I am a very very lazy person. I like to pride myself on being in the running with Lebowski. And to me hate takes way way to much energy. Having even the simple idea of killing has to take some effort. Kind of seems like he just set out on a life not worth living IMO
Ingrained racist beliefs, as well as a pragmatic ‘those are a group that can’t fight back if pushed against. I will blame them because I want the majority on my side.’
However one cannot overstate the role cultural antisemitism played. Hitler didn’t ‘one day wake up.’ Europe has had a long history of hating the jewish people. Scapegoating and Persicuting them. Blood liable for example was an accusation that popped up from time to time. Kidnapping people to mix their blood with matzah bread. Complete bunk, but the jewish people are a stateless people who do not share local traditions and norms nor do they worship at the same place. Plus they often found work doing the things that people either couldn’t or wouldn’t do, which lead to oft conspiricies of jewish money lenders puppeting from the background.
That is the sort of enviroment young Adolf grew up in. Same as how people in the modern US are essentially being taught to think of disadvantaged blacks and mexicans as a existenital threat sucking wealth away from them.
A lot of Hitler’s ideas about Jews came directly from Henry Ford
IIRC during the third Crusade, the Christians slaughtered 60,000 Jewish people before they even got out of Germany. The beef goes way back.
Some people will say the origin is Christ’s death. But even reading that story it’s clear that Europeans and Israelites weren’t on good terms then either.
It’s hard to find a “cause” for a belief that isn’t rational.
Pogroms were common throughout Europe for hundreds of years. Because Christians were forbidden from lending money at interest Jews were the ones doing the banking.
When a ruler got too far into debt they’d incite some religious hatred and miraculously be out of debt, because their creditors were dead or missing.
There’s probably as many theories as there are people.
My own is that cognitive dissonance is a powerful force, especially for a narcissist. Hitler spent 4 of the best years of his life is the pure misery of the trenches of WWI, and even worse - running between the trenches to deliver messages. He was gassed so badly it put him in the hospital for the final month of the war. Hitler was probably also deluded about Germany’s failing position in the war, probably kept in the dark by German propaganda and made quite gullible by his fierce patriotism. So when Germany surrendered, that must have actually both shocking and enraging for him. And we know that because he frequently attacked the treaty of Versailles.
The “stab in the back” myth is the idea that Germany’s surrender was corruptly carried out by politicians, and due to common antisemitism across Germany and Europe generally it soon focused on Jews. In reality there was virtually no Jewish people significantly involved with the surrender and events leading up to it, but that didn’t matter because as is often the case today, emotional truth is more important than reality. Given that Hitler couldn’t possibly bring himself to believe that he incurred tremendous pain and suffering by voluntarily and stupidly buying into an imperialistic war that was doomed to failure from the start, the stab in the back myth would’ve been extremely appealing to him. He wanted to believe it, so he did.
So when he happened to be assigned to monitor the DAP - the predecessor to the Nazi Party - he was ready to wholeheartedly accept their antisemitic ideas. Even though he seemed to get along with Jewish officers during the war, by a year after the war he was already talking about “removing” the Jews.
Scapegoating minorities was a tool for him to use to get into power, given that most people in Germany distrusted Jewish people at the time and coming off of the great war with massive dept and a broken country, someone would’ve taken advantage of the situation.
When a child first hears an adult express a racist attitude they are confused and don’t know what to think. They may not even understand who is in the group being maligned or even have a concept of groups. And even if they do, they may think “huh? I didn’t realize they were all bad.” But like a lot of things you hear as a kid, it just kind of sinks in.
And that seed has been planted. From there, confirmation bias does the rest. Anytime that growing person sees a member of that other group doing something wrong, they notice it and think “hey that’s what Dad was talking about.” Any such missteps from a member of that group get assigned to the whole group. Of course, people not in that group are judged as individuals. Classic in-group / out-group thinking, which is universal.
By the time the person is grown up enough to think properly, they may have accumulated lots of these moments of confirmation bias. By then it’s likely that they start assigning blame to this group by default. Litter on the ground? Probably one of them. Something got stolen? Probably one of them. And of course if race relations are inflamed in general there may be plenty of active fuel for the fire. A gang of “them” beat up one of “us.” Now it’s basically war, and the person we’re talking about didn’t have to do anything or be a direct victim of anything. It’s all just socially transmitted and then reinforced through observation with cognitive bias. Incidentally, this is why we should never stop talking about racism openly, because that’s the only way to interrupt this process going on in the back of peoples minds. Yeah, sorry, Morgan Freeman.
I am with you as a fellow lazy person who can’t spare the energy. But I can see how easily others slip into it. Hitler of course used it to galvanize people and turn that in-group / out-group energy into a political force.
Wish I could upvote this more than once
Approaching this cynically, all right-wing politicians blame groups as others as being the cause of their country’s societal ills. That’s just how it works.
Jewish people were just one of the targeted groups, along with LGBT people, disabled people, and communists.
One universal truth throughout history is that it’s hard to unite people behind a common goal, but it’s easy to unite people against a common enemy.
Listen to any right wing politicians from around the world - their plans for making things better all start with getting rid of someone (be it a group of people or a governmental department).
I recall he blamed the original surrender of Germany in WW1 on the Jewish people because the main signatory was Gustav Bauer, the chancellor of Germany who was Jewish.
Gustav Bauer had no religious affiliation and in any case he did not sign the Treaty of Versailles. It was signed for Germany by Matthias Erzberger, who was also not Jewish. But, those sorts of facts tended to make little difference to the German far right of that time which basically branded everyone they didn’t like as Jews.
Bauer was Chancellor for Germany at the time and I recall Hitler attributing him to be Jewish. I think he made explicit reference to this in Mien Kampf but I cannot be sure as I have never read it. I’m not saying he was or that Hitler was right, it’s just that he blamed the Jews for German defeat and troubles as a result of the treaty of Versailles.
I think nobody mentioned this simple fact: the guy was pretty much mad
woke up one day and said
LOL No. He built this up his whole life. Even wrote a detailed book about his ideas and plans 20 years or so in advance.
Dont forget about the insane shit the Japanese did too. This dives into the reasons they did Mark Felton documentary: WW2 Japanese Military Brutality
Did nobody mention Nietzsche? Nazi worldview was largely inspired by twisting out cherry picking concepts from his works. The criticism of Christian religions idealizing the meek and looking back towards ancient Rome and Greece for strong, powerful, heroic characters and gods. The ideas of existence of superior and inferior humans. Etc.
The eternal enemy of Dudes and Dudeism everywhere: Nihilists and Nihilism.
Why was Hitler so mean?
- Rough childhood driving him to resort to narcissism to escape depression.
- Narcissism driving him to blame others for all problems.
- Methamphetamine kicking the regular madness to the next level.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Hitler#Early_years
[At the age of 6,] onset of intense father-son conflicts caused by Adolph’s refusal to conform to the strict discipline of his school. Alois tried to browbeat his son into obedience, while Adolf did his best to be the opposite of whatever his father wanted. Alois would also beat his son, although his mother tried to protect him from regular beatings.
https://www.quora.com/Why-is-there-evil-in-people/answer/Harri-K-Hiltunen
… the infantile narcissism will be preserved as a kind of psychological fortress to protect the child against the vicissitudes of its intolerable life. Thus children may become evil in order to defend themselves against the onslaughts of parents who are evil.
… the longer we continue to make the wrong decisions, the more our heart hardens. … with each step along the wrong road it becomes increasingly difficult for them to admit that they are on the wrong road
… When they are in conflict with the world they will invariably perceive the conflict as the world’s fault.
… As life often threatens their self-image of perfection, they are often busily engaged in hating and destroying that life—usually in the name of righteousness.
… it is out of their failure to put themselves on trial that their evil arises. … We become evil by attempting to hide from ourselves. Evil originates not in the absence of guilt but in the effort to escape it.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissism#Normal_and_healthy_levels_of_narcissism
… a moderate level of narcissism is supportive of good psychological health. Self-esteem works as a mediator between narcissism and psychological health. Elevated self-esteem, in moderation, supports resilience and ambition, but excessive self-focus can distort social relationships.
Destructive levels of narcissism … feelings of entitlement and superiority, arrogant or haughty behaviors, and a generalized lack of empathy and concern for others.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcissistic_personality_disorder#Subtypes
… Grandiose/overt: the group exhibits grandiosity, entitlement, interpersonal exploitativeness and manipulation, pursuit of power and control, lack of empathy and remorse, and marked irritability and hostility.
Morell’s notes reveal that he put Hitler on a regimen of Vitamultin – a preparation containing glucose, vitamins, and sometimes the methamphetamine Pervitin – and prescribed dietary restrictions, bloodletting, leeching, enemas, and the morphine derivative Eukodal to relieve the GI symptoms. Sedatives (for sleep) and testosterone (for sexual potency) were also among the considerable number of drugs (over 40 different kinds) Hitler took over the course of his adult life.
Does methamphetamine use increase violent behaviour? Evidence from a prospective longitudinal study
Conclusions: There is a dose-related increase in violent behaviour during periods of methamphetamine use that is largely independent of the violence risk associated with psychotic symptoms.
The Dude abides. ✌️
Much like the Dude himself, who is surrounded by people who are way too wound up in the world around him, you gotta remember. Sometimes, there’s a lot of weird ones, like sexy feminists who swing naked from ceilings to paint, or your whacked-out 'Nam vet buddy who’s just never moved on. And then there are assholes who piss on your rug, toe-severing German Nihilists, and rich old geezers who concoct kidnapping schemes to hide that he’s been stealing from impoverished kids. And, of course, fascists. Lots and lots of fascists.
Remember, the enemy of Dudeism is Nihilism. And fascists are, usually, either Nihilists, scammers, rug-pissers, or other zealots.
Worked the same for Hitler as it does for Elon en Trump. The love for hate, the need to blame, the hunger for power.
