The man who has no sense of history is like a man with no ears or eyes.
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Is that line offensive? No matter who said it? Is it threatening? Should it trigger a school shutdown and a complete community meltdown?
That’s what is happening in Nebraska right now…
https://www.wowt.com/2021/02/03/hitler-quote-displayed-in-school-hallway/
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Ahh I think the issue is a certain Austrian was being quoted. Not to invoke Godwins law, but there a bit of a problem here
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So absolutely everything and anything that he said is verboten?
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Beethoven was a real asshole who stole his nephew from the rightful mother. We should stop listening to his music.
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Beethoven was a real asshole who stole his nephew from the rightful mother. We should stop listening to his music.
True, Beethoven’s behaviour towards others was for the most part, unpardonable and horrible. Still, quite unlike the Austrian corporal, he didn’t start a world war or set in motion a genocide that led to the murder of 6 million people because of their race and religion.
So yeah, I would agree that quoting Hitler for inspiration is wholly inappropriate no matter how innocuous the platitude might appear in isolation. Hitler, like Stalin and Mao, are really in a sinister league of tyrants all of their own in history.
Better to quote George Santayana who wrote:
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it” …
Sure it’s less populist and folksy, but it presents the same message and lesson without conjuring the personality and ideology of pure evil.
