Hmmm interesting. A quick reading of "Thus Spoke Zarathustra" reveals that Nietzsche was SICKENED and disgusted by the rising tide of German Nationalism. He viewed subscribing to other forces outside of one's self...whether it be religion, or GROUP PRIDE or nationalism, as a form of weakness. To him, strength comes from the INDIVIDUAL not invented fairy tales of group superiority or group history or church doctrine.
The Nazis just misused his keyphrases like the Triumph of the Will and the concept of the Ubermensch the same way they perverted the ancient Hindu symbol of the swastika.
For a more academic discussion of this (old and debunked) linking, check out, for example:
http://www.randomhouse.com/schocken/...1&view=excerpt
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jenny S.
This board is getting more and more sophisticated every day!
There is a downside with Nietzsche, though. Both, Nietzsche and Hegel inspired Hitler in the respect that superior men are not bound by social moral codes.
"The strong men, the masters, regain the pure conscience of a beast of prey; monsters filled with joy, they can return from a fearful succession of murder, arson, rape, and torture with the same joy in their hearts, the same contentment in their souls as if they had indulged in some student's rag.... When a man is capable of commanding, when he is by nature a "Master," when he is violent in act and gesture, of what importance are treaties to him?... To judge morality properly, it must be replaced by two concepts borrowed from zoology: the taming of a beast and the breeding of a specific species."
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