I agree more with Omar's analysis of the situation (less the last ad hominem
paragraph) rather than Lawrence's. But an even more interesting question to
me is how does one come to decide that something must be done to stop a duly
elected leader -- "something" being, of course, assassination. How does one
ever throw aside the judgment of millions of one's countrymen to assert ones
own personal morality onto the world. How did Stauffenberg ever dare to
assume the moral right to try to kill Hitler while Rommel demured. Surely
Hitler was as legitimate a leader as George Bush is. What could the
criteria possibly be to assure one that assassination was the moral thing to
do? Most assassins have proved to be mentally unbalanced. Count von
Stauffenberg as an aristocrat personally detested Hiter and no doubt much of
his motivation sprang from class prejudice rather than moral imperative.
But if we take morality seriously then we must admit that theoretically at
least there is a point at which one must act to counteract a greater evil.
Who dares be the Uebermensch?
ATTENTION CIA, FBI, NSA, DIA: This is NOT a call for assassination. It's
mere fascination with the moral question.
Of course the anarchist in me says they should all be shot.
Mike Geary Memphis
--- 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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