Re: Springtime for Hitler

Daryl DeBell writes: "I have to agree with Christopher Jones that "phoney (sic) Hollywood" i.e. Chaplin, created a parody of Hitler, but, to me at least, at the time Hitler was a parody of himself. My understanding at the time was that Americans generally could not take such a strutting, grandiose figure seriously. To their regret perhaps, neither could Chamberlain and other statesmen at the time. The great difficulty with international relations is that totalitarianism and the power that is implicit in it is intoxicating not only to the leaders but also to the followers. It creates a pathological, pernicious fantasy of purity and perfection, with idealization of those false virtues and virtual dehumanization or 'others'. I am willing to call Hitler a monster along with Stalin and Saddam Hussein, to keep it a short list; unfortunately they are all still human. So were Calvin and the perpetrators of the Inquisition. Zeal and self-righteousness are fairly good predictors of monstrosity. North Korea appears to be following an eerily similar path, minus the racial features so far as I'm aware, but they are small potatoes compared to Germany. Christopher Jones's report sounds suspiciously like an effort to initiate an apology for Hitler; with me that will not wash".

RH: "Phoney" also spelt "phony" is sad to come from Forney, the name of a man ho made cheap jewelry. Calvin is an interesting case. He was very scholarly and led a virtuous life.  However, the two tubs of wine which the city of Geneva gave him in addition to his salary did not have a mellowing effect, He exiled or executed his critics such as the Unitarian Michael Servetus. I never heard this discussed in Geneva,  Calvinists, i.e.also Presbyterians, try to excuse this by saying it was part of the mores of the time.  Horrible as it was, the Inquisition has been blown up by Spain's Black Legend.  When I was a small boy in England, in school we read a short story by Edgar Allan Poe (was it "The Pit and the Pendulum"?) which gave a ghastly account of the tortures of the Inquisition. No wonder the English and Americans subscribed to the Black Legend.  The Inquisitors undoubtedly drank more tubs of wine than Calvin.  I suppose wine brings out the basic character of an individual.  If I impress you as being  hopelessly mild, attribute it to the red wine I got into the habit of drinking in countries where the water is unsafe.