The Hitler Example (America, Jewish)

[Tau]

Originally Posted by Popeyesays

.


Why did Hitler exist? Because his mother and father had sex and won the zygote lottery--that's the biggest crapshoot in all existence..Hitler's actions were all his responsibility. My actions are all my responsibility. Heck my inactions are my responsibility.

Most religious people will tell you that the cap;acity to choose includes the capacity to do evil.

Regards,
Scott

A reductionist answer if ever there was one!

But there are many Hitlers, like spores in the ground, waiting for s**t and darkness...

'The price of democracy is eternal vigilance'

[Popeyesays]

Originally Posted by Tau

A reductionist answer if ever there was one!

But there are many Hitlers, like spores in the ground, waiting for s**t and darkness...

'The price of democracy is eternal vigilance'

Each of us is responsible for his own choices and subject to judgment for those decisions. In that judgment we will fall somewhere on the spectrum between the Dali Lama and Adolf Hitler.

That's the nature of life.

Regards,
Scott

[Tau]

Originally Posted by Popeyesays

Each of us is responsible for his own choices and subject to judgment for those decisions. In that judgment we will fall somewhere on the spectrum between the Dali Lama and Adolf Hitler.

That's the nature of life.

Regards,
Scott

We are responsible for our own choices, be they of action or inaction...

[Popeyesays]

Originally Posted by Tau

We are responsible for our own choices, be they of action or inaction...

The Christian church has long differentiated between sins of commission and sins of ommission. I used to get that from my Grandmother who was Ulster Irish.

Regards,
Scott

[Tau]

Originally Posted by Popeyesays

The Christian church has long differentiated between sins of commission and sins of ommission. I used to get that from my Grandmother who was Ulster Irish.

Regards,
Scott

I don't believe in sin, only in the principle of karma and group as well as personal responsibilty.
We must honour the social contract that is fundamental to our species, it has raised us from the animals but we are not angels yet, still not ready to join the others in heaven.

Thats what my signature represents, 'For the Greater Good' holistic order for the benefit of all.

I don't necessarily believe in or adhere to the idea of one world governments or any particular political doctrine...just whatever is necessary to elevate man further, collectively.

My parents are devout Christians and I am proud of them and the sound principles they hold echo my concepts of the Greater Good, yet I like someone else said on this forum are a 'nit picker' I see part of the answer in the teachings of Jesus or Emmanuel the Nazarene and other parts of it in Richard Dawkins publications, not that I am equating Prof R Dawkins, theist antagoniser extraordinaire to Our Lord..

Its why I go on this site, havin' a butcher's*

(Butcher's hook = look)*

[Seyorni]

Hitler was a perfectly ordinary person. That's what's so disturbing. No-one would have any trouble finding people of exactly his psychological type at any bus station.

With rare exceptions, all the Nazis were perfectly normal people -- just like you or me; ordinary people who found themselves in circumstances in which their normal psychological programming -- their ability to compartmentalize, dehumanize and abdicate responsibility -- allowed them to commit the most horrendous crimes with clear consciences.
In the same circumstances, most of us would behave exactly as they did.
What struck people as remarkable at the Nuremburg trials was the very banality and ordinariness of the defendants.

This is why I consider the experiments of Milgram and Zimbardo so vitally important. Unless we recognize the normal, human psychological quirks that predispose us to outrageous behavior in certain circumstances, we're unlikely to be able to counter them.

[stephenw]

Originally Posted by Seyorni

Hitler was a perfectly ordinary person. That's what's so disturbing. No-one would have any trouble finding people of exactly his psychological type at any bus station.

With rare exceptions, all the Nazis were perfectly normal people -- just like you or me; ordinary people who found themselves in circumstances in which their normal psychological programming -- their ability to compartmentalize, dehumanize and abdicate responsibility -- allowed them to commit the most horrendous crimes with clear consciences.
In the same circumstances, most of us would behave exactly as they did.
What struck people as remarkable at the Nuremburg trials was the very banality and ordinariness of the defendants.

This is why I consider the experiments of Milgram and Zimbardo so vitally important. Unless we recognize the normal, human psychological quirks that predispose us to outrageous behavior in certain circumstances, we're unlikely to be able to counter them.

That is the most sensible thing that I have heard anyone say in a long time.

[logician]

Originally Posted by Seyorni

Hitler was a perfectly ordinary person. That's what's so disturbing. No-one would have any trouble finding people of exactly his psychological type at any bus station.

With rare exceptions, all the Nazis were perfectly normal people -- just like you or me; ordinary people who found themselves in circumstances in which their normal psychological programming -- their ability to compartmentalize, dehumanize and abdicate responsibility -- allowed them to commit the most horrendous crimes with clear consciences.
In the same circumstances, most of us would behave exactly as they did.
What struck people as remarkable at the Nuremburg trials was the very banality and ordinariness of the defendants.

This is why I consider the experiments of Milgram and Zimbardo so vitally important. Unless we recognize the normal, human psychological quirks that predispose us to outrageous behavior in certain circumstances, we're unlikely to be able to counter them.

And points out that "normal" people can be extraordinarily mean and nasty, even on a massive scale, and do it in the name of religion, or any other rationalization you want to pick.

[Popeyesays]

Originally Posted by Seyorni

Hitler was a perfectly ordinary person. That's what's so disturbing. No-one would have any trouble finding people of exactly his psychological type at any bus station.

With rare exceptions, all the Nazis were perfectly normal people -- just like you or me; ordinary people who found themselves in circumstances in which their normal psychological programming -- their ability to compartmentalize, dehumanize and abdicate responsibility -- allowed them to commit the most horrendous crimes with clear consciences.
In the same circumstances, most of us would behave exactly as they did.
What struck people as remarkable at the Nuremburg trials was the very banality and ordinariness of the defendants.

This is why I consider the experiments of Milgram and Zimbardo so vitally important. Unless we recognize the normal, human psychological quirks that predispose us to outrageous behavior in certain circumstances, we're unlikely to be able to counter them.

Any person who looked at Goebbles or Himmler would have thought them utterly mnudane, boring . . . .

"He seemed nice enough, ketp to himself, minded his own business . . . . ."

Regards,
Scott

[mball1297]

I think it all has to do with the ability to compartmentalize. I am an animal lover, but my last job was in pest control. I had no problem killing bugs and things, but I had problems the very few times I had to "take care of" a live mouse. Some people have no problem separating their pets from other animals and treating them differently, others can't compartmentalize like that.

For instance, I hate to beat this to death, but people who hate homosexuals put them into a different compartment from other "normal" people, which allows them to treat them differently without considering themselves bad people. Most of us do this to a certain degree, some more than others.