Jon-Erich said:
No, absolutely not. I would never kill baby Hitler. I think people who would say yes are more likely to advocate for authoritarianism because they believe they can control the world. For those of us who actually understand history would know that following the collapse of the German Empire at the end of the First World War, it created a political vacuum that caused every radical from both the left and right to come out of the woodwork to try and gain a position of political power. You didn't have a simple situation where you had the Social Democrats and Conservatives in power while the Nazis and Communists were duking it out on the streets. There were probably hundreds of fringe political groups out there. The Nazis just happened to be the ones who came out on top and Hitler just happened to be the head of the Nazi Party, a party that while he helped define and even used his artistic skills to create the Swastika logo for, he did not even create the party. The sad truth is if it wasn't Hitler who came to power, there's a good chance that some other dictator would have, possibly someone even worse than Hitler. Hitler did not create or even popularize the ideas he proposed. They were already there. The Second World War was probably going to happen anyway (it was predicted back in 1919) because of how badly the Allies screwed up the conclusion of the First World War.
In the end, we still most likely would have had similar terrible events occur and you would be in prison for murdering a baby. So there you go. |
Actually, in all likelihood there would have not have been a fascist dictatorship in Germany had Hitler been eliminated at birth. He is the source of the anti-semitic rhetoric as well as the primary personality cult that drove forward the scientific racism of the Nazi ideology. While Hitler didn’t begin the Nazi party, he shaped it and is responsible for its expansion. It is unlikely such a regime would have risen in Germany outside of the Nazi party, and if you actually knew your history and read the literature on alternative paths, that the path of history that occurred was incredibly unlikely - the rise of fascism, and the cult of personality surrounding Hitler and his influence, then you would be aware that it is highly unlikely anything of that sort would have occurred. Although a war with USSR and Germany was probably inevitable given the German left was much unlike the USSR (which was more of a pseudo-left regime, they were still hierarchical and authoritarian: still right-wing, the Trots and black army were the relative leftists - and they lost).
Also, the question is not “would you kill a baby” it is “would you kill baby Hitler” - bringing up alternative rules like “you would be arrested for killing babies” is not something that should be considered as it is an unnecessary complication.
