If you could have lunch with anyone...

[Dallasin2K3]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

Surprised no one has said this one yet.. Jesus Christ for me! I'm not SUPER religious, but I can't imagine what you may be able to learn from someone like that.

[Acid]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

Surprised no one has said this one yet.. Jesus Christ for me! I'm not SUPER religious, but I can't imagine what you may be able to learn from someone like that.

I think SPTO mentioned Jesus earlier.

[Psyblast]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

BTW, Hitler wasn't a "genius" either. Geniuses contribute something of positive value to overall society while working within the boundaries of accepted behavior in said societies. Megalomaniacal efforts to take over the world while killing millions of people are nothing to be lauded, they are to be spit on, no questions asked.

Aside from his genocidal tendencies, I don't see how anyone could call him a military genius either. Yeah, he conquered much of Europe, but he couldn't break Britain, he made the same mistake Napoleon made in Russia, and to top it all off: he ended up having to fight America and Britain at the same time he was fighting Russia.

The words "Hitler" and "genius" don't belong in the same book, let alone sentence.

The ONLY thing Hitler was "good" at was his speaking abilities (and considering the state of the German people when he rose to power, who can tell, since they would've listened to anyone who yelled anyway).

[elicoleman]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

I disagree. I would, without a shadow of a doubt, call him a genius, especially a political genius.

What your definition of genius may differ from mine.

He did something that stood out, something that few people in World history could've pulled off at that time.

[pk500]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

Jesus Christ
The Pope
Miles Davis

Take care,
PK

[Nivek]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

I disagree. I would, without a shadow of a doubt, call him a genius, especially a political genius.

What your definition of genius may differ from mine.

He did something that stood out, something that few people in World history could've pulled off at that time.

By your defintion, would you not have Lunch with Osama Bin Laden? Probably not...why, b/c you're an american. An orthodox jew would have a problem with meeting Hitler for obvious reasons.

[Vince]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

There's nothing genius about the Holocaust.

[Nivek]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

There's nothing genius about the Holocaust.

Not to mention he's a huge ****ing coward, who left all his men left for dead in 'Der Kessel'. All becasue he wanted to hold the city who bares his enemy's name.

[elicoleman]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

By your defintion, would you not have Lunch with Osama Bin Laden? Probably not...why, b/c you're an american. An orthodox jew would have a problem with meeting Hitler for obvious reasons.

Having lunch with Osama honestly doesn't interest me, not because of my safety or his views against Americans as much as just not wanting to.

I wouldn't have lunch with Hitler because he killed millions of Jews, but to get inside his head. Wonder what he was thinking, ask him tons of questions. The most obvious one, why'd he do it?

I'm just thinking outside the box on this I guess.

[Skerik]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

For those discussing Hitler in this thread, I heartily advise you to watch the movie "Downfall" if you haven't already. Definitely one of the better movies I've seen in recent memory and it gives you some insight into the levels of delusion, hatred, and mental illness necessary to do the things he did.

[elicoleman]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

For those discussing Hitler in this thread, I heartily advise you to watch the movie "Downfall" if you haven't already. Definitely one of the better movies I've seen in recent memory and it gives you some insight into the levels of delusion, hatred, and mental illness necessary to do the things he did.

I enjoy learning things about the WWII era, so I'll definitely give it a look-see.

[X*Cell]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

Mozart
Lincoln
my grandfather

That's probably who I'd choose, because I never met my grandpa on my Mom's side... he died when he was 41. My mom said he was a really good guy despite the heavy drinking... I would have liked to meet him... so if I had the chance to have lunch with him one time... I would take it.

[Misfit]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

Papa Smurf, so I could find out if he nailed Smurfette or not and had to father his entire village. Plus its not like he's gonna eat much.

[GBrushTWood]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

I disagree. I would, without a shadow of a doubt, call him a genius, especially a political genius.

What your definition of genius may differ from mine.

Apparently so. I mean, silly me, it is simply genius to threaten anybody who disagrees with your political opinion with death. What a smart guy!

I recall almost this exact debate in a class I took last year called organizational behavior. The professor was explaining how great leaders have a vision in addition to allowing their vision to be critiqued and improved upon. In the case of Hitler, and virtually all other dictators, they usually possess a vision (which may or may not be sound), but they do not allow opposing opinions to exist. They even threaten death if one does not agree with the vision. This makes them neither a great leader nor a genius. Somebody who would be a great leader would be Martin Luther King Jr or Gandhi.
A couple of students were arguing a similar argument as yours, which, I am guessing is: Hitler performed horrible, heinous crimes, yet he was still influential and wielded great power and "success", so he must be considered a great leader.

I happen to disagree with that theory, but I'd be interested in hearing a counter argument (and yes, I love the pun)..

Maybe this topic should be separated to a different thread, because it is quite OT..

[Misfit]

Re: If you could have lunch with anyone...

There's nothing genius about the Holocaust.

Off-topic: I don't know if its genius, but it does take some clever thinking to pull a nation out of an economic disaster and get a majority of the population to buy into something as fundamentally insane as the notion that Jews are the source of all of Germany's problems. Hitler wasn't a stupid man (though his battle strategies were not completely sound). If he was just some raving maniac this deep fascination with him that exists in the media and in the minds of many Americans, Jewish and non, would not exist. To learn about the Holocaust one must look past the atrocity and learn to respect it as an important event in our world's history. I know it is not your motive Vince, but by making that statement it is like you are dismissing the Holocaust as nothing more than some lunatic's crusade which does not really give the event the respect it deserves. It is easy to dismiss the Holocaust from conversation because of the controversey (I did not notice who brought the idea up of having lunch with Hitler, but I'd imagine they were looking to stir up some controversey either conciously or subconciously) but I don't feel that is always the proper way to handle things. This is just one man's opinion though.

GBrushTWood - The German people (the non-Jews/Gays/Gypsies obviously) were not threatened by the German government in any way. This included the soldiers as well. If they did not want to partake in the genocide they did not have to. In other words, Hitler did not attain his power through simple threats.