Nazi Germany worse than US government?

Question

It seems to me that when you think of the near eradication of the American Indians and the treatment African American's had to endure for 400 years that the travesties committed by our american forefathers is a least as bad as the Nazis.

I'm not a historical scholar but I would like to hear how people more educated than me rationalize for and against this argument. Thanks for taking the time to answer.

Answer 1

Hitler and the Nazis in power took certain ideas -not unique to them at all- to their logical and horrific conclusion with typically efficient Germanic thoroughness. However,these were ideas that were already very prevalent among advanced social thinkers in the 20's and 30's.

In the U.S.,for example, enforced sterilization and lobotomization of certain people (orphans ,mentally and physically incapacitated persons,and people of certain racial minorities in state institutions ) and their use as guinea pigs in scientific and medical experimentation was a fact. The mind set was that a more perfect society could be achieved by ¨pruning out¨ what was weak in it. From sterilization or a preventive process to the more efficient elimination process is only a step. Once a society has accepted as valid the premise that the elimination of ¨weaker links¨ is morally justified by the end product, it will seek to do so by ever more efficient methods..

Each society would then decide what elements to eliminate and, in the case of Nazi Germany, the Nazis decided that these non desirable elements were non- Arians such as Gypsies,Slavs and Jews and also the mentally deficient of any race,those born with congenital defects and Communists or philo-communists.

Would we have gone down the road that we were on before the war? Who knows? One would like to think that our constitution and system of checks and balances would have come into play and shown us that civil liberties are for ALL ,most especially the right to life. The extermination camps showed us the horrible error of that way of thinking.

We would all do well to remember that our country is founded on a real and well documented genocide and would not exist as we know it today if we had not so thoroughly eliminated the native Americans. It was also founded on slavery.

These two indisputable and well documented facts should be remembered when we are tempted to think of ourselves as being morally superior to other cultures,other nations and former powers. We are not. Perhaps not as bad as some and perhaps a little worse than others. We are not unique. We are not a ¨force for the good¨. We have done very bad things and will probably continue to do so. Sometimes we get it right,a lot of the times we get it wrong. Let's say we are about C+ or B- but striving to be A+.

To be aware of our country's history and failings is not being unpatriotic or ün-american¨. We need to know the truth about ourselves to better understand why we are where we are and why we do the things we do. Well informed people who care about the truth are not as easily fooled and led down the garden path to perdition as those who blindly follow. I would say that a patriotic citizen of the U.S. has the DUTY to be aware,to not be foolish and to not accept myth and legend as truth.

Answer 2

Man is always capable of committing atrocities and acts of genocide are not unique to Nazi Germany. However I do get the feeling that a far greater proportion of people now oppose such behaviour and it is less likely that prominent democracies would be able to commit such acts because of that. After Vietnam and now Iraq I think it is becoming more difficult for countries like America and UK to involve themselves in such acts of folly because of the inevitable political backlash.
As for your question. I think it is unfair to compare any American government to Nazi Germany even though some of them have been responsible for some pretty horrible things. And you have listed a few

Answer 3

Well the American Indians were considered savages and they sided with England at the time of the revolution and the US government went on a revenge spree. The black were not considered human in the US because the rich elite of the time needed cheep labor and after they were freed the rich elite plantation owners needed cheep labor so our government allowed anyone that hired them to pay them less than any other race of people, The Nazi's at least dissolved the people they did not want, yes they used people as slaves and then dissolved them, but the people that propped and helped dissolve people were of the same race and so was Hitler . One small nation controls through money and they pull most of the stunts and now the Arabs are the lambs being offered to the gods.

Answer 4

The Nazis ran a state sponsored governmental approved death machine, the American slave trade was no different from any other countries slave practice at the time, more prevalent in farming and mining areas of the world than industrialize areas, but 'free' factory workers worked the same hours and in dangerous conditions. The Native Indians in some areas were engaging in a war with settlers and in war both parties are armed, there are rules of engagement, eventually treaties and the losers, well, they lose.
At the time of the Nazis, there was no war with Jewish people, they were gathered and killed. Men, women, children, infants.
Their property was taken and given away.
It was all done legally by the state, that's a huge difference from what happens during a war. That a huge difference from slavery, which the Nazis also engaged in.
So the US government fought a war with the Indians, not an even war, but they were good fighters. When they lost they lost their property and their lives. But that's what happens in war.
Slavery goes back at least as far as the Bible and wasn't always considered as terrible as it became in the nineteenth century.
But the death of six million unarmed citizens by other citizens, the crematoria, the government planned murder and extermination of people deemed not Aryan. That's unique.

Answer 5

Not really. i've heard such accusations coming from both sides of the fence, so I usually learn to ignore the stupidity. Especially from folks that think FDR was a great president, at the very least he was mediocre, to poor. If it wasn't for the Japanese responding to his constant taunting and aggressive stances by attacking Pearl harbor and allowing him all the leeway he had in WW2, he never would have gotten the country out of the depression. Really, he mostly made 4 terms on promises and throwing a few bones to the plebes. Most of his policies extended or made worse the depression.

Answer 6

Well lets start with your rediculous statement of Nazis durring the 40's they slaughtered millions of Jews in some of the most horrific ways. Dont get me wrong what we did to the Indians was wrong but again the numbers were in the thousands not millions. Africian Americans were also treated poorly but that has changed and will continue to change. ALL races have been held as slaves at one point or another. The jews were not slaves. The Nazis did not even consider then human. There are too many differences to list. Although both are bad I would say that is is treasonist to compare USA today with the tyrants of Nazi Germany 60 years ago.

Answer 7

Greetings. Nazi Germany was a short time political thing. America has practiced genocide for hundreds of years. and had continued slavery many years after the rest of the world outlawed it. People make a big deal about the Nazis mainly for the same reason a prostitute has a pimp. it gives her someone she can look down on. we look down on Germany for the Nazis. but we don't call our wars after the political party in power at the time. Call the Second world war Nazi. not German. call our war in Iraq American and not what it is Republican. America has done much more then Hitler ever imagined he could do. we nearly exterminated the entire native population of a entire continent and even to this day are working on getting rid of the few remaining survivors that we missed. We pioneered the use of nuclear war on helpless Japanese civilians, not once but twice in the closing days of World War 2 while the Japanese deligation was in Moscow trying to surrender their country. we have concentration camps. we slavishly follow almost everything that Hitler and the Nazis did. But Hitler got many of his ideas from us to start with. Genocide of the American Natives was one of the constantly recurring themes in most of the western Novels that Hitler read. I would say we have the Nazis beat as far as war crimes go by many thousands of points. Nazis were one generation. Here it is how many generations carrying on the same crimes?

Answer 8

The Nazis exterminated 6 million people in deliberate brutal genocide. They caused a war that devastated the entire planet.
American Indians were moved out and/or eradicated long before the US became a nation. Slavery was introduced into the US long before we became a nation.
Blaming the US government on something that happened five hundred years ago is pointless.

The US introduced freedom to the world. We are still at it, some 220 years later. That is a good thing.

Answer 9

the american government has done some pretty bad stuff in its existence. however, it has also been a source of good in the world. it was a model of democracy that many nations emulated as they shook off the yoke of their oppressors (however, we probably should look to them as they have surpassed us in regards to democratic form of government).

nazi germany really did nothing to better the world at all. sure, unemployment was down in germany.

at the expense of europe and the lives of something like six to ten million jews, gypsies, leftists, homosexuals, and other such "undesirables."

Answer 10

Not sure of your heritage, but I'd imagine you're from one of the colonizing nations that sent troops to attack the Native Americans.
We accept that the German nation no longer espouses Nazism.
Clearly not a historical scholar..or you'd be commenting on the Soviets, the Brits, The Spaniards, The Dutch, The Norse, The Italians, The Mongols, the ...................................