++> Inspired by Frank Masingill comments on Vicarious murder
 
 FM> Those who may harbor some disbelief that anybody on a philosophy
 FM> echo, of all places, could resort to substituting direct calling
 FM> of nasty names for reasoned argument might want to ponder the
 FM> information presented in a recently published book written by
 FM> Daniel Jonah Goldhagen entitled _Hitler's Willing Executioners,
 FM> Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust_.
 
     It does not require the substituting of nasty names for
     reasoned dialogue, nor does seasoned argument erase the ugly.
     Many of the worst Nazis could discuss philosophy and the
     arts, loved their children and did pet their dogs AND***
     could reason most clearly and effectively along what we might
     call "evil ends". Goodness and human extermination might be
     just the before lunch and the after lunch agendas. It is
     too too easy to describe evil in ways that serve it. It is
     not easy to suppress it or even consistently understand it.
     The dark corners of the human mind are with us always and
     hard to comprehend, save for whatever evolution sees them
     of value. It would be truly wonderful if we could sort out
     what we could clearly define as evil and find a way to
     neutralize it. Seemingly!!! philosophy has not been able to
     achieve much in the past 2500 years .....but then things
     might have been worse without it?
 
 FM> This was in no sense a condemnation of the German people as being
 FM> more evil than the rest of mankind but a warning of what can happen
 FM> to ANY nation when those who REALLY WISH TO COMMIT MURDER fall under
 FM> the rule of ideologues who utilize these dark dreams to portray
 FM> murder and torture as normal measures to take against those who do
 FM> disagree with them.
 
   More evil ....less evil ...not a simple area of exploration.
 
   I believe we are essentially a killer species and one way or the
   other, will find a way to feed that hunger when it comes upon us.
   Though we also need to find a good reason, we revel in the actual
   act *OR* in association with it (massive TV audience to share
   "vicariously" in the Iraqi extravaganza).  John Wayne could have
   come up with the same intense grimaces (which everyone *LOVED*
   including me) whether he was killing Indians, Japs, Arabs or even
   Aztecs. It is only necessary to define an enemy (even casually)
   and it all becomes a game, albeit a complex one! If we began throwing
   some unpopular group into a "Romanish" arena, with tigers or more
   likely audience participation laser guns, it would today likely score
   enormous TV audiences with actual seat tickets all bought up, and
   sell lots of tooth paste and tennis shoes!
 
   Our species' half hidden hunger for the dark star remains in our
   evolutionary sequence, a leftover from past, the means to a present
   end, or for some as yet unannounced destiny. History has shown that
   the essential question of man's ugly side has NOT yet been asked in
   constructive terms.
 
 > "Metastatic faith is one of the great sources of disorder, if not the
 > principal one, in the contemporary world; and it is a matter of life
 > and death for all of us to understand the phenomenon and to find
 > remedies against it before it destroys us.  If today the state of
 > science permits the critical analysis of such phenomena, it is
 > clearly a scholar's duty to undertake it for his own sake as a
 > man and to make the results accessible to his fellow > men...."
 
 > "Ideology is existence in rebellion against God and man...."
 
    I think it all sounds like more than it says! ......but I'm
    still thinking on it. "Ideology" is a factor of everyday life,
    up and through to nationhood and religion. In a relative world,
    it plays its roles .....stronger or weaker, sometimes good
    and sometimes bad.
 
 FM> From Eric Voegelin's Preface to his _Order and History_,
 FM> publishing of which began in 1956.
 
   Calls to chaos or ideologies are perhaps natural weeds waiting
   and wanting also to be fine specimens in a garden. Much of my
   world is quick in the spring to rid their lawns of Dandelions
   yet do I find them quite beautiful as flowers and a real wonder
   when they make their incredible spheres of seed.
 
   NOTE: What I'm saying does *NOT* mean I approve of inhumanity or
   the tools and goads that bring it on, just that we as a species
   have our warts that may not all be on "the other bad guy". Also
   we must consider the possibilities that other forces and agendas
   are active in our choices, individual and collective.
 
   I believe our steps through history are rare effected serious by
   philosophers. If anything, like the Bible,  we can always find
   some quote (or bend one) to justify almost anything.
 
   I believe it likely that the "Hitler factor" upon History could
   NOT have been prevented and was actually helped some tiny amount by
   massaging the words of some few selected philosophers. And *neither*
   of us would be surprized if another "Hitler factor were to emerge!
   Probably all boils down to evolutionary chemistry, magnetic fields
   and bent philosophies ......and too much testosterone!!!???
 
                                                  ^% ?
          The future  may not  have been       __/0o;"\__ Dave
          designed to be compatible with          _>'\_
          human plans ...but then we may
          change all that .............?
 
   P.S. Over Christmas I saw my grand children expertly video blasting
        alien armies, and monsters .........much as I played as a kid
        with a cap pistol, blasting Indians, Japs and Germans and BAD
        guys.   We can hold it away some, but the urge is part of us-
        (Sorry, ....most of us!)
--- Maximus/2 3.01
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