The Sympathy I feel for Germans...

[Dem Agog]

Growing up in the 70's, we learned about Hitler's regime and Nazi Germany only a few decades afterward. I remember wondering how the German people could let this man go and do all of this. Nazi Germany was always portrayed as filled with 'evil' Germans and even through the 80's Germans were the favored evil characters in a number of mainstream films. (Indiana Jones, anyone?)

I remarked to a friend after speaking with a German fellow in the 90's that the accent has been so heavily associated with "bad characters" in movies that it's astonishing to hear it come out of such a friendly person's mouth.

I now see where the American people are heading. In thirty years we'll be the evil country that let Bush's murders and war crimes go unchecked. Reading this excerpt from 'Baghdad Burning' I realized that soon, our accents will be the ones that sound surprisingly evil... Someday I suspect someone might speak to me and be astonished to hear such an "evil sounding" accent come out of such a friendly person's mouth.

..."the mosque resonates with harsh American voices arguing over a body- was he dead, was he alive? I watched, tense, wondering what they would do- I expected the usual Marines treatment- that a heavy, booted foot would kick the man perhaps to see if he groaned. But it didn't work that way- the crack of gunfire suddenly explodes in the mosque as the Marine fires at the seemingly dead man and then come the words, "He's dead now."

We're re-creating Hitler's regime here in the United States. I now feel such sympathy for the German people and how they were portrayed for decades after their cruel dictator's regime.

[pearl]

1. I've been feeling the same thing for a long time

We've got the internet to help with the isolation.
But we must organize. peace

[lectrobyte]

2. Fight for a future

where fifty years from now, the stars and bars isn't just some movie shorthand signifying bad guys to lead into stock footage of Stukas, I mean Apache gunships shooting up a town.

[madrchsod]

3. i have no sympathy for the millions of Germans

who joined the cult of Hitler. they stood by and watched millions of people were put in box cars and shipped to their deaths. the feel nothing but contempt for those who smelled the stench of burning bodies and claimed they knew nothing. my sympathy for the German people who spoke out and were put to death believing in humanity. no,i shed no tears ,i have no sympathy for the German people and i have no sympathy for the American people who have joined the cult of bush. we will be judged by our actions and we will be judged for our humanity.

[Dem Agog]

4. ...

I wasn't talking about the Germans who supported Hitler, I never claimed to have sympathy for them. I hate them just as much as the ignorant fascist pigs here who support our American Hitler.

I'm talking about the millions of innocents who wanted change, who tried, but who could change nothing. I suddenly understand how they feel.

[madrchsod]

8. i`m a little cranky this morning..

sorry i didn`t get your point.thanks for "waking" me up...

[UL_Approved]

5. Ever heard of the suicide squad?

This is a squadron of soldiers charged with carrying out mass executions. They would make soldiers do this, mostly against their will. The name of suicide squad came about because the majority of soldiers in these squads would either drink themselves to death (alcohol poisoning), shoot themselves, or desert and later be picked up and executed. The cult of Hitler was a small group of people that became the black/brownshirts. Hitler divided and conquered everybody until they had no other choice but to help the cause, save execution. This tactic is used today, just look at radical extremists in Israel pouring out the propaganda about the Palestinians. Look at the propaganda against Saddam Hussein, the war on drugs, "moral issues", etc. Education is the cure, but its deficiency is the disease. This comes down to malnutrition of the mind, so to speak.

[Lerkfish]

11. fWIW, most germans were unaware of the camps until after the war.

Sure, the SS and the upper eschalon knew, but the general population was so tightly controlled, they were never informed of it.

That is my understanding, anyways, perhaps a history expert will come along and either correct me or support what I'm saying.

[Pacifist Patriot]

6. Read Erich Fromm's "Escape From Freedom"

If you haven't already.

For those who haven't, it was originally published in 1941. It will give you chills! I highly encourage everyone to read it. Fortunately, he's one of the most "readable" psychologists of the era.

[HereSince1628]

7. The God of Progress is the Great Worm Mobius

Its footprints mark out the path of history.

Unfortunately, one night while hunting Mobius swallowed its own tail and forever after history has gone in circles...things that seem to have two sides have only one...

Coming up in this part of the cycle will be

escalation of the war on terror,
reinstatement of conscription,
increasing dissent and protest,
and an unfortunate event in which authorities shoot and kill
protestors.

That last event will break the will of the nation to continue in its course.

Politicians will speak of a generation of peace, paying down the deficit, and getting a run-away intelligence community back under control.

[VivaKerry]

9. And big bulky white tennis shoes will be the new jack boot!

*

[Dez]

10. Even now, the American accent

heard in Germany is not welcomed. We still occupy Germany, and play our war games in their back yards. America is so imperialistic, and this will be their downfall in the end.