[ExI] What is Grace?

[Stathis Papaioannou]

2009/3/10 spike <spike66 at att.net>:
>
>> ...On Behalf Of Stathis Papaioannou
> ....
>>
>> FWIW the Germans in WWII also tried to be "ethical", for the
>> most part following the Geneva Convention regarding treatment
>> of prisoners of war etc. Even the gas chambers were devised
>> as a humane solution for the Jewish problem, in the same way
>> that US states which execute prisoners today try to convince
>> themselves that they are not carrying out "cruel and unusual
>> punishment". The enemy are scum and probably deserve to die,
>> but because we are so noble we will spare them when we can
>> and kill them kindly when we must.
>> --
>> Stathis Papaioannou
>
>
> Stathis, was this really necessary?  Are you telling me you don't get the
> difference between a condemned murderer and Jewish citizens?  Or was this a
> joke that fell flat, some kind of parody or something?
>
> I haven't read the responses yet, but I fear I shall hafta do some
> moderating to quiet the outrage, perhaps kill this thread.  We haven't had
> to do that for a long time here.  Do read over what you posted, think about
> it and offer a commentary if you wish.

The Nazis thought the Jews should be killed, but they wanted to put
them to death "humanely" (at least at the start of the war) because
they wanted to continue thinking of themselves as good people. This
sentiment has been repeated throughout history whenever groups of
people carry out terrible acts. For example, we tend to think that the
guillotine was part of the savagery of the French Revolution, but at
the time it was seen as an innovation that allowed the necessary
unpleasantness of dispatching with the aristocracy to occur in a
civilised way. Is this more shocking than simply believing that the
Nazis and others like them went about their business in the gleeful
knowledge that they were doing evil?


-- 
Stathis Papaioannou