Home Trending Latest threads New posts Developer diaries

Was Hitler the ultimate evil?

Jump to latest Follow Reply
  • We have updated our Community Code of Conduct. Please read through the new rules for the forum that are an integral part of Paradox Interactive’s User Agreement.
unmerged(5492)

unmerged(5492)

Second Lieutenant
Aug 25, 2001
136
0
rosetta.helsinki.fi
Was Hitler evil? I mean throughly evil, that he didn't have one bit of human in him? Can you say that Hitler was the ultimate evil? IMHO, there is evil and goodness in every man. I'm not saying that Hitler wasn't evil, but I'm just raising questions about him being the Satan of the humankind. Was Stalin, who by the way killed far more people tha hitler, truly evil too, or is he the kind father of Russia. What is the evil, that lurks in our hearts. That is something we cannot escape, there is no ultimately good human being either, Mother Teresa was evil too. And there are no saints, no matter what the catholics and the orthodox say. They are lying. Check from the bible if you don't believe me. There is no good human being.
 
MrMojo, I agree that there are no righteous human beings. Was Hitler the worst to have ever lived, or that ever will? No that destinction will fall upon the anti-christ. But for those not into Christian Revelation theology, I give you Chairman Mao.
 
Originally posted by MrMojo
But what really makes a man evil in the eyes of his fellow men? Childabuse, genocide or what?
Click to expand...

I would categorise both under "extreme disregard for others".
If you say that nobody's completely evil or completely good, you must have a defintion of good/evil. What is your defintion?
 
I agree with the psychologist in the prison were those on trial at Nuremburg were held. He said that evil manifests itself in a lack of empathy for your fellow man. Was Hitler evil ? Partly. Was what he, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, Pinochet - the list is tragically long - etc. did evil ? Undoubtedly, but the person themselves may not have been. I agree though that each of us have the ability to lead a good life that will benefit others, or a truly wrong life that will harm others. Is Sainthood and evil possible in any person, I personally don't think so, however I think they can preach it so that it manifests itself.
 
In my opinion it is too easy to declare that Hitler was evil, and that's the main reason why Nazi-Gremany turned out the way it did. It Hitler hadn't had so many loyal servants, not much would have happened. As somebody pointed out in another thread on this subject: it is much easier to deal with a single evil person than it is to admit that many common Germans (replace with any other nationality if applicable) sympathized with the Nazis.

M.
 
I agree with Mischa.

Hitler did not execute civilians in France, Poland, Russia, Yugoslavia, Greece, Holland, Belgium and Norway.

Hitler did not operate gas chambers, or command special action groups to liquidate jews.

Hitler did not engineer starvation among Russian POWs and Ukrainian civilians.

Hitler did not ship slave laborers to Germany.

It took a great many people to conduct the horrors of the third Reich, far more than those who were later labeled as SS or Nazis.
 
From my point of view, every mas is capable for the worst evil and the best goodness. It is easy to blame german people for co-operating with Hitler and his party, but how many of us would have resisted hitler if we would've lived there during that time? Very few. When obeying means the opposite for dying, I think many of us would rather kill than be killed. Do evil things rather than have them done unto you. that my friend is the point. I myself don't know what I would have done if I would've been there. I honestly don't. I hope that I would've had the courage to say know and die with the jews, but I'm afraid that I would have just went on burning them when ordered to.
 
Originally posted by MrMojo
From my point of view, every mas is capable for the worst evil and the best goodness. It is easy to blame german people for co-operating with Hitler and his party, but how many of us would have resisted hitler if we would've lived there during that time? Very few. When obeying means the opposite for dying, I think many of us would rather kill than be killed. Do evil things rather than have them done unto you. that my friend is the point. I myself don't know what I would have done if I would've been there. I honestly don't. I hope that I would've had the courage to say know and die with the jews, but I'm afraid that I would have just went on burning them when ordered to.
Click to expand...

Please do note that if you were not a Jew in this time, it was not especially difficult to emigrate from Germany. This is what an old calculus professor of mines parent's did (left Germany in 1937 for New York, NY).

I do not believe that it would have been *easy*, but certainly easier and better than co-operating with murder and mayhem!
 
Camel,

actually, he was Time's Man of the Year for 1939, if I'm not mistaken.

MrMojo, you contradict yourself. If every person is capable of the worst evil and the best goodness, then to even pose the question of Hitler's absolute evil is to deny his humanity. And he was human.

I respect religious people, but please do not indulge in excessive self-flagellation. Humans are imperfect beings, therefore absolutes are meaningless.
 
Interesting question, Bylandt.

Maybe my answer will disappoint you, since you know I'm a Marxist, but no, in my opinion a "right" society will not make people good, not even a "workers' paradise".:D
 
I love skillful practitioners of the lost art of conversation, even e-conversation.:D

Well, Bylandt, I don't "believe" in Marxism in the way Dudmont or Kingoffiresteve believe in God. It is not a faith or a religion to me, although sadly it's been kind of an anti-religious religion to many.

I believe, like Marx, that humankind only sets for itself the goals it can accomplish at a given time and circumstance. In that sense, I'm anti-utopian. Having said that, let me add that I became a Marxist as a young man (17), precisely because of its "millenial" appeal: "take heaven by storm", "build heaven on earth", and so on. So I guess that at some time in my life, it really was a faith...
 
Originally posted by Pirate Scum
I love skillful practitioners of the lost art of conversation, even e-conversation.:D

Well, Bylandt, I don't "believe" in Marxism in the way Dudmont or Kingoffiresteve believe in God. It is not a faith or a religion to me, although sadly it's been kind of an anti-religious religion to many.

I believe, like Marx, that humankind only sets for itself the goals it can accomplish at a given time and circumstance. In that sense, I'm anti-utopian. Having said that, let me add that I became a Marxist as a young man (17), precisely because of its "millenial" appeal: "take heaven by storm", "build heaven on earth", and so on. So I guess that at some time in my life, it really was a faith...
Click to expand...

That's my problem is Marxists have a great guy to look up to the proponent of an entire idealogy. What do us Liberal/Social Democrats do, who do we look up to ?

I have to ask Admiral, have you ever read Das Kapital, I got two pages in and gave up, I was already confused :O
 
Interesting, Pirate. I'm very anti-utopian myself. I've always believed that it is precisely that that makes me into a conservative.
As far as I know, if you don't believe in utopia and the "workers' paradise", would it not be impossible to be a marxist?
In my first post I called you, jokingly, an "enlightened discipline of Marx", because you don't sound dogmatic enough to be a real marxist. Are you really serious about marxism or is it just a vague identification with some aspects of marxism that allows you to get into interesting debates and question the believes of others ?
 
Originally posted by Sheilbh
I have to ask Admiral, have you ever read Das Kapital, I got two pages in and gave up, I was already confused :O
Click to expand...

Admiral? Oops. You just confused him with Admiral Yi, didn't you? (same avatars can be confusing).
Wait till the admiral gets here!:D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back