Hitler was pretty much the poster boy for megalomania. Self delusion is inherent. He DID mean well, he DID not think of himself as evil. You weaken your own argument if you deny facts.

It seems to me you are reading in some type of apology for the actions of Hitler in Mr. Smiths statements. It's not there. Hitler was evil on an almost unimaginable scale and what Hitler thought of himself does not change that score.

I guess no evil can come in to the world as long as we think what we are doing is good...

If ever there was a lesson to come out of the Nazi era, I would hope that it would be that the essence of evil lurks in everyone - but then again it's always easier to blame your ills on some one else/some other group

Yeah, yeah, whatever.


It was STUPID for Smith to say such a thing, even though the limited truth of it (Hitler approves of self and own actions, d'uh) is self-evident.

That being so, however, does not explain why a public figure would make such a controversial statement unless he was a moron or a sh!t-stirrer.

You don't answer the point about willful cruelty. The Poles of Jedwabne were happy to have been occupied by the Germans because it allowed them cover to massacre their Jews, beating them to death in the street and burning the rest in a barn. Did they dust off their hands at the end of the day and say, "Yes, well done, much nicer?" I think they probably went home and masturbated.

Thus, I don't think Will Smith's comment is terribly useful. Declaring it a useful perspective seems inconsistent with your view that, as an absolute proposition, Hitler was evil, rather than a product of his circumstances who stumbled into what we, the victors, call evil to boost our standing.

So you think that Hitler went to bed every night thinking, "Bwahahaha!!! I did so much evil today! I am so evil and terrible! I'm the evilist, most terrible person who ever lived!!!"

I highly doubt that was the case. Even though he pretty much was the most evil and terrible person to ever live, he didn't think so and that is what Smith was speaking to. Nobody is arguing that Hitler was basically an average Joe who just got caught up in his bad side. The point is that Hitler was so deranged and completely removed from reality that while committing the most heinous acts humanity has ever seen he thought it was all fine and good, and there is a lesson to be learned in that.

Smith's comments weren't incorrect, inappropriate or anti-Semitic, they were just challenging and thought provoking.

I think Hitler has become iconinc for evil in our culture and thus a benchmark - but I think sometimes demonizing him allows us to ignore the same or even worse evils going on today. But becasue of his iconic nature, no reasonable conversation can be had about him - thus Godwins law.

Very true. I wonder how long before he is required to be referred to as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

It's a bit sad because Hitler presents a very rare real-world example of extreme psychological and sociological disorders and a lot could be learned from studying him but the taboo that exists around even discussing him closes off that path. Sometimes I worry that at some point another Hitler may emerge and the world will miss the chance to prevent it because no lessons were learned in Hitler's case.

I doubt that Hitler probably did not assess himself using adjectives like good or evil. However, I have no problem thinking he went to bed thinking, "Bwahaha!! I killed so many Jews, etc. today! I accumulated so much power today for myself and my country at the expense of the weak."

I'm certainly willing to think that Hitler was deranged and removed from reality, although since he was elected to rule a country that largely shared his views, I'm not sure that this is as apt as saying that he was the product of a sick or damaged culture in the same way we condemn inner city culture as sick or damaged.

I don't think Will Smith's comment captures any of this. He makes Hitler sound like someone who just couldn't see the other side of the argument. Since everyone who disagrees with me is willing to declare Hitler objectively evil, I still fail to see that Smith's comments are particularly useful.

Actually, I would go so far as to say that it *is* a useful statement.

It is easy to dismissively note that of course Hitler approved of his own actions and considered them "good." It is more complicated to recognize what that means in contemporary life, society, and politics.

Writing off people who have done horrible things as "evil", and ignoring any exploration of their intentions or motivations, invites a reliance on the notion that identifying such people (without the benefit of hindsight) is easy and obvious. Good guys and bad guys don't stroll about wearing convenient name tags. The world is shades of grey. Is Musharraf a good guy who is preventing Islamic radicals from taking power, or a bad guy preventing the spread of democracy? Is Bhutto a shining example of female empowerment in the Muslim world or a famously corrupt politician?

Which isn't to say that I'm suggesting Hitler had a "good" side and was just tragically misunderstood. Rather, it is a lesson to all of us to be mindful of how what is "good" for us may be "bad" for others.

In fact, even something that is completely "good" in the abstract may be "bad" when put into actual practice. We should be vigilant to ensure that our "good" intentions result in "good" result - not results that start of kind of good for us and not for others, and then still a bit good for us but really quite objectionable to others, ending up in really quite repellent any way you look at it.

Will Smith explains Hitler remarks

03:22 PM CST on Wednesday, December 26, 2007

That is the entire article that I found on the Dallas Morning News site.