I have been struggling with something that I am convinced our society needs to face: how do we reform the NAZI ideology? Yes, I’m serious. How do we reform the NAZI ideology? I ask this because of all the ‘good’ NAZIs who helped to save people in WW II. In addition to these ‘good’ NAZIs, there were many more who didn’t agree with Hitler and the NAZI Party. These were the ‘moderates’ who were happy to live their lives without killing Jews, using science to build a master race or going to war to expand the Reich. Wasn’t it just the radicals in the NAZI Party leadership that were misinterpreting what National Socialism is all about who gave NAZI a bad name? So, how do we reform NAZI ideology? Or is the NAZI ideology so beyond redemption that we shouldn’t even try? (This is not what you might be thinking. Keep reading 😉 )
Is it possible to be a ‘good’ NAZI? I mean, if you were a member of the NAZI Party, but you rejected its policies of racism against Jews, the scientific promotion of the master race and military expansionism, were you actually a NAZI? Or were you a ‘righteous’ person who happened to be in the NAZI Party? This question has been bothering me. Because I believe in individual accountability, I cannot see a way to call someone a ‘good’ NAZI. If you were a member of the NAZI Party, you had sought or accepted an invitation to membership in the Party. How could you then claim you disagreed with the Party’s ideology? Isn’t that a contradiction between the things you say and those you do? And actions speak louder than words. To my way of thinking, even those who did things we might consider to be ‘righteous’ by our standards, if they were a member of the NAZI Party, their very presence in the Party supported the Party. And if you support the Party, you support its ideology and its agenda. SO, again I ask, s there such a things as a ‘good’ NAZI?
Now, supposing there is such thing as a ‘good’ NAZI, how do you then reform the NAZI ideology without changing what it means to be a NAZI? This may not make sense at first, so — just in case — let me try to clarify my question. The NAZIs were fascists. There have been many forms of fascism, but they all shared some common traits, such as a government controlled economy, militarism and expansionism. Italy was fascist under Mussolini, but they did not share the NAZI traits of racism and a desire for a master race. Spain was also fascist under Franco, but they did not share the NAZI ideology. NAZIs were a particular breed of fascists defined — most notably — by hatred of Jews and the desire to breed a master race. So, how can we ‘reform’ the part of the NAZI ideology that made them different from the other fascists without changing what makes them NAZIs in the first place? How can we take away the racism and scientific pursuit of a master race and still retain the essence of what it means to be a NAZI?
Now, I am very serious about my questions, only I am not really thinking about NAZIs. I just chose them because they make it easier for us to focus on the point I am trying to make. I want to focus your attention to the principle here. How do you take the ‘bad’ parts out of an ideology while retaining that ideology when those bad points are what define that ideology. It’s sort of like taking away the diamond, bases, gloves, bat and ball and then saying we still have baseball. How do you do that? I do not see how you can do that. I also don not see how we can call someone who willingly joins a group of racists murderers as ‘good.’ Even if they try to save some people, they are still supporting the regime that is murdering in the name of racism. Their very presence in the group supports it, thus making it possible for the group to murder in the name of racism. To keep with my baseball analogy, how could someone join the group that wants to remove the diamond, bases, gloves bat and ball a supporter of baseball? Even if they speak out and say the group should keep the bases and the gloves, are they really supporting baseball? This is the essence of what I am trying to explain: can a person be ‘good’ if they support something like the NAZI ideology, and if so, how can we reform that ideology without changing it into something totally different?
By now, I hope I have gotten you to understand the heart of what is troubling me because — now –it is time to tell you what I am really thinking about. As I have been saying, this is not about reforming the NAZI Party. What I am really asking is:
Is there such thing as a ‘good’ Muslim, and, if so, how do you change Islam without making it into something entirely different from what Muhammad said Islam is?
Reblogged this on The Rio Norte Line and commented:
Read it — ALL of it. It’s not what you might think 🙂
Joe,
You can’t change evil into good. Those that were members of the NAZI party that disagreed with the mass murder of Jews and the master race were merely like the “peaceful muslim” today.
They all want the benefits and willing to look over the atrocities committed to get them. Makes them just as guilty as the perpetrators.
chhelo,
That is the same conclusion at which I keep arriving. So let me ask you the next logical question:
Since you cannot change evil into good, then what are we to make of those who keep insisting that you can?
(NOTE: No, this is not a rhetorical question; I am serious — what do we make of them?)
I guess I have to make one exception for an error in my logic. Only Christ “God” can change a person from Evil to Good. My point was basically referring to an “act(s) of evil” and not a person. God will never change an evil act into good. God gave us a list of them and they still hold true today as they did when Moses received them burned into stone by God. God’s truth is like him “Immutable”. It has not changed one jot or tittle in eternity past, present or future.
They have been blinded by Satan and have little real knowledge of who God really is and what his purpose, plan and program on this spinning ball is. It is a generational thing as depicted in the period of the prophets and kings in Old Testament.
We are repeating the same history today. Starting from the mid 1700’s in America whereby morality was likely a desirable way of life to today where ‘if it feels good do it” way of life.
There is no longer any fear of God. He has been redefined, even by the apostate church, to a definition thats suit’s mans humanistic desires.
Satan has changed with the times and redecorated the Tree of Good and Evil. The beautiful fruit that we eat of today. Movies, music, TV, sporting events, you name the entertainment and its 24/7 365 non-stop. A government that has given itself over to evil for tax revenue by legalizing gambling, drugs, pornography.
But in reality its the Christian Churches in this country at fault. There is very little truth preached from the pulpit these days. Its a message of easy grace. No one wants to wear the label bigot for telling the truth. Itching ears are at work. Again, Satan is the master of lies and deceit. If lies are coming out of the pulpit why not DC.