People need LIVES

[Progo35]

http://www.hollywood.com/news/Smith_Hitler_Was_a_Good_Person/5024607
http://www.adl.org/PresRele/HolNa_52/5198_52.htm

The reason that this makes me angry is that Smith's predicament could indicate a social unwillingness to consider the logic used to justify Hitler's actions while they were going on. Obviously, Hitler did think that what he did was a good thing, or he wouldn't have done it. The reason that hideous things like the holocaust happen is because evil people decide that universal rules regarding human decency should be revamped in favor of their goals and worldview. I.e, Hitler justified murdering 11 million people because he was seeking to ovethrow the idea that all human beings are equal in pursuit of a "pure" society. It was disgusting, it was horrific, and as long as we don't recognize how flawed reasoning can lead to a moral justification of heinous acts, we are in danger of being lulled into complacency when our country, community or environment is threatened with the repetition of this process.

[Steven E. Webster]

Progo,

I read both links that you provided. It is important to note that the Anti-Defamation League (a group that combats anti-semitism) have essentially agreed with Smith's "clarified" statement.

Basically, I think Smith is expressing views very similar to Soulforce and maybe also rooted in Martin Luther King. Even Hitler was a human being like we are. He did evil things, like we are capable of. Because he had great power, he was able to do great evil on an unimaginable scale.

We, the United States, could also commit such evil, and we could rationalize it as for the good of humanity. I believe that the neoconservatives' Project for a New American Century (link: http://www.newamericancentury.org/) is such a rationalization. It rationalizes the pursuit of unchecked power for the U.S. and it justifies the kind of pre-emptive war that got us into Iraq.

Look where we have gone. Now our government denies human rights--no habeus corpus, torture is a good idea, privacy is out the window, etc. etc.

There is a danger in believing that Hitler was unique and somehow totally different than we are---we set ourselves up to make the same mistake. To take seriously the slogan "Never Again" means to be on guard against every form of tyranny, and to recognize that human beings are capable of both good and evil.

Steven Webster

[Steven E. Webster]

Friends,

More about the Project for a New American Century:

This is their statement of principles:

http://www.newamericancentury.org/statementofprinciples.htm

Note who the signers are. Of course, Dick Cheney is there. But note also the names Gary Bauer and George Weigle--these are men who stir up the religious right against LGBT persons.

When I talk about neoconservatives, it is organizations like "Project for a New American Century" that I have in mind.

Steven Webster

[Progo35]

I read both links that you provided. It is important to note that the Anti-Defamation League (a group that combats anti-semitism) have essentially agreed with Smith's "clarified" statement.

Yes, that's why I posted it: to provide an authoritative refutation of the other article's interpretation of his statement.