The First of a Few

(Note:  I began writing the following few posts well before the election and I had intended them to be up before now.  But, even though late, I still think they are relevant)

 

The following few posts have been on my mind for a couple of few weeks and is a result of this article and training at the White Rose Women's Center.

 

 

 

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Imaginary Question Posed to one of my coworkers: If Adolf Hitler was running in this election and he had the key to all the social and financial problems, would you vote for him?

"No"

"Why not?"

"Because, the guy was crazy.  He killed so many innocent people."

"Well, I know he killed people.  But what if he REALLY has the answers - not just a great plan that may work, but the actual answers. He will fix the whole issue with the market, he'll finish the war in Iraq, he'll significantly reduce poverty, he'll reduce crime, he'll make our schools better, he'll make sure everyone has health insurance, he'll ensure a comfortable retirement for all - in short, he'll will bring peace and give the American Dream to all. What do you say?"

"Well. . . I don't know.  I guess still no.  He killed so many people!  And if you made him president he would have the power to do a lot more killing if he wanted to."

"But just think.  All the people he didn't kill would be living the dream.  No more poverty!  No more people going with out healthcare!  No more homeless or hungry.  No more illiterate or people not getting into college because they can't afford it.  No more worrying about retirement.  It'd be amazing!"

"That does sound pretty good."

"But, I forgot to mention, he has stated he will still have one concentration camp in the country - only for "research purposes" though.  A random sampling of the American populous will go to the camp:  Every 7th Jew, 10th Hispanic, 20th African American, 80th Native American, every 103rd High School drop out, every 142nd woman with brown hair and blue eyes, and every 275th man that is 6'3'' in the US will be sent to the camp. Would you vote for him?"

"No way!  Dude!  If you had told me that to begin with!  Of course I'm not going to vote for him."

"Why not?"

"Because, you can't just randomly kill people! That's absurd! I don't care if he can totally fix the economy and give most people the American dream; killing people is killing people and not worth it!"

"Hmmm. Ok, fair enough. So, I guess you could say that some things are more important than others.  Like, not randomly killing people is more important than fixing the economy and making life comfortable for people. Or, to put it another way, human life is more important than economics."

"Well, yeah, I guess so. At least in that case. It's just not fair to randomly kill people, even if it means a better life for others."

 

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I've never heard any relativistic rot used when talking about Hitler.  "Well now, let's not judge.  Hitler had his views and we have ours.  We shouldn't force our views on him.  If he thinks Jews are sub-human and wants to kill them and use them for experiments, who are we to say he is wrong? Besides, we shouldn't force him to live with thousands of Jews (or Catholics or gypsies) if he doesn't want to.  That would probably make his life difficult.  And it would be imposing our views on him.  He has his rights you know."  

Absurd.  

Only the most blind and truly demented people could argue this way.

(If you haven't already, read the article I linked to above.  The author makes a similar point between slavery and abortion - which leads me to my next post.)