Fascination with Hitler

Philosophy Forums Philosophy
1

Saludos,

  Eventhough Hitler is looked down upon by American mainstream culture, do you ever get a feeling that people are at times being hypocritical. I don't know if this has ever happened to any of you, but whenever I hear someone mention Hitler they do so with a bit of a hidden and morbid fascination. That is the case with nearly all the history teachers that I've had. My tennis coach was one of them. She was also a teacher of European History and whenever one of us would misbehave she would threaten us by saying that whoever kept on playing around would have to write a report on Adolf Hitler. She would get this smirk on her face, the kind one gets when one tells a distasteful joke near the victims of the joke. My other teachers wouldn't threaten us in the same manner but whenever they would touch the subject about nazy Germany, I could quickly sense how their interest would grow and how eloquent and detailed they would grow during the lecture. But all of them, when questioned a little more about the subject they would regain their American patroitism. I get the same feeling from cartoons such as South Park, Family Guy, The Simpsons, the list goes on. Are Americans being hypocritical? Is there a large population that are fond of Hitler but simply do not admit it? Heck, even a Jewish Calculus teacher that I had would make sure to inform us whenever we were discussing the theory of a German mathematician. He would get this tone of respect, pride and honor. He would never do that with mathematicians of any other nationalities. I would like to read your opinions on this and any other similar experiences.

Edher

2

I think it’s wrong to confuse fondness with fascination. Many Americans are obsessed with Bin Laden and Saddam, too. There’s something morbidly interesting about profoundly evil or sick people. People like to hate; it feels good. Or at least if feels cathartic. There’s such a purity to hatred, fear, etc.

3

Given the sheer scale and perversity of Nazi Germany, how can people not be fascinated? It is essentially the same drive that makes people slow down to look at car crashes.

Does that mean we want people to get into car crashes? Of course not, but a morbid fascination with something so disgusting is common. People are amazed and disgusted by Nazi Germany. That doesn’t mean that people actually like Nazi Germany or secretly agree with it.

4

And there’s something compelling about the scope of what Hitler did. He rose from fairly humble beginnings to amass astonishing power. Had he done a few things differently and/or trusted his best military advisors more, perhaps half of the world would be speaking German right now. While I don’t admire him in any conventional sense, from my perspective of living seventy years after his rise to power he’s a very interesting and complex character. He was a major player in one of the most fascinating chapters of history (ie WWII).

5

It’s because you see it all around you right now in the US

Hitler is bad because the government told you so, not because of what he did. If that were the cause all the citizens of the US should rise up and revolt instantly.

Know what Hitler did a couple days after he got into power? Blew up one of his own buildings.

If you’re wondering what I’m talking about don’t even bother responding.

6

Hitler was…trying to do something that no of us could ever hope to achieve.

he was trying to create a utopia out of the world. a utopia where Germany was the entire world, and the entire world was eventually going to be a ‘pure’ and strong race.

whether or not he truly believed that Germans were really the ‘master race’ im not sure, but that was just a propaganda tool most likely.

but he had a way to execute his plan. think abhout sci-fi writers and other writers who have written about utopias and how they would be run and so on.

he actually went through with this and in such an extreme and almost ‘fantasy’ like way. the story of WW2 and the Holocaust is like something from a story, it seems unreal.

no-one else in the world has achieved that infamy. that immortality.
do i have respect for him? i do. he had a vision and he had the ambition to try to achieve his vision.
do i agree with the slaughter of innocent people? no
this world is fucked up anyway though.

sadly the Holocaust was like a science experiment (a horrible fucked up one).
because of it we saw things and learned things about humanity that we might have never known.

7

Hitler was a hero turned to villainy because the academia hated his work,so he grew up to start a world war,and without that war,the united states would not have the technology we have today.

8

Hitler was a secular humanist. Think about how popular secular humanism is as a philosophy (in non-religious circles) and you realise just how hypocritical we are in our portrayal of him and his work as the ultimate evil…

9

Hitler was the red parrot of history, whom we all like to look at and admire, although at times I’d rather be colourblind.

10

This is a very interesting and honest thread, thus it deserves my attention. Hitler is who we all want to be. A man with conviction, a man with integrity, a man with iron-will and a man who married himself to his own people.

Why is Hitler the greatest of greatest, why do we all secretly admire him in an almost taboo like way. This is because Hitler is someone who we all want to be, not neccesarily sharing his philosophy but certainly sharing his personal virtues.

If one actually read Mein Kampf without prejudice, one would see that Hitler forever stand out as the single greatest hero of mankind. It is after reading Mein Kampf, that I became infected with obsessions about greatness, about what an idealist can achieve in life.

Hitler is love, Hitler is patriotism, Hitler is a Hero.

Hitler is the symbol of human virtue, he has it all, courage (twice wounded and once gassed, during WW1 often under heavy fire), honest (unlike Stalin, Hitler made his views heard), conviction (he never waivered he was always firm to his belief till the very end), loyalty, love, generousity, openness, intelligence.

Hitler himself said, it is rare for a leader, an organiser and a theoretician to be in one person, and that is Hitler.

Hitler is someone we want to be but can’t. He is someone to be proud of. If you ever watch a Hitler rally all you have to do is watch the faces of the crowd, how proud they are of Hitler, the strong man.

History tend to portray a different picture of Hitler since German lost the war and as Stalin said ‘Victors are never judged’. Hitler lost, so he judged harshly by history, he was turned into a monster. He was in fact, a gentleman.

I read his books, and saw and heard him talk, you can hear the greatness of Hitler and see it.

I admire Hitler greatly and I am not afraid to show it.

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his…work??

Unbelievable.

:astonished: :astonished: :astonished:

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I am not Jew.

I am not a Gypsie.

I am not a Polish man.

I am not a French.

I am not a communist.

I am not a Capitalist.

and yet the simple PRONOUNCIATION of the name Hitler makes me feel disgusted…simply disgusted. Disgusted and sick…and also ashamed of belonging to the same “species” of that pig.

What’s that? Can “Psychology” explain that? Can some enlightened racist of this forum explain that?

13

“the portrayal of him”…

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How so? Just because I don’t have to get into a hissy fit every time I talk about Hitler doesn’t mean that I in any way endorse what he did.

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mininova.org/search/?search= … r+Archives

For those who havent seen it.

  • It’s in color, not black and white; and shows alot of the neverseen action, including a part on A Hitler.

When you said that thing about history, and manipulation of the masses to think Hitler was a monster i remembered a little event from my childhood.

I remember being in 3rd grade or something, and our teacher was preeching religion (yes, religion class in school is mandatory here i had it for 11 years, iits disturbing) and someone in the classroom asked “What is the sign of the DEVIL?”
In responso to which the retarded religion teacher drew a swastika on the blackboard and told everyone thats the sign of SATAN and that we should hate it… I rest my case.

16

I think honestly, and with proper perspective of the time represented in history during the reign of Hitler, the morbid fascination becomes apparent.

He was the first true representation of Satan in the modern era. This is altogether easy to consider if one is even remotely aware of the prevailing schools of religious theory, at least in America, at the time. Demonizing Hitler for his ideology was all to easy under the propaganda vehicle. Puritanism was still quite strong here in the states, if it ever truly died.

I certainly agree with others here, the fascination is easy, notably from a purely detached, intellectual view. There is a very twisted “mythology” that still exists about him. The “humble beginnings”, being a “misfit”, being “rejected”, “rising to power”, “military might”, “supreme authority”… the list is virutally endless.

Yes, he was certainly Lucifer manifest in human form, the Dark Prince come to lead humanity to utopia via German greatness.

Good thing he is dead, Bush would have competition if he wasn’t. :evilfun:

17

on the same subject:

please tell me you were joking, and that you also believe PoR is a seriously diseased man.

18

For me Hitler represents a certain set of human behaviors taken to an extreme. Anyone or any group can become “Hitler” and that’s why I believe that it’s important to not make Hitler into a monster.

The temptation might be to see him as a pig or a demon, but really he was a guy. He was a guy that grew up in a broken home and bought into the idea that his culture was being suppressed, and it kind of had been.

So, if you look at Hitler with a bit of sympathy, then I think that it will help with understanding. If you can understand a person like him then you can see or predict the creation of others like him.

If you think about people like a computer program then you will see that certain “commands” create certain results, know them and you have your answers.

19

Considering the way you talk about Nazis, I don’t know what to think about this last post of yours,a nd this simpathetic vision of yours on Hitler, the Great Pig.

20

Fabiano, by dehumanising others you are becoming like Hitler
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