Two interesting bits from Dr. Gene Edward Veith of Cranach today.
He links to an article by art historian Birgit Schwarz in Spiegel Online. She makes the interesting (and very intriguing, it seems to me) point that Hitler saw himself as an artistic genius. And we all know what modern western culture thinks about artistic geniuses, right? They aren’t subject to ordinary moral rules. They have a duty to themselves to express their genius in shocking and transgressive ways. I can’t see this analysis getting much traction in the media, but I think there’s a lot in it.
Dr. Veith is also kind enough to praise my work in this post, on bad bestselling writers (obviously I don’t qualify for that description, on at least one count).
The genius artist, or whatever he does, often must flaunt the rules as he is afraid. He fears his audience will not see him as genius if he sticks to the rules. With no rules to use as guides as to good/bad, etc… ONLY HE gets to say what is of value… HIS work. He can not be judged if HE makes the only rules for HIS genius. Therefore, we have no credibility if we don’t agree with his values, (that is; he’s a genius and can do anything because of it and it only shows greatness).
As for a Hitler genius, anything he did was within his rules and he judged it good. How could he ever see himself as wrong? His rules system forbid it.