I am a very very lazy person. I like to pride myself on being in the running with Lebowski. And to me hate takes way way to much energy. Having even the simple idea of killing has to take some effort. Kind of seems like he just set out on a life not worth living IMO
Respectfully, do some reading of even middleschool level history books. He didn’t personally decide to “be mean” to particular groups. His worldview was shaped by the post WWI dynamics in Europe, latent stereotypes and domestic problems within Germany, and a whole lot of misapplied emerging science. He literally believed in racial supremecy and was trying to build an ethnostate. This motivated him to define groups of ethnic “undesirables” and also to lump in other groups that he found politically inconvenient. Read about the scapegoating of Jews circa that time. He likely believed his cruelty towards them was somehow justified because he laid all of Germany’s problems (economic issues, humiliation of the country and loss of territory post-WWI) at their feet.
TL; DR - Bad actors believe their evil behavior is justified.
The way i understood it was that at the time Jews did own a lot of wealth, much more than other people, and saw themselves as some kind of “better” or “elite” class. Many people did not like that, and that is the major reason why it was so easy for Hitler to find a lot of people to follow him.
No dude, please don’t spread the neo-nazi’s myths for them.
Your comment reeks of “they were snobby elites and are therefore partially at fault for their own persecution.”
Even if I accepted the first statement as true, your insinuation that jews in Weimar believed themselves to be of a superior class after they have already been the subject of discrimination for centuries is ridiculous. On top of that, your final statement that this is “the main reason” for the rise in antisemitism in the third reich is frankly disgusting.
I’m not spreading anyone’s propaganda, if that’s what you’re saying.
I never said they were at fault for their own prosecution. That would be stupid to think.
I don’t actually know, and maybe the Jews were the good guys and unfairly used as a scapegoat for the problems at the time, or maybe not, i was not there, i have no way to tell. I only mentioned that they did own a lot of wealth, which I think can be objectively verified. That does not make them in any way inferior people though, not at all. I am not one of the “eat the rich” people that despises people simply because they are rich. Not at all. In fact, i highly admire jewish culture. I was merely trying to lay out an explanation. There can be no discussion when there is no hypothesis. No need to react so butthurt. Now, cheers!
Not exactly (from my reading). The Jewish communities tended to be fairly insular, and focused a lot of their business inward. They still dealt with outsiders, but money flow tended to move mostly in one direction, so it seemed like the Jewish people were much better off and “taking” from the rest, when the rest of the country struggled. It was really more that a marginalized community took care of their own. Shocking, right?
Plenty of other communities do the same. It’s still a bunch of scapegoating.
Why was Hitler so mean?
- Rough childhood driving him to resort to narcissism to escape depression.
- Narcissism driving him to blame others for all problems.
- Methamphetamine kicking the regular madness to the next level.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler#Early_years
[At the age of 6,] onset of intense father-son conflicts caused by Adolph’s refusal to conform to the strict discipline of his school. Alois tried to browbeat his son into obedience, while Adolf did his best to be the opposite of whatever his father wanted. Alois would also beat his son, although his mother tried to protect him from regular beatings.
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-there-evil-in-people/answer/Harri-K-Hiltunen
… the infantile narcissism will be preserved as a kind of psychological fortress to protect the child against the vicissitudes of its intolerable life. Thus children may become evil in order to defend themselves against the onslaughts of parents who are evil.
… the longer we continue to make the wrong decisions, the more our heart hardens. … with each step along the wrong road it becomes increasingly difficult for them to admit that they are on the wrong road
… When they are in conflict with the world they will invariably perceive the conflict as the world’s fault.
… As life often threatens their self-image of perfection, they are often busily engaged in hating and destroying that life—usually in the name of righteousness.
… it is out of their failure to put themselves on trial that their evil arises. … We become evil by attempting to hide from ourselves. Evil originates not in the absence of guilt but in the effort to escape it.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism#Normal_and_healthy_levels_of_narcissism
… a moderate level of narcissism is supportive of good psychological health. Self-esteem works as a mediator between narcissism and psychological health. Elevated self-esteem, in moderation, supports resilience and ambition, but excessive self-focus can distort social relationships.
Destructive levels of narcissism … feelings of entitlement and superiority, arrogant or haughty behaviors, and a generalized lack of empathy and concern for others.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder#Subtypes
… Grandiose/overt: the group exhibits grandiosity, entitlement, interpersonal exploitativeness and manipulation, pursuit of power and control, lack of empathy and remorse, and marked irritability and hostility.
Morell’s notes reveal that he put Hitler on a regimen of Vitamultin – a preparation containing glucose, vitamins, and sometimes the methamphetamine Pervitin – and prescribed dietary restrictions, bloodletting, leeching, enemas, and the morphine derivative Eukodal to relieve the GI symptoms. Sedatives (for sleep) and testosterone (for sexual potency) were also among the considerable number of drugs (over 40 different kinds) Hitler took over the course of his adult life.
Does methamphetamine use increase violent behaviour? Evidence from a prospective longitudinal study
Conclusions: There is a dose-related increase in violent behaviour during periods of methamphetamine use that is largely independent of the violence risk associated with psychotic symptoms.
There’s probably as many theories as there are people.
My own is that cognitive dissonance is a powerful force, especially for a narcissist. Hitler spent 4 of the best years of his life is the pure misery of the trenches of WWI, and even worse - running between the trenches to deliver messages. He was gassed so badly it put him in the hospital for the final month of the war. Hitler was probably also deluded about Germany’s failing position in the war, probably kept in the dark by German propaganda and made quite gullible by his fierce patriotism. So when Germany surrendered, that must have actually both shocking and enraging for him. And we know that because he frequently attacked the treaty of Versailles.
The “stab in the back” myth is the idea that Germany’s surrender was corruptly carried out by politicians, and due to common antisemitism across Germany and Europe generally it soon focused on Jews. In reality there was virtually no Jewish people significantly involved with the surrender and events leading up to it, but that didn’t matter because as is often the case today, emotional truth is more important than reality. Given that Hitler couldn’t possibly bring himself to believe that he incurred tremendous pain and suffering by voluntarily and stupidly buying into an imperialistic war that was doomed to failure from the start, the stab in the back myth would’ve been extremely appealing to him. He wanted to believe it, so he did.
So when he happened to be assigned to monitor the DAP - the predecessor to the Nazi Party - he was ready to wholeheartedly accept their antisemitic ideas. Even though he seemed to get along with Jewish officers during the war, by a year after the war he was already talking about “removing” the Jews.
Hitler’s antisemitism was shaped by the widespread anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe, particularly in Vienna, where he lived as a young man. He capitalized on these prejudices, blaming Jews for Germany’s defeat in World War I, economic hardships, and other societal issues. By using Jews and other minorities as scapegoats, he was able to unite and mobilize his followers.
In Mein Kampf, Hitler described history as a racial struggle, promoting the idea of Aryan superiority while portraying Jews, Slavs, Roma, disabled individuals, and others as threats to his vision of a “pure” German society. His ideology was influenced by pseudoscientific racism and eugenics, which he used to justify policies of persecution and genocide.
Nazi propaganda reinforced and amplified these ideas, systematically dehumanizing targeted groups. This allowed for widespread discrimination, persecution, and ultimately, the Holocaust. Hitler’s actions were not impulsive; they were deeply rooted in his ideology and strategically used to gain and maintain power.
