The Good Germans

It is a commonplace that at the end of WWII scarcely a Nazi or Nazi sympathizer could be found, or even anyone with an inkling that a Holocaust had been taking place. Even as rocks flew through Jewish shop windows and homes were burned, the Good Germans didn't know. Even when Jews began disappearing in huge numbers from right under their noses, the Good Germans weren't aware. Later on, even amongst Holocaust deniers I used to wonder if there were a mitigating percentage, however small, who as otherwise decent human beings simply could not accept the horror that human nature can be so vile. To admit the truth would be to recognize that life was essentially meaningless and insane, with suicide as the only logical course, a choice which the all-powerful instinct for self-preservation attempted to prevent. Thus self-deception for self-preservation; an unhappy compromise. It was the Nazi-exploited Nietzsche who pointed out (in the late 1800's remember) that one must first know the truth in order to bury it. Everybody knew, in one way or another. Violence, after all, is what One-Thousand Year Reichs do, and they must begin very early. So much killing to accomplish!

America, America, Uber Alles

While there is much justified consternation surrounding the truly astonishing stolen elections of George W. Bush—he steals power, then he bloody well does it again—the fact is that for the longest time American foreign policy (and often domestic as well) has been so savage as to shock the world. Yet the average American seems to care as little as the average German did about the Third's Reich's crimes against humanity or the Holocaust. Didn't know, didn't care or—or even liked it very much. 'We' are empire! Therefore 'we' are a priori justified in anything we do.