Monday, January 12, 2009

Quoting: Adolf Hitler

What luck for rulers that men do not think - Adolf Hitler


Every time in history class, I wondered. 'Don't those Germans had any idea? Couldn't they think at all?' And now I see this quote, quoted by the man himself. Funny.

Could they think? They just had a war of which they were punished. Germany had to pay a lot, really a lot to other countries. So they were angry, they felt treathen unfair, they needed a strong leader. 
Then this small, but persuasive man came up, and said the cause of all these problems. Of course you would believe him, he promised golden times for Germany again!
No, they do not think, men are too driven on emotions to be rational all the time. And for rulers, that is a good thing. Just indoctrinate them with some propaganda, make them believe that what you are going to do is good, and they will follow. The only thing you need is a good strategy.

Men get too much influence from their emotions, so do I. I can get really mad when our government discuss something ('How could they only THINK of that!'). But if I get an explanation by a classmate, or my mum, I understand, and sometimes even agree!
Then, should you try to let go your emotions? Should you just ban them out, and only resolve on ration?
No, that isn't the solution also. It will make you a miserable person, not only to live with, but you will also feel like a miserable person. Interesting to think over more..

Yes, it is a luck for rulers that men don't think. But as a ruler you must be thinking. You must think of your strategy, how you are going to abuse the fact that they don't think.
Or can you learn something to the people of your country, can you learn the people to think? It will take some courage to say 'You don't think'. And some people will not take it lightly, but it can be a greater good..

Perhaps I should become a ruler too, will you listen to me without thinking?

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2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I think about this stuff a lot, I think it's important. No, if you suddenly became a ruler I wouldn't listen blindly to everything you said, Stefan-- but some people definitely would.
There seems to be a great lack of skeptical thinking in the world today, and many many people blindly believe in what "authorities" tell them. Not only political leaders, but movie stars, celebrities... people take advice from people in matters which they have no expertise in, such as celebrities who think they have some scientific opinion (like the anti-immunisation debate in the US, which is ridiculous and is already spreading diseases which people should be immunised from, because people don't immunise their kids, due to listening to crazy celebrities with conspiracy theories...)

People just need to learn how to think. Critical thinking is important, and if everyone did it then someone like Hitler probably wouldn't come into power. (or maybe not, I don't know... other "sins" like greed could still put Hitlers into power...)

But yeah. Thinking is important.

Stefan said...

What you say is so true. Everyone believes anything what the celebrity says.
'Madonna says you only need to drink this kind of water to be healthy, I'm gonna do it!' And they will spend a lot of money on bottles of water, how insane.
And not to start about Tom Cruise and his scientology.
But yeah, it is strange, that if a celebrity say: 'Don't immunise yourself' people actually do it.
Strange, strange, but also really interesting!

Think I'm going to use quoting monday more to start a discussion on these kind of topics.
Thanks for your comment!