{"id":342,"date":"2025-02-04T08:36:35","date_gmt":"2025-02-04T13:36:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/four.ubfriends.org\/?p=342"},"modified":"2026-10-31T04:31:39","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T09:31:39","slug":"will-we-confront-our-inner-evil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/four.ubfriends.org\/?p=342","title":{"rendered":"Will we confront our inner evil?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2016 I published a short book that expresses my thoughts and reactions to Mein Kampf.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Below are some quotes from my book, Evil: Confronting our Inner Hitler<\/a><\/p>\n

What did the Germans and their leader want?<\/strong><\/p>\n

“One fascinating part of my preparation for writing this book was to send the text of Mein Kampf through various word counters. Exposing the most often repeated words in Hitler\u2019s writing reveals the topics he was most concerned with. Overall, the book repeats nine words most often: people, national, German, state, movement, party, world, struggle, and existence. That, in a nutshell, is what Hitler and his movement wanted\u2014they were struggling to rebuild the nation of Germany in a time of world-wide struggle for existence. They were nationalists who looked for unifying power and got caught up in racism.” [pg. 14]<\/p>\n

Four somewhat surprising desires<\/strong><\/p>\n

Desire for beauty and glory.<\/em> “The first theme of Hitler\u2019s book that struck me was the struggle for pure beauty. At various times in Mein Kampf, Hitler muses on the subject of beauty with an almost love-hate relationship. He seems desperate to find beauty, and if beauty is not possible, destruction is his response. He shares his love for art, painting and architecture with a chip on his shoulder. Hitler express his frustration over two events: his father\u2019s direction for Hitler to become a civil servant and Hitler\u2019s rejection by the Vienna school of Art.” [pg. 19]<\/p>\n

Desire to remove oppression.<\/em> “Right away, Mein Kampf makes one theme clear, with grand irony: oppression will not be tolerated. Hitler refuses to be oppressed, and shares a rather ordinary struggle\u2014he hated his father\u2019s will for him to become a civil servant. Hitler writes of his \u201cimmutable opposition\u201d to his father\u2019s desire for him to be a civil servant. Hitler would not work for the government. He writes that he experienced terrible consequences as he opposed his father, without describing the details of those consequences. Some have mused that Hitler\u2019s evil is rooted in this struggle with his father, and his father\u2019s subsequent abusive treatment. Whatever the case, the struggle with his father\u2019s oppression was most impactful. Hitler wanted to be an artist, struggling against his father\u2019s will. At times, Hitler\u2019s writing reads like a typical teenager\u2019s diary.” [pg. 22]<\/p>\n

Desire for national unity.<\/em> “Any reader of Mein Kampf immediately notices another major theme\u2014Hitler\u2019s desire to unite his country. He hated division, and saw any sacrifice worth the price of unification. Right from the start, we see the struggle to form a united people.” [pg. 26]<\/p>\n

Desire to remove terror.<\/em> “Hitler was afraid of terrorists. His response? Fight terror with terror. It could be said, therefore, that the massive terror invoked by Hitler is matched equally only by his fear. The Third Reich often acted out of a dizzying froth of desire to protect their movement from outside terror. In essence, Hitler and the Reich believed they were the good defenders, the protectors of their nation.” [pg. 29]<\/p>\n

___________________<\/p>\n

Evil: Confronting our Inner Hitler<\/a><\/p>\n

ASIN \u200f : \u200e B01FRM2INW
\nPublisher \u200f : \u200e Yacob & Tomas; 1st edition (April 4, 2016)
\nPublication date \u200f : \u200e April 4, 2016
\nLanguage \u200f : \u200e English<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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