Why War? Conclusion Part 2
By Richard E. Noble
Somewhere along the line here we must discuss the nature of dominance.
The dominant tendencies of the human beast seems to begin in the cradle. The baby screams, kicks and yells to get its needs and/or desires satisfied. Adolf is without doubt a character study of a dominant personality. He accuses the masses of being sheep, but the true inspiration of his call is one of dominance. Come follow me and 'we' will dominate over all others. The appeal of all Militaries is much the same. No one joins a military organization to serve or live the life of a follower. They only serve long enough to earn credentials to command. In the Military structure we have the perfect picture of a society where everyone is in position to be considered better than somebody else, at least in hopes and aspirations. I consider it to be the antithesis of the democratic spirit, and I find it totally inconsistent with my interpretation of the American democracy. My question is; is this desire to dominate a basic part of the genetic character? Is it a part of all of us?
Am I writing this book because, in truth, I have the innate desire to have my opinions become dominant? I personally don't think so. I think that I am writing this in order to discover what my true opinions are, and at the same time provide an insight for anyone who may be interested in this same subject matter. But if no one else ever reads this work, I am more than personally satisfied to have completed it for my personal well being. I also have the 'artistic' desire to record my own personal thought processes, because I have always considered that the most interesting part of my individual being. I have spent the most of my life in the contemplation of my own thoughts. It was a great discovery of mine to find in books, other people who had the same fascination. I have always considered myself to be a thoughtful animal, and analyzing the nature of these thoughts to bring myself to a greater understanding of myself has always been my chief occupation. Writing is not a complete ego trip for me. It is not entirely directed towards the reader. It is a personal record and organization of the notions that pass through my mind, most, of which, I realize is not totally astounding, but it is all that I have. I am a person who thinks in words. My words are my thoughts.
In my personal life overcoming the dominant tendencies of those about me, I have considered a never ending plague. But, I have not found in every relationship that dominance is the main goal of all those who wish to be involved with others. In our business lives, and our occupations it takes a stronger hold. In the true loves of our lives, if it becomes a factor, the affair will usually end in disaster. I think that this is not only true of our love affairs with people but also of our affairs of love in the Arts, sciences and personal interests. Once it becomes a competition, it loses its joy, at least for me.
If we are genetically designed to seek dominance, does this mean that it is the proper direction? Or, as with sex and other natural inclinations, it is something to be controlled and kept in a proper balance with the same inclinations on the part of others? Certainly if all of us are driven to dominate one another, and we all choose this as our natural right, and proper direction, we will all constantly be in a state of never ending war. If peace is to be our goal then compromise on this issue must be a part of any over all plan whose direction is harmony and not war. Studying the Jew in Germany is, in many ways, analogous to the study of the black in the United States.
Why the Jews?
At the start of this book I was not very familiar with the history of the Jewish people. As the book has progressed I have been reading some on the subject. With this perspective of history, why Adolf picked out the Jews seems less baffling.
Picking on the Jews in Germany does seem to be somewhat of a National tradition. The German hatred of the Jews goes way back into German history, and has always been cruel, if not totally brutal. Adolf seems to have gotten his script right from Frederick the second. But Martin Luther, all the way back in the 1500's, didn't have a lot of nice things to say about the Jews, and how they should be treated either.
Jewish persecution in general seems to go back about as far as we can go back. Being the new religion on the block, they were first suppressed by the Egyptians. In fact, it seems that their whole idea was pretty much a protest against the Egyptian established order. Their leader and law giver was Moses. The original Jewish religion, at least according to the Jews began with God Himself in the Garden of Eden when He created Adam, the First Jew, and Eve his wife. So the first man ever to be was Adam, and he was a Jew. Well, actually I guess he was 'The Jew.' In any case, how we get from the Garden of Eden to being an organized or at least identified group of slaves living in Egypt is a long story. But, at this point, even before Moses we have these Jews living in persecution and slavery in Egypt. It would be my guess that they were side by side with a whole bunch of similarly engaged non Jews. For the most part it seems that in the beginning there was religious persecution. The dominant view was pagan or multiple gods. An Egyptian ruler, Ikhnaton, it seems came up with the notion of there being only one God, which I guess was he himself. Moses, via a legacy and tradition from Abraham, expanded this idea into a ONE God who was also invisible, and not a representative of the human form. Moses was kind of the Tom Paine of his time I guess. He is credited by one historian that I've read as being the first Jewish labor leader. He organized Jewish brick layers working for the Pharaoh to go on strike.
We continue with pagan rulers persecuting non-believers, of which the Jews were but one of many. This seems to go right up to the time of Constantine who then performs the miracle of turning the Christians into the persecuting class. At this point it seems that the Jews are the only living dissenters, or the main group who persist in denying that Jesus Christ had once again returned God to a human status of an Ikhnaton. My guess would be that there were a slew of other minorities who didn't accept this dogma, but the Jews seem to stand out in their non-conformity on this issue at that time. So it seems that they took a pretty good beating.
As time went on the Christians got more and more belligerent and not only beat up on Jews because they denied the fundamental principle of their Christian polytheistic notions of faith, but even went so far as to label the Jews as the one true God's murderer. From there on there was a number of centuries of back and forth with regards to the Jews from the dominant Christians. Then, with great luck for the Jews, the Moslems came along and then a few centuries later the Christians even began arguing among themselves. True to human form they began to unmercifully kill one another. For a good time after that it seemed pretty much a free for all. It is hard to determine an exact body count for the purposes of determining an overall winner. The Jews being sort of a neutral in these arguments, just kind of migrated around to whoever seemed the most understanding, or at least the most occupied in killing somebody else. It seems that the bottom line with regards to hatred and persecution of the Jews stems from religious opinion and disagreement.
As time went on the Jews, like the American Indian, kept being pushed into territory steeped in gold, silver, bingo parlors and gambling casinos - their ostracism actually becoming their benefactor.
First in the Christian Feudal system there was not much room for a middle class. The Princes had their castles and the peasants had their hoes and rakes. The Princes wanted to keep things that way. They didn't want the peasants learning to do anything other than till the soil, tend their sheep and pay their taxes. But who would make the hoes and the rakes and do all of those little cleaver things that the peasants didn't have time for? The Princes in their desire to keep the peasants barefoot and pregnant farmed out these middlemen tasks to the Jews. As time went on the Jews learning from the Princes, I would guess, also began to prosper off the labor of the peasants, and the peasants didn't like it one bit. Eventually they took these Jewish areas over for themselves. Before you knew it there was a struggling middle class, and the Princes were now in trouble.
After the Jews got pushed out of this area, they were then backed into the money business. It seems that the religious morality of the day felt that loaning money and charging interest on that money was sinful. The Jews were then once again pushed into another lucrative business, or a business that they made lucrative. In any case, they prospered once again, while all the while living as outcasts, and being considered by the Christian community as degenerate and inferior. By the time Adolf came along a whole tradition of stereotypes and prejudices had been saddled onto the Jews. Adolf took these stereotypes and prejudices and elevated them to a new intensity. It does seem that all of the adaptations of the Jews that were necessitated by their minority status over the centuries in their struggle for survival, (separateness, clannishness, secretiveness, unwholesome living standards, their peculiar religious beliefs, their ability to earn and hide their money from the community at large, intermarriage, their non-national attitude along with their international connections with fellow Jews who had settled elsewhere) were all now turned against them, and defined as evil and un-Christian and therefore un-Godly and finally the ultimate in un-Godliness - demon-like.
But Adolf had a whole slew of reasons for hating the Jews. It was not only their lack of Christianity, their Christ killing tendencies, and the fact that they were too damn smart and prosperous for their own good. They were also the November criminals, who with their anti-nationalistic, unpatriotic bolshevist, communist babble, had undermined the War effort and turned the German people against themselves. They were the leaders and wielders of the dagger that had stabbed every loyal German in the back. They had turned Germany into an occupied country of slaves and the defeated and dejected. They made the sacrifices of him and his comrades on the battlefields of World War I, a thing of disgrace and shame. For these reasons and possibly other psychological and personal feelings that I have not completely investigated, he determined that this whole race of Jews could and should be exterminated.
I can only believe that he got his love for killing from his indoctrination, conditioning, personal experience, and "on the job training" in World War I. Why one experiences killing, murder and horror and embraces it, while another has the very same experiences and is repulsed by it, I attribute to the 'Unknown.' Whether it is in the genes, the soul, or the intellect will maybe someday be determined. I can only deal with the intellect and reason. Passion, hatred, revenge, retribution, irrationality, we all understand these things. We see them every day - the mind of the terrorist, the mass murderer, the criminal in general. But a bigger question is how are 'we the people' led to follow and conform to the teachings of the irrational and insane among us? How did Adolf convince a whole nation? It happened. And there are just too many similarities between them and us and me and you, for my liking.
How Adolf?
How he did it? How he convinced and intimidated others? Who provided his financial support? What circumstances led to the success of his brand of insanity? What can we do to avoid a repeat of this in our future?
As with everyone's life story, but for a turn here or a twist there, Adolf might never have been. Winston Churchill, in "The Gathering Storm" points out numerous intervals along the path of the Gathering Storm at which Adolf could have been stopped, and the strong possibility that he may have even been removed from office. But he wasn't, and as time passed he got more supporters and individuals who went along with his brutal interpretation of existence.
I am personally convinced that more important than Adolf's personality, or his philosophy, or his public speaking ability, and all other factors that are attributed to his success, including his hypnotic and mesmerizing capacities, without monetary backing Adolf would have been just another street corner, soapbox political philosopher.
The War circumstance provided an enthusiastic listening audience in the disgruntled war veterans, but there can be no doubt that the German disposition towards Militarism, and anti-Semitism was historically well established. In other words, Adolf didn't say anything that the German people weren't historically accustomed to hearing. The reconstruction of the German military industrial complex was well under way long before Adolf hit the big time. He did bully and push his way to become the leader of the disorganized masses, but from there he was selected and carried into the upper ranks of the establishment. I certainly don't think that Adolf was a Swingali who molded the putty of the German people into his own creation. He was a traditional, conservative spokesmen from the German political right, who did his best to read his people wishes, and provide to their ears what he thought that they wanted to hear. Nevertheless, without the influx of big money, and 'little' money initially, he would have gone nowhere. For my dollar, the real story of Adolf Hitler lies in the question; Who financed Adolf Hitler. These people are the real war criminals of World War II. From my point of view, they are still at large and have never been brought to justice. At this moment I do not look at these people as the innocent victims of a surreptitious and mysterious demon. These people should have their names and their positions defined in the history books of this last century. I hope at least that one day their names and reputations will be brought before the world and the nefarious part that they played in our history will be made public. I have the feeling that when this information is made public the revelation will be shocking, and this type of information will give us more incite into the question of - Why War? - than all of our social, psychological, and philosophical inquiries to date.
The Fact of Bolshevism as being a major stepping stone or prop used in the ascendancy of Adolf, I don't think can be denied. Communist Marxist Socialism and the Russian Revolution are possibly the main ingredients in Adolf's formula for success. Fighting Communism provided Adolf with his rhetoric and political platform, and more than likely the sources for his campaign financing.
Two areas of inquiry that I intend to pursue are 1) Who financed Adolf, and where his money came from. And 2) The influences of Marxism and the Socialist movement on World War I.
My questions are, was World War I a classist war? A War precipitated by the wealthy and the super wealthy as an attempt to stem the tide of rising Marxist-Socialism throughout the world? Secondly, if this is true, was World War II only more of the same? When World War I failed in its preventative attempt to stem the tide of social, political reformation via the seeming success of Russian Bolshevism, along with the German November Revolution, and the leftist labor movements agitating all over the world? Did those whose security was directly threatened, namely the "rich and the wealthy" perpetrate and precipitate World War II also? Adolf Hitler merely being their front man, turned nemesis? The Cold War then being merely the logical perpetuation of the established pursuit of the "rich and the famous" to quell and silence the opposition with propaganda as opposed to bombs and bullets, temporarily?
If this in fact be the case, then realizing this how do we go about creating a philosophy or understanding of these passions that will lead to a peaceful reconciliation for mankind? I think that even knowing the worst, a possible peaceful solution is possible. The real problems come from being misinformed and trying to perpetuate a lie. I believe that it is necessary to come to the bottom of the truth because without the truth as a goal and guide all paths lead in circles around nowhere.
I am certainly not naive enough to believe that Joseph Stalin was just a nice guy who was misunderstood by right wing paranoids. But F.D.R., I have read, felt that Stalin was a man that could be dealt with, while Truman and his backers thought otherwise.
Our struggles with Communism have led us down a very confusing path. If my guess is correct we supported a host of horrors in this cause. This support began with Adolf Hitler because of his anti-Russian, anti-Communist position. We all know today what kind of a man Adolf was. We then backed Chiang kai-shek in China because he was anti-Communist. He, according to History, turned out to be not only incompetent, but deceptive, underhanded, ruthless, and corrupt. Even General Marshall advised Truman to dump that bum.
We then went to Sigmon Rey in Korea, which again seemed to be a rather disgraceful choice. We followed that with Batista in Cuba, a man who had turned Cuba into a Gambling Casino and whorehouse for the super wealthy all over the world, but especially the United States. Somewhere along this anti-communist path we had the C.I.A. install the Shar of Iran in that country - a man who, as we are all well aware today, did not win the good will and loving support of his people. We seemed to have acted in a similar manner in Guatemala, and Nicaragua. Then, of course, do I even need to mention the Diem regime in Vietnam, or Marcos in the Philippines. I imagine that if I knew more of our past foreign policy I could add more names to this list. We also have an organization today, that again because of this anti-Communist attitude, has sapped us of any moral high ground on almost any issue - the C.I.A. This little group has accomplished and participated in everything from assassinations to torture. They are even suspect of murders and assassinations in our own country, possibly even an involvement in the killing of a president of the United States. This type business going back to, at least, the Eisenhower and Nixon administration. Kennedy, who followed, seemed to have no problem when it came to these type tactics.
My point is why are we not arguing with Communism and Socialism on an intellectual level, rather than pursuing these horrible alternatives supposedly in the name of freedom. Whose freedom?
Historically? Theologically? Philosophically?
Historically I don't think that it can be denied that Adolf was a traditional Christian in his outlook. In the tradition of say Constantine, Philip Augustus, St. Louis IX, Edward I, Ferdinand and Isabella, Martin Luther, Philip II of Spain, Maria Theresa of Austria, Frederick II of Prussia, Elizabeth Petrovna of Russia, Alexander III of Russia, Nicholas II of Russia, Fredrick II and Wilhelm II of Germany. We only have to look briefly at the reigns of these Christian rulers and the Christian Crusades, and the Christian Inquisition, to understand that there has always been an anti-Semetic and belligerent faction to the notion of historical Christianity. Somehow this always seems to get forgotten when we examine the motivation behind Adolf. We would like to make him out as some sort of anomaly as opposed to 'the same old, same old,' but the facts are otherwise. Certainly he was a belligerent Christian traditionalist in his attitude towards Jews, and possibly militarism and aggression ...onward Christian soldiers! don't we forget. The evidence of Christianity in their Nazi movement is also evident in today's position of right wing racial extremist who always seem to have "Christian" as a part of their title.
Philosophically, Adolf is always teemed up with Nietzsche. He was certainly an egotist, and took great pride in himself and his personal achievements. Ayn Rand, right wing Christian and Moral Majority supporters, Capitalistic individualists and even the Republican Party stalwarts would have a great deal of difficulty separating themselves philosophically from Adolf. Much of their defenses would undoubtedly be in matters of degree and not substance. I don't think that Adolf was as much a philosopher as he was a pragmatic politician and power seeker. It is also certain that he had or thought of himself as having some sort of messianic mission. This becomes more than evident in his eventually proclaiming himself Fuhrer and requiring the army to vow its allegiance to him personally, as opposed to the State, or the Nation. He was a modern day Caligula, or Alexander, equal in ambition, and madness.
I think that analyzing this work has been a good experience for me. It has certainly put a lot of things in perspective, and I hope for you. My guess is that there will be much for people to disagree with in this work. Yet, I don't think that I have made any connection that is not corroborated logically and reasonably, and with backing historically.
Book two of Mein Kampf would involve another five hundred pages of analysis, but until and if I find someone in the future interested in publishing this work, I think that I will continue with other endeavors. Adolf has certainly been a trip, one that mankind would have been better off without. Unfortunately, there he is and here he is today, in all of our arguments, in our politics, in our religions, in our military attitudes, and in our moral judgments. These are facts which I think we should all be aware of, and possibly keep in our view as we make our decisions and policies in the future. If we can bring ourselves to an awareness of our disagreements with Adolf, we can't help but be heading in the right direction. It is unfortunate that far too many of us defy Adolf as a mad man and manic, but mouth his rhetoric in our daily lives. Just as many a Christian praises Jesus as the Prince of Peace all day Sunday and then wreck havoc against his teachings all week long. Demonizing Adolf, in my opinion, has had the same effect as the divination of Jesus Christ. In a way, it pigeon-holed, compartmentalized and dissipated what each of them really had to say. It turns them both into types of gods, as opposed to very human philosophers with very human messages to convey to their contemporaries.
