I am gonna get egged, but I don’t care: Mein Kampf and Das Kapital should be mandatory reading for young people. Not only should they read such books, they should be able to critique them intelligently...
Well, you certainly will not get egged here for opinions, Glen. I have not read Das Kapital but I have read The Communist Manifesto. I wish The Road to Serfdom by Hayek was required reading.
Das Kapital should be read because it makes perfect sense and as the author builds his case for socialism, with each concept predicated on the last, they make a sense and symmetry that is intuitively obvious.Karl Marx did some truly spectacular work...and he shows how the road to hell is paved with good intentions. He also shows how important it is to get your foundations right. He starts from a flawed position with erroneous assumptions about human nature, and any society based on them can only fall to ruin. But - on paper, in the realm of the hypothetical... socialism can be made to look really good. While fascism is largely illegal in the west today, socialism is doing spectacularly well. And socialists killed more Jews and innocent people than the fascists ever did. The universities and colleges are cranking out these deluded morons like they were sausages.
Mein Kampf is similar. Hitler was not an idiot, and he was absolutely right about a lot of things. He makes some uncomfortable points about Jews that they really, really need to look at and think about. Some other stuff is just anti-Semitic drivel. If you want to understand how the stage was set for mankind’s largest conflict in history - it makes sense that you understand the guy that did the most to start it.
Books like these light the fuse on the need to think critically. When you start doing that - the narrative goes up in smoke and you start questioning everything... and suddenly you become immune to the mania and hype that men like Marx and Hitler use to push their agendas and influence their followers. You start asking very difficult questions of yourself: like... why did the US apologize to Japan for nuking them? Japan massacred more innocents than Germany ever did. They bayoneted babies and women and bragged about in the papers back home. They depopulated entire cities with mass executions and beheadings. Yet... we fully expect endless apologies from Germany and expect them to grovel for forgiveness for their part in WW2... and we apologize to the Japanese??? To date they have never apologized for their war crimes. Most people never even think of stuff like this. And then they’ll call Trump and his supporters fascists and gin up the hatred they need for everything up to and including physical attacks on them. The media is now a propaganda arm for the Democrats and no longer even pretends to be objective. They tell baldfaced lies with the same indifference the Nazis did. So my question is... who are the new fascists, exactly? And who, exactly, is repeating history?
Glen, I do not like arguing with a friend, but I have to draw a line at saying Hitler had some points. 6 million dead people in death camps alone would argue otherwise.
I cannot fully explain why Germany was excoriated and Japan excused. And I certainly can concur that most of the modern media seems to put Goebbel's to shame. But I cannot support the thesis that someone whose virulent anti-Semitism enabled the destruction of populations has anything useful to say. Nothing.
I think You misunderstand me, TB. I do not defend or pretend that Hitler was right or wrong about anything. I seek only to understand how it was that he set the world on fire, and convinced tens of thousands of people (that by all accounts, should have known better) to mass murder 6 million Jews. Not only that - he convinced millions more to stand aside and do nothing about it. There is nothing good or evil about the German people. Same as us. My thinking is that if it could happen to them, it could easily happen to us - so we need to understand exactly what happened, and why.
This is why reading Mein Kampf is so important. You are looking at Hitler with 20/20 hindsight. To understand how it all happened you have to see the world as it was in his time, and you have to read his book to see how HE saw it. Fact is, a lot of people saw things the same way, including respected people here in our countries. Once you have perspective, you can start understanding why he did some of the things he did... and how others went along, or did nothing to stop it. If he was a mere loon or a liar, TB... he wouldn’t have been able to do the damage he did.
We have a tendency to simplify and whitewash our history; some revise it and distort it to serve a political agenda or narrative... and that isn’t good for any of us. We can’t afford that, especially given the volatility and polarization going on out there today. I am convinced that certain fools among us are hellbent on repeating history.. and like the fools before them... they’re going to sound entirely reasonable and justified as they go about it too. The same way Hitler and Marx made sense to the people of their day.
Glen, you are a friend, and I will take you at your word. I will say that the outbreak of World War II - the event mind you, not the horror of the death camps - was due as much to the Allies failing at Paris as it was the German "lust" for war. People cheered him on because he made them feel good about being German, something that the Allies did not.
Agreed that we whitewash our history. And even that there are individuals are intent on repeating it. I just wish there was a better way that at some level allowed us to see the future while not resurrecting the parts of the past that are so dark.
TB - I am so sorry! I thought we were having a conversation, and it appears as if we are having a debate. That is not my intent. I meant no offence. Just so you know, though - I still don't think you are getting what I am trying to get at - and the fault is mine.
Comments are welcome (and necessary, for good conversation). If you could take the time to be kind and not practice profanity, it would be appreciated. Thanks for posting!
I am gonna get egged, but I don’t care: Mein Kampf and Das Kapital should be mandatory reading for young people. Not only should they read such books, they should be able to critique them intelligently...
ReplyDeleteWell, you certainly will not get egged here for opinions, Glen. I have not read Das Kapital but I have read The Communist Manifesto. I wish The Road to Serfdom by Hayek was required reading.
ReplyDeleteMein Kampf? I am not sure - reason?
What you are both discussing. When I was in grade school one required reading was All Quiet on the Western Front.
ReplyDeleteAlso critical thinking needs to be taught.
But people who can think for themselves are not easily controlled.
Linda, I believe the kids had to read All Quiet On The Western Front, so it may still be out there.
ReplyDeleteBut yes, we need to teach critical thinking.
Das Kapital should be read because it makes perfect sense and as the author builds his case for socialism, with each concept predicated on the last, they make a sense and symmetry that is intuitively obvious.Karl Marx did some truly spectacular work...and he shows how the road to hell is paved with good intentions. He also shows how important it is to get your foundations right. He starts from a flawed position with erroneous assumptions about human nature, and any society based on them can only fall to ruin. But - on paper, in the realm of the hypothetical... socialism can be made to look really good. While fascism is largely illegal in the west today, socialism is doing spectacularly well. And socialists killed more Jews and innocent people than the fascists ever did. The universities and colleges are cranking out these deluded morons like they were sausages.
ReplyDeleteMein Kampf is similar. Hitler was not an idiot, and he was absolutely right about a lot of things. He makes some uncomfortable points about Jews that they really, really need to look at and think about. Some other stuff is just anti-Semitic drivel. If you want to understand how the stage was set for mankind’s largest conflict in history - it makes sense that you understand the guy that did the most to start it.
Books like these light the fuse on the need to think critically. When you start doing that - the narrative goes up in smoke and you start questioning everything... and suddenly you become immune to the mania and hype that men like Marx and Hitler use to push their agendas and influence their followers. You start asking very difficult questions of yourself: like... why did the US apologize to Japan for nuking them? Japan massacred more innocents than Germany ever did. They bayoneted babies and women and bragged about in the papers back home. They depopulated entire cities with mass executions and beheadings. Yet... we fully expect endless apologies from Germany and expect them to grovel for forgiveness for their part in WW2... and we apologize to the Japanese??? To date they have never apologized for their war crimes. Most people never even think of stuff like this. And then they’ll call Trump and his supporters fascists and gin up the hatred they need for everything up to and including physical attacks on them. The media is now a propaganda arm for the Democrats and no longer even pretends to be objective. They tell baldfaced lies with the same indifference the Nazis did. So my question is... who are the new fascists, exactly? And who, exactly, is repeating history?
When’s the last time you heard, “Lest We Forget”?
Glen, I do not like arguing with a friend, but I have to draw a line at saying Hitler had some points. 6 million dead people in death camps alone would argue otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI cannot fully explain why Germany was excoriated and Japan excused. And I certainly can concur that most of the modern media seems to put Goebbel's to shame. But I cannot support the thesis that someone whose virulent anti-Semitism enabled the destruction of populations has anything useful to say. Nothing.
I think You misunderstand me, TB. I do not defend or pretend that Hitler was right or wrong about anything. I seek only to understand how it was that he set the world on fire, and convinced tens of thousands of people (that by all accounts, should have known better) to mass murder 6 million Jews. Not only that - he convinced millions more to stand aside and do nothing about it. There is nothing good or evil about the German people. Same as us. My thinking is that if it could happen to them, it could easily happen to us - so we need to understand exactly what happened, and why.
ReplyDeleteThis is why reading Mein Kampf is so important. You are looking at Hitler with 20/20 hindsight. To understand how it all happened you have to see the world as it was in his time, and you have to read his book to see how HE saw it. Fact is, a lot of people saw things the same way, including respected people here in our countries. Once you have perspective, you can start understanding why he did some of the things he did... and how others went along, or did nothing to stop it. If he was a mere loon or a liar, TB... he wouldn’t have been able to do the damage he did.
We have a tendency to simplify and whitewash our history; some revise it and distort it to serve a political agenda or narrative... and that isn’t good for any of us. We can’t afford that, especially given the volatility and polarization going on out there today. I am convinced that certain fools among us are hellbent on repeating history.. and like the fools before them... they’re going to sound entirely reasonable and justified as they go about it too. The same way Hitler and Marx made sense to the people of their day.
But...whadda I know?
Glen, you are a friend, and I will take you at your word. I will say that the outbreak of World War II - the event mind you, not the horror of the death camps - was due as much to the Allies failing at Paris as it was the German "lust" for war. People cheered him on because he made them feel good about being German, something that the Allies did not.
ReplyDeleteAgreed that we whitewash our history. And even that there are individuals are intent on repeating it. I just wish there was a better way that at some level allowed us to see the future while not resurrecting the parts of the past that are so dark.
TB - I am so sorry! I thought we were having a conversation, and it appears as if we are having a debate. That is not my intent. I meant no offence. Just so you know, though - I still don't think you are getting what I am trying to get at - and the fault is mine.
ReplyDeleteGlen, if there is an apology to be had, let us make it equally shared then. Sorry Friend - this has not been my best week.
ReplyDelete