I dunno who heared about this but the president of Iran just recently announced that the holocost never happened. I personaly think hes CRAZY, but thats just me. I also think that anyone who believes him needs to stfu extremely now.
Yeh this is a crazy claim. Crazier still if you live in Germany since you would face fifteen plus years in jail for even suggesting it. If your point was to find some facet of history or evidence that emulated the debate here while at the same time carrying a highly emotive message then you succeded amiably. However, debating the shape of the earth, no matter how seriously some may take the debate, is far removed from denying the pain and suffering of many people. I descended from an Austrian family that suffered from both sides since many of my relatives suffered terribly on the Russian front after being conscripted and also left family that suffered at the hands of the (rightful I agree) victor. Some topics are so personal that they delve into the taboo areas of debate and I think that raising such an emotive and powerful issue to the fore in an otherwise amicable forum is simply ill advised. Yes the attrocities happened and yes anyone who denies this needs a serious talking to.
Whilst raising ths issue is indeed in bad taste it does lead to an area of study that is very relevent to folks who wish to adopt a dogmatic approach to their view of our world (I say our in the hope that my experience of it is shared
) I may refer you to the concept of the banality of evil.....
The concept of the banality of evil came into prominence following the publication of Hannah Arendt's 1963 book Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil, which was based on the trial of Adolph Eichmann in Jerusalem. Arendt's thesis was that people who carry out unspeakable crimes, like Eichmann, a top administrator in the machinery of the Nazi death camps, may not be crazy fanatics at all, but rather ordinary individuals who simply accept the premises of their state and participate in any ongoing enterprise with the energy of good bureaucrats.
This book fuelled an entire field of social psychological research and many offshoots belonging to the branch named human influence. The story of Eichmann became the benchmark for theories of obedience and inspired Milgram to his studies which displayed (to an extent) that most folks were capable of such things in the right (wrong!) circumstance.
Connected to this is the concept of conformity and yet again we see an attrocity providing the benchmark for theory.....
In 1978, 913 followers of Jim Jones and the Peoples Temple committed a mass suicide in northern Guyana at a site called, Jonestown. The charismatic leader of Jonestown, was Jim Jones, a preacher who set up the Peoples Temple in San Francisco and ultimately moved his followers to a more clandestine site in Guyana. While Jones was preaching in San Francisco, he helped out many local and even national campaigns and was seen as a healer which much power in the community. However, once he had all of his members in Jonestown, his personality changed. Away from the constraints of American soil, Jonestown and its members became very cultish. Jones heightened regulations on his followers and their engagement to the sect. Eventually, Jones began to claim his true divinity. "Jones, for example now claimed to be the reincarnation of Jesus, as well as Ikhnaton, Buddha, Lenin, and Father Divine."(Galanter, 1989) Paranoia and complete control became Jones' personality, once he obtained such a close knit group. Jones began to stage rehearsals of his eventual mass suicide plan that he would eventually enact. These drills, called "white nights" began with sirens going off in the middle of the night and none of the members of Jonestown would know if it was real or not. "A mass meeting would ensue... we would be told that the jungle was swarming with mercenaries... we were given a small glass of red liquid to drink. We were told that the liquid contained poison and that we would die within 45 minutes. We all did as we were told."(Galanter, 1989)
Do you really wish to conform?
Before posting emotive issues one must ask how these may apply to us and those close to us. It is a logical truth that we all possess the POTENTIAL to become an evil dictator, or a murderer, or a thief, or a saint...given the context in our lives.... It is also possible that we may possess the potential to post a highly emotive and erroneous dictatorial quote in order to make a point despite the fact it may insult the sensitivities of victims and free thinkers alike and despite the fact that one tries to mask the flame with "i think that anyone who believes him should stfu now". I provide the above as food for thought only.
MILGRAM TOLD ME TO DO IT! :lol:
answers on a postcard