A Hypothetical U.N. Encounter
A while ago I was engaged in a discussion were it was suggested that the UN be able to call all the world's leaders to speak before a panel at the UN yearly to give a status report on policy and any issues the world deems worthy of review.
Someone actually thought that it would keep nations and national leaders 'in line'.
I thought about it a while and came up with a scenerio explaining way Germany's actions before and during the Second World War while Hitler himself addressed this wise assembly:
*********************************************
UN: Chancellor, why, in 1934, did you decide to usurp power by combining the offices of Reich President with that of Reich Chancellor?
Hitler: First I'd like to take moment to clarify something: It was not a usurpation of power -it was to reduce government waste and bureaucracy and to centralize authority into one body. Since the Great War Germany had been reduced to a confederacy of bureaucrats all running around claiming this and claiming that as a special interest. Not one had a clear majority, thus no one could ever claim a mandate from the people to do anything. As a result nothing got done in the Weimar Republic at all. Once President Hindenburg, may he rest in eternal bliss, passed away, it was obvious that at that very moment power could be focused and improvements in our failing economy could be made.
UN: So, in other words, you were only doing this for the people?
Hitler: Everything I ever did was for the people, but yes, in order for the people to have a true voice, centralization needed to happen - just like, I'm sure you'll agree, has happened with the U.N.
UN: We're not here to be scrutinized, Chancellor. Please just answer our questions.
Hitler: Of course... my mistake.
UN: You claim all you've done is for the people, how can this be?
Hitler: You speak with only limited knowledge of the situation in Germany during the 1930s, so I don't expect you to understand some points, but I'll do my best to make them clear.
UN: Please do, we are very open-minded.
Hitler: And I thank you for that. First of all, the foundation of any modern society rests in production, so as a result it seemed only natural to open factories in order to employ those who did not have jobs. Since we also had a good deal of coal and iron deposits it also seemed equally as natural to open up steel factories. We made Volkswagen, which for those of you unfamiliar with the wonders of the German language means 'The People's Car'.
UN: Excuse us for interrupting, but you opened up all those ball bearing factories to make cars?
Hitler: At first. But then we realized that we needed to be even more modern, so we decided to make aircraft engines as well. We could not be the first to cross the Atlantic, but we could be the first to do it regularly on a commercial basis. Oh what a boon for the economy that would have been. We also realized that people needed a place to drive these cars, so we rebuilt a number of roads, and created the Autobahn. I did these things for the people.
UN: Well, would you please like to explain the Final Solution to us then?
Hitler: Of course, of course. There was still much unrest in Germany after 1934. We had Communists for example trying to eat away at the very fabric of our nation. I banned the party. Now before you go claiming I took away the rights of people to hear opinions, I would like to mention that more than one voting member in your current Assembly have banned parties, so I do not really think that can be used as grounds for sanctions or dismissal.
UN: No, it is not, but what do the Communists have to do with Jews?
Hitler: what I said about one goes for the other. See, when I called for all the people of Germany to unite, all true Germans did. But the Jews remained in their own small cabals; they acted differently, dressed differently, and had to be in collusion against the will of the German People. Need I remind you of the disproportionate amount of success they were still enjoying despite the turn of the world economy? Did they share; did they attempt to help? With such a strange amount of wealth, we made our own affirmative actions program. Certainly discriminating on the grounds of trying to improve the overall well-being cannot be frowned upon, can it?
UN: Well, no. We do practice it here, and in many civilized nations.
Hitler: Exactly. We all see its wisdom.
Early on there wasn't as much success at taking away those types of people's affluence. They still managed to turn a profit, and in the process they drove hard working, non-cabal members of Deutschland out of business. What can I say, the streets turned against them. We made laws trying to protect the businesses because, and Goering will back me on this one, our insurance industry was taking some severe hits. Of course, in order to properly define whom these laws would protect, we had to make efforts to determine what a Jew was or was not.
The order in which this was done was meticulous I assure you. We assembled and determined these issues accordingly. We were left without option when we finally decided to, in the name of state security, take citizenship away from Jews in general. We hoped it would also curb the tide of street violence. For a while it did well, but eventually more needed to be done. Immigration was a major concern, which is why we deported 17000 Jews back to Poland in 1938. Would you believe that these Jewish terrorists then decided to attempt to assassinate my Ambassador to France? As you can imagine, relations with France were, at the time, strained, however the Jews only got von Rath. Von Rath was our expert negotiator with France, and without him we were forced into hostilities with them later. It would do the UN well to remember that the actions of terrorist Jews killing our knowledgeable diplomat led us into attacking France - we had no other choice.
UN: We were unaware of any such attempt. We condemn such things.
Hitler: I know you do, and I am glad to hear it.
This of course led to more unrest in the streets, and we were forced to take drastic action. ID cards were given to Jews in order to protect them. Luckily we knew they did not have guns since we had taken all such rights away long ago, so protecting them was easier. We had, as does the US, race as a category on the census, we took every step to chart and monitor where people were and how to care for them. Or so we thought. Then came Kristalnacht.
UN: We are familiar with what happened there.
Hitler: We tried to take steps to protect them - the Jews I mean - but it became a matter of public will. If we were to remain a legitimate governing body, we had to listen to what the masses were telling us: The Jews had to go. And so we collected them, confiscated property, and began representing the will of the people once again.
UN: Don't you think you're putting a lot of spin on events?
Hitler: It hurts me that you'd say something like that. We made laws, passed mandates, and were always accountable to the people. Can you say the same about Iraq? How about the Khmer Rouge and Cambodia? Many - countless - were killed there, but no one even lifted a finger there. They did not represent the people; they did not build a society of prosperity. In Germany we were recovering from the Great Depression while the rest of the world lagged behind.
UN: Why did you then go to war?
Hitler: Isn't it obvious to you? We didn't go to war; we were liberating whole nations. First we got back our own lands with our own people and culture - do not forget how large all of Germania, and indeed the Holy Roman Empire was at one point. What about our own people? What about their right to return? We were enjoying success, employment, and technological advancements. Our experimentation helped us in the field of health care, too. Under what authority did we have to keep it all for ourselves? We looked around and saw that no other nations were worthy of simply being handed the formula for success since they were so unable to implement it due to the very nature of their government structure. We had no choice. We asked them to peacefully join us. Their selfish greed resulted in us needing to liberate those people from these corrupt regimes. Is that not what the UN, and it's Peacekeepers try to do all the time?
UN: It's different though, really.
Hitler: Yes, you rarely deliver success. By the end of my term, Germany had a successful economy, a booming industrial base - ask any of those Allies who had to make all those bombing raids on them, we had rockets, jets, standardized parts for engines and weapons. We had the best tanks, the largest ship, people enjoyed a high standard of living, and they were secure until you all ruined it with your hate and fear of things that are different.
UN: Perhaps we have been mistaken.
Hitler: Now that you admit this, a truly open dialogue can begin.
********************
People need to understand that anything can be rationalized into oblivion - we must each have our own convictions and be willing to stand by them. Being open-minded and tolerant is not something to brag about when it can be used as a weapon against those who are not. Some know this but too many do not and they fall into a relativistic trap and are too confounded to be of any use or action.
Someone actually thought that it would keep nations and national leaders 'in line'.
I thought about it a while and came up with a scenerio explaining way Germany's actions before and during the Second World War while Hitler himself addressed this wise assembly:
****************************************
UN: Chancellor, why, in 1934, did you decide to usurp power by combining the offices of Reich President with that of Reich Chancellor?
Hitler: First I'd like to take moment to clarify something: It was not a usurpation of power -it was to reduce government waste and bureaucracy and to centralize authority into one body. Since the Great War Germany had been reduced to a confederacy of bureaucrats all running around claiming this and claiming that as a special interest. Not one had a clear majority, thus no one could ever claim a mandate from the people to do anything. As a result nothing got done in the Weimar Republic at all. Once President Hindenburg, may he rest in eternal bliss, passed away, it was obvious that at that very moment power could be focused and improvements in our failing economy could be made.
UN: So, in other words, you were only doing this for the people?
Hitler: Everything I ever did was for the people, but yes, in order for the people to have a true voice, centralization needed to happen - just like, I'm sure you'll agree, has happened with the U.N.
UN: We're not here to be scrutinized, Chancellor. Please just answer our questions.
Hitler: Of course... my mistake.
UN: You claim all you've done is for the people, how can this be?
Hitler: You speak with only limited knowledge of the situation in Germany during the 1930s, so I don't expect you to understand some points, but I'll do my best to make them clear.
UN: Please do, we are very open-minded.
Hitler: And I thank you for that. First of all, the foundation of any modern society rests in production, so as a result it seemed only natural to open factories in order to employ those who did not have jobs. Since we also had a good deal of coal and iron deposits it also seemed equally as natural to open up steel factories. We made Volkswagen, which for those of you unfamiliar with the wonders of the German language means 'The People's Car'.
UN: Excuse us for interrupting, but you opened up all those ball bearing factories to make cars?
Hitler: At first. But then we realized that we needed to be even more modern, so we decided to make aircraft engines as well. We could not be the first to cross the Atlantic, but we could be the first to do it regularly on a commercial basis. Oh what a boon for the economy that would have been. We also realized that people needed a place to drive these cars, so we rebuilt a number of roads, and created the Autobahn. I did these things for the people.
UN: Well, would you please like to explain the Final Solution to us then?
Hitler: Of course, of course. There was still much unrest in Germany after 1934. We had Communists for example trying to eat away at the very fabric of our nation. I banned the party. Now before you go claiming I took away the rights of people to hear opinions, I would like to mention that more than one voting member in your current Assembly have banned parties, so I do not really think that can be used as grounds for sanctions or dismissal.
UN: No, it is not, but what do the Communists have to do with Jews?
Hitler: what I said about one goes for the other. See, when I called for all the people of Germany to unite, all true Germans did. But the Jews remained in their own small cabals; they acted differently, dressed differently, and had to be in collusion against the will of the German People. Need I remind you of the disproportionate amount of success they were still enjoying despite the turn of the world economy? Did they share; did they attempt to help? With such a strange amount of wealth, we made our own affirmative actions program. Certainly discriminating on the grounds of trying to improve the overall well-being cannot be frowned upon, can it?
UN: Well, no. We do practice it here, and in many civilized nations.
Hitler: Exactly. We all see its wisdom.
Early on there wasn't as much success at taking away those types of people's affluence. They still managed to turn a profit, and in the process they drove hard working, non-cabal members of Deutschland out of business. What can I say, the streets turned against them. We made laws trying to protect the businesses because, and Goering will back me on this one, our insurance industry was taking some severe hits. Of course, in order to properly define whom these laws would protect, we had to make efforts to determine what a Jew was or was not.
The order in which this was done was meticulous I assure you. We assembled and determined these issues accordingly. We were left without option when we finally decided to, in the name of state security, take citizenship away from Jews in general. We hoped it would also curb the tide of street violence. For a while it did well, but eventually more needed to be done. Immigration was a major concern, which is why we deported 17000 Jews back to Poland in 1938. Would you believe that these Jewish terrorists then decided to attempt to assassinate my Ambassador to France? As you can imagine, relations with France were, at the time, strained, however the Jews only got von Rath. Von Rath was our expert negotiator with France, and without him we were forced into hostilities with them later. It would do the UN well to remember that the actions of terrorist Jews killing our knowledgeable diplomat led us into attacking France - we had no other choice.
UN: We were unaware of any such attempt. We condemn such things.
Hitler: I know you do, and I am glad to hear it.
This of course led to more unrest in the streets, and we were forced to take drastic action. ID cards were given to Jews in order to protect them. Luckily we knew they did not have guns since we had taken all such rights away long ago, so protecting them was easier. We had, as does the US, race as a category on the census, we took every step to chart and monitor where people were and how to care for them. Or so we thought. Then came Kristalnacht.
UN: We are familiar with what happened there.
Hitler: We tried to take steps to protect them - the Jews I mean - but it became a matter of public will. If we were to remain a legitimate governing body, we had to listen to what the masses were telling us: The Jews had to go. And so we collected them, confiscated property, and began representing the will of the people once again.
UN: Don't you think you're putting a lot of spin on events?
Hitler: It hurts me that you'd say something like that. We made laws, passed mandates, and were always accountable to the people. Can you say the same about Iraq? How about the Khmer Rouge and Cambodia? Many - countless - were killed there, but no one even lifted a finger there. They did not represent the people; they did not build a society of prosperity. In Germany we were recovering from the Great Depression while the rest of the world lagged behind.
UN: Why did you then go to war?
Hitler: Isn't it obvious to you? We didn't go to war; we were liberating whole nations. First we got back our own lands with our own people and culture - do not forget how large all of Germania, and indeed the Holy Roman Empire was at one point. What about our own people? What about their right to return? We were enjoying success, employment, and technological advancements. Our experimentation helped us in the field of health care, too. Under what authority did we have to keep it all for ourselves? We looked around and saw that no other nations were worthy of simply being handed the formula for success since they were so unable to implement it due to the very nature of their government structure. We had no choice. We asked them to peacefully join us. Their selfish greed resulted in us needing to liberate those people from these corrupt regimes. Is that not what the UN, and it's Peacekeepers try to do all the time?
UN: It's different though, really.
Hitler: Yes, you rarely deliver success. By the end of my term, Germany had a successful economy, a booming industrial base - ask any of those Allies who had to make all those bombing raids on them, we had rockets, jets, standardized parts for engines and weapons. We had the best tanks, the largest ship, people enjoyed a high standard of living, and they were secure until you all ruined it with your hate and fear of things that are different.
UN: Perhaps we have been mistaken.
Hitler: Now that you admit this, a truly open dialogue can begin.
********************
People need to understand that anything can be rationalized into oblivion - we must each have our own convictions and be willing to stand by them. Being open-minded and tolerant is not something to brag about when it can be used as a weapon against those who are not. Some know this but too many do not and they fall into a relativistic trap and are too confounded to be of any use or action.
posted by Edward W. Prather at 09:17
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