Hitler's rants, whether in "Mein Kampf" or at Nazi Party rallies, were often downplayed as "politics," a way of maintaining popular support. They were rarely taken seriously as solemn promises he fully intended to fulfill. Mussolini's call for the creation of a new Italian Empire, and his later alliance with Hitler, were often downplayed as mere bluster ...Freedom survived by a whisker just under 70 years ago. Neither Hitler, Hirohito nor Mussolini had atomic weapons. Iran almost does. But we are acting as if it is 1938, not 2008.
By now, there is very little we do not know about such regimes, and such movements. ...
Yet they are with us again, and we are acting as we did in the last century. ...
The rise of messianic mass movements is not new, and there is very little we do not know about them. Nor is there any excuse for us to be surprised at the success of evil leaders, even in countries with long histories and great cultural and political accomplishments. We know all about that. So we need to ask the old questions again. Why are we failing to see the mounting power of evil enemies? Why do we treat them as if they were normal political phenomena, as Western leaders do when they embrace negotiations as the best course of action?
No doubt there are many reasons. One is the deep-seated belief that all people are basically the same, and all are basically good. Most human history, above all the history of the last century, points in the opposite direction. But it is unpleasant to accept the fact that many people are evil, and entire cultures, even the finest, can fall prey to evil leaders and march in lockstep to their commands. Much of contemporary Western culture is deeply committed to a belief in the goodness of all mankind; we are reluctant to abandon that reassuring article of faith. Despite all the evidence to the contrary, we prefer to pursue the path of reasonableness, even with enemies whose thoroughly unreasonable fanaticism is manifest.
Saturday, June 7, 2008
This worked before there were nukes
By Donald Sensing
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3 comments:
One is the deep-seated belief that all people are basically the same, and all are basically good. Most human history, above all the history of the last century, points in the opposite direction. But it is unpleasant to accept the fact that many people are evil, and entire cultures, even the finest, can fall prey to evil leaders and march in lockstep to their commands.
I happen to believe that people are indeed basically "good" if also basically selfish. What history teaches, especially during the century just past, is that you are followed by ten percent of a population and fervently followed by twenty percent of those (two percent of total) who are willing to use violence and other "persuasions", you can force yourself on the entirety of the populace. That was the idea proven by Lenin, and utilised by Hitler, among others.
Is Obama taking on Messaniac tendacies?
Read "Denial of Death" by E. Becker. It describes the process of deifying a leader and then demonizing and disposing of him, both as a ritual social and psychological way of managing Big Issues. Democracies are a bit too unstable and contentious to be routinely subject to the Full Monty versions, but can be tricked or tripped into doing so. Therein lies Oblabla's big hope.
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