MovieChat Forums > Triumph des Willens (1935) Discussion > Do most people secretly admire Hitler?

Do most people secretly admire Hitler?


I have a theory. If people really hated someone, they wouldn't talk about him right?

So why then does everyone claim to hate Hitler and see him as the most evil man in history, yet they can't stop talking about him? Hitler is still frequently brought up in the media, used as an example in articles, conversations, debates and is often featured on the History Channel. He is certainly talked about more than Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan, or even Joseph Stalin. In fact, he is probably the most talked about historical figure in America. No one else is mentioned as frequently as Hitler.

Why is that? Is everyone so fascinated by him that they can't forget him?

I have a hunch. I think that most Americans secretly admire Hitler and even like him. They just won't say so in public because it's taboo to say that. That's why they talk about him so much and reference him a lot.

Somehow, Hitler has a certain magnetism and charisma. He represents a certain strength and unity that doesn't exist in America and that people deep down wish they had, especially since they've been brainwashed to feel weak and worthless inside. He also had a "unifying effect", the ability to unify everyone, in a way that could never be done in America and never has been done. Somehow, people probably admire that and praise him for it deep down inside.

What do you think? Do many or most people secretly admire and like Hitler, but won't dare to admit it? I think it's very plausible.

I did a poll about this in my forum to test out my theory, and the poll confirmed it. Most people in my forum voted anonymously that they secretly admired Hitler.

See here:
http://www.happierabroad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19740


http://www.happierabroad.com - The Overseas Solution to Datelessness in America

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Very interesting question. This student of history would suggest that there are more people that do admire Hitler than are willing to admit it.

No doubt that history seems to admire men that are responsible for the death of millions. Napoleon, Julius Caesar, and Alexander the Great are all recognized as great men for doing pretty much the same thing as Hitler did, conquering other people. Gengis Khan not so much in Western History no doubt due to the racial factor. Attila the Hun seems to get a bad rap because he was feared by the Romans, the civilization we Americans seem to hold in the highest regard.

Perhaps not enough time has elapsed for historians to place Hitler and Stalin in their proper objective place in the history of the human race.

Being a mass murderer certainly does not seem to be an impediment. On the contrary, somehow it is many times viewed as a plus over the course of time.

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Yeah....but that statement is obvious...THER was a TON to admire hitler for........the problem is two fold though, one millions of innocent people were murdered under his watch...AND, HE LOST THE WAR.

A VICTOR in ww2, stalin made hitler look like Micky mouse as far as murder is concerned and he gets away relatively unscathed in the annals of history.

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[deleted]

Well...you'd have to stand in line......but people in general don't really give a *beep* about others when they are getting the *beep* end of the stick....

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WW,

You seem to have a particular interest in this subject.

Perhaps the OP just wants to reach out for some sense of community.

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[deleted]

I must say, your theory, along with your logic, are rock solid. The theory even moreso because you conducted a very scientific and not at all moronic experiment involving a poll you conducted on a random internet forum that you supposedly run or something. I presume all the people who took part in your poll were American which would clearly support your declaration of fact that most Americans secretly admire Hitler for.....what exactly? Committing genocide? Ruining the country he proclaimed to love? Being a big fat liar with terrible fashion sense? Being a drug addict who was far from being an Aryan super man himself? Or was it the always admirable quality of cowardice? Oh, that's right, people who admire him won't reveal why they do because racists and anti-Semites are a thoughtful bunch who wouldn't dare share their feelings on the internet because that might be offensive.

By your logic, Americans (the hell are we being singled out?) secretly admire serial killers, rapists, pedophiles, murderers, terrorists and the Kardashians because those people are talked about constantly. I doubt that this information will actually penetrate that hard candy shell you lovingly call a skull but in actuality, most humans are fascinated by taboo subjects such as murder and are especially enamored with people in positions of power. For the most part, it has sh*t all to do with admiration and everything to do with morbid curiosity. It stands to reason that Hitler is still spoken of today (though certainly not on the obsessive level you seem to think it occurs). He was the leader/architect of mass genocide and the main reason the entire planet went to war. His and the Nazis' actions literally the course of history. People who impacted the world, whether good or bad, are generally remembered and spoken of. That's the main reason why people get into politics.

But I'm sure you know all this and just wanted to show off that nifty poll you created. Must have been a real shining moment in your life. Maybe if you're super lucky, people will talk about that poll long after you're dead.



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Divingintheblue may have just written the single most brilliant post I've ever read.

Well said.

It's not admiration, it's a curiosity to understand how something that happened so recently was even possible.

Other than a small percentage of the population like white superemicists, bigots or neonazis admire the monster, nobody else does.

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I would say a very resounding NO!

There is, however, a fascination about a man who was able to seduce an entire nation politically, and rally it out of the depths of the aftermath of WWI, the Versailles Treaty that humiliated and crippled it economically, halt rampant runaway inflation, eliminate high unemployment (not by sending people to concentration camps), eliminate increasing crime, and eliminate very high political instability, then plunge the entire industrialized world (and then some) into a global war lasting six years, and kill millions of Jews, gypsies, Slavs, political opponents, intelligentsia, religious leaders who spoke out against him and others he declared "undesirable" and "sub-human" in the process.

I, for one, would rather we never, ever forget Adolf Hitler and his cronies, lest we allow ourselves to fall into a repetition of what Hitler did, and how he accomplished it. Triumph of the Will gives insight into his charisma and propaganda machine, and how he was able to seduce the overwhelming majority of Germans into supporting him until it was too late to oust him politically. It was, for many, including much of the Wehrmacht's General Staff and Kriegsmarine's Admiralty, the Boiled Frog.

Those who have commented on Josef Stalin being just as evil are exactly correct. He murdered even more people than Hitler did, with anti-Semitic elements in his government that used the periodic purges to do in Jews along with anyone who might be a political threat, and ethnic groups to "Russianize" various non-Russian regions of the Soviet Union (areas of the Ukraine are among them). The reason the Western Allies tolerated him was keeping the Germans busy and the attrition of all their resources on the Eastern Front. The European war cost the UK and US substantially less in manpower and materiel as a result. The price was all of Europe east of West Germany, Austria and Italy, and north of Greece, getting sold out to the Soviets. Churchill and FDR are no heroes in that regard. They made a pact with the Devil incarnate. If there is a lesson that we still haven't learned yet, it's to be careful about who we choose to make alliances with.

John

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People are also fascinated by Charles Manson.

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