[lit-ideas] Re: Aren't you glad you no longer have a Hitler problem?
- From: "Lawrence Helm" <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sat, 24 Jun 2006 06:46:13 -0700
Very good Omar. I wondered what you would do to turn the tables. Because
Eric and I recognize the Islamist threat and oppose it, this grants us no
bone fides when transported back to the 1930s. It shows that we are warlike
and likely to support any war for any reason. I transported us back to the
U.S., our own nation, but you transport us to Germany and make us Germans
and have us support Hitler. Very clever. But is not what you have argued
consistent with what Neville Chamberlain did? He assumed that any sort of
war should be avoided. Peace should be obtained "at any price." There is
no difference between fighting for the U.S. against Fascism and fighting for
Hitler for Fascism. War is war and peace is peace. We should seek peace at
any price.
There are, after all, parallels between the 30s and now. Islamism is
fascistic in nature as the Lebanese scholar Youssef M Choueiri argues in his
Islamic Fundamentalism. That is why Islamists and Saddam Hussein could
declare common cause so often. They wanted the same sorts of things. They
had the same enemies. Hitler, the Japanese, Mussolini, Quisling, and others
declared common cause in the 30s. And the Nazis recognized that
American-style democracy was anathema to their cause; just as Islamists and
Islamist sympathizers recognize that very same thing today. So they argue
that their murderous excesses are to be excused whereas our attempts to
combat them are to be condemned. They are being defensive when they blow up
innocent women and children. We are being offensive when we bomb Islamists
and some innocents die in the process. They are good. We are evil.
And I notice no Lit-Idea protests, at least not so far: no one else saying,
"I would have been in the minority back then. I would have seen the danger
of Hitler and fascism and opposed them." Just Omar saying that since Eric
and I oppose Islamism and an Islamic fascistic dictator we would have
supported Hitler back in the 30s.
Lawrence
-----Original Message-----
From: lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:lit-ideas-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Omar Kusturica
Sent: Friday, June 23, 2006 11:16 PM
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: Aren't you glad you no longer have a Hitler
problem?
--- Lawrence Helm <lawrencehelm@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
>
> Question: I think Eric and I have enough bone fides
> to indicate that we
> would have been in the American minority that
> "recognized the terrible
> danger of Adolf Hitler." After all we now
> "recognize the terrible danger
> of" Islamism and so would very likely be of a mind
> to recognize the danger
> of Hitler.
*It does not follow that because you and Eric think
that you perceive a terrible danger of Islamism, you
would therefore have recognized the real danger of
Hitler. Hitler did not mount a terrorist attack in New
York, so Eric would probably have gone on biking in
Manhattan cheerfully and wouldn't have worried about
the Holocaust. Also, Hitler was a white man, European,
of Christian origins, secular, all of which lead me to
suspect that you and Eric would probably have been
more sympathetic to him. He was also a militaristic
strongman, something you two obviously find appealing.
The real question is, what would you Eric and think if
you were living in Germany in the 1930s ? I have
little doubt that you would have been in the front
raws of that crowd frentically cheering Hitler.
O.K.
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