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No, I wouldn't. If anything, I would call it an autobiography and an exposition of his ideology.
Great.. then I'll quote from Mein Kampf..
Hitler stated in Mein Kampf... "By defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord,"
Now based on your premise that
Quote:
Originally Posted by malcolan
You are confusing political opportunism with personal conviction. Hitler himself says in Mein Kampf that his public statements should be understood as propaganda that bears no relation to the truth but is designed to sway the masses.
so what I quoted wasn't propoganda...
and
Quote:
Originally Posted by malcolan
No, I wouldn't. If anything, I would call it an autobiography and an exposition of his ideology.
and it was an exposition of his ideology..
I should be able to come to the conclusion that he .. religiously hated the Jews.
Hitler stated in Mein Kampf... "By defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord,"
Now based on your premise that
so what I quoted wasn't propoganda...
and
and it was an exposition of his ideology..
I should be able to come to the conclusion that he .. religiously hated the Jews.
Right?
The only way you can come to this conclusion is to completely ignore the evidence which shows that this is not the case.
It is clear that the Nazis regarded the churches as the strongest and toughest reservoirs of ideological opposition to the principles they believed in. Once Hitler and the Nazis came to power, they launched a ruthless drive to subdue and weaken the Christian churches throughout Germany.
The Nazis also drew on the philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, adapting his atheist philosophy to their crude purposes. Nietzsche's vision of the ubermensch and his elevation of a new ethic "beyond good and evil" were avidly embraced by Nazi propagandists. Nietzsche's "will to power" almost became a Nazi recruitment slogan.
To claim that the Nazis were agents of religion is pure nonsense.
there have been plenty of bloodthirsty power-hungry leaders who have hidden behind the cause of religion to justify their agenda and violence and manipulation. That does not make them religous issues, just able to control more people when it is cloaked in religion....just like today come to think of it!
You know someone's going to call you on this so let it be me....my boyfriend of many years has been an auto mechanic all his life, has the best personal hygiene and diction of anyone I have ever met, speaks two languages, one of them the most difficult out there to learn, and can hold his own in conversations on the economy and world events far better than most I know. He did not complete college, and makes $75,000 a year, more than many college grads I know the same age as he. He has never smoked and treats all people with respect of every race and religion and culture.
Thank you DiamondD. I agree with your post that there are intelligent people performing supposed menial labor.
My post was overly facetious. My point was the OP was surmising that ignorant people are needed to do menial tasks is hogwash.
It is not I who claims those who perform "menial tasks" (which btw is subjective) are ignorant.
To even question whether there is a religious reason for so much ignorant and stupidity is altogether snobbery begging for diving validation.
A monk sees menial tasks as productive and good for the soul. Doing tasks that others don't like doing keeps one humble. Maybe smart people need to be humble rather than egotistical.
And yes, DiamondD, I fully realize not all smart people are egotistical.
I've always had this feeling that most people's spirits/souls aren't that advanced, so they're ignorant and stupid. And I still think this is true. It seems like the more spiritual progress you have, the better you act. I don't mean morals. I mean you act more mature, wise, etc.
I've always had this feeling that most people's spirits/souls aren't that advanced, so they're ignorant and stupid. And I still think this is true. It seems like the more spiritual progress you have, the better you act. I don't mean morals. I mean you act more mature, wise, etc.
this makes a very good point...the irony being that in the original post it was in "church" that the "explanation" was given about the "stupid and ignorant." A more spiritually evolved response could be something as benign as "we all have our gifts, try to find them in each person you meet" There is still a part of me that does want to see the maturity and wisdom you speak of above....
A monk sees menial tasks as productive and good for the soul. Doing tasks that others don't like doing keeps one humble. Maybe smart people need to be humble rather than egotistical.
lovely point, like that quote:
"Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water;
after enlightenment, chop wood, carry water."
We are disucssing the supposed ignorancy and stupidity of religious people using the holocaust as an example with supporting evidence being Hitler's religious views which strongly correlate to a history of anti-Semitism.
How's that sound?
If you're asserting that western Christendom has a long and tragic history of anti-Semitism, you'll get no argument from me. Sad, but true. That this might have been inherent in the culture in which Hitler grew up and influenced his views...okay, I'll buy that.
But if you're painting Hitler as a religious figure, or if you're claiming that his motive for the Final Solution was religious in nature, I think it's hogwash. Hitler often used religious language in his speeches, but his sincerity is put in serious question by his private writings and words with others. In private, he expressed nothing but disdain and contempt for religion of every sort --- Jewish, Christian, and otherwise.
Hitler's views on the Aryan ideal were mostly influenced by Darwin, Nietchze (SP?), and the early eugenics movement. Sadly, he wasn't alone in that. The whole eugenics movement was quite popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, even in the United States. Margaret Sanger, founder of Planned Parenthood, was a big proponent of it. In fact, she was so eager to sterilize African Americans because she wanted them culled from the population, believing that they were inferior to the European races.
And this nonsense still isn't dead. A fairly prominent anthropologist recently came under fire for making statements that the African races were inherently inferior to Europeans. Can't remember his name offhand, but a quick Google search should turn it right up.
I over heard a boy ask our Minister why our world had so many ignorant and stupid people. The Minister seemed shocked but then came back with an interesting answer. God knows that most of what needs to get done in the world is boring, tedious and incredibly dull, and if everyone was as smart as your parents nothing would get done.
Maybe the Minister is right. No matter how hard the smart people try to improve society and make all the not so bright people smart, we continue to produce many people with very low intelligence everyday. Maybe God knows we need people like this to get the unpleasant tasks done. There will always be a need for people who are not so bright who enjoy menial work and God creates a share of all types of people.
i know this sounds more political, but if you compare school systems in other countries to here, you would see that we don't really try that hard to make anyone very smart.
i would agree to an extent with the minister. there is a need for uneducated people to do trivial and mundane work. this of course is another social issue that doesn't really belong here.
but saying that god made it that way is just a convenient way to maintain the status quo and keep a lot of people where they are, to do the crap work of the machine that we are all part of.
i don't buy for a second that dumb people are dumb to fulfill some place in life. dumb people are dumb because of a slight mix of nature and nurture, and a school system that leaves most Americans about three grades behind.
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