Tuesday, August 14, 2007

We're glad you're dead

(corrected)
I heard on the news this morning that Heinz Barth is dead. He was a Nazi war criminal who makes us hope there is a hell just for him. A very bad man is gone. CLICK
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4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Many people have a difficult time forgiving themselves of relatively minor transgressions. Yet this man forgave himself by saying I have paid long enough. Abhorent! Appalling! No conscience!! As the lady said in the article: No tears shed for this one. Alice

August 15, 2007 at 7:55 PM
Bud said...

That line jumped right out at me, too. Years ago I read a book by Hanna Arendt about Eichmann, another Nazi butcher (Eichmann in Israel ). The subtitle of the book was "The Banality of Evil."

That phrase has stuck with me for a long, long time. I took this to mean that the people who do the greatest evil don't do it because they enjoy it, but just because they expect that of themselves .. it is in the ordinary course of their thinking. This is what they think they should be doing. Barth's comment that he has paid long enough for being an evil man is evidence for this.

I was talking to Bill of WNNCO yesterday and we were marveling at the levels of violence in this community, the sheer coldness of a subculture of violence. The idiocy of it reaches the level of banality, and we find oursel;ves laughing at the crimes becauise they don't otherwise make sense. I think some very bad people do the things they do because this is all they can do. Nothing special about that, is there?

In this town, someone murdered someone else, he says, because the guy was "playin' me." That moral meathead could be Heinz Barth in another time. Just a fool doing what a fool does, much to the sorrow of the rest of us.

August 16, 2007 at 8:39 AM
Anonymous said...

Well said and written.

The violence that occurs in communities, such as ours, is an example of what happens when the fabic of society breaks down. These miscreants are people with no role models in their homes, their heros are people that are paid large amounts of money for doing meaningless things, such as sports figures. In addition we have citizens and leaders who decide to limit the amount of money spent on law enforcement when this is the only thing, in the absence of the previous failings, holding society together.

Again this is a sign of decay when the governing bodies no longer function properly. Government is the sign of civilization. When it fails, so does civilization.

Bill

August 16, 2007 at 11:16 AM
Anonymous said...

Not to excuse in the least what has transpired here in the last two days but to add a small bit of understanding. "Playing with" or "messin' with" encompasses a whole lot more than the literal translation. They entail threats, ridicule, deception and/or deeming/disrespectful behavior. And occasionally just funning. There are a whole lot of kids out there who get their methods of dealing with situations from TV; video games and gangs. Parents and care giviers are working and not/can't monitor as needed. It is insidious and pervasive. One can talk and role play until blue in the face and gain full agree during the discussion but when a situation arises the same old way of dealing comes back instantly. It sure is complicated. Maybe kibutzes like they have in Isreal is a possible solution????? Alice

August 16, 2007 at 11:22 AM

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