Munich 1938

[monk222]

When Chamberlain met with Hitler on September 15 at the Burghof, Hitler's Berchtesgaden mountain retreat, he came away with a hopelessly mistaken impression of the German leader, writing to one of his sisters that "in spite of the hardness and ruthlessness I thought I saw in his face, I got the impression that here was a man who could be relied upon when he had given his word."

-- "Warlord: A Life of Winston Churchill at War, 1874-1945" by Carlo D'Este

Comments

[antilapsarian.livejournal.com]

Nice reply, thanks. Yes, as Charlie Chaplin said, "life is a tragedy in closeup, a comedy in longshot." It really is just all tragic in some ways.

But yeah, that was the point I was making about the youth on the U-boat.

Although the Hilter thing I'm not so sure of. I'm not by any means trying to excuse him...just understand him. And, yes, I do think we can understand evil somewhat even if to say it was Joker-style done for the sake of mayhem and chaos. Evil is a lot like art in that way. The opposite really--destruction rather than creation.

What I'm saying is that even as captain of the Nazi machine, there was method in the madness that makes him no less evil, but fully human. Humanity can be evil sometimes--often--even if I believe we lean towards good most of the time. In that way it makes evil--as has been pointed out before by people far smarter than me--quite boring and weak. It's the common low road and to understand, say, the Holocaust is to try to understand our very worst qualities by knowing that they are also pathetically easy to channel.

Light and dark is a good metaphor for that reason, right? It takes spark and energy to create light. Darkness thrives in the absence of that.

Nature of Evil

[poovanna.livejournal.com]

I do think we can understand evil somewhat even if to say it was Joker-style done for the sake of mayhem and chaos. Evil is a lot like art in that way. The opposite really--destruction rather than creation.

If you do have time, take a look at this page. You might find it interesting.

If you do not have time, then take a look at my comment here and let me know what you think? :)

Re: Nature of Evil

[antilapsarian.livejournal.com]

Didn't have much time to look, but took a quick glance. I'm with you most of the way...esp. appreciation that the usual def of evil is either not fully analyzed or bound up in personal/power issues. I'm definitely sympathetic to evolutionary notions about the benefits of altruism. Perhaps evil then is a kind of socially selfish behavior that fails to regard others as oneself?

But that opens a can of worms for me about not giving to the homeless who ask for change here in Chicago. It definitely makes me feel guilty to say no sometimes...one could make the argument that is a kind of evil.