Adolf Hitler

This reading is a speech Adolf Hitler gave in 1933. He is very nationalistic. He speaks with endearing terms about Germany, and warns of the coming danger. He is vehemently against Communism and speaks of the horrible destruction that will come if Communism reigns. All of the ruin is the result of the war and has left thousands unemployed. He is trying to appeal to the people to allow the National Government to engage in two four year plans, and see if things are not better after the first four years. He plans to eliminate unemployment and rescue the German farmer. He makes a great speech, and I can see why people wanted to follow him. He seems very charismatic.

The textbook discusses Hitler's quick rise to power. Sadly, Hitler had spent much time in Vienna where anti-semitism was very strong. Hitler opposed socialism, trade unionism, and anything that emphasized class conflict or worker's rights. He exalted the nation, but he focused on race as a key struggle. The Jews were always a historic enemy and Hitler viewed them as a biological infection that could be passed to further generations and must be stopped. The Nazi party grew tremendously in just three years, and they went from a small minority to the largest political party. This speech was given just one month after Hitler had become chancellor. The men who worked with Hitler were sure he was no danger, and that in two months he would even want out, but they were wrong. Within six months Hitler had destroyed democracy in Germany and established Nazi dictatorship.

I think the sentence that stood out to me the most was the sentence, "Within four years unemployment must finally be overcome". I had to laugh when I read this sentence. Hitler seems to think he could totally eradicate unemployment, and in four years. No one can totally get rid of unemployment. Perhaps it can lessen significantly, but not be totally overcome. I think that he had some pretty unrealistic goals.

One new thought I had was about the progression of Hitler's power.  While he had anti-Semitic feelings the whole time, I wonder if he had the annihilation of the Jews in mind from the very beginning. I guess I'm wondering if he planned from before he was in power, that he would become a dictator and destroy the Jews, or if it was more of a spontaneous progression that snowballed into what occurred. Perhaps after getting a little more power here, and a little more there,  it snowballed as he acquired power but wasn't completely planned from the beginning. I suppose I'm trying to give Hitler some benefit of the doubt to make him seem not as horrible, but in all likelihood, he probably planned everything out from the beginning.

One modern parallel I saw was Joseph Kony. He is an African leader trying to purify the people. He enslaves children and makes them his soldiers, and uses them to kill millions of people. If that isn't a modern day Hitler, I don't know who is.

Conspicuous Consumption

This reading is all about the nature of consumption amongst the leisure class. Often a gentleman will have servants and/or a wife that consumes goods for him, which adds to his reputation. Early phases of predatory culture show that there is an honorable class of men and a laboring class of women. Women only consumed what was necessary for life, which was not honorable; they did not consume anything for added comfort or fullness of life. Also, the use of alcohol and stimulating drugs amongst upper class men was seen as honorable. There are also different ranks among the leisure class. Some men inherit the status of gentleman by blood but do not inherit the money necessary for living the leisurely lifestyle of a gentleman. In this case, these lower gentlemen will be in a state of dependence on the higher class gentlemen. The nature of the consumption of the gentlemen is that it is wasteful, that is, it is not necessary for life.

            One statement that stood out to me was, “Drunkenness and the other pathological consequences of the free use of stimulants therefore tend in their turn to become honorific, as being a mark, at the second remove, of the superior status of those who are able to afford the indulgence. Infirmities induced by over-indulgence are among some peoples freely recognized as manly attributes.” At this time, being drunk and intoxicated from various drugs was an honorable, manly thing, simply because they could afford it. Perhaps they did not know the adverse effects of the drugs and alcohol as much as today, but the abuse and wasting of money that comes from alcoholism should have been evident.  I cannot imagine alcohol and drug use being an honorable thing.

            One thought I had, was about how the luxurious class seemed to buy things just because they could. It was part of the definition of a luxurious and gentleman class to buy extravagant things they did not need. This reading makes it sound like a finely oiled machine or system, where the men and women are continuously thinking about their reputations, and what they need to buy in order to maintain or improve their position. I am hoping that this system of life was more subconscious than that. Hopefully it was just a way of life to buy luxurious things, and become intoxicated if you had money, and it wasn’t such a calculated thing. Perhaps the author of this reading has the perspective of an outside, analyzing the ways of life, and that is why it seems so formulated.

Nowadays, people with money get the latest iphones and cars, and have nice houses. While it is a mark of luxury to have those things, I do not think that people are strongly looked down upon for having average items. It seems that the lifestyle in this reading resembles how teenagers function. Teens often are all about getting the latest and greatest thing so they can be popular. Teens want iphones and the most expensive name brand clothes. They fear they won’t be liked if they do not have these things. I think that is the modern parallel I see, that teens behave the way the luxurious class behaved. While some people operate this way their whole life, I hope most adults outgrow this need to impress people with material possessions.

Conspicuous consumption is spending goods mainly for displaying income or wealth. In the mind of a conspicuous consumer, these display served as a means of attaining or maintaining social status. Thorstein Veblen was an economist and sociologist. He used the term conspicuous consumer to describe the nouveau riche, which was an emerging class with wealth as a result of the second industrial revolution.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conspicuous_consumption