If morals differ from person to person...?

Question

Then was Hitler wrong in killing the Jews when he thought it was the right thing to do?

Please explain.

He had his set of morals though who are we to tell him that those morals were wrong?

Kal~ What does that have to do with the question?

Answer 1

Morals or conscience is something which tells an individual right from wrong. Each one of us has a core divinity - call it the soul, which knows right from wrong. The soul knows no boundaries - for it all living beings are part of itself and to be loved irrespective of caste, creed or race.

But we cover this soul with multiple layers of negativity such as ego, greed, self interest etc. Depending on how clear the soul is from negativity our morals are defined.

For someone whose soul is like a shining mirror with no layers of negativity even hurting someone through cruel words would be unacceptable. He loves unconditionally and gives of himself/ herself to bring happiness to others. He knows that he is connected to all living beings through the divine soul which is a part of the Supreme Being. Such a person is truly spiritual.

For someone whose soul is embedded deep in negativity - the voice of the conscience cannot be heard by the mind or heart. His/ her mind rationalizes his/her actions and tries to maximize self-gain irrespective of whether it is good for humanity as a whole or not. His/ her heart may love but since the soul is buried deep down in layers of negativity - this love also may turn selfish with jealousy, possessiveness and other negative traits coming in. e.g. A religious (fanatic) person may have his soul embedded in layers of group interest and superstitions thus not knowing the right from wrong. For him killing is not bad as he just views the interest of his group ( may be maximize the gains to people of the same ethnicity, same religion etc.) The voice of the soul is so muffled in layers that it cannot be heard by him and he commits one atrocity after another against living beings. Similarly Hitler had a narrow vision where he drew boundaries between Aryans and Jews. He just viewed the interests of the Aryans and considered Jews enemies of the German economy and thus his mind rationalized that removing Jews from the scene (either by extermination or deportation) would be a panacea for all German ills. He was a religious person but not at all spiritual as his soul had got deeply buried under layers of hatred and other negative emotions for the Jews - thus his mind and heart did not hear the voice of his soul when he had such mass murders committed.

Meditation, prayer to the one Supreme Being irrespective of religion, unconditional love for humanity, positive thinking, laughing and making others around us laugh and be happy etc. help in clearing the soul of it's multiple layers of negativity and thus show us the actual correct path from the wrong one in any situation.

Answer 2

Something can't be moral/right without a standard. We have standards for math. People use math and nuclear power to kill and we don't say, "Science is evil." Sometimes people are wrong though. Human error. Religion tries to establish a rule for people interaction, but even the Bible says that the letter kills. That's intuitive logic so it jumps around. The brain thinks in pictures that are hard to put into words, but I think the connections are clear enough. There is one standard everyone can agree on, that there are results from actions. In this case Hitler commited suicide. If he had lived there would have been other results. We have this world to do with what we want and this is what we do. Then we blame anyone we can. If we aren't part of the solution, we are part of the problem. I think we all have a little bit of Hitler in the subconscious. If we don't dig it out things will continue the same only worse. We push along the hate and ill will to the next person and then when someone breaks we say, "I didn't do anything." It's like a disease. Each one has to cure themselves or it will continue to go around the world like the flu. We call it the Asian flu, they call it the American flu. Most historians now agree that the pressure we put on Germany after WW1, taking all the money and the factories and the whole Rhur Valley, the economic base of Germany, and throwing them into a depression led to Hitlers rise to power. "What goes around comes around." 'fess up.

Answer 3

He may have been doing something right according to his morals...but the rest of the world disagreed...

Morals may differ a little between people... but if enough people disagree with your morals, they may kill you...

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Also, remember that the reason that the Allies try and stop hitler is not because he is killing jews or gay or gypsies...etc... its because he is invading other countries. Many Jews that escaped Germany were forced to go back because the countries they escaped to didn't want them there... (including America).

It is only now, in our days--that we have this equallity of races idea-- that we see Hitler as a monster...

Answer 4

If you have to ask, then you'll never know how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie-roll Lollipop.


Seriously tho, when a person's morals are in flux with the rest of society then they may be doing something wrong. I offer for my example, those people we see on "To Catch a Predator." (A TV show that films police catching pedophiles.)

Those people think that the urges they have are perfectly normal, yet this is not true. When someone's moral behavior exists at the deficiency of someone else, there will be a problem.

In short, if I find a pedophile living near me I will make their life miserable. GTFO of America.

Answer 5

The idea of wrong should be based on harm. Punishment should be determined by the degree of harm to any person, place or thing. Any person of sound mind knows the difference in right and wrong. It is common sense. People harm because of selfishness in one form or another. Morality is hardwired in our brains. Even though a person knows how to be moral does not mean that they care enough to be moral.

Answer 6

Your question is basically 'if there is no objective morality, then were Hitler's actions objectively moral?' Obviously there's no answer to that. Hitler probably thought that what he was doing was morally sound. I, like most people, disagree.

As for 'who are we to tell him those morals were wrong', you might as well question your capacity to like a certain genre of music, or a painting that Hitler didn't like. You have your own subjective opinions which you use to make such judgements. As long as you don't try to pass these off as anything more than your subjective opinions, that's fine.

Answer 7

He didn't just think it was the right thing to do. He thought it was his God given task to "exterminate" the Jews. Many American books, television documentaries, and Sunday sermons that preach of Hitler's "evil" have eliminated Hitler's god for their Christian audiences, but one only has to read from his own writings to appreciate that Hitler's God equals the same God of the Christian Bible. Hitler held many hysterical beliefs which not only include, God and Providence but also Fate, Social Darwinism, and ideological politics. He spoke, unashamedly, about God, fanaticism, idealism, dogma, and the power of propaganda. Hitler held strong faith in all his convictions. He justified his fight for the German people and against Jews by using Godly and Biblical reasoning. Indeed, one of his most revealing statements makes this quite clear:

"Hence today I believe that I am acting in accordance with the will of the Almighty Creator: by defending myself against the Jew, I am fighting for the work of the Lord."

Although Hitler did not practice religion in a churchly sense, he certainly believed in the Bible's God. Raised as Catholic he went to a monastery school and, interestingly, walked everyday past a stone arch which was carved the monastery's coat of arms which included a swastika. As a young boy, Hitler's most ardent goal was to become a priest.

Answer 8

Morals is depend very much on the society and culture. Sometimes it is related to the belief.

All religions in the world is prohibited the act of killing/murdering another person. Morals is out of the question here. Killing another person is consider one of the biggest sin.

Answer 9

Morals do differ in all people The lord says love your neighbor as yourself so how could he be right in killing all the Jews,it was priorities mixed up with radical prejudice,God Gave us an example to follow everything else is irrevelent.

Answer 10

each person has different morals but there is a pretty simple basis for all morals. judging by his own, he thought he was doing the right thing. but in the greater scheme of things, he was doing something completely horrific.