tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041404668013008872.post1224742557764283664..comments2023-10-31T07:08:49.579-07:00Comments on RADARSITE: Morality in a Totalitarian State: A Personal Revisionist HistoryRoger W. Gardnerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10255672744176037466noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041404668013008872.post-73385801054244972162009-05-06T20:30:00.000-07:002009-05-06T20:30:00.000-07:00As always, Roger, powerful thoughts.
Thank you.As always, Roger, powerful thoughts.<br />Thank you.Angie Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02342713829455027103noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041404668013008872.post-26297514540841894572009-05-04T03:33:00.000-07:002009-05-04T03:33:00.000-07:00Maggie -- Thank you for your thoughtful comment.Maggie -- Thank you for your thoughtful comment.Roger W. Gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10255672744176037466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041404668013008872.post-58250402782344638092009-05-03T21:16:00.000-07:002009-05-03T21:16:00.000-07:00Roger, I understand what you are saying. I've live...Roger, I understand what you are saying. I've lived in Germany and visited there many times. I agree with Gary that things are different there now. Having said that, I'm not sure the German people knew the extent of Hitler's plans. They believed in protecting their own race, but I don't think they knew "the plan." When people began disappearing, it changed everything. As stories flew about the people hauled out of their homes in the middle of the night and herded off (and not just Jews), it seemed almost incomprehensible.<br /><br />I understand this, and I think had I lived through it, I would hope I would have been a part of one of the undergrounds. One could not just "speak out." You would be dead, but you could work in the underground, and I hope I would have done so.<br /><br />There were so, so many brave people who quietly and courageously risked everything. Then there were those who knew they should and didn't because they didn't have the guts to do so. They've had to live with this. What do you tell your children, because as Gary said, the children asked.<br /><br />And it wasn't just Germany, it was Italy and France too. The quiet heroes who risked everything.<br /><br />You would have been one of those because, if you couldn't get out, that was the only way to combat the evil.<br /><br />While others fought and died for us, aren't we fortunate that we have never had to live among such disaster on our soil? We must keep our antennae up because things aren't looking too good right now.Maggie Thorntonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01681328690482778919noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041404668013008872.post-14642063414963446672009-05-02T05:18:00.000-07:002009-05-02T05:18:00.000-07:00100% agreed Findalis. Thanks.100% agreed Findalis. Thanks.Roger W. Gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10255672744176037466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041404668013008872.post-61669181892951755392009-05-02T01:18:00.000-07:002009-05-02T01:18:00.000-07:00A good point you have there Roger. We each need t...A good point you have there Roger. We each need to grow a bit each day.<br /><br />What I was trying to suggest is the mentality of the German people of that era. They were raised to never question authority, to obey orders, and fed a set of lies that caused mass destruction of their nation. Funny, but the left is doing the same thing here.<br /><br />One must never question the President, never question the Congress (except the Republicans in it), and obey all the orders from the elites.<br /><br />What we need is a leader who rises above politics and cares more about this nation than his or her office.<br /><br />Until one comes along, I will pray for the salvation of this land.Findalishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02881549378886491540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041404668013008872.post-39390980506716427052009-05-01T18:15:00.000-07:002009-05-01T18:15:00.000-07:00A very thoughtful post Roger.
People are quick to...A very thoughtful post Roger.<br /><br />People are quick to judge because they are often slow to appreciate the causes. I, like you, have studied the Germany of the inter war years and often find myself correcting others who have tended to miss certain facts. For instance, it is not widely known that there were at least 42 attempts on Hitlers life, which proves to me, that not all Germans were persuaded to tow the line!<br /><br />And in that vein, not all Muslims are prepared to suffer under Militant Islam. But, it is the brainwashing of the young Muslim that produces our common foe who are recruited from the madrassa or the mosque. While it is 'progressive' to argue, that the three main religions have a commonality which binds them, nothing could be further from the truth, as Islam is not a 'religion' in the true sense of the word.<br /><br />Like German National Socialism, Islam has to be defeated and then neutered to the point where it can no longer become militarized!<br /><br />And as you have pointed out, all is fair in love and war!Nemesisnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041404668013008872.post-36353322967296837362009-04-30T14:35:00.000-07:002009-04-30T14:35:00.000-07:00I commented earlier, but I guess it didn't get thr...I commented earlier, but I guess it didn't get through. I'll try again.<br /><br />Having spent my military time in the 60s just outside of Nuremberg, I know the city well. At that time, I thought I saw traits in the Germans that I could relate to the Nazi mentality.<br /><br />In the late 60s, prodded by university students who demanded to know what their parents had done, W Germany began to confront the Nazi era and the country has since admitted the crimes and educated their children about the past. When I go back today, I see a different Germany, and I am able to discuss the Nazi era with Germans openly. I feel that Germany has become a very decent nation and they deserve credit for confronting the past, much like we have confronted our past with slavery and segregation. There are other nations that to this day have not fully confronted their own guilt in the crimes of WW2.Gary Fousehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17014739065121483409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041404668013008872.post-23490184037608032202009-04-30T06:18:00.000-07:002009-04-30T06:18:00.000-07:00To Ben and Findalis. With all due respect, you see...To Ben and Findalis. With all due respect, you seem to have missed some of the major points of this essay -- particularly the first part. I believe that I was very clear about the inescabable culpability of the German people in WWII.I believe I was quite clear on what type of leader we were not looking for. I also believe that I was clear on who our present enemies are and what we have to do about them. I never intimated that we were being unfair, but rather that warfare itself, by its very nature, is unfair. You appear to be in that same spot that I was in yesterday -- adament in your convictions, certain of your judgment, either unable or unwilling to recognize or accept the moral quandry presented by people living under a totalitarian regime.<br /><br />In trying to come to grips with this moral dillema, I asked myself how I would have conducted my life under the iron fist of the Third Reich. And this question gave me pause. In all honesty I'm not certain of the answer. And this hint of uncertainty led me to question the valididy of my previous uncompromising condemnation of the entire German people.<br /><br />Does this mean that I'm ignoring that pervasive inherent anti-semitism in the German psyche? Does this mean that I absolve them of their undeniable and historical militarism? Or even their culpability in the Holocaust? Of course not -- even Julius Ceaser complained about Germans' militarism and love of warfare. Perhaps you are more certain of how you would have behaved living under the Third Reich than I am. <br />Finally, I think perhaps you have mistaken my depiction of the enemy and the victim as being one and the same as somehow watering down my patriotic fervor. It doesn't. It hasn't. I believe that this concept, this duality of enemy and victim, athough apparently mutually exclusive, is nonetheless valid. I also believe, as I clearly stated, that Islam itself is the mortal enemy of the civilized world and must be either conquered or destroyed -- as the Third Reich was destroyed. <br /><br />And I believe that to accomplish this goal, many enemy lives are going to have to be sacrificed, and that some of these enemies will indeed be victims of their own regimes -- think Iran.<br /><br />Finally, if that incisive documentary caused me to question some of my long held opinions, to take a second look at my previous uncompromising condemnation of the entire German people, then I feel good about that. I am still growing.Roger W. Gardnerhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10255672744176037466noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041404668013008872.post-56018431245955111412009-04-29T23:52:00.000-07:002009-04-29T23:52:00.000-07:00The German people could have stopped Hitler. They...The German people could have stopped Hitler. They had no will to do so. They feared the consequences of their actions if they failed.<br /><br />They weren't victims but willingly participants. Eager to go along with Hitler and his cronies as long as the times were good, the victories plenty, and food was plentiful.<br /><br />Even when the war turned for them, they did not desert Hitler. It was a love affair with the man. A cult.<br /><br />What we look for in a leader dear Roger is not a strong leader, but a leader of strength. One who is not naive and weak to the world (such as we now have).<br /><br />There is a difference between wanting a strong leader and a memorizing, public speaker. A big difference.Findalishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02881549378886491540noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5041404668013008872.post-47273067925712066202009-04-29T20:54:00.000-07:002009-04-29T20:54:00.000-07:00One author described human life in a state of natu...One author described human life in a state of nature as "nasty, brutish and short". If memory serves, it was Thomas Hobbs in <I>Leviathon</I>. <br /><br />Fair? Sorry, the concept is an artificial construct having no fixed valid meaning. <br /><br />We cook and eat the ova of hens, never allowing them to develop, hatch, eat and grow. Is that fair?<br /><br />We dump containers of water in which mosquito larvae swim, dooming them to suffocate and dessicate in the air because we know that they will grow up to torment us, it is their nature and ours; nothing fair about it. <br /><br />The Krauts made their bed and had to lie in it. The minority who objected had to keep silent, otherwise they would have been intimidated and beaten, at best; at worst sent to the death camps. <br /><br />We did not victimize them nor did we violate the standard of "fair"; their fellow Krauts did. <br /><br />Yes, the lads in Paki Madrassas are victims, many of whom will victimize others. No, it ain't fair, and no, their lot in life is beyond remedy. We have no effective course of action that can save them or right the wrong done to them. <br /><br />The real unfairness, the prime wrong occurred when the Arabs invaded and conquered India centuries ago. "Convert or die." Victimized either way, and those who converted victimized their heirs to the Nth generation. <br /><br />The unfair act is theirs, not ours when we defend ourselves and our way of life. <br /><br />We seek not a hero on a white horse, under a white hat. We seek an honest, principled statesman, with clear, valid principles, clearly enunciated, correctly applied. <br /><br />Not tyranny, not regimentation, but honest, courageous constitutional leadership, a latter day Harry Truman.Benhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01975775791961343435noreply@blogger.com