The question isn't an attempt at bad comedy as it was a real question to a conservative friend. My thinking in the conversation was toward what was the only way I could discover if Hitler had always carried anti-Semitic thoughts in his head and some nightmare vision of exterminating them or did it happen some other way. My belief prior to the discussion was I would have to read "Mein Kampf" to get some understanding of that but I didn't want to do it any more than I would want to read an autobiography of Charlie Manson or some such.
(Insert over years a whole lot of nature vs nurture, chicken and the egg type of thinking which, as it will, went around and around in circles)
My conservative friend offered a link to some key quotes from "Mein Kampf" and thus revealed, despite all evidence from Fox News, conservatives do sometimes have some useful perspectives on things. You, dear reader, may wish to review the content at that link as I found it highly illuminating for this topic. (Jewish Upps!: Adolf Hitler about the Jews)
The quotes, taken directly from "Mein Kampf," show the progression in the thinking and this settles the matter, at least for me. Hitler did not start out with any personal animosity toward Jews but rather learned that as part of the political path. After he started on that thinking, his logic became more and more of a demonic sand castle as he made false accusations and used those as proofs for further accusations.
The progression from basic megalomanic to the monster he ultimately became is a personal psychology of Hitler rather than something more fundamental about humans. Had I discovered Hitler had a long-standing animosity toward Jews, it would have been much more disturbing to me as then I would have needed to understand how he got that way because of the risk of the same thing happening to others.
What we discover is Hitler got his racism the same way seemingly as anyone else: he was taught.
Note: please do not for one moment think I am looking for an excuse for Hitler as my only purpose is to find an explanation to how did he get that way.
A brief synopsis of the history of anti-Semitism goes back to money lending which was in some way regarded as unclean for Christians and thus Jewish people were relegated to it. They turned out to be good at it and so resentment began to grow as the banker class of society emerged. This started somewhere in the 15th / 16th Century and vestiges of it remain today in periodic wild rants about the Rothschild family and how they will take over or have already taken over the world.
This information about Hitler, while still disturbing, is much less mysterious and satanic than it originally seemed. What I take from it is the same solution is needed for racism anywhere and the answer is unchanged: education. Hitler, in this context, is only another example of the consequences of the failure to do it properly and with respect to everyone and everything on the planet.
(Insert over years a whole lot of nature vs nurture, chicken and the egg type of thinking which, as it will, went around and around in circles)
My conservative friend offered a link to some key quotes from "Mein Kampf" and thus revealed, despite all evidence from Fox News, conservatives do sometimes have some useful perspectives on things. You, dear reader, may wish to review the content at that link as I found it highly illuminating for this topic. (Jewish Upps!: Adolf Hitler about the Jews)
The quotes, taken directly from "Mein Kampf," show the progression in the thinking and this settles the matter, at least for me. Hitler did not start out with any personal animosity toward Jews but rather learned that as part of the political path. After he started on that thinking, his logic became more and more of a demonic sand castle as he made false accusations and used those as proofs for further accusations.
The progression from basic megalomanic to the monster he ultimately became is a personal psychology of Hitler rather than something more fundamental about humans. Had I discovered Hitler had a long-standing animosity toward Jews, it would have been much more disturbing to me as then I would have needed to understand how he got that way because of the risk of the same thing happening to others.
What we discover is Hitler got his racism the same way seemingly as anyone else: he was taught.
Note: please do not for one moment think I am looking for an excuse for Hitler as my only purpose is to find an explanation to how did he get that way.
A brief synopsis of the history of anti-Semitism goes back to money lending which was in some way regarded as unclean for Christians and thus Jewish people were relegated to it. They turned out to be good at it and so resentment began to grow as the banker class of society emerged. This started somewhere in the 15th / 16th Century and vestiges of it remain today in periodic wild rants about the Rothschild family and how they will take over or have already taken over the world.
This information about Hitler, while still disturbing, is much less mysterious and satanic than it originally seemed. What I take from it is the same solution is needed for racism anywhere and the answer is unchanged: education. Hitler, in this context, is only another example of the consequences of the failure to do it properly and with respect to everyone and everything on the planet.
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