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So then Hitler.

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conqueror Kenny
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 3426
Joined: 14 Jan 2008

Well we haven't had a good Hitler thread around hear so lets get one started. Now we all know the basics about Hitler German dictator blahdy blah blah. What i want to know is what do you think about him. Is he a genius proven by how he took power or was he an evil person lead by blind hate?
I think that he was a genius in his earlier years but he lost all respect in my eyes once he gained power in 1933. So what are your thoughts on him?
Im going to ignore this "Godwins law" thing and at least try to stay on topic. but this will probably just encourage it

Sparkly Weasel
Beat Writer
Posts: 127
Joined: 8 May 2008

We have achieved Godwin's Law in 1 post.
1.
If you hadn't been around so long I'd call you a troll.

Lukeje
Beat Writer
Posts: 161
Joined: 6 Feb 2008

Sparkly Weasel:
We have achieved Godwin's Law in 1 post.
1.

Technically, wouldn't he have to compare somebody/thing to Hitler for Godwin's law to apply?

Neo Kojiro
Paperboy
Posts: 12
Joined: 19 Mar 2008

I haven't studied him in detail, so i can't say how accurate i am in this opinion, but i mostly think he was a pussy. He was anti-smoking, he was a vegetarian of the day (which i guess meant he only refused red meat), and he killed himself instead of facing up to his genocide and ultimately failed military campaign.

Sparkly Weasel
Beat Writer
Posts: 127
Joined: 8 May 2008

I suppose so

Wikipedia:

Godwin's Law (also known as Godwin's Rule of Nazi Analogies)[1] is an adage formulated by Mike Godwin in 1990. The law states:[2][3]

"As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."

Godwin's Law is often cited in online discussions as a caution against the use of inflammatory rhetoric or exaggerated comparisons, and is often conflated with fallacious arguments of the reductio ad Hitlerum form.

The rule does not make any statement whether any particular reference or comparison to Hitler or the Nazis might be appropriate, but only asserts that one arising is increasingly probable. It is precisely because such a comparison or reference may sometimes be appropriate, Godwin has argued[4] that overuse of Nazi and Hitler comparisons should be avoided, because it robs the valid comparisons of their impact. Although in one of its early forms Godwin's Law referred specifically to Usenet newsgroup discussions,[5] the law is now applied to any threaded online discussion: electronic mailing lists, message boards, chat rooms, and more recently blog comment threads and wiki talk pages.

Yargh
Anonymous Source
Posts: 8
Joined: 8 May 2008

The man had some good idea's.
But he was obviously completely nuts.
I don't understand how some people today can do anything but hate his guts for all the suffering he caused to the millions of people in Europe. It saddens me to see so many right wing extremists here in my country(The Netherlands).

renard
Copy Clerk
Posts: 65
Joined: 5 Feb 2008

The man had some good idea's.
But he was obviously completely nuts.
I don't understand how some people today can do anything but hate his guts for all the suffering he caused to the millions of people in Europe. It saddens me to see so many right wing extremists here in my country(The Netherlands).

There are more right wing extremists on europe: Le pendre on france, Berlusconi on italy...
Hell, I think we had learnt from our mistakes...

Lukeje:

Sparkly Weasel:
We have achieved Godwin's Law in 1 post.
1.

Technically, wouldn't he have to compare somebody/thing to Hitler for Godwin's law to apply?

...The law states:
"As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."

That's right, this thread hasn't acomplished the godwin's law...yet...

conqueror Kenny
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 3426
Joined: 14 Jan 2008

Yargh:
The man had some good idea's.
But he was obviously completely nuts.
I don't understand how some people today can do anything but hate his guts for all the suffering he caused to the millions of people in Europe. It saddens me to see so many right wing extremists here in my country(The Netherlands).

Yes he was morally questionable but he was a political genius his battle plans however didn't reflect his political knowledge very well.

silentsentinel
Beat Writer
Posts: 136
Joined: 16 Mar 2008

Come on, we're part of the Escapist forums. We can rise above petty chatroom laws. We can have a good discussion about Hitler, I just don't feel like saying anything yet...

Gingerbreadroach
Paperboy
Posts: 21
Joined: 8 May 2008

Has anyone actually read Mein Kampf? I'm not so sure that he was a genius; more of a dejected art-school reject with a rudimentary understanding of Nietzsche and a sociopathic hatered of Jews that could put Palestine to shame...

deadly.by.design
Paperboy
Posts: 31
Joined: 30 Jan 2008

Hitler wasn't insane. He had reasons for everything he did.

Of course 'reasons' don't justify anything by themselves, as he was a monster who facilitated genocide and other atrocities. The scarier fact is revealed in how many followed after his lead.

A smooth tongue can fool the masses even when the message is lacking or twisted. Heck, just look at the race for President.

Damn Dirty Ape
Beat Writer
Posts: 177
Joined: 10 Oct 2007

The man had charisma, takes you a long way in politics. Plebs are easily impressed you see. Is it me or do I see a lock coming?

conqueror Kenny
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 3426
Joined: 14 Jan 2008

Damn Dirty Ape:
Is it me or do I see a lock coming?

As long as it stays intelligent i think that we can block the lock

Gingerbreadroach:
Has anyone actually read Mein Kampf? I'm not so sure that he was a genius; more of a dejected art-school reject with a rudimentary understanding of Nietzsche and a sociopathic hatered of Jews that could put Palestine to shame...

Well i decided not to read a book that he wrote whist being locked up in a comfortable military barracks for high treason and him moaning about it.

werepossum
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1274
Joined: 12 Sep 2007

renard:
There are more right wing extremists on europe: Le pendre on france, Berlusconi on italy...
Hell, I think we had learnt from our mistakes...

Right wing extremists? So you are saying the head of the National Socialist German Workers Party, who largely attracted followers and power by telling poor and unemployed people it's okay to hate the rich because they're not like you and they are the reason you are poor and unemployed, was in fact right wing? Is that because anyone evil must obviously be right wing?

Can any thread beginning with Hitler really avoid Godwin's Law? I think it's just a way for people to compare other things they don't like to Hitler without directly invoking Godwin's Law. (Kind of like how we in the American South are free to repeat the vilest slander as long as we follow it up with "bless her heart". Shows we really meant no malice when we said she was a $2 prostitute on weekends.)

conqueror Kenny
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 3426
Joined: 14 Jan 2008

werepossum:

renard:
There are more right wing extremists on europe: Le pendre on france, Berlusconi on italy...
Hell, I think we had learnt from our mistakes...

Right wing extremists? So you are saying the head of the National Socialist German Workers Party, who largely attracted followers and power by telling poor and unemployed people it's okay to hate the rich because they're not like you and they are the reason you are poor and unemployed, was in fact right wing? Is that because anyone evil must obviously be right wing?

Well Communists were and still are in some cases considered evil and they are extremely left wing.

Geoffrey42
Pulitzer Laureate
Posts: 831
Joined: 22 Aug 2006

conqueror Kenny:
Is he a genius proven by how he took power or was he an evil person lead by blind hate?

There is no such thing as evil.

Gingerbreadroach
Paperboy
Posts: 21
Joined: 8 May 2008

conqueror Kenny:
Well i decided not to read a book that he wrote whist being locked up in a comfortable military barracks for high treason and him moaning about it.

Good call. In retrospect I realise that I was a bit ham-fisted in phrasing that question; it sounded like I was decrying anyone's opinion if they hadn't read it.

I was just curious to see what people thought of it. I bought it for a friend's birthday as a joke and thumbed through it for a while. I did think that there was more whining than I would expect from such a prominent historical figure.

renard
Copy Clerk
Posts: 65
Joined: 5 Feb 2008

werepossum:

renard:
There are more right wing extremists on europe: Le pendre on france, Berlusconi on italy...
Hell, I think we had learnt from our mistakes...

Right wing extremists? So you are saying the head of the National Socialist German Workers Party, who largely attracted followers and power by telling poor and unemployed people it's okay to hate the rich because they're not like you and they are the reason you are poor and unemployed, was in fact right wing? Is that because anyone evil must obviously be right wing?

So are you telling me that NASDAP was a ultra-progressist left wing extremist party and wasn't fascist who take over most of europe (Spain, Poland, Italy, France, Denmark, Austria...)?
We are talking about Hitler, who was a right wing fascist. Communists are on the opposite direction sir (despite extremes will always be in touch).If we want to talk about more dictators like Videla, Franco, Stalin and Mao (those last two have the records of most people killed during the 2nd WW) then lets rename the thread to "greatest dictators of the last century"

and about hitler: why he didn't became an architect? his art-schoot teacher said his drawings were some kind of "static" and "linear"(sorry, I don't know how to say this)...

conqueror Kenny
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 3426
Joined: 14 Jan 2008

Geoffrey42:

conqueror Kenny:
Is he a genius proven by how he took power or was he an evil person lead by blind hate?

There is no such thing as evil.

well that's a totally different argument.

olicon
Copy Clerk
Posts: 57
Joined: 8 May 2008

Hmm.let's see..do I want to get banned for my first post here ever? Oh well, I don't care.

I think Hitler is a complete genius. The way he handles power, and keep people under control. He truly is a political genius. (But apparently not at art)
But he's definitely not a very nice guy. OK, he's far from being even remotely nice. The guy's psychotic--but so are a lot of geniuses.

TomNook
Infamous Scribbler
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said "CHACHKI"!

Gingerbreadroach
Paperboy
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olicon:
The guy's psychotic--but so are a lot of geniuses.

I don't know about psychotic but a lot of them are crazy. Richard Feynmann apparantly used to visit strip clubs and sit in the corner scribbling equations on cocktail napkins. Schrödinger hooked up with a female collegue at a physics conference and during having sex with her ran out of the room to complete a waveform equation.

Rabid Toilet
Press Junketeer
Posts: 433
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olicon:
Hmm.let's see..do I want to get banned for my first post here ever? Oh well, I don't care.

As long as you don't advise the slaughter of millions of innocent people, I think you'll be fine.

Hitler was definitely a political genius, and if he hadn't gone with the whole "slaughter of millions" thing, he might have been able to do some good for the world. Oh well...

John Galt
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1492
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Politically, he was pretty skilled, he knew how to get people swept up into his message while keeping them oppressed. Despite his horrible crimes, you've got to respect his ability to whip people into a frenzy, that's just Grade A showmanship. However, the campaign in Russia was horribly managed and shows how he allowed himself to be over-extended.

conqueror Kenny
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 3426
Joined: 14 Jan 2008

Rabid Toilet:

olicon:
Hmm.let's see..do I want to get banned for my first post here ever? Oh well, I don't care.

As long as you don't advise the slaughter of millions of innocent people, I think you'll be fine.

Hitler was definitely a political genius, and if he hadn't gone with the whole "slaughter of millions" thing, he might have been able to do some good for the world. Oh well...

Where's the fun without slaughter?
But the idea all along was to go with the "slaughter of millions" thing. Don't think he realy ever planed to do much good for the world.

John Galt:
Politically, he was pretty skilled, he knew how to get people swept up into his message while keeping them oppressed. Despite his horrible crimes, you've got to respect his ability to whip people into a frenzy, that's just Grade A showmanship.

On the political side i think your forgetting about Mr _____ Gobbles his propaganda master. Truly revolutionary. Also with the SA stopping other parties campaigning freely he had it won there.

Cousin_IT
Press Junketeer
Posts: 440
Joined: 6 Feb 2008

Rabid Toilet:

olicon:
Hmm.let's see..do I want to get banned for my first post here ever? Oh well, I don't care.

As long as you don't advise the slaughter of millions of innocent people, I think you'll be fine.

Hitler was definitely a political genius, and if he hadn't gone with the whole "slaughter of millions" thing, he might have been able to do some good for the world. Oh well...

Never imagine what could have been, only know what was

The SIBERIAN SNAKE
Paperboy
Posts: 11
Joined: 27 Apr 2008

I belive in the early years theen man was the best public speaker i have ever seen just as in the early years of the war he steam rolled through countries (even though a retard with 3 fingers and half an eye could take over france ) but as time went on he became more obsessed with the occult and he became far more paronoid which i belive ultimately lead led to his down fall that and trying to invade russia in THE WINTER which is the dumbest thing a man can do that and good ol mutha russia had more soldiers than germany had people

John Galt
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1492
Joined: 29 Dec 2007

conqueror Kenny:
But the idea all along was to go with the "slaughter of millions" thing. Don't think he realy ever planed to do much good for the world.

He did intend to do good, slaughter of millions included. He considered that a noble solution to a social problem. Good is subjective and will mean whatever the person wants it to mean. If you were a member of the Nazi Party at the time, you'd have probably gone along with it as the correct and moral thing to do.

conqueror Kenny:
On the political side i think your forgetting about Mr _____ Gobbles his propaganda master. Truly revolutionary. Also with the SA stopping other parties campaigning freely he had it won there.

Who knows what would have happened to them if Hitler hadn't come along and given them something to do? Also, people were generally greatly moved by his skills as a demagogue.

The SIBERIAN SNAKE:
I belive in the early years theen man was the best public speaker i have ever seen just as in the early years of the war he steam rolled through countries (even though a retard with 3 fingers and half an eye could take over france ) but as time went on he became more obsessed with the occult and he became far more paronoid which i belive ultimately lead led to his down fall that and trying to invade russia in THE WINTER which is the dumbest thing a man can do that and good ol mutha russia had more soldiers than germany had people

Actually, his military operations in the USSR began in the summer. The timing was decent, however, his supply lines were what got his men killed. If he had kept up a decent flow of material, he may have won. Also, the Russians, while outnumbering the Germans, were horribly weakened by the lack of modernization in their military and the political Purges which resulted in officers with little experience being promoted.

TobyMobias
Paperboy
Posts: 21
Joined: 5 Jan 2008

I actually have a cartoon character I developed who is a teenaged clone of Hitler (the US Gov't wanted to use his military mind in battle, but the cloning process went awry and it came out a girl). The girl, named Ada Hill, is the lead female of the series and her boyfriend Josh is the leading male. Also, at the suggestion of my friend Walt, Josh is also Jewish.

Ada only inherited the best qualities of Hitler, and is terrified when she can access his memories. She is a vegetarian, loves animals, is a great artist, and is very charismatic (she also is prone to rage in which she shouts in German and pounds desks, chairs, heads, etc.).

cleverlymadeup
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1537
Joined: 7 Mar 2008

hitler did do some good things but he did a lot of crazy crap too

he got germany back on it's feet
he force the creation of the volkswagon, the greatest symbol of the hippies

ok maybe i was a bit hasty there, damn dirty hippies

John Galt
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 1492
Joined: 29 Dec 2007

He also created the forerunner of the Emo. He was a art school dropout, he was angsty, his book was called "My Struggle", he arbitrarily blamed people for his faults, he had the haircut down to a science, and he committed suicide. If that's not emo, I don't know what is.

The_root_of_all_evil
Gone Gonzo
Posts: 3625
Joined: 13 Feb 2008

He rectified German's Economic Collapse and provided some of the greatest advancements in Science by slaughtering millions.

He was also taking enough drugs to make Colombia jealous.

All that needs to be said really.

RedStriker
Anonymous Source
Posts: 5
Joined: 14 Apr 2008

Hitler probably was very intelligent and definitely had a charisma about him, in the beginning (As many have stated before me). However, as the years went on, he became a paranoid, psychotic, drugged up man in pursuit of trying to maintain the look of a healthy, sane man. This was hard with people trying to blow him up and his personal physician giving him drugs, simultaneously, that produced opposite effects. Eventually he went mad (mentally) and started making suicidal military commands/orders that may have just cost him the war.

Also an interesting tid bit: When I was in middle school, the teachers did this enlightening albeit cruel demonstration where, for one day ,a group of students were undeservingly 'exiled' (couldn't play games, enjoy the special treats {i.e. ice cream} we got that day, ect.) They didn't provide a reason but we assumed they did something 'bad'. We also couldn't talk to them or else we would get a detention. We all started to alienate them and think of them in a negative fashion only because the teachers (the 'leaders') encouraged us to by leaving them out of our fun. The next day the whole thing was revealed to us and we realized how easily you can be tricked into following someone's beliefs, encouragements. Of course we didn't do anything illegal or really mean to them (they forgave our teachers and got a reward for participating) but the thing with the Jews starts with that kind of subtle convincing.

Crap_haT
Pulitzer Laureate
Posts: 730
Joined: 9 Jan 2008

He restores my faith in religion, because Darwinia should have picked him off at birth.

No

Hitler was a very intelligent man and probably could have performed a lot of good, but his perseption was screwed. He was convinced that the Jewish community backstabbed Germany in WW1 and therefore wanted revenge. From that spawned a kill the impure idea. Then the massicres started. I believe the three aims of Hitler were:

Gross Dutchland (unite all German speakers)
Leibensraum (More living space for German speakers)
and Reverse Versailles (Obvious)

These were the aims that got millions killed.

Brilliant but crazy are my veiws.

Whitto
Copy Clerk
Posts: 63
Joined: 19 Mar 2008

He was a great man.

I get shouted at when I share this opinion with my friends, but I agree with Geoffrey; there really IS no such thing as evil. All morality is dependent on your point off view, and from his point of view he was doing what was just and right. I think people are far too quick to lump all of the blame for the Holocaust etcetera on Hitler, but I think we should to remember that as one man acting alone he could not have caused the atrocities attributed to him.

But he was under the influence of a LOT of drugs as root of all evil has pointed out. A friend of mine had a book about this and it listed something like 70 different drugs that were administered to the fuhrer on a daily basis.

My view: A brilliant but very sick and misguided individual.

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