"Hitler was a great man."

[Nix_Hex]

"Hitler was a great man," the closet racist motto. First off I'm Jewish, and I have no love for anything Hitler ever stood for, be it his military tactics, megalomania, or his outright hatred and extermination of an entire race.
It seems that since I entered high school, (you know that age people start voicing their opinions no matter how stupid they are) I started hearing phrases like "Hitler was a genius" and "Hitler was a great man" excessively. Whenever someone gave them a questionable look, they would stammer and speak as quickly as possible, "His power to manipulate the minds of an entire government, military, and population to kill millions was sheer brilliant, although terrible!" It reminds me of the quote from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone by Olivander the wand maker: "After all, Voldemort did great things. Terrible, but great." You can see a sense of admiration in their face, both at Hitler and their own shock value, while no one has the balls to point out what this person really is (a racist), and almost take this new revelation to heart! These are usually the same people who cry out against the "politically correct media," yet the way they cover themselves up is cowardly, transparent, and indeed politically correct.

I know I'm not the only person who knows someone like this. Feel free to share similar situations you've witnessed.

Go ahead and respond now.

 

[cantab]

Hitler didn't need to manipulate that much. His views were extreme by today's standards, but by the standards of his time not so much. The USA bought into the whole eugenics thing in the early part of the 20th century, with several US states passing compulsory sterilisation laws.

 

[Not Scicky]

I'd never say that he was a great man. But I'd be willing to admit he had to have some sort of brains in his head to take on the majority of the worlds superpowers. Now, I'm also willing to admit that he was fucking insane.

 

[Alex Practice]

Hitler wasn't a great man. He was a piece of shit.
But he WAS intelligent and charismatic. He'd have to be to do what he did.

Also he was an artist. It's interesting that someone with so much hate inside of them could make this:

Objectively speaking, this is pretty nice.

 

[lati0s]

Hitler actually got into politics after he was rejected from art school.

Hitler was a terrible personal morally but that doesn't mean that his accomplishments aren't impressive and recognizing that without endorsing his actions does not make you a racist.

 

[HotPocket]

"Great" makes it sound like they agree with what he did. One might be able to say something like, "He was a powerful man." To be honest though, I'm not sure why people always obsess over Hitler, throughout history there have been tons of dicks who manipulate , propagandize and commit genocide. The only reason Hitler's famous is as far as I can tell technology at the time allowed him to do more than his predecessors to dickdom.

 

[Not Scicky]

It's cause Hitler was a racist, that's why people obsess over him. Stalin starved 12 million people but he didn't starve them because they were jews.

 

[Great Sage]

It's cause Hitler was a racist, that's why people obsess over him. Stalin starved 12 million people but he didn't starve them because they were jews.

There is some debate over whether Stalin's exceptionally harsh actions in Ukraine constituted genocide against the Ukrainians, but you're right: the Holocaust is the most broadly-known and one of the most severe examples of action against a group of people (sidenote: don't forget the Slavs, the Gypsies, and a bunch of other groups too).

 

[bombiron]

Hitler was an mamzing public speaker, and had loads of charisma but he was a twisted fuck.

 

[Blue_Tornado]

Saying "Hitler was a great man" in the sense of 'he was extremely clever and full of charisma' is one thing. Saying "Hitler was a great man" when you believe in his ways is another thing, and is what's mentioned in the OP. This should be the subject, whenever people that appreciate Hitler do so because he was talanted OR because they agree with him.

At least that's one way to / how I see it.

 

[phalanx]

yea everyone always looks at the bad points, he did plenty of good things as well, he turned a crippled country into a world power in a short period of time.
the autobahn? the volkswagen? those were created under his leadership, and probably plenty of other good things for the german people.
the thing is, he did too much evil, and all the good gets ignored, yes what he did was wrong in the highest order, but forgetting the good people do because of it is also wrong imo, i like to see both sides.

there is still plenty of race hate around and its mostly ignored.
what about mugabe, why do people ignore him?

 

[Nix_Hex]

It's not all about Hitler, folks. I used him as an example because the situation I described was the first time I noticed "wow, people really are racist." The fact that multiple peers spoke to me about him in obvious reverence dressed in devil's advocacy is what bothered me so much. The people I went to high school with were mostly dairy farm kids who liked to pretend they were rednecks (though their parents were millionaires) were generally racist, but the Hitler issue was the only line they didn't feel safe crossing. Their opinion of the Mexican population (which is quite high in southern California if you didn't know) was clear to everyone, so admiring bigots of the next level was no stretch. What I really want to know is if others have noticed such closet racism among your peers. What I'm talking about is different from the sound reasoning you guys have used in claiming that Hitler was very powerful and efficient, which he was.

 

[Blue_Tornado]

there is still plenty of race hate around and its mostly ignored.

Yes, but most racism doesn't end with enormous numbers of a religion (read: not race) "exterminated", while this did.

 

[cim]

I always feel a little weird hearing people with only a cursory knowledge of the Holocaust passing judgement of one man's intelligence when an entire regime orchestrated the tragedy. Obviously he was the person in charge, but what tactics, planning, and leadership in the Holocaust in particular leads you to come to the conclusion that Hitler himself must have been a genius? I feel that there are very few people who have the historical knowledge to make this claim, myself also being excluded from the discussion.

"Hitler was a great man" is a statement that is rather ambiguous. To me and probably to most listeners, "great" in this context doesn't seem to imply "mighty" or "massive", but rather having many positive traits, better than good. When one says a man is good / great, generally that is speaking about their character rather than any other aspects of themselves, so an average reading of the statement implies Hitler had even a modicum of morality and even a single fiber in his being of empaty, which I vehemently disagree with.

Yes, but most racism doesn't end with enormous numbers of a religion (read: not race) "exterminated", while this did.

The Jewish race and Jewish religion are not the same thing.

 

[cantab]

A friend of mine I remember being noticeably and openly (at least with myself and his other friends, maybe not his parents) racist. He went to a grammar school (a selective school, entry depends on passing the entrance exam). I don't know the demographics of that school, but I think few at my school, with its wide mixture of races, could have been anything like as racist.

an average reading of the statement implies Hitler had even a modicum of morality and even a single fiber in his being of empaty, which I vehemently disagree with.

I think you're wrong there. Hitler's views and actions may be abhorrent to you and me, but he almost certainly had some sort of a moral code, bound up with his ideology. I think it's rather rare for a person to have no morals, and such a person would be solely concerned with self-interest - Hitler was very much concerned with what he thought were the best interests of the German nation.

EDIT: I think the tl;dr here is I'm saying Hitler wasn't a psychopath.

 

[bombiron]

yea everyone always looks at the bad points, he did plenty of good things as well, he turned a crippled country into a world power in a short period of time.
the autobahn? the volkswagen? those were created under his leadership, and probably plenty of other good things for the german people.
the thing is, he did too much evil, and all the good gets ignored, yes what he did was wrong in the highest order, but forgetting the good people do because of it is also wrong imo, i like to see both sides.

there is still plenty of race hate around and its mostly ignored.
what about mugabe, why do people ignore him?

to be honest all the autobahn and vw probably would have happened before him, BUT he did bring germany out of a recession, but then again the he killed almost a seventh of the german population alone, not including the german non aryans

 

[cim]

to be honest all the autobahn and vw probably would have happened before him, BUT he did bring germany out of a recession, but then again the he killed almost a seventh of the german population alone, not including the german non aryans

Saying "Hitler was a monster but he brought Germany out of a recession!" is like saying "The serial killer murdered 5 cops but he also created 5 jobs!".

 

[Nix_Hex]

Saying "Hitler was a monster but he brought Germany out of a recession!" is like saying "The serial killer murdered 5 cops but he also created 5 jobs!".

I just laughed for the first time since creating this thread, but by the order of the last two points in filth's sentence, he was showing how ridiculous the attitude of "Hitler brought them out of a recession" is. Also, if that was you, thanks for adding the first " to the thread title, it was bugging me a lot.

 

[Blue_Tornado]

The Jewish race and Jewish religion are not the same thing.

"The Jewish race"? Are you serious? Hitler called out to exterminate the "Jewish race" based on his own ideology, and of course, there is no such thing. In reality, he wanted to "exterminate" any being that had the "misfortune" of being a jew, no matter the "race". Really, you using Hitler's own terms really makes me confused when reading the rest of your post :/

 

[cantab]

Wikipedia has a whole article on the matter, which indicates that there are definitions within Judaism that would consider someone a Jew even if they do not practice the Jewish religion. I don't believe any such definition is exactly what the Nazi regime used, but the principle stands.

 

[MrIndigo]

I always feel a little weird hearing people with only a cursory knowledge of the Holocaust passing judgement of one man's intelligence when an entire regime orchestrated the tragedy. Obviously he was the person in charge, but what tactics, planning, and leadership in the Holocaust in particular leads you to come to the conclusion that Hitler himself must have been a genius? I feel that there are very few people who have the historical knowledge to make this claim, myself also being excluded from the discussion.

"Hitler was a great man" is a statement that is rather ambiguous. To me and probably to most listeners, "great" in this context doesn't seem to imply "mighty" or "massive", but rather having many positive traits, better than good. When one says a man is good / great, generally that is speaking about their character rather than any other aspects of themselves, so an average reading of the statement implies Hitler had even a modicum of morality and even a single fiber in his being of empaty, which I vehemently disagree with.



The Jewish race and Jewish religion are not the same thing.

Once again, Chris is me, you have made it pointless for me to post in this thread.

 

[az]

"Hitler was a great man," the closet racist motto. First off I'm Jewish, and I have no love for anything Hitler ever stood for, be it his military tactics, megalomania, or his outright hatred and extermination of an entire race.
It seems that since I entered high school, (you know that age people start voicing their opinions no matter how stupid they are) I started hearing phrases like "Hitler was a genius" and "Hitler was a great man" excessively. Whenever someone gave them a questionable look, they would stammer and speak as quickly as possible, "His power to manipulate the minds of an entire government, military, and population to kill millions was sheer brilliant, although terrible!" It reminds me of the quote from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone by Olivander the wand maker: "After all, Voldemort did great things. Terrible, but great." You can see a sense of admiration in their face, both at Hitler and their own shock value, while no one has the balls to point out what this person really is (a racist), and almost take this new revelation to heart! These are usually the same people who cry out against the "politically correct media," yet the way they cover themselves up is cowardly, transparent, and indeed politically correct.

I know I'm not the only person who knows someone like this. Feel free to share similar situations you've witnessed.

Go ahead and respond now.

this is a really stupid op and i really don't see what the point of this thread is

the title and subject are inflammatory, there is no real room for discussion, and you're making a ridiculous leap to accuse people that recognise hitler was a remarkable man of being racist - it's insulting, quite frankly

if you open your eyes you'll see that it is quite possible to detest everything hitler stood for but recognise his revolutionary power (granted in the midst of an easily exploited political system of government). to ignore that sort of thing is as far gone as to pretend the history itself didn't happen, and we should never pretend that it did not

 

[StealthX]

"Hitler was a great man," the closet racist motto. First off I'm Jewish, and I have no love for anything Hitler ever stood for, be it his military tactics, megalomania, or his outright hatred and extermination of an entire race.
It seems that since I entered high school, (you know that age people start voicing their opinions no matter how stupid they are) I started hearing phrases like "Hitler was a genius" and "Hitler was a great man" excessively. Whenever someone gave them a questionable look, they would stammer and speak as quickly as possible, "His power to manipulate the minds of an entire government, military, and population to kill millions was sheer brilliant, although terrible!" It reminds me of the quote from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's (Philosopher's) Stone by Olivander the wand maker: "After all, Voldemort did great things. Terrible, but great." You can see a sense of admiration in their face, both at Hitler and their own shock value, while no one has the balls to point out what this person really is (a racist), and almost take this new revelation to heart! These are usually the same people who cry out against the "politically correct media," yet the way they cover themselves up is cowardly, transparent, and indeed politically correct.

I know I'm not the only person who knows someone like this. Feel free to share similar situations you've witnessed.

Go ahead and respond now.

I'm pretty sure that Voldemort is actually ipartially based after hitler. (Voldemort's hate of "Half Blood" Wizards, although he infact, IS half blood. Hitler hated jews, and also thought that blond was the only "pure" hair color, even though his grandmother was jewish, and he himself didn't have blond hair)

 

[HotPocket]

It's cause Hitler was a racist, that's why people obsess over him. Stalin starved 12 million people but he didn't starve them because they were jews.

Stalin targeted jews as well, but he didn't target jews as specifically.

Wikipedia has a whole article on the matter, which indicates that there are definitions within Judaism that would consider someone a Jew even if they do not practice the Jewish religion. I don't believe any such definition is exactly what the Nazi regime used, but the principle stands.

The nazis based it upon who in your family was jewish.

It started out that you had some rights taken away if both of your parents were jewish but it eventually came to the point that if 1 of your 4 grandparents were jewish, you were jewish. As the nazi party gained power they not only continued to increase discrimination laws (being unable to hold property at the start to being in concentration camps at the end) they increased their definition of who is considered jewish, regardless of their practice.

 

[Morm]

Hitler had issues, yeah, but he was a sound political force and brought Germany out of a depression (only to put them back in one when he lost his marbles). Infact, had he not forced his generals to make silly decisions and had let them do their jobs, we may well all be speaking German right now.

Yeah, it sucks ass some of the things he did, but it's hard to deny with any objective logic that this man was likely 2+ standard deviations away from average intelligence and had more impact on politics and warfare than almost any single leader.

You should all go watch the movie Downfall. It's a German movie about Hitler's last days. It's quite sad, they do a great job showing the state of affairs he was in and what happened hen the Russians hit Berlin. Definitely worth watching.