Asking here rather than on FB as I have a serious question I am in need of an historical (rather than reactionary perspective).
Let me preface my question by saying: FUCK Nazis ✊
There are the rare cases where people maintained a public persona of nazism (while in private hiding or aiding Jews (and others deemed “undesirable” by the nAzi pArty)); is this the case here or was dude a “Heil Hitler” man at heart?
I don't think so. By all indications he was a fan of Hitler and Nazism, but this must be prefaced by the fact that he spent almost no time in Germany and perhaps didn't know the full extent of what was really going on.
I kinda love this story for the dissonance it creates. As a parent of teens, I’m constantly on the search for opportunities to teach nuance and subtlety in a world that increasingly sees only black and white certainty.
It’s really important to understand that two things can be true at the same time. History teaches us repeatedly that terrible people can simultaneously do/believe great things, and vice versa. I don’t know why we feel an obligation to lionize or cancel every significant figure, past and present. The human condition is messy; we should be able to simultaneously celebrate great acts and abhor atrocities without defining the people behind them as entirely pure or evil.
Asking here rather than on FB as I have a serious question I am in need of an historical (rather than reactionary perspective).
Let me preface my question by saying: FUCK Nazis ✊
There are the rare cases where people maintained a public persona of nazism (while in private hiding or aiding Jews (and others deemed “undesirable” by the nAzi pArty)); is this the case here or was dude a “Heil Hitler” man at heart?
I don't think so. By all indications he was a fan of Hitler and Nazism, but this must be prefaced by the fact that he spent almost no time in Germany and perhaps didn't know the full extent of what was really going on.
I kinda love this story for the dissonance it creates. As a parent of teens, I’m constantly on the search for opportunities to teach nuance and subtlety in a world that increasingly sees only black and white certainty.
It’s really important to understand that two things can be true at the same time. History teaches us repeatedly that terrible people can simultaneously do/believe great things, and vice versa. I don’t know why we feel an obligation to lionize or cancel every significant figure, past and present. The human condition is messy; we should be able to simultaneously celebrate great acts and abhor atrocities without defining the people behind them as entirely pure or evil.
Well-said.