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To: Alouette
All the Germans learned from the WWII is that it is evil to fight but they didn't learn that it is not evil to fight evil. I don't think a distinction is that hard to see.

I think, many European countries have lost not only their identities but, also, common sense. Sadly, they are turning into a society of petulant and infantile whiners.

20 posted on 12/07/2004 2:25:39 PM PST by aliquis
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To: aliquis; konaice

"Germans learned from the WWII is that it is evil to fight but they didn't learn that it is not evil to fight evil."

Very perceptive.

Sixty years of being taught that use of force [by Germans, esp.] is wrong . . . Speculations that Germans are by nature militaristic, susceptible to authoritarianism, genetically deficient . . . [I counter that argument by the millions of German-Americans and descendents who fought in the US Armed Forces during WW I and WW II; look at the unit histories: if they did not italicize the names of the commanders on one side, you would not be able to tell who were the German commanders and who were the Americans, in a lot of cases.]

This is a relatively small survey. [remember the exit polls on 2 Nov?] However, I am NOT surprised that Germans could be rather tired of being brow-beaten about what OTHER German people did during WW II. Guilt is personal, not racial.

Remember, it has only changed in this country in the past twenty years or so. In the 40s 50s and 60s, into the 70s, German-Americans were also painted with the brush of the Holocaust, militarism, etc. A lady told me her 1st-grade students called her a "baby-killer." She was merely a child during WW II. It is only natural to be hurt and to resent being called a murderer when you could not have had anything to do with wartime atrocities.

The Great German Guilt has been the subject of books and studies. It has had several effects. One is to mitigate against legitimate defense and/or fighting legitimately against evil. Another is to cause resentment of a HUGE burden of guilt that no one who was not responsible himself can POSSIBLY bear.


62 posted on 12/07/2004 2:56:52 PM PST by AMDG&BVMH
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