March 19 2010, 09:17:01 #1604 [Y/N 0 Agree] [Y/N 0 S] [Y/N 0 T] [@]
Do you think nazi soldiers really hated jews, or were they just blindly obeying authority? It seems that human nature allows us to do some pretty terrible things when we're "just following orders".
Replies: 14
March 19 2010, 15:39:59 #1610 [Y/N -1 Agree] [Y/N 1 S] [Y/N -1 T] [@]
Well, there's a difference between the Nazi soldiers and the German army. The Nazis probably did either hate the Jews or saw their demise as necessary to further their cause. The German army, for the most part, wasn't aware of everything that was going on with the Jews. I have heard this from my grandfather, who was in the US army in the war, and who had cousins who fought in the German army. In fact, his cousins who fought still draw pensions from the German army. They had nothing to do with the Jews. I have also read this in the accounts of a panzer commander who fought with Rommel. They followed orders in terms of conducting war, but didn't deal with the concentration camps.
tl;dr - German army != Nazis, probably didn't know extent of Jewish extermination. Nazis may have hated Jews, who knows.
March 19 2010, 21:43:19 #1612 [Y/N 0 Agree] [Y/N 1 S] [Y/N 0 T] [@]
@1610 Insightful post is insightful.
March 21 2010, 03:07:26 #1626 [Y/N 0 Agree] [Y/N 0 S] [Y/N 0 T] [@]
I very much agree with that post, people like to blanket "the bad guys" and not look into the details, such as -THEY WERE SOILDERS- it was their JOB to do what they were told, not actually agree with what they did.
March 21 2010, 20:24:42 #1628 [Y/N 0 Agree] [Y/N 0 S] [Y/N 0 T] [@]
@1626 The question then is, does that excuse them from the acts of their government?
As a more modern example, should soldiers in Iraq be held responsible for the morality of the war in which they fight?
March 21 2010, 21:08:56 #1629 [Y/N 0 Agree] [Y/N 0 S] [Y/N 0 T] [@]
@1628
One should always know what causes they're involved with; if you know you're helping cause injustice, you need to stop.
If you're just hiding behind the excuse of "it's my job", then you're intentionally causing yourself to be ignorant and hiding from any negative side-effects of your work. It's a pretty important thing to ignore in my opinion.
March 22 2010, 03:10:38 #1633 [Y/N 0 Agree] [Y/N 0 S] [Y/N 0 T] [@]
agreed, but by the same token they don't always have a choice, (back to WWII) german soldiers didn't really have a choice as to weather or not they could stop what they did.
Modern times are no different, lets say your boss came to work with a full mink coat, and you are entirlly morally against this kind of thing, wuold you quit your job because what your boss did is wrong?
Most likely not, as you need to eat and pay bills. This may seem like a fucked up comparasin, but really its not, the only difference is weather or not you PERSONNALLY are involved with the injustice.
tl;dr they should be aware of what they do, but that does not equal being able to do shit about it.
March 22 2010, 17:40:36 #1639 [Y/N 0 Agree] [Y/N 0 S] [Y/N 0 T] [@]
It's not even whether or not it was just doing the job. The majority of soldiers didn't know what was going on. I's like you boss owns a mink coat. You have never seen this coat and have no knowledge of it. Should you quit your job?
March 23 2010, 03:05:06 #1640 [Y/N 0 Agree] [Y/N 0 S] [Y/N 0 T] [@]
good point, and also largely true, though there was a large number of soilders in WWII then knew what was happening (obviously not the rank and file grunts) and did nothing. That is why I made the point about not nessessarily having a choice.
March 23 2010, 14:22:35 #1645 [Y/N 4 Agree] [Y/N 0 S] [Y/N 0 T] [@]
No, I'd buy my own, better mink coat.
March 23 2010, 14:42:05 #1646 [Y/N 1 Agree] [Y/N 0 S] [Y/N 0 T] [@]
@1645 This is pretty legitimately the best idea presented in the whole thread.
March 25 2010, 08:40:57 #1667 [Y/N 0 Agree] [Y/N 0 S] [Y/N 1 T] [@]
although I think that is an awesome answer 1645, it was just an example :p
March 27 2010, 11:45:19 #1677 [Y/N 0 Agree] [Y/N 0 S] [Y/N 0 T] [@]
so then in the context of this analogy, you would do some thing like this: Hitler kills thousands of jews.
You kill thousands and one jews, and then scalp them, you know making a better massacre.