-Caveat Lector-
http://www.sobran.com/columns/2003/030227.shtml
So Many Hitlers
February 27, 2003
by Joe Sobran
A witty reader with a long memory likens American
foreign policy to Joe Louis's boxing career. Joe Louis,
the Brown Bomber, was the heavyweight champ before and
after World War II who, having destroyed all his worthy
opponents, proceeded to take on, with unbecoming
frequency, a lot of unworthy ones. Sportswriters
derisively nicknamed these hapless unworthies "the Bum-
of-the-Month Club."
The United States seems to have a Hitler-of-the-
Month Club. As the Soviet Union waned and collapsed, a
new series of enemies began to emerge, each in turn
likened to Hitler as a global threat: the Ayatollah
Khomeini, Muammar al-Qaddafi, Manuel Noriega, Saddam
Hussein, Slobodan Milosevic, Osama bin Laden, and now
Saddam Hussein again. Globally, these were equivalent to
Joe Louis's bums, but U.S. propaganda has dignified them
as Hitlers.
Just as the United States has had its 9/11, even Joe
sometimes got a rude shock. In 1942, I believe it was,
Tony Galento, a roly-poly slugger from New Jersey who
trained on beer, landed a punch that knocked Joe on the
seat of his trunks, but by round four Tony had been
rendered unconscious. (The history-minded will note that
he later took bit parts in movies like ON THE
WATERFRONT.)
Today Joe's legend has faded; he is best remembered
for beating Max Schmeling, Hitler's boy. Today, in fact,
Hitler still defines just about everything, one way and
another. His name is invoked to settle all arguments. You
want war? So did Hitler. You don't want war? You're like
the people who appeased Hitler.
Hitler was not only bad, but infinitely bad. No
price is too great to pay for vanquishing a Hitler --
even a metaphorical Hitler. Thus Andrew Sullivan, urging
war on Iraq in TIME, points out, "The war against Hitler
killed millions -- but it was just."
Was it ever! Not only did World War II cost 50
million lives, it gave Stalin a huge swath of Europe and
brought the world into the nuclear era. But it was all
worth it! We got rid of Hitler!
Once Hitler is introduced into the conversation, and
he usually is, any sense of measure disappears. All-out
war becomes imperative, and it's petty to ask what the
consequences may be. When you're budgeting for Hitler,
cost is no object.
This might not be a problem if we were dealing with
one supremely evil figure who died in 1945 (despite
rumors that he'd survived and legged it to Argentina).
But there are so doggone many Hitlers, every one of them
a threat to world peace. Uncle Sam has to be quick on his
feet to stamp 'em all out as fast as they spring up.
Next week will mark the 50th anniversary of the
death of Stalin (and of Sergei Prokofiev, the great
Russian composer, if anyone cares). Stalin killed several
times as many people as Hitler, but he had one redeeming
virtue: he was against Hitler! True, he formed what might
have seemed the beginning of a beautiful friendship with
the German dictator, but Hitler, by turning on him, saved
his reputation.
Soon Stalin was a chum of Winston Churchill and
Franklin Roosevelt again, as liberals cheered. He even
wound up as sole proprietor of Poland, which he'd thought
he'd have to share with Hitler.
Today even liberals agree that Stalin was a bit of a
stinker, all things considered, but "Uncle Joe" is by no
means the symbol of evil Hitler has become. Though he too
could be rough on minority groups, he talked the talk
about democracy, equality, and diversity, so he can be
excused for not always walking the walk; and the sort of
minorities he wiped out weren't the sort who trouble the
Western conscience overmuch anyway. (Who cares about
Estonians, for Pete's sake?)
So, to this day, there is no Stalin-of-the-Month
Club, and though he has had numerous imitators, including
some very able ones, none of them has been designated "a
new Stalin" against whom it behooves us to make war.
Nobody remembers Enver Hoxha nowadays. Even Fidel Castro
seems more like a relic of the sunny Kennedy era than a
Stalin.
Kim Jong Il is the genuine article -- indeed, a
rather flamboyant Stalin -- but, after all, he is no
Hitler! We can live with him. He even brings out the
coquettish side of Madeleine Albright.
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careful observation and analysis, when you find that it agrees with
reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it." The Buddha on Belief,
from the Kalama Sutra
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