Comments on: What would you do?

By: Robert James Basil Duigan

Robert James Basil Duigan — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 07:58:23 +0000

The strange part is that before the war, the Germans were not known for their antisemitism per se, given that the majority of Europe had similar ideas (the pogroms in E. europe, etc). It was only because of the effects of war on the psyche that we now reject antisemitism (let me explain): We deliberately, in any war situation, make out the enemy to be evil. Thus, we reject all his ideological foundations. Because the Germans excercised theirs to an incredible extent between 1940-45 (when they started the concentration camps), we reject them.
But can you imagine if the second world war never happened, and people were never shown the horror that racism can cause? Europe would be to this day excercising antisemitic legal practises.
Perhaps Im getting too academic here, but my point is that we reject an ideology only when its perpetrators are enemies. Like with apartheid. Once the NP government dissolved, it became the enemy, which is clearly for the best. It’s dominant ideology: the basic ideologies of the ruling class become the basic ideologies of the public.
It takes an exceptional and questioning mind to escape this, and you can tell from how few Germans opposed the third reich.

By: Paul Whelan

Paul Whelan — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 08:58:30 +0000

Liza/Jennifer

The experiment is well known.

What you might find it more profitable to consider is not the ones who did what they were told, but the ones who refused.

By: Soap Boxing

Soap Boxing — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:51:03 +0000

I would suggest that you listened to the voice of the train announcer as he should have been the voice of information…just like the success of the Hitler propoganda machine…it had eveyone believing that what he said was correct and jusitfiable, no matter how hainous
Unfortunately, it took a long time before the majority of South Africans acted against the attrocities of Apartheid, and it is going to take a long time before the majority acts against the BMW loving, corrupt ANC government.
As for the gnome exhibition, I actually quite liked its tongue and cheeky approach…the poor Germans are still today paying for the sins of one man, a flawed genius!

By: Jennifer Thorpe

Jennifer Thorpe — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 11:13:24 +0000

Liza, I’ve actually seen that experiment. It was part of the documentary. It was very very telling.

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:57:34 +0000

Jen, never underestimate the banality of evil.

By: Franco

Franco — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:08:38 +0000

We are taught from a young age to act in way that is good. To make it easier for us to get on with our lives and not to have to sit and decide over what is right and what is not and not get around to much else, we are also handed an ideology or system, a quick fix, a do it all, with all the answers. For some it is religion, while for others it might be a philosophical view of life and its meaning. The result is, we are used to letting others make our decisions for us. For the most part it works fine, society functions relatively smoothly, but sometimes it develops a cancerous growth, Nazism, Apartheid, Stalinism, etc. that has to be cut out before the whole body is taken over. That is why society needs a free press, with the ability to point out the dangers, while allowing the rest off us the luxury to get on with earning a living and life in general.

By: RubinB

RubinB — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 04:01:30 +0000

Comments about the Brits being conformist (and ourselves being extremist), and the Germans constantly being reminded of their sordid past refer.
We in SA are basically a lawless society. We steal abalone, we smuggle diamonds etc etc, because we feel the relevant laws were made by “another” group to disadvantage “our” group. (English ruling the Afrikaners, Whites ruling the Blacks etc)
The difference between the Germans and the Brits is hard to understand. The Germans are constantly reminded of the holocaust, but nobody reminds the Brits about their concentration camps during the Boer War, which was also not that long ago. (Some of our parents were in those camps!)
So to say that the Brits are conformist is oversimplifying things. They conform when it suits them.The Germans did the same iunder the Nazis.
At least the Germans did apologise. I have never heard the Brits do that.

By: Liza

Liza — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:25:23 +0000

I recommend you read a book called:

Elephants on Acid: And Other Bizarre Experiments
by Alex Boese.

Among lots of interesting and sometimes disturbing experiments, there were some that explored the paradigm of “I was told to do it”.

A number of people were told to inflict “torture” on another person (this involved pressing a button which was supposedly administrating an electric shock to an actor), by an authoritative figure wearing a white hospital coat. It was found that a vast, vast majority of people will do what they are told, even though it causes them considerable personal distress to do so. Such is the power of authority on the human psyche.

The proposed explanation is that obedience was bread into humans over the thousands of years, with the “disobedience” gene purposefully bread out.

You can believe or disbelieve the explanation, but the facts remain, humans are as obedient as sheep.

By: Benzol

Benzol — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 19:21:58 +0000

Hugh Robinson: “I find it strange that after 70+ years the German people are constantly reminded of how their forefathers behaved.”

The holocaust “industry” is big business in the US and Europe.

By: MLH

MLH — Sun, 18 Oct 2009 12:20:02 +0000

Oh dear, Hugh. I suppose its possible you’ll no longer be around in another 55 years to see whether overt criticism of white South Africans is still common. But I very much doubt it will have been swept under the carpet. Bad behaviour breeds obsessive reaction and it’s all too easy for the supposed perpetrators to plead lack of political sensitivity after the fact.
I am very aware that if the ANC reacreates an apartheid system (already halfway done), I’ll do what I did last time: condemn it and do very little to stop it. And you?