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The conclusion made in this article resonates with a point made by George Orwell in his 1940 review of Mein Kampf that has never ceased to fascinate me: "Also

The conclusion made in this article resonates with a point made by George Orwell in his 1940 review of Mein Kampf that has never ceased to fascinate me: "Also [Hitler] has grasped the falsity of the hedonistic attitude to life. Nearly all western thought since the last war, certainly all ‘progressive’ thought, has assumed tacitly that human beings desire nothing beyond ease, security and avoidance of pain. In such a view of life there is no room, for instance, for patriotism and the military virtues. The Socialist who finds his children playing with soldiers is usually upset, but he is never able to think of a substitute for the tin soldiers; tin pacifists somehow won’t do. Hitler, because in his own joyless mind he feels it with exceptional strength, knows that human beings don’t only want comfort, safety, short working-hours, hygiene, birth-control and, in general, common sense; they also, at least intermittently, want struggle and self-sacrifice, not to mention drums, flags and loyalty-parades. However they may be as economic theories, Fascism and Nazism are psychologically far sounder than any hedonistic conception of life. The same is probably true of Stalin’s militarised version of Socialism. All three of the great dictators have enhanced their power by imposing intolerable burdens on their peoples. Whereas Socialism, and even capitalism in a more grudging way, have said to people ‘I offer you a good time,’ Hitler has said to them ‘I offer you struggle, danger and death,’ and as a result a whole nation flings itself at his feet."

pwdisswordfish0 6y ago
source http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks16/1600051h.html http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks16/1600051h.html
disown 6y ago
First thing to remember when it comes to hitler and nazis is that it's all clouded by propaganada on all sides. Second thing to remember is that orwell worked as a propagandist for the british government. Though I'm a fan of orwell's work, he isn't above criticism and much of his works are propaganda. > Nearly all western thought since the last war, certainly all ‘progressive’ thought, has assumed tacitly that human beings desire nothing beyond ease, security and avoidance of pain. Is that why nearly all of the west heavily militarized in between the world wars? > they also, at least intermittently, want struggle and self-sacrifice, not to mention drums, flags and loyalty-parades. Hitler didn't invent this idea. It's been around forever. It's rather shocking coming from a brit when his nation was brutalizing much of the world. Where they were taught to worship and sacrifice for their queen, country, etc. Isn't one of Churchill's most famous speech about "struggle and sacrifice". > However they may be as economic theories, Fascism and Nazism are psychologically far sounder than any hedonistic conception of life. Both fascism/nazism were a hedonistic conception of life. It was the idea of stealing other people's wealth and revel in the hedonistic lifestyle it would buy. As a brit, he of all people should know about stealing other people's wealth and leading a hedonistic life. > The same is probably true of Stalin’s militarised version of Socialism. More nonsense. Stalin's russia couldn't exist without militarization because it would have been invaded. Is it also true of britain's militarized capitalism? It seems like we attribute to hitler and the nazis everything we don't like about ourselves or are embarrassed about. I know in america, it's become our national pasttime in the past few decades. Everything he wrote applies just as much to britain and its empire as it does to hitler and the nazis.
- rafram 6y ago
  I think the point that he was making is that America and much of Europe like to imagine wars as faraway struggles that we do our best to avoid thinking about at home, while Hitler made militarization the national pastime. Compare the Boy Scouts with the Hitlerjugend, for instance. It’s not that the Allied nations were at the time less militaristic (although they were, of course, not also committing mechanized genocide against the Jewish people), but they didn’t conceptualize it as a form of entertainment like the Nazis did.
MichaelZuo 6y ago
Bingo. In the language of economists and political theoreticians they discovered that the people attached radically different weights along their hyperbolically discounted Pareto frontier, i.e. that their optimization criteria were non-uniform -> highly lumpy. Military parades as entertainment, perceiving national strength more vital than ease and comfort, living space out East more vital than peace, and many more examples attest to the societal consciousness back then. And of course since Hitler et al wanted to upset the status quo as quickly as possible they would have realized that focusing on these areas yield exponential returns on investment. Or at least vaguely tried to in the case of Mishima.

pwdisswordfish0 6y ago

source http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks16/1600051h.html http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks16/1600051h.html

disown 6y ago

First thing to remember when it comes to hitler and nazis is that it's all clouded by propaganada on all sides. Second thing to remember is that orwell worked as a propagandist for the british government. Though I'm a fan of orwell's work, he isn't above criticism and much of his works are propaganda. > Nearly all western thought since the last war, certainly all ‘progressive’ thought, has assumed tacitly that human beings desire nothing beyond ease, security and avoidance of pain. Is that why nearly all of the west heavily militarized in between the world wars? > they also, at least intermittently, want struggle and self-sacrifice, not to mention drums, flags and loyalty-parades. Hitler didn't invent this idea. It's been around forever. It's rather shocking coming from a brit when his nation was brutalizing much of the world. Where they were taught to worship and sacrifice for their queen, country, etc. Isn't one of Churchill's most famous speech about "struggle and sacrifice". > However they may be as economic theories, Fascism and Nazism are psychologically far sounder than any hedonistic conception of life. Both fascism/nazism were a hedonistic conception of life. It was the idea of stealing other people's wealth and revel in the hedonistic lifestyle it would buy. As a brit, he of all people should know about stealing other people's wealth and leading a hedonistic life. > The same is probably true of Stalin’s militarised version of Socialism. More nonsense. Stalin's russia couldn't exist without militarization because it would have been invaded. Is it also true of britain's militarized capitalism? It seems like we attribute to hitler and the nazis everything we don't like about ourselves or are embarrassed about. I know in america, it's become our national pasttime in the past few decades. Everything he wrote applies just as much to britain and its empire as it does to hitler and the nazis.

rafram 6y ago
I think the point that he was making is that America and much of Europe like to imagine wars as faraway struggles that we do our best to avoid thinking about at home, while Hitler made militarization the national pastime. Compare the Boy Scouts with the Hitlerjugend, for instance. It’s not that the Allied nations were at the time less militaristic (although they were, of course, not also committing mechanized genocide against the Jewish people), but they didn’t conceptualize it as a form of entertainment like the Nazis did.

MichaelZuo 6y ago

Bingo. In the language of economists and political theoreticians they discovered that the people attached radically different weights along their hyperbolically discounted Pareto frontier, i.e. that their optimization criteria were non-uniform -> highly lumpy. Military parades as entertainment, perceiving national strength more vital than ease and comfort, living space out East more vital than peace, and many more examples attest to the societal consciousness back then. And of course since Hitler et al wanted to upset the status quo as quickly as possible they would have realized that focusing on these areas yield exponential returns on investment. Or at least vaguely tried to in the case of Mishima.