People regularly get upset with me because when I bring up problems with Catholicism, or the US military, or megacorporations, or any other totalitarian group that seeks to extend its influence past where liberty allows. I stand accused of not going to enough effort to mention all the good things these groups do, as well as the overwhelming problems they've caused.
First of all, that's not my responsibility. Second of all, if I am bringing up negative issues that I feel are important, sugar coating it or trying to say “well, but that's ok because they also did this nice thing” simply is not relevant in that discussion. For example, let's take the following hypothetical passage:
The Nazi party in Germany did wonderful things for Germany and the rest of the world. The Nazi party revitalized Germany's economy, which continues to be one of the driving forces of the world economy. They then built the autobahns across Germany, which America then used as an inspiration to build its own highway system. The Nazis built the Volkswagen Beetle which revolutionized auto transport and how we think about personal transportation. In addition, the Nazis developed synthetic fuels and oils far ahead of anyone else.The Nazis held a world-class Olympics, and produced an amazing film by Leni Riefenstahl showcasing, among other things, the phenomenal performance of American black athlete Jesse Owens (along with others such as the Nazi's partially Jewish hockey team). While the Nazis showcased Jesse's performances, the Americans complained that Hitler had not personally appeared to shake Jesse's hand, while at the same time, the American president had not done so either, and Jesse was denied even basic civil rights at home.
Nazi scientists did aerospace research which defined the space age, and without their help and research data, America would never have been able to get into space, let alone even come close to keeping up with the Soviets. In addition, Nazi scientists revolutionized many aspects of American technology, and allowed America to become the leading world nation for the next fifty years.
Unfortunately the charismatic leader of the Nazi party, Adolf Hitler, likely contracted syphilis (although some suggest his symptoms actually suggested Parkinson's Disease) in 1908 and later went insane and sunk into an anti-semitic lunacy that eventually caused him to lose the war. However, most Nazis were unaware that this holocaust was actually happening, and if they did would not have supported it.
All of the above is true, as far as the facts of history are concerned. Does that mean it tells the story that should be told? If I told you a story about the holocaust and the genocide of the Hebrew peoples during the war but didn't include the above (and many, many, many more good things as well), would that be somehow misleading you? Would you send me hate mail telling me that I'd only told the “bad parts of the story” in an effort to perpetrate my own hateful anti-Nazi rhetoric?
How about if I said “oh, it's OK to be a Nazi if you disagree with exterminating the Jews?” Or how about if I said, “oh, but most Nazis are nice people — I know plenty of nice Nazis that would never hurt anyone.” Or how about if I say, “but killing Jews is just a perversion of Nazi ideology — it doesn't represent the true 'faith' at all.” What about if I said, “oh, but that was a long time ago, it was a mistake and we wouldn't do it again.”
Again, those statements could all be seen as true as well. Doesn't make them right though. Please keep that in mind next time you read about torture by the military, corruption in big business, molestation by the church, or any number of other things you might read here or elsewhere…
