How Does the Left Know Hitler Was Bad??

[Bonnie]

One could also argue that neither pure evil nor absolute good can dwell in a normal human being. How many people can you honestly describe as being pure evil, or absolutely good?

True
however we're not talking about people but rather actions.

 

[Bonnie]

Andy I see the point you are making, but I never said there was only black and white, I said in my opinion, there is both black and white and shades of gray.

I believe in some universal truths, and many things in between. Yes certain actions are subject interpretation, but there are a few that are just what they are.

 

[CivilLiberty]

Andy I see the point you are making, but I never said there was only black and white, I said in my opinion, there is both black and white and shades of gray.

Bonnie, you seem to have left out the "shades of gray" bit in your earlier posts.


All I'm saying is that their is an infinite range from black to white.

A

 

[Annie]

Stalin's "cleansing" was based on RACE/ethnicity, or politics, just like Hitler.

A

Mmm there were a lot of political killings, like his military leaders and political opposition, not to mention his 'friends' that he became paranoid about.

 

[CivilLiberty]

Mmm there were a lot of political killings, like his military leaders and political opposition, not to mention his 'friends' that he became paranoid about.

Yes, which was the part of my sentence that read "or politics".

About 1 million politicals killed.

Somewhere between 9 million and 19 million killed on race or ethnicity grounds, depending on how you look at it.


A

 

[Annie]

DUDE. I'm not left, and I am not defending the left, nor their "moral compass" or lack thereof.

The point I was making is defining *why* Hitler is so often used instead of *other* dictators and mass murderers.

Among other things, as a writer, you want to make analogies to things that are already collectively understood. Hitler/Nazi are so well understood, it's a very easy, and "politically correct" target. Pol Pot's reign is NOT well understood. In fact, if you mention Pol Pot, most people will assume you're talking about some kind of asian cooking pan, like a WOK.



A

I thought that was what I ordered for dinner last Friday! j/k

 

[deaddude]

True
however we're not talking about people but rather actions.

Very well let us take into acount actions, can you give me an action that is purely good? purely evil?

(Please make these the actions of normal human beings, I do not wish to attempt this with the actions of Jesus)

 

[Annie]

Or you could say academia is terrified of actually making a judgement as to right or wrong. After all to most of them nothing is black and white.

Look at how ancient civilizations are presented by academia. The Aztecs rituals of human sacrifice are touted by most archaelogists with bated breath as something historic and a fascinating part of Aztec Culture.......Not once have I heard them say or write how barbaric they were.

Well if they didn't give up the sacrificial virgins all hell would break loose. What were they supposed to do? Really, we have to look at all at their point in time. My problem is with the left at this point in time...

 

[Bonnie]

Bonnie, you seem to have left out the "shades of gray" bit in your earlier posts.


Originally Posted by Bonnie
Beg to differ on that point. There is clearly black and white just as there are shades of gray, it really only depends opon ones vantage point.

 

[Bonnie]

Well if they didn't give up the sacrificial virgins all hell would break loose. What were they supposed to do? Really, we have to look at all at their point in time. My problem is with the left at this point in time...

Well there would be that vantage point, don't want to piss off Rah!!! :dev1:

 

[deaddude]

Very well take the point and time. There is a story in the Bible (I can't remember the names at present, you will probably recognize it) where a father is willing to kill his son in a sacrifice to God, this sign of devotion is praised by many Christians. Why look down on the Aztecs just because their gods demanded actual sacrifice rather than just the willingness to commit it?

It was a religious. It was there morality, for all you can prove the Aztecs might have been right. For all of your talk of moral absolutes, you can’t name those absolutes, nor can you provide proof that they exist. Grant it I cannot prove that they don’t. That is what makes it faith. You have faith in your God; the Aztecs had faith in theirs.

 

[Bonnie]

Very well let us take into acount actions, can you give me an action that is purely good? purely evil?

(Please make these the actions of normal human beings, I do not wish to attempt this with the actions of Jesus)

Serial killers....that kill for the pure fun of it, Im not referring to killing in self defense........Very big difference, one is absolutely Black the other a shade of very light gray, or maybe even white.

 

[deaddude]

And an action that was totally good?

 

[Annie]

Yes, which was the part of my sentence that read "or politics".

About 1 million politicals killed.

Somewhere between 9 million and 19 million killed on race or ethnicity grounds, depending on how you look at it.


A

Cool. I must admit to becoming scared that I'm agreeing with you too often. Geez my old ACLU days are coming back!

 

[Bonnie]

And an action that was totally good?

Saving someones life at the risk of your own. Pure goodness.
Also regarding the Aztecs, sure in their minds what they were doing made sense or was justified, what I was actually saying was academics today refuse to make a judgement on that action now, knowing now, that it is wrong.
That was my only point. History is littered with barbarus acts that maybe made sense at the time to whomever, but now living in the age of so called enlightenment and being civilized we are obligated to make judgements as to what was right and what was wrong. Historians for the most part seem unwilling to do so, and we were speculating as to why that is.

 

[deaddude]

And the person you save goes on to become a serial killer, does that taint your action?

And again regarding the Aztecs, yes looking back their actions seem repugnant, but you never know Aztec could end up being the one true faith.

 

[Bonnie]

And the person you save goes on to become a serial killer, does that taint your action?

No because my intent was pure in simply saving a life. If the serial killer kills then that's on him/her and again we come rocketing back to black.

I don't believe in judging people only actions.

 

[Bonnie]

And the person you save goes on to become a serial killer, does that taint your action?

And again regarding the Aztecs, yes looking back their actions seem repugnant, but you never know Aztec could end up being the one true faith.

We may already be there when you look at terrorists who kill for so called religion. Islam has many followers, much more than Christians.

 

[deaddude]

No because my intent was pure in simply saving a life. If the serial killer kills then that's on him/her and again we come rocketing back to black.

I don't believe in judging people only actions.

Very well, then let us reverse it, let us take a serial killer, kills a whole lot of people. In his/her deluded world s/he whole heartedly believes is killing incarnations of the antichrist in order to prevent the apocalypse. Pure of intent? Yep. But is it pure in action?

 

[CivilLiberty]

Saving someones life at the risk of your own. Pure goodness.

Unless you were doing it because you were hoping to be a hero, or because the person you were saving was personally important to you.

In which case, still very very good, but not "pure" white....

And this is assuming that we set "White" as "pure altruism".

This is assuming that pure altruism is the opposite of pure evil.

But white, or black, could have meanings other than altruism and evil.

A