[commanderkai]

http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/e ... semen.html

I just wanted this posted here to show, what I think, is the worst editorial ever typed. Ever.

Quote:

The narrative we're given about Munich is entirely in hindsight. We know what kind of man Hitler was, and that he started World War II in Europe. From the view of 1938, what Hitler was demanding at Munich was not unreasonable, according to the prevailing idea of the nation-state. His claim was that the German-speaking areas of Europe--and ones that thought of themselves as German --be under German authority. He had just annexed Austria, which was German-speaking, without bloodshed. There were two more small pieces of Germanic territory: the free city of Danzig and the Sudetenland, a border area of what is now the Czech Republic.

The bolded part was edited in later, or so I believe. The site that originally caught the quote without it, and I wouldn't think they'd leave it out, plus numerous quotes in the site's own comments also do not have that, either way its still bullshit.

Site I found it on:

http://soundpolitics.com/archives/010742.html

Oh, and I didn't use the original title, since I'm posting it for that chunk of the article, not the article itself.

[BartSimpson]

commanderkai wrote:

http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/edcetera/2008/05/bush_and_his_use_of_appeasemen.html

I just wanted this posted here to show, what I think, is the worst editorial ever typed. Ever.

Quote:

The narrative we're given about Munich is entirely in hindsight. We know what kind of man Hitler was, and that he started World War II in Europe. From the view of 1938, what Hitler was demanding at Munich was not unreasonable, according to the prevailing idea of the nation-state. His claim was that the German-speaking areas of Europe--and ones that thought of themselves as German --be under German authority. He had just annexed Austria, which was German-speaking, without bloodshed. There were two more small pieces of Germanic territory: the free city of Danzig and the Sudetenland, a border area of what is now the Czech Republic.

The bolded part was edited in later, or so I believe. The site that originally caught the quote without it, and I wouldn't think they'd leave it out, plus numerous quotes in the site's own comments also do not have that, either way its still bullshit.

Site I found it on:

http://soundpolitics.com/archives/010742.html

Oh, and I didn't use the original title, since I'm posting it for that chunk of the article, not the article itself.

From the view of 1938, no, what Hitler asked for was not unreasonable. He wanted to unite German speaking people under one government. Given the accent on racial and cultural politics of the time this was rational.

It is with our 20/20 hindsight looking back on this from a multicultural and multiracial 2008 that we refelxively recoil in horror at the suggestion that in another time that people did not share such "enlightened" views.

Who's to say that in 2078 the views of our time won't be considered repugnant?

In any case, what the man said is fundamentally true.

The only people who are getting their panties in a knot over it are those who do not know their history.

[Brenda]

We didn't speak German in Holland. What the hell did he do to that country? BS.
He wanted way way way more than just "unite the German speaking people under one government."

I think you are bagatizizing this little story, Bart.

[Mustang1]

Taylor all over again. This has been re-hashed sooooo many times in history courses, it's a cliche. Hitler WAS unreasonable - even by contemporary geopolitical standards - as his race-based "rationality" was out of step with balance of power dynamics (again, i notice those that comment on this always fail to actually evaluate it in contemporary terms) and legitimate international law.

[Mustang1]

Brenda wrote:

We didn't speak German in Holland. What the hell did he do to that country? BS.
He wanted way way way more than just "unite the German speaking people under one government."

I think you are bagatizizing this little story, Bart.

You're absolutely correct - Lebensraum was hardly "reasonable" and all one has to do is look at its nostalgic Teutonic lore to get an idea of how this policy was one destined to wreck continental havoc

[djakeydd]

blah, blah - blahblahblah

[Brenda]

Very well put comment, Djakeydd. Any thoughts on this?

[djakeydd]

ahhhh??, hitler was a photogenic shmuck, very good with the little kiddies and his dogs in photo ops.

[Brenda]

Ah, I see you edited your post. I wondered why you quoted Mustang1, blah blah-ing.

[Mustang1]

Brenda wrote:

Ah, I see you edited your post. I wondered why you quoted Mustang1, blah blah-ing.

Interesting...

[sandorski]

He could have been reasonable, but chose not to be. Before getting the War started, he did a lot of good for Germany and the German peoples, except for German Jews that is. Krystal Nacht(sp) should have been a red flag of things to come, but unfortunately didn't seem to matter much to those outside Germany.

[travior]

He was just fulfilling his mission: To unite all lands that speak German. He didn't specify if it was lands that currently (in 1938) spoke German or the lands that he would soon force to speak German.

(That was all in humor and sarcasm by the way. I do not claim to defend or rationalize anything the sick bastard did.)

[sandorski]

travior wrote:

He was just fulfilling his mission: To unite all lands that speak German. He didn't specify if it was lands that currently (in 1938) spoke German or the lands that he would soon force to speak German.

(That was all in humor and sarcasm by the way. I do not claim to defend or rationalize anything the sick bastard did.)

[Jovan]

Versailles left Europe in a mess. Thanks to Wilson (mainly), Lloyd George, Clemenceau and Orlando, Europe was a powder keg waiting to explode. I agree that Hitler was unreasonable but, given the nationalism of the time, problems were inevitable. Hungarians in Romania, Austrians in Italy, Albanians in Yugoslavia, etc., it was just a matter of time.