I'm not one to call for the banning of books_even books that spew ignorant hatred, honestly. I think there's more power in confronting books like Mein Kampf and The Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion through open discussion than there is in banning and therefore sending them underground.
Saying, "Sure, you can buy Jewish Peril: Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion on Amazon, but just so you know, it's a total pack of lies," has got to be more effective than turning the title into contraband. No matter what, these books are going to remain in circulation, so the more that we can expose them as lies, fabrications, and angry rants, the greater chance we'll have of diffusing their power.
This is why Professor Horst Moeller, director of the Munich Institute of Contemporary History, says he is calling for the German publication of Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampffor the first time since WWII.
First published in 1925, it was a standard text in German schools after Hitler won power in 1933.
Now only purchasers who can prove an academic purpose may secure a copy of "Mein Kampf." Otherwise, it is not available in Germany, as the copyright holder, the state of Bavaria, refuses to authorize the printing of new copies.
Bavaria's copyright, assigned to it by the Allies after World War Two, expires in 2015, after which time anyone will be able to publish the book.
Professor Moeller is warning that the ban in Germany creates a dangerous mystique around the book, and that waiting until the publishing prohibition expires in 2015 will only cause the book to become a sensation. He's urging that Germany be permitted to publish an annotated edition that would include critical commentary on the text itself, and he's receiving a lot of unsurprising resistance from Jewish groups like the Central Council of Jews in Germany.
Professor Salomon Korn, the vice president of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, told Reuters he was opposed to the historian's plan.
"I believe it is the wrong decision to reprint this book," he said. "The danger I see is that there could be a misunderstanding if this book, which is highly symbolic, comes into publication with German help."
He is also worried that World War Two survivors might be offended by a decision to reprint a book promoting Hitler's hatred of Jews.
In an open letter to the Hamburg weekly Die Zeit, the Munich academics said: "We are extremely concerned by the loss of respect that our house has suffered as a result of Horst Moeller's directorship.
"His praise of the controversial historian Ernst Nolte is not compatible with the tradition of our institute."
Professor Moeller has emphasised that he did not share Professor's Nolte's basic thesis that the Nazis were an understandable reaction to Bolshevism.
But he did call for serious discussion rather than demonisation of Professor Nolte's works.
"Serious discussion rather than demonisation." Interesting. So, what's the deal? Is Professor Moeller an honest academic, or an antisemite in disguise?
Well, I don't feel qualified to comment on Professor Moeller's intentions, but I agree with Rahodeb that it's important to expose these books for what they are. I think that the arguement that the banning of these books gives them a certain mystique is absolutely true. I might be reaching a little far here, but it seems that the implication is that reading Mein Kampf would instantly turn you into an anti-semite. Well, it would have to be undeniably true to have that kind of effect. The truth is that Mein Kampf is unreadable garbage. Not just because it's so full of hate, but it was also very poorly written. In his excellent work "Rise and Fall of the Third Reich", William L. Shirer tells us that almost nobody actually read Mein Kampf. It's sales were motivated entirely by fear of being seen as anything less than manically devoted to the Nazi party.
I rememeber there was quite a fuss several years ago over the movie "Max", since it depicted Hitler as being too human. Well, Hitler was human, and he inspired a lot of other humans to commit inhuman acts. I feel it's important to understand why, so we can be sure it will never happen again.
I don't think it much matter what his true motivations are. The only way we can learn from our mistakes as idividuals is by openely acknowledging them. I believe the same ideal applies to us a species.
And while they are at it, can we get an annotated version of the Bible exposing it's fallacies? Might as well toss in the Koran too. Those two books are as responsible for just as much (if not more) evil and hatred than Mein Kampf and The Protocols.
Aggh, don't mind me, I was arguing with Creationists again.
imclever said:
And while they are at it, can we get an annotated version of the Bible exposing it's fallacies? Might as well toss in the Koran too. Those two books are as responsible for just as much (if not more) evil and hatred than Mein Kampf and The Protocols.
Aggh, don't mind me, I was arguing with Creationists again.
6,000 years my ass.
If you want to call Nazism a religion, then I guess I agree with you.
But even as a "Christian", I can't say that the Bible or the Quran doesn't deserve to be picked apart as a literary work.
imclever said:
And while they are at it, can we get an annotated version of the Bible exposing it's fallacies? .
Didn't realize the bibles (any of them) were banned. And books annotating them (as truth or otherwise) abound in droves, so I am not certain what point you are making unless you are just off on an angry rant.
imclever said:
And while they are at it, can we get an annotated version of the Bible exposing it's fallacies? .
Didn't realize the bibles (any of them) were banned. And books annotating them (as truth or otherwise) abound in droves, so I am not certain what point you are making unless you are just off on an angry rant.
Yeah, fresh off dealing with a guy that has his brain stuck in the 15th century.
Not banned, but definitely the source of much pain and suffering. Would anyone care about Mein Kampf if Hitler and the Nazis had not killed over 6 million people? Probably not.
As for Nazism being a religion (for OhSoOrdinary), it contained much of the emotional appeal and dogmatic approach that many religions have used successfully. What is the difference between a political cult of personality and a successful religious movement?
I feel that it's important to expose everything. This is kind of the Buddhist way of dealing with shit. Just bring it right out in the open where we can all get a good look at it.
I think there's bound to be trouble from either banning stuff or exposing it. But I think in the long run exposing it is always the better option.
I'm Jewish, and while I wish the book had never existed, I also wish the Holocaust had never happened. That said, I do not believe the Holocaust should be ignored and buried, quite the contrary I believe it should be taught in graphic detail.
As such, it would be hypocritical of me to say mk should not be published. There is no reason to fear such an illogical argument, and anyone who would take the book to heart is already evil to begin with.
In other words, sure, publish it. There's nothing wrong with seeing inside the head of a deranged madman, and if you're going to become that fucked up from it then you probably were anyways.
Oh yeah, and if you spew that shit to my face I'll knock you into low orbit, but that's a separate issue :p
imclever said:
And while they are at it, can we get an annotated version of the Bible exposing it's fallacies? Might as well toss in the Koran too. Those two books are as responsible for just as much (if not more) evil and hatred than Mein Kampf and The Protocols.
I can remember a lot of kids being really impressed with themselves over having copies of stuff like the Satanic Bible or the Anarchist Cookbook in school. There's definitely a strong pull towards the taboo for many of us, especially when we're young. I certainly put too much stock in some dubious ideas and sources of information simply because they were frowned upon.
I can't imagine what kind of allure an illegal book would have held, or what kind of stock I might have put into the ideas it contained just because some authority figure thought you shouldn't have it.
imclever said:
And while they are at it, can we get an annotated version of the Bible exposing it's fallacies? Might as well toss in the Koran too. Those two books are as responsible for just as much (if not more) evil and hatred than Mein Kampf and The Protocols.
Aggh, don't mind me, I was arguing with Creationists again.
6,000 years my ass.
If you want to call Nazism a religion, then I guess I agree with you.
But even as a "Christian", I can't say that the Bible or the Quran doesn't deserve to be picked apart as a literary work.
Not trying to undermine your argument, but you DO realize that there are Bible-As-Literature classes in some schools, right?
And on that note, I hate when people say the Bible is "The Word Of God" when it was written by men thousands of years ago, who thought that the world ended outside of a few countries.
Also, a lot of people treated "Nazism" basically like it was a religion. Like with a lot of religions, a lot of children had no choice in growing up with that "ism" as their truth.
Who knows what this professors intentions really are, but the point is true that Mein Kampf shouldn't be veiled in mystique. It should be openly published and openly criticized, so anybody can read it and think: "Wow, what a bunch of crap."
Adding a "critical evaluation of the text" seems rather juvenile to me.
Go all out, publish the God Damned thing, and then buy stock in pepto-bismol because the nausea frequency of the populace is about to sky-rocket.
Don't blunt the message, don't cut down on the pain, don't tip-toe around so as to avoid hurting someone's feelings. let the bare, raw, disgusting truth of the issue shine through so that we can see just how fucked up the thing is. That way there wont be any leeway for people to justify increasingly less moderate beliefs in favor of moral bankruptcy.
Almost no one read Mein Kampf when it was written. One could argue that if more people had, it might have shed some light onto the motivations and intentions of Hitler and the Third Reich, and possibly have prevented a great deal of suffering.
I think the same holds true today. Creating a mystique around the book is probably more dangerous than the book itself, as the book is unintelligible garbage. It would be better to let people read it and discover that, rather than continue to believe there's something special and powerful about it.
I tried reading mein kampf. I found it to be unreadable. It seemed to me a babbling collection of ridiculous conspiracy theories, and baseless accusations.
IPOD
RADIO
Rahodeb
Los Angeles, CA
March 2006
JUL 27, 2007 02:00 PM