nation, the lost their proud identity and were looking for a way to get it back. Cue Hitler, the Jew-hating, nationalist, Aryan race supremecist who preyed upon the people's hunger and prejudices and rose to power to do abominable things to innocent people.
I don't think Hitler was made so much as he was given an opportunity. His ideas were not entirely self originated, but rather he took it upon himself to champion them and bring them to their logical (and disgusting) conclusion- namely the death camps.
It's easy for a charismatic personality with a weak sense of moral right and wrong to glibly convince a populace into atrocity in the name of some fabricated higher cause. Just look at Margaret Sanger. A poor family life instilled little love and concern for her fellow man into the woman and she gives birth to the sick movement we know as Planned Parenthood and "abortion rights." Her father was an abusive alcoholic and her mother a slave and drudge to the 5 (or was it 6?) children in her family. Her mother had no support from her father and her father frequently made it known to his children how little worth her mother and the other female members in the family had. No small wonder Margaret Sanger grew up to become a sexual libertine with no respect for marriage and family life. She never once experienced a "normal" family life. Her arrogance was to assume that just because her parents' marriage was such a hell that all family life was intrinsically without worth, and therefore women shouldn't be oppressed by having to care for an unwanted family (ie: unwanted children).
Now we have our President. Raised with an absent father, liberal grandparents and shifted from country to country during his childhood, he never experienced the loving attention a father can bring and the sense of intrinsic self worth that comes from knowing you have a family and that family LOVES you. Therefore, he has a constant need for adulation and attention. He's smart, charismatic, has little conscience when it comes to unborn children and is known to associate with radical leftists who hate this country.
I'd say that based on where Sanger and Hitler came from and the types of personalities they had and the lasting damaging effects they've had on society, that if we're not extremely careful, our current President has the potential to do a similar kind of harm to the fabric of our nation.
September 25, 2009 at 7:31 pm
As far as a movie about Hilter/ Sanger/ Genecide/ etc. as above, I suggest the movie Maafa 21.
I just bought it, and it's very very good. Every reference has a cite too.
–gbm3
September 25, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Sarah–just want to say that I think your comments are BRILLIANT.
–Kim
September 25, 2009 at 8:05 pm
Sarah–just want to say that I think your comments are BRILLIANT.
–Kim
September 25, 2009 at 8:27 pm
Re: "It's easy for a charismatic personality with a weak sense of moral right and wrong to glibly convince a populace into atrocity in the name of some fabricated higher cause."
It depends on the populace.
Re: "the whole Hitler phenomenon started with a populace with some deep seated hatreds towards a successful upper class- namely the Jews. The people of Germany were looking for a scapegoat for their economic troubles and loss of national pride post WWI."
So, it is the populace that give Hitler the opportunity. At any other time, they would have found his ideas nutty and he would not have risen into power.
September 25, 2009 at 8:42 pm
Anonymous, what a stupid comment.
This was a great post, an excellent piece of writing!
September 25, 2009 at 8:49 pm
Gail was responding to a comment by anonymous that blamed pretty much all mass murders on THE JOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSSSSSSS!
I don't have much patience for that.
September 25, 2009 at 8:52 pm
Good point Rick! I didn't think about it that way, but you're right. Sheep can't be led by anyone other than the shepherd they trust.
I trust in Jesus.
The new question to ask: Who's society's shepherd now a days?…
September 26, 2009 at 3:22 am
If there was ever a time to go watch a Mel Brooks movie… (I vote for Spaceballs, anyone else?)
gbm3
(I saw the deleted comments before they were, in fact, deleted. … Uh-oh, more just in (at 10:18. "…Coward?"))
September 26, 2009 at 3:54 am
Sorry anon,
I am deleting your comments. I have very few rules here but high on the list is that those who go by the name 'anonymous' forfeit their privilege to call anyone a coward.