Ernie: Yikes !!!
There is a whole literature that seeks to answer your question and each scholar has his or her own 'take' on the issue. For Nietzsche specifically my best recommendation is Walter Kaufmann who has a biography about him called, no surprise, Nietzsche. One important fact about Kaufmann is that he is a Jew who is pro-Nietzsche. Keep in mind that N was vehemently opposed (opposed) to anti-Semitism, This was one big reason that N broke with Wagner, since W was very anti-Semitic. About Wagner, think the Beatles rolled into one very popular man, or think Dylan at his peak of popularity, that is, W was Very Big. N and W were very close buddies for maybe 20 years. But the whole question is complicated by the fact that German culture from Bismarck's time onward was authoritarian, or largely authoritarian. Bismarck's\ reforms were major and deserve recognition but what he did was essentially pay off the working class with money and job security in exchange for loyalty to the Reich. This loyalty was regarded as essential since, until Bismarck, "Germany" did not exist, it was a collection of duchies and margravates and small and medium sized 'states,' plus Prussia, which was a true nation with a strong military. Anyway, Bismarck engineered German unification and was a political "god" for a while due to his achievment. All kinds of arts flourished, the economy boomed, but the political system was strictly top down. Maybe all would have been well if Germany had gotten out of the war with no worse than a "draw," but defeat was a huge blow and it unglued the social system and allowed for the rise of the Nazis. Even then, Hitler was not inevitable, indeed, in the late 1920s, it seemed as if the Nazis were fading away, and their share of the vote was declining, but then came the Depression and, once again, the Nazis were on the rise. All of which is a mere sketch, but to get the conversation started..... Wilhelm von Rojas ________________________________ From: [email protected] <[email protected]> on behalf of Centroids <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, September 14, 2018 9:36 AM To: Centroids Discussions Subject: [RC] The fall of German Enlightenment? Hi Billy, Can you help me track down something that helps explain this? I often run into people who worship the enlightenment and Nietzsche. But they are always a great pains to explain how this did not in anyway contribute to German horrors in the 20th century. This smells wrong. Can you help me find an article or book to explain how Germany goes from most admired to most despised? The atrocities of the World Wars has to come from somewhere. I’m assuming this has something to do with Prussia’s defeat by Napoleon, which suspiciously also led to modern education... E Sent from my iPhone -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Google Groups<http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism> groups.google.com Google Groups allows you to create and participate in online forums and email-based groups with a rich experience for community conversations. Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org [https://secure.gravatar.com/blavatar/becade87f4704f1f93c3ca0278c4fda6?s=200&ts=1536949025]<http://radicalcentrism.org/> Radical Centrism | A Unifying Paradigm of Civil Society<http://radicalcentrism.org/> radicalcentrism.org A Unifying Paradigm of Civil Society --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. Google Groups<https://groups.google.com/d/optout> groups.google.com Google Groups allows you to create and participate in online forums and email-based groups with a rich experience for community conversations. -- -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
