>
> On Jul 29, 2009, at 5:45 PM, Miles Jackson wrote:
>
> This is exactly backwards. What made the Holocaust possible was the
>> rational, bureaucratic calculation. If the Nazis had been "overwhelmed" by
>> passion and emotion, they wouldn't have been able to effectively plan the
>> deaths of millions of people.
>>
>
> So where did they get the desire to kill millions? Was that rational too?
> Ever read Mein Kampf? It bubbles over with hate.
>
> Doug
I don't think anyone would deny that Hitler was a deranged, hateful person. (It's probably the most banal political belief that one can have.) The interesting question is to what extent these personal characteristics matter in history.
*The Audacity of Hope *bubbles over with a desire for social justice. In *State and Revolution* Lenin sounds like an anarchist. Et cetera. Perhaps the causes of the Holocaust were entirely cultural, even subjective, but I don't think that follows merely from the froth off der Fuhrer's face.