What do you think? Was he really evil, or just misquided or misunderstood?
My opinion is this:
While many of his actions were undeniably evil (The final solution, etc) as a man I believe he was not. I think he believed that what he was doing was for the best, therefore he was simply misguided. In my personal opinion the difference between someone DOING EVIL and someone BEING EVIL is INTENT. Hitler's intent was to do what he believed was right, therefore his actions were evil but he was not.
Waiting for the flamings from those of Jewish/Romany/Balshavik/non-aryan backgrounds, homosexuals and those given a one-sided education.......
Hitler takes too much credit for the holocaust. It was actually more of Himmler and Heydrich's doings. Hitler is just a man to point fingers at. The entire idea of The Holocaust as a whole, is evil, IMO. I mean, what's the purpose? Shoving people in a train for days and letting them off at their elongated demise? This is not justice. It's torture, and torture is a work of evil.
e·vil
–adjective 1. morally wrong or bad; immoral; wicked: evil deeds; an evil life.
dirk, I think what you're saying has it's merits. The world always has been evil and it probably always will.
I certainly agree that Hitler was trying to make the world a better place, doing what he BELIEVED to be the right thing, unfortunately he got it wrong and it wasn't just the Jews, Gypsies, Balshaviks and homosexuals that made this world the evil, corrupt and generally fcuked up place it is, but mankind as a whole.
Still, I believe he had his heart in the right place, so to speak. He didn't do what he did purely for personal gain as Bush and Blair do.
I think, in my opinion at least, the difference between 'unsavoury' and 'evil' is intent, yes.
I personally don't believe Hitler's intent was evil, rather he was thoroughly misguided and lost his way eventually. If he believed that wiping out all the Jews he could find would make the world a better place, then what he was doing was what he believed was right, therefore his intent was to do the right thing. Obviously what he did wasn't actually the right thing to do, but the difference, I think, is the intent behind it.
Regardless of whether he believed what he was doing was right, calling for the extermination of the Jews (as well as Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals and gypsies), is undeniably evil. Killing people is bad. Genocide sucks.
However, I agree with Dusty that the Holocaust wasn't really Hitler's idea, he was just a charismatic speaker used by extremists.
The Holocaust was one of the reasons Hitler lost World War II, really. He devoted so many resources to building concentration camps that he didn't focus on military strength.
Of course not, if he believed what he did was right then he was obviously not evil. Evil is just an idea...
So Hitler wasn't evil and he wasn't good either.
I don't like those people either but this is just absurd... Like they do everything for personal gain and not because they think it's for the best. Like Hitler did everything he did for what he believed was best and not for personal gain...
So I rape and kill and torture 100 hundred woman for pleasure, all I can say to make myself in the right is to say that I thought I was doing the right thing?
That's crazy. I'm would still be doing something morally wrong.
I still dont understand how Hitler didnt do anything for personal gain. Killing the Jews is his personal gain because he thought the Jewish race was the reason for all the crappy shit that happened to him. By spearheading the movement to eradicate them, he was doing it for his personal well being. Also, what about taking away the right to free speech? Isnt that for personal gain also? Or killing all the enemies he had for his parties political movement? Or taking away human rights?
Evil.
1. morally wrong or bad; immoral; wicked: evil deeds; an evil life.
2. harmful; injurious: evil laws.
3. characterized or accompanied by misfortune or suffering; unfortunate; disastrous: to be fallen on evil days.
4. due to actual or imputed bad conduct or character: an evil reputation.
5. marked by anger, irritability, irascibility, etc.: He is known for his evil disposition.
Take note about harmful and morally wrong. Are we going to say genocide is not morally wrong? or harmful?
Like I said before, even though Hitler thought he was doing the right thing in his mind, overall, he was evil because he was morally wrong for being the spokesperson for the genocide of the Jewish people.
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It is harmful for some. Though maybe useful for others. If we go by harmful most things are harmful. For example my post is harmful to your reputation as intelligent poster. Just kidding, or am I?
Morally wrong is subjective. So, yeah, I am here to say genocide is not morally wrong.
Alsonote the example of evil in the definition of "harmful" but that as an aside. If you want to claim that Hitler harmed many people through his doing I would agree. I wouldn't call it evil or morally wrong though.
That would depend on your morale views now wouldn't it? If you consider or other man nothing more then animals then you can justify it, so you aren't really wrong. Just breaking the law, which is illegal.
Well of course everything is done for personal gain, but really he did have the best interest of Germany at heart.
And yet if he would have won, if all the Jews were gone he would have been seen as a hero today, and still many people today share his views and believe that killing a certain group of the population, whether blacks whites jews Muslims whatever is for the good of the world.
So it is once again just a matter of personal believes.
I see a lot of stupid talk of people who don't know what they are saying. Nice little theories written down behind their computer about Being Evil.
Don't make me laugh.
If some of you were in the concentration camps during WW II, only to see your wife and children die, to eat rats, to dig your own grave, to be physically abused in every way and so on... you would know the face of evil. And you would hate it.
__________________ The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
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Dec 11th, 2006 03:56 PM
