http://www2.facinghistory.org/campus/weimar.nsf/
1. Can the "Legacy of WWI" be compared to the legacy we are creating of the "war on terror?"
2. Related to his question about the need for transitional periods for democracy (when the majority of the people are uneducated in democratic ideals), I wonder about the transitional period that is/will be needed in America if they elect an African American president. How can the integrity of this democracy be maintained in the face of the demons of racist history?
3. Do we deal with terrorists in the same way as the leaders of the Weimar Republic? How has America's policy on terrorism changed since 9/11/01?
4. What is nationalism? What is patriotism? Are they the same? How do we define these in post-9/11 America? How are we expected to manifest these ideals? What are the consequences for not manifesting them? Are they both necessary for a democracy to work? What are the consequences to society when they are taken too far? Is it feasible to expect disenfranchised citizens or residents to be nationalistic and/or patriotic?
5. Why is it necessary for "individuals and groups to compromise their immediate self-interests to the larger interests of society"? Whose intersts are more important (more valued)? Does majority interest rule? What is that majority interest represents the lower class of people in a society?
6. Bookbinder raises another interesting point when he talks about the roles of intellectuals in politics. By "intellectuals" does he mean people like, professors, political pundits and lobbyists or is he referring to intellectual politicians? I'm interested in the ways that intellectualism is used to exclude the masses (at the ways in which "think-tanks" have created social policies and programs based on scientific inquiry).
7. How is America viewed by other governments? Certainly the Weimar view could be contrasted with the way current Islamic governments/countries view America OR with the way America was viewed by the Chinese or Japanese (from late 1800's up through 1940's).
8. The concept of "self-deception" can be applied to any nation. This question related to Bookbinder's question about how people define their own identity. Teachers could consider the deceptive stories that Blacks, Native Americans or Japanese Americans have created for themselves to justify their own marginalization in America. This could also connect to Jewish self-deception which Primo Levi alluded to in The Drowned & The Saved.
9. The last four questions in Bookbinder's overview could all be connected to a study of the 2008 Presidential Campaignrole of grass roots organizingrole of propagandarole of technology/mediarole of hatredrole of religious leaders/religionrole of the citizens and their expectations for political leadership
10. In thinking of the "choices and consequences" of a democracy, it seemed to me in order to "kill a democracy" one has to first work systematically to "kill the culture and the individuals that represent that democracy." Hitler accomplished this buy working at a grassroots level to build support from the masses, then the media. He learned about the frustrations and needs of the masses and used their emotions about those things to promise change. Once he became Chancellor, he used the legal system to normalize the attitudes brewing among the masses of German peoples - in essence, he worked to crush the artists, political dissidents, Jews and other "undesirables" and there were no repercussions because German law supported his deeds.
(originally written in August 2008)
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