Slavery and the Holocaust
Was the Holocaust worse than slavery in the U.S. and the American colonies? If so, why and how much so? Even if the answer to the first question is 'yes', does the Holocaust reflect more badly on the German national character than slavery does on our national character?
And, incidentally, what about the mass murder of the American Indians?
These are serious questions I've long wondered about. I wonder in part because I often find myself thinking Jeez, there's just something not quite right about those Germans. However I rarely find myself thinking that about Americans. (Well, I do think there's something not quite right about us. God, who doesn't? But that's not for the reasons at issue here.)
Was the Holocaust worse than slavery in the U.S. and the American colonies? If so, why and how much so? Even if the answer to the first question is 'yes', does the Holocaust reflect more badly on the German national character than slavery does on our national character?
And, incidentally, what about the mass murder of the American Indians?
These are serious questions I've long wondered about. I wonder in part because I often find myself thinking Jeez, there's just something not quite right about those Germans. However I rarely find myself thinking that about Americans. (Well, I do think there's something not quite right about us. God, who doesn't? But that's not for the reasons at issue here.)
posted by Winston Smith at
11:54 AM
9 Comments:
Hitler's Willing Executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust is certainly a warning about the heart of darkness thing.
I tend to see America as the world in microcosm: as the country got and gets more diverse, the peculiarities of national character and nativism, IMO, are diluted.
The monolithic, white male slaveowning, autocratic character of the nation at its birth has been altered by waves of immigration and by women's sufferage and the civil rights movement.
I'm pretty much a minority of one around here that sees America as "the last best hope of earth" and not the root of all its evil, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
Mmmm...ranking atrocities...always a controversial (but fun) activities. I think that all three events reached the pinnacle of human evil: denying the basic humanity of other people. The Holocaust gets points for its attempt to annihilate an entire people. Slavery gets points for both the length of time involved and, especially, for the degree of acceptance of the institution in American society. While the German people were clearly aware that the Jews faced horrible persecution, the extent of the holocaust was largely hidden from the Germans by the Nazis themselves. Now, that is not an absolution of Germany, but it is important when you compare that situation to the utter ubiquity of slavery and its unprecedented social sanction. Pretty much every white person in the United States was aware of what slavery meant, and the vast majority supported it. Same goes for the genocide of the Indians: universally known and near-universally accepted. So, if the question is one of "which crime reflects worse upon the nation that committed it," I've got to go with slavery and Indian genocide.
tvd--
Until about three years ago, I still did believe we were humanity's last, best hope. It's been gut-wrenching to have that believe mostly ripped from me.
Matthew--
Your thoughts mirror my own almost exactly.
Yes, I know, WS. It is my opinion that the Kososphere is hazardous to one's mental health.
I don't even mean that to be snarky. But all depression, all the time would affect anyone.
This nation has had far darker days, and we survived.
There you do, Winston, just unplug your internet connection, get all your information from the Fox News Channel, down a bottle of Zoloft, and America will start looking good again.
If that doesn't take, don't rule out a total frontal lobotomy.
Well done. Certainly superior to "I know you are but what am I?"
Now boys...
He started it!
nyuck nyuck
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home