What lessons if any are there from the Nazi regime? I would argue that it seems sometimes that the extreme anti-Semitism of the Nazis is almost overemphasized to make them appear more distant from today’s society. Obviously nothing like the Holocaust would ever happen in this country, but are we really safe from everything the Nazis represented? Do we not have people who like to separate “real Americans” from the rest and constantly talk about “taking our country back” and resort to all sorts of hyper-patriotic slogans? Do we not have those who exploit scapegoats as a way of directing attention away from other problems? Do we not have those who manipulate people through the mass media the way the Nazis perfected mass manipulation through the media? Is our country not continuously at war or in a state of preparation for war as a means of disposing of its surplus war production? Do the military producers in this country have a disproportionate influence over government? Does our government not possess the means to keep the population under surveillance and detain individuals even without trial? These are all aspects of the Nazi regime as well. Supposedly the first thing the Nazis would do when they conquered an area is to set up a public address (PA) system. The Nazis employed propaganda and tried to manipulate the masses in their own country and in occupied areas as well. The following film is a propaganda film entitled “Triumph of the Will”, (Triumph des Willens) made in 1934 and a reference to the Nietzschian notion of the “will to power”
I disagree with the statement "Nothing like the Holocaust has ever happened in the United States." I believe that slavery was just as horrendous. I mean taking a people from their native land and relocating them against their will is just as demeaning and horrible. There is a whole diaspora in the United States that are still suffering from the effects of this relocation. But I do agree with the other questions that were posed at the end of the lecture. We very well have those issues that Germany had. Our economy isn't in the best shape. There are groups The difference between Germany and the United States is that we are a multi-ethnic/ racial society. The principles of this society embrace the differences or have attempted to embrace these differences with an ideal called Democracy. Therefore, democracy does not allow the chance for a potential leader to benefit from the explotiation of a group based on race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc, etc.
I strongly agree with what you have stated. Especially when you stated the difference between Germany and the United States, which you said was the racial society. For instance, I just read a headline about a German woman who was Muslim and she gave birth naturally to a 13lb. Baby boy and named him Jihad, and many people were posting comments as to why a Muslim woman would name her child that name, and why she would have 13 children. I'm soooo glad to be an American Muslim who is born to a democratic nation. I cannot imagine how my life would be like if I was to be born in Germany especially because it's not racially diverse.
ReplyDeleteEven though America has its prejudice people. I think on average especially amongst American born/ educated people, we are tolerant. More so than our parents who come from different countries or who come from the Jim Crow era.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that we should not gloss over atrocities that have occurred in American history. There is a difference between "racism" and "holocaust" they are not equivalent terms. Americans have a strong history of racial conflict and violence, and especially against Native Americans charges of genocide, or the determined effort to exterminate a specific race or ethnicity, have been made. The Holocaust refers to the deliberate and systematic attempt at exterminating all Jews in Europe through the use of modern industrial technology in the form of literal "death factories" that killed millions over a period of three or four years. Nothing to that extent has ever occurred in America on such a large scale and never will. This is not to deny that the same forces which motivate such horrible acts do not exist in America but the expression of these forces would not take the same form as they did in Germany.
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