Whither Goethe?

Goethe in the Roman Campagna - Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (Source)

I had thought perhaps to write of philosophy today, not the classic guys and all that, more what I thought of all the great questions of the age.

But I am no philosopher. I am a simple man with simple tastes.

I also had thought to address the perceived lack of civility in our Nation these days. I've addressed that topic before (here and here) and Tuna addressed it pretty well yesterday, he doesn't post much but when he does it's well worth the wait. I will, no doubt, talk about civility, or the lack thereof, sometime again in the future. It's inevitable as once you start to get on in years, you start to repeat yourself.

And digress from time to time, like right now.

As is my wont, I like to start my posts with something pictorial, some days I know exactly what I want, other days I just stumble around the Internets until something (of a non-copyrighted nature, or close to it) presents itself.

Chasing the philosophy angle I searched on images of philosophers. 'Twas there that I stumbled across Goethe. (Well he was lying on that bench with his foot sticking out, I couldn't help but stumble.)

Now Goethe was something of a brilliant man. As a matter of fact, he...

was a German writer and statesman. His works include epic and lyric poetry; prose and verse dramas; memoirs; an autobiography; literary and aesthetic criticism; treatises on botany, anatomy, and colour; and four novels. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters, and nearly 3,000 drawings by him exist. (Source)

It struck me, thinking about the barbarism we seem to be sinking into, planet-wide, not just at home, though California seems eager to get there first, and thinking about philosophers, that one thing which is often said of Nazi Germany is that how could a nation such as that, a nation which produced Goethe and Beethoven, sink into such a state of barbarism.

State policy called for the deportation of all non-Germanic "stock" and the murder of all Jews, Gypsies, criminals, homosexuals, and the intelligentsia of all the countries the Nazis wanted for themselves. (Lebensraum and all that rot.)

Germany made the ultimate descent into barbarism, as did Soviet Russia, as did so many other totalitarian states. All eventually failed. Soon enough people will say "Enough!" and rise up against their oppressors. Usually though it takes the totalitarian state invading the wrong country and pissing off some other country before enough force is brought to bear to crush the totalitarians.

Until they rise again.

Speaking of the Nazis and their idiotic racial theories, I ran across this picture while researching my recent post about the Wehrmacht -

(Source)

The ideal German soldier, ja?

Well, yes and no. The young man's name was Werner Goldberg. He had been selected as the poster boy for the Wehrmacht, his image appearing on recruiting posters for the German military. Until the Nazis discovered that his father had been born Jewish but had converted to Lutheranism in order to marry Werner's (future) mother.

Blond and blue-eyed though he was, he wasn't good enough for Hitler's sick racial philosophy.

Speaking of which, there is a lot of sick racial philosophy still alive in the world. Drives me to distraction it does. There is, let me be frank about this, no such thing as race. We are all one species with a multitude of climate adapted variations. No one more superior than the other, all equal in the eyes of our Creator.

There are a number of idiots running loose in the streets these days, hiding behind masks, spreading hate and discontent. I'm starting to believe it has nothing to do with Clinton losing the election. That's just an excuse.

I'm starting to wonder what the end goal of these miscreants is?

I doubt they even know.

But their masters do.

What a world we live in...