Would you buy Hitler's art?

[tango]

Almost all employed people have a 401k and that relies on a good economy to grow. It did great and yes, Americans who were employed benefited from that.

I grew up poor but my father worked many jobs and at times had multiple jobs. He never invested in anything except with where he worked. But my husband's family were investors and so were my husband's friends. It was his friends who encouraged us to begin investing when we were 23 and 24. That had nothing to do with privilege but a smart move that gained us thousands. Having a good economy helped us with our investments even though we didn't make a lot of money at first during our marriage.

With Biden in office I wonder how safe my investments are and whether they should be pulled and moved into safer ones with low or no risk?

Almost all employed workers? Is that talking about people in professional jobs or does it also include the minimum wage jobs? (Serious question, I'm not familiar with how employment in the US works at different levels).

You don't need privilege to invest, you just need enough money over and above daily expenses to be able to invest enough you don't lose your gains to brokerage fees. You also need enough cash on hand to cover living expenses for a time so that if you lose your job you're not forced to cash in your investments even if the market is way down. When house prices soar it takes ever-more money just to make rent or mortgage payments. Even before the pandemic something like 40% of US households lacked the means to pay a $400 unexpected bill without selling something - while it's eminently possible at least some of those households would benefit from a few classes in home economics just as much as a pay raise it's hard to believe every single one of them is in such a predicament due to financial ineptitude.

One trouble with the economy as it is now is that so much relies on the Fed pumping more money into the system. Adding money to the system doesn't create wealth, you need to actually add some value to create wealth. If it was as simple as adding money we might as well just put a couple of noughts on the end of everybody's salary and bank balance, although we shouldn't be surprised if prices end up with a couple of noughts added to the end, meaning nobody is any further forward.

Don't get me wrong, I think Trump would have been far better for the economy than Biden will be, I'm just not convinced it was all as rosy as some like to think.

 

[Stravinsk]

I wouldn't have a problem with it. Hitler is no less/more evil than the average go-along-to-get-along type cheering the death/destruction of their enemies because their (insert MSM media here) told them to and everyone else was. He was just a lot more influential. As for the specifics of Nazi Germany, it's made out to be the most evil time in history because it holds secrets the ruling elite don't want the general population to be aware of. Germany didn't even start the war - they were forced into it by economic pressure, something that is very common when certain groups/individuals want to instigate military conflict. Winston Churchill even admits this is what happened in his book.

 

[FredVB]

I wouldn't have a problem with it. Hitler is no less/more evil than the average go-along-to-get-along type cheering the death/destruction of their enemies because their (insert MSM media here) told them to and everyone else was. He was just a lot more influential. As for the specifics of Nazi Germany, it's made out to be the most evil time in history because it holds secrets the ruling elite don't want the general population to be aware of. Germany didn't even start the war - they were forced into it by economic pressure, something that is very common when certain groups/individuals want to instigate military conflict. Winston Churchill even admits this is what happened in his book.

I wonder about this apologetic for Nazi Germany and especially dismissing that it was very evil, how it would slip into this forum site. How evil some other time or power was would be irrelevant to that. Nazi Germany was aggressive, that it was not known how other nations would respond is not relevant to that either.

 

[Stravinsk]

I wonder about this apologetic for Nazi Germany and especially dismissing that it was very evil, how it would slip into this forum site.

It didn't slip. I didn't make a 'mistake' by posting what I did. I speak my mind, however unpopular it may be, unlike many people who say things just because they think it will be approved of by whatever crowd they are in.

How evil some other time or power was would be irrelevant to that. Nazi Germany was aggressive, that it was not known how other nations would respond is not relevant to that either.

I'm not going to argue history with someone who's sole and main source of information is the government education they got growing up, and the popular media that bolsters it.



Totally off topic, but while I have your attention: What do you think of people who own cats? It's a serious question.

 

[tango]

I wonder about this apologetic for Nazi Germany and especially dismissing that it was very evil, how it would slip into this forum site. How evil some other time or power was would be irrelevant to that. Nazi Germany was aggressive, that it was not known how other nations would respond is not relevant to that either.

I don't think anyone is disputing that the Nazi regime was evil. The thing about the Nazi regime is that it didn't start out with sending Jews to concentration camps, it started out with the whole "us vs them" concept as one group of people was gradually turned against another group of people.

We might not be sending our political opponents to concentration camps but look at the way our society is divided, with various groups calling for basic rights to be stripped from other groups. The so-called cancel culture is particularly concerning - the concept that you don't even get to speak unless you agree with the prevailing groupthink is terrifying. It's even more concerning to think that something we said 10, 20, 30 years ago might be dug up and compared to the groupthink of today, and then used as justification to cancel us today.

I think we do ourselves a grave disservice if we ignore the fact that so many of the average everyday Germans were persuaded to go along with Hitler's plans, and simply shrug and figure it could never happen here.

ETA: In any event, I think the point of the thread isn't to debate whether this regime was more or less evil than that regime but whether we would buy art that we liked even if it was painted by a tyrant. I'm sure you could substitute Hitler for some other tyrant who had a gift beyond mass slaughter and the question would still work.

 

[FredVB]

There were atrocities in many societies, this one included. That is not enough to excuse a madman.

 

[tango]

There were atrocities in many societies, this one included. That is not enough to excuse a madman.

Who is excusing a madman? The thread is about whether we'd buy his art.

 

[FredVB]

Of course, it is about art, on its own. Hitler should still not be excused. There were some others about as evil, but he was not anything close to being average, his evil was not in check. He deliberately was killing off as many people he did not approve of as he could.

 

[tango]

Of course, it is about art, on its own. Hitler should still not be excused. There were some others about as evil, but he was not anything close to being average, his evil was not in check. He deliberately was killing off as many people he did not approve of as he could.

I think we've established pretty well that Hitler shouldn't be excused.

Would you buy his art? That was, after all, the point of the thread.

 

[Member4592]

I would not want anything belonging to him in my home.

I'd pass on it as well. just for the fact that he was a genocidal, racist, sociopath who killed anyone who offended him. Now a Neo Nazi, Nazi merchandise collector, historian, or a white supremacist might be interested in buying it. But other than that it's just expensive trash.