Posted: May 07, 2012 11:36 am
by devogue
campermon wrote:
devogue wrote:
CookieJon wrote:
devogue wrote:If you sing a song that millions love, or if you kill the same millions, what difference does it
make?

That all sounds very deep, but if I give you a "Best of Queen" cd, or if I send you off to die a horrible death in a gas chamber, what difference does it make to you?

Now multiply by a million.


The point is that Adolf Hitler and Freddie Mercury, for wildly different reasons, led lives of incredible colour and drama.

I'm removing the people affected by their respective actions from the picture for a moment and looking only at the monumental individual success of their lives in different fields.

I know that might sound distasteful, but I want to get to the crux of the matter - was Adolf Hitler's life (while it existed) and his experiences better, more fulfilling, more worthwhile, than that of nice normal people like you and me?


i don't think that we can remove those affected when considering the question of how worthwhile a life has been.

Perhaps we can assign some sort of objective measure? Perhaps the amount of suffering someone has introduced to the world during their lifetime?


I still think you are missing the point. Hitler didn't care a hoot about individual or collective suffering - he got his kicks, right up until the deluded end. Morality and ethics aren't the point - it's the richness of the human experience.

He rose from being a homeless vagrant to being the unquestioned ruler of practically the whole of fucking Europe - he conquered, destroyed, and was destroyed during a life of unimaginable consequence and drama.

In the smallness of the pale blue dot, he looms largest.