Having grown up in the 1960s on Manhattan's West Side, when WWII wasn't so long ago and a German accent was immediately associated to movies and TV series about Nazis, I admit that I may be unduly predisposed to regard certain strains of militarism, morality by government fiat, and 'just taking orders' as problematic aspects of the early-20th-Century German culture. Also I read _Roots of the Nazi Mentality_ when I was an impressionable kid.
But I don't think that power affairs (military+politics) and economics are everything against culture (glamour!) and society (status!) as some sort of zero. You've a case to make there, Edwina, if you wish to convince people. The problematic character of early-20th-Century German attitudes - militarism, morality by government fiat, 'just taking orders' - have not gone unnoticed by anybody around Germany. The reunification of Germany in the 1990s involved US guarantees of maintaining military bases in Germany, guarantees sought by the French and other governments.
Best, Ben
On 7/10/2015 3:16 PM, Edwina Taborsky wrote:
----------------------------- PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to [email protected] . To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message not to PEIRCE-L but to [email protected] with the line "UNSubscribe PEIRCE-L" in the BODY of the message. More at http://www.cspeirce.com/peirce-l/peirce-l.htm .No, Helmut, I don't think that the German people 'had more barbaric instincts than other people'. We are all similar in our capacity for emotional irrationality and violence. When a societal system of law and order breaks down for various reasons, i.e., is not providing security, is not functioning in a just and fair manner, is corrupt, , is subverted by a higher authority - then, the 'cooling off' phase of rational examination of the situation is rejected - and we get either a mob, or a 'controlled mob, i.e., a band of thugs'.
Democracy is not, in itself, a barrier against barbarism. As Tolstoy said, 'Wrong does not cease to be wrong because the majority shares in it'. Democracy, to be just, requires a constitution and the rule of law, set up as created by men, and capable of change by men, but applicable to all.
Edwina
----- Original Message -----
From: Helmut Raulien
To: Ozzie
Cc: Edwina Taborsky ; <[email protected]> ; Peirce List
Sent: Friday, July 10, 2015 2:51 PM
Subject: Aw: Re: [PEIRCE-L] Recently published: Hitler and Abductive LogicI agree, that his "abduction-type message is" only "a big part of that success". Tenacity, authority and apriori also are. I wrote, that a false abduction to laypersons of logic can look like a proper conclusion. But not all Germans were too much laypersons to see the lies (eg. Heidegger). Nevertheless they followed him. Putting the emphasis on Hitlers intelligent ways of manipulation should not assign him a bigger part of the guilt, and lessen the guilt of the Germans. They had more barbaric instincts than the other peoples, and were no democrats. Other in than other nations, there has not been a democratic constitution initiated by the people.
Best,
Helmut
Ozzie <[email protected]>
----------------------------- PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to [email protected] . To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message not to PEIRCE-L but to [email protected] with the line "UNSubscribe PEIRCE-L" in the BODY of the message. More at http://www.cspeirce.com/peirce-l/peirce-l.htm .
