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Old 11-11-2001, 05:38 PM   #43
Barry the Sprout
White Dragon
 

Join Date: October 19, 2001
Location: York, UK.
Age: 42
Posts: 1,815
Silver Cheetah and Neb, the phrase "get a room" springs to mind...

Moni, what you say about Hitler taking Nazism and making it strong in Germany is not entirely true IMO. Historians still disagree about his level of involvement but I personally think it is a little bit too easy for us to point the finger and say "evil!". There was a deeper problem there that was already established by the time Hitler had come onto the scene. Germany had no self esteem because Britain wouldn't let it back onto the world stage. France and Belgium had invaded to get reparations. A series of uncharismatic presidents had taken away what little hope people had had for democracy and then came a depression...

If we pin it all down to one person then we run the risk of ignoring the wider causes. Society has a tendancy to find a scapegoat for its problems. What is most scary for me is that Hitler was a gifted product of his time. Nazism could happen again given the same circumstances. Another example might be McVeigh. The idea that the American racist right is going to be destroyed by his execution is laughable. Scapegoats are dangerous things for society as they hide the real problem more often than not.
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