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I didn't say anti-semitism was a post-WWII issue. I said that it was very widespread before WWII. To quote myself, "Everyone and their mom hated the Jews back then." By 'not a big deal' I meant that it was very common, not that it didn't happen. I thought I made that clear, but I can see how that could be confusing, though.
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When people are looking for someone to blame, it is easy to dehumanize the party that you have decided offends you. Crowd mentality also plays a part- it is easier to accept a genocidal idea if there are others who think that it's ok. In the case of Hitler, I think that people who became n***s felt that if it was ok for a government official to have and openly express those feelings, then it would be ok for them to do the same thing. If we start with the belief that every human being has value, even if they do not make sense to us, then we cannot desensitize ourselves to the point of thinking that it is ok to kill another human being.
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Ask your very own Native American community. Perhaps they have an answer for you on the issue of attempted genocide. Also, nobody ever does anything because they believe it's the wrong thing to do.
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It starts with a charismatic leader with great promises of a better future, he starts blaming one segment of society for all the world's problems. He convinces the masses that these "undesirables" are non-humans, not fit to live. He normalizes violence. He eliminates detractors of his vision. He convinces people that this is the solution to all ills. He gives the order to kill. This leader believes strongly in what he is doing. If you would have been around this leader at that given time in history, you probably would have done his evil deeds. It's all about convincing people and giving orders. How could anyone commit genocide in this day and age? It has happened throughout history and it is still happening. I don't have too many answers, mostly questions!
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Hatred, fear, greed. To explain Hitler: What's interesting (and what a lot of people don't know) is that anti-semitism wasn't really a big deal before WWII. Everyone and their mom hated the Jews back then. After WWI, the Treaty of Versailles pretty much put Germany into the crapper because the rest of the western world wanted to punish them for starting the war. So, in a Germany with one of the worst economies in history that was also destroyed by war, who's gonna get a following? The sort of loony nationalist who promises he's going to 'restore Germany's pride.' While Hitler is remembered for genocide, his number one goal was always to do what was right for Germany, to make Germany more powerful. Unfortunately, his original tactic of taking advantage of people's pre-existing hatred and fear (of the Jews) turned into him going a little crazy and deciding that the Jews had to be eradicated, along with other races, in order for Germany to be prosperous. It's always that thin line. He loved Germany so much that he was willing to do horrible things for it. He was convinced they were things that had to be done. A lot of people think of Hitler as just the guy who hated Jews, but it's important to remember that, to Hitler, that was secondary. It's important because racism and hatred are underlying causes that allow horrible things like genocide, but it still needs a catalyst: nationalism, money, and/or power. Those are the real things to be afraid of. When we put ends like that before ends like humanity and peace, horrible means happen.
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Well,depends what u mean by commit. The people on the front lines are obviously immune to human feelings, either threw indoctrination or there own horrendous experiences. But people such a s Hitler are first obsessed with thought of power. Once they have it, they realize the "control" and ability he or she has to change history. And theirs only two ways to be remembered in this world on a global scale, threw righteousness and glory, or evil and Tierney.
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Genocide is an evil business. But rarely does a child say, "When I grow up I want to be an evil murdering dictator!". Rarely does a person rise in the morning saying out of the blue, "I think I'm going to something incredibly wicked today!". Usually it is the result of many years of circumstance, hurts and mis-steps leading to a subtle altering of how a person thinks. Was "community" as strong or intuitive as it should be I'm sure there were plenty of warning signs along the way where the freight train could have been safely stopped before the derailment. And once the travesty has occurred I think we as a society are hit with the fact that "we should have seen this coming and stopped it". Such evil rarely happens out of the blue. There are warning signs, and cries for help. But we were too busy or too lazy or too conveniently blind or too self-depowered or self-absorbed to see or act on them. So in rushing to "make up for lost time" and the impression of egg on our faces, the next reasonable step is to utterly disassociate ourselves. "I simply CANNOT understand HOW this could happen!". We skate around the issue by labeling the perpetrators as sub-human monsters, and the act as one that cannot be understood (and therefore not something to hold in our minds looking for lessons). We skirt and avoid the issue. It was just a random act, by a sub-human monster -- impossible to understand, predict or do anything about. Pass the scones please.
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not that i justify this behavior but feear is obviously the only reason i could see someone reaching that point.
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