Thursday, December 27, 2007

Will Smith: Learning PC The Hard Way


Will SmithWill Smith, actor and rapper, has been raked over the coals for comments he made recently in the Scottish newspaper The Daily Record. Among the hysterical cries of indignation the original context and actual words of Mr. Smith were lost and he was lambasted for saying that Adolf Hitler was basically a “good person". He’s been forced to come out and deny any such thought and defend himself against all manner of silly, reckless charges.

Hey, Will! Welcome to the Real World! The world where Political Correctness takes precedence over all else. Now, perhaps you have some idea of just what political candidates, and any Conservative, goes through every time they open their mouths. I hope you paid close attention.

So what did Will Smith have the temerity to say to a reporter for the Daily Record?
[...]Smart, friendly and funny, you have to wonder if anything ever upsets Will Smith's good nature.

"Well, if I understand the problem then I don't get annoyed," he explained. "People driving past in the car and giving me the finger annoys my wife but it's because they think you did something to them.

"They think you're driving too slow and keeping them from getting to their daughter's birthday party, or you cut them off and didn't see."

Remarkably, Will believes everyone is basically good.

"Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'let me do the most evil thing I can do today'," said Will. "I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good'. Stuff like that just needs reprogramming.


"I wake up every day full of hope, positive that every day is going to be better than yesterday. And I'm looking to infect people with my positivity. I think I can start an epidemic."[...]

In proper context the words are innocuous if anything. They’re certainly not grounds to condemn him or demand his films be pulled from the theaters.

Since the end of World War II we have demonized Hitler to the point where we cannot see him as anything more than a beast, or less than Evil Incarnate. Which begs the question, “How did he get so far, so fast, without human attributes?”

In fact Hitler must be looked at with a bit of intelligence - and a certain amount of loathing for the results of his life - to see who he was. Not who we wish he was.

Adolf Hitler as a schoolboyWas Hitler anti-Semitic? Oh, yes! Very much so! And in the German States of his era - the time including his birth and upbringing, as well as his adult life - and this includes Austria, the Jews were a favored target for use as scapegoats. And hatred of Jews was most certainly endemic in the Germanic States, as well as most of Europe. All Hitler did was absorb that loathing of the Jews as easily as he breathed or ate. Following his failures in the world of Art in Austria, ever the Leftist, Hitler could not blame himself for his lack of more than pedestrian artistic talent. No, he could blame the Jews for refusing to buy his artworks. He blamed them for his utter failure to become the renowned Painter he hoped to become. Normal behavior if you are raised and surrounded by anti-Semitism, I should think.

Hitler in WWIDecorated for his actions during World War I, like probably most of the German people, Hitler found the Treaty of Versailles to be a traitorous act, giving away German territory and money to the French, British, and others. A sell-out, as they saw it, to - you guessed it - the Jewish Cabal. Of course we know no such Cabal exists or existed. But then few of us are raised in such suffocating ignorant anti-Semitism. But Hitler, and most German people were. So the Treaty ending World War I was not honorable, or an acceptance of the obvious impossibility of continuing the War. No, it had to be something more insidious. And the Jews were the obvious culprits.

Do we see a pattern here? Are we finally recognizing that Hitler was a product of his place and times? Granted, had his home life been a loving one he might have turned out to be pleasant person.

Like a good Leftist Adolf Hitler did whatever he could and had to do to attain power. That is Red Gospel, and Hitler believed in it. He also carried along with him the utter conviction that Jews were at the very root of all things dark and evil. He was already twisted by the anti-Semitic culture of Germany and Austria; now he was also inoculated with the venom and insanity of Leftism - the Socialist virus.

The Adoring crowdsYes, Hitler committed unspeakable, horrible, acts upon the world and specifically upon the Jews of Europe. He would have been hung had he been captured by the Allies and brought to trial. Yet much of what he actually did was protected by the “color of law”, not wantonly as a thief. And when he wanted to do something forbidden by Law he eventually had the total power needed to change the law. So we can add total power to his twisted psyche and mind. Since the Jews were an evil race, and not really human, then genocide did not really apply, did it? Eradication of the Jews of Europe, and eventually the world, was simple disease control for Adolf Hitler. It made perfect sense. And a people raised under the same ugly culture of anti-Semitism supported him.

What I’m saying is simple. In his own mind, Adolf Hitler was “good” and “just” and “reasonable”. As Will Smith said,
"Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'let me do the most evil thing I can do today'," said Will. "I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good'.

Does Will Smith understand what the Nazis stood for, or did? Probably, on a minimalist level. Not being a Jew I rather doubt that Smith has the visceral emotions about Hitler that Jews have. He was just speaking off the cuff about being ‘positive’ and not paying attention to the weight his words might have. He sure gave no thought to their being twisted out of proportion. Smith may think that good intentions will bring forth good results. For Europe and the world, Hitler’s ‘good intentions’ had less than salutary results.


The results, as we well know, were anything but good; they were in fact horrific! Millions of deaths on the battlefields and in the Concentration Camps. The utter destruction of Cities and enslavement of lesser Nations. All to bring forth an Aryan Paradise. All because Adolf Hitler believed in his heart and mind that it was a good thing.

Can you say, "Ahmadinejad?"

12 comments:

Brooke said...

I get what Smith was trying to say.

Still, it was probably a less than prudent thing to do!

benning said...

Granted. There're probably millions of examples he could have chosen. Sadly, for him, he chose one that got him villified. If nothing else Smith did not think about what he was saying.

Sisiggy said...

We'll probably see this more and more as time distances us from the actual event. Think of jokes we make about Napleon -- he's reduced to character who can't yank his hand out of his coat.

Wasn't it Fania Fenelon who refused to call the Nazis "monsters," because it let them off too easily. She said the horror of it all was that they weren't monsters, they were human, just like you and me and that, if it was possible to warp their minds, it would be just as possible that our own could be warped similarly. To forget that would be to allow it to happen again and again.

benning said...

Sisiggy, you're right. By removing them from humanity we can say, "Well, it wouldn't happen here. We'd never do that." But it could.

Things getting better?

shoprat said...

It was a foolish thing to say, but not entirely wrong.

David A. Andelman said...

For a compelling view of the impact of the Treaty of Versailles and its effect on Germany, the rise of Hitler, and many other parts of the world, you may wish to see my compelling new book, "A Shattered Peace: Versailles 1919 and the Price We Pay Today" [ www.ashatteredpeace.com ], just out from Wiley!
Best,
David A. Andelman

benning said...

David: I'll take a look. Thanks!

Shoprat: Precisely!

Ymarsakar said...

Sadly, for him, he chose one that got him villified. If nothing else Smith did not think about what he was saying.

Smith did not think that he needed "reprogramming". But he did, oh he did. Whenever you try to make Hitler out to be human, you violate the sacred covenant of the Left, which is that you can never forgive those that have betrayed the Left and its cause. That includes Hitler attacking Stalin and Joe Lieberman adopting hawkish attitudes and sustaining them in 2006.

The Left never forgets a betrayal. And they will never let you, or Smith either, forget it as well.

To forget that would be to allow it to happen again and again.

Of course that line from sisiggy makes even more impact if you read this.

I am Dariush, the great king, the king of kings
The king of many countries and many people
The king of this expansive land,
The son of Wishtaspa of Achaemenid,
Persian, the son of a Persian,
‘Aryan’, from the Aryan race
“From the Darius the Great’s Inscription in Naqshe-e-Rostam”


Can you say, "Ahmadinejad?"

You said Aryan Paradise and Amadinejad closely together because you already knew the Aryans was originally the ancestors of Iranians, right? ; )

I also wish to give you praise for not only using Aryan, Persian, and Nazi references, but adding in paradise as well.

From the old Avetan-Iranian word "pairi-daeza" which meant "enclosed space" and from which our word "paradise" stems. To the Persians paradise was a paradeisos or enclosure, a walled garden or parkland. In the arid land of the Persians, a green space well kept and watered filled with trees and shrubs was something to savor and enjoy. Many elements that are features of the Persian-Islamic garden can be found in early Persian gardens. One such garden is found at Pasargadae dating back to the early sixth century BC. This is the palace complex built by Cyrus, ruler of the Achaemenid empire. The complex, now just ruins in a large expanse of meadowland, once consisted of two palaces, two pavilions, and a stone watercourse broken up by pools. Though the watercourse was a formal element it may also have served as an irrigation channel. This garden was viewed at a distance from large pavilions rather than experienced directly via walkways or paths. According to John Brookes in his book Gardens of Paradise "This aspect of the garden, to be viewed rather than used, was a constant factor in Persian layout." (p.32) This aspect as well as the inclusion of water and a loose relationship between palaces or pavilions and the garden would be used more formally in later gardens.

I said some more on the relationship between the triangle legs of Democratic Socialism, National Socialism, and Communism here.

Link

The Aryan stuff was research I was doing for that post.

benning said...

Thanks for dropping by, Ymarsakar! Sadly, the use of 'Paradise' was a knee-jerk use of the only word I could think of. As for the Aryans and the Persians/Iranians, yes I was cognizant of the link, and the lack of same as far as Germans go. Why the Nazis weren't I haven't a clue.

As you noted, the Left always disavows those who stray. They certanly did so with Lee Harvey Oswald, by turning the Assassination of JFK into hints of Right Wing complicity when there was none.

I enjoyed the Garden info! I can't imagine a greater waste of a nice Garden than to only view it.

I think we try to distance ourselves from the 'monsters' among us, which gives them an "out". If they aren't truly human then how can they be responsible for their frightening actions? That way lies madness!

Ymarsakar said...

Thanks for the welcome.

There was a couple of expeditions in Arabia by the Nazis in search for "Aryan ruins" I heard from somewhere. It is certainly is a different picture of WWII than the Pacific and European theaters usually would.


I enjoyed the Garden info! I can't imagine a greater waste of a nice Garden than to only view it.


As has always been true, the aristocrats really don't care if others are dying of thirst, so long as they have plenty of luxuries for themselves.

That will always be a problem that utopian belief systems, whether global warming and environmentalist in nature or economically controlled, must assume to be true in order to address it. By thinking it is a problem only for other people, they are no longer capable of policing their own, such as Al Gore, that seeks to profit from utopia at the expense of all others.

Jack Steiner said...

I am not willing to let a comment like this go. I like Will Smith and I don't think that he was trying to be a bad guy.

But I am concerned about setting up any sort of environment in which people can excuse actions of a genocidal dictator.

People forget too easily. It doesn't matter if Hitler thought he was doing the right thing, it was evil.

And like I said, from my position I don't have enough faith in people to make the necessary distinction here.

Ymarsakar said...

People will excuse the actions of genocidal dictators regardless of what they think or feel about Hitler.

What matters is truth and whether a person truly has knowledge of events as they occured.