RE: Germans arn't evil
By Polly_Scy

OK, I've watched this off and on all day, and decided it's time to weigh in.

First, since I rarely post any more, let me introduce myself. I'm a pedandic pain in the ass. I say that because I find very hard to take seriously the arguments of someone who can't manage to spell even when he has multiple tries. Try to get a handle on that double post thing, okay? Since I'm a professor of political science (and occasionally wander over to the History department to teach Russian and East Europeaqn History) it goes with the territory. And since I have on occasion, also taught a seminar on ethics, I have been interested in the evolution of this discussion.

You complain about Odie's generalizations, but you seem to have made more than a few yourself. ZB, Americans did NOT invent racism, thank you very much. In fact, having spent months at a stretch in Europe, and in Germany in particular, working on my doktor arbeit, I can say with a good deal of confidence that bigotry is alive and flourishing on that Continent. Asia has it. Japanese prison camps were notorious for their treatment of westerners, as well as "inferior" Asians. Unlike Germany (sorry about this one, Odie) which does indeed teach the history of the war, Japan refuses even today to acknowledge its part in atrocities such as the Rape of Nanking, the Korean comfort women, the medical "experimentation" on live (sort of) POWs, und so weiter. Africa has it. Latin American has it. I detect just the tiniest whiff of anti-American bigotry from your own direction. Gee, is there a pattern emerging here? Could it be that wherever you go, there are bound to be a few jerks? The difference is whether or not you let the jerks get the upper hand and how far you are willing to go to prevent it.

Your grandfather's resume sounds most impressive, which in my mind only makes it worse. Why? Because he knew (or shold have known) better. He made a deal with the devil (metaphorically, don't jump down my throat) and believed he could keep his hands clean by selective participation. I imagine that his experiences in the war were a formative factor in his later development, and his determination to lead a productive and ethical life is informed in part by his understanding that he, and most of his countrymen, must share Germany's guilt.

My mother's family descended from the Lees and Taylors, including General Robert E Lee. I've never understood why the General gets a pass. The whole "America's most beloved General" thing mystifies me. He did the wrong thing (fighting to advance an immoral cause) for the right reason (loyalty to his family and his home.) That makes his actions even worse because he knew better. It was the classic no win scenario. Few of us are confronted with such troubling choices. Here in the US and Canada, it's often because the choice was made by our ancestors. They left their homelands for a variety of reasons, incuding a refusal to lend passive or active support to causes and ideas they deemed wrong.

There are two kinds of ethical obligations: utilitarian and affirmative. The affirmative obligation says it's not just enough to refuse to do wrong; one must actively (affirmatively) do what it right. And yes, that is indeed the source of the phrase affirmative action. Your grandfather fell into the trap of making tiny compromises with his conscience (I'll follow this order, but not that one; I'll be less responsible for the bad things happening if I don't become an officer). Refusing to engage in immoral acts while employed in an immoral enterprise doesn't get you off the ethical hook. Imagine making that argument for a criminal! "I didn't shoor the guard ot help in the bank robbery, I just drove the getaway car. And I stopped at all the red lights and never went over the speed limit and the way back to our hideout."

How much sacrifice do we expect of "ordinary" people? Should your grandfather have risked his life? His family? Deserted? Defected? That's not for me to say. But it can't be denied that he was navigating an ethical minefield, as were all the German citizens who shut their eyes and did nothing to stop evil even if they didn't actively participate in it.