Will Smith and the Hitler Quandary
Fanatical media reports are everywhere, I suppose:
Hollywood superstar Will Smith told Scottish newspaper The Daily Record recently that he was convinced Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler did not fully understand the extent of the pain and suffering his actions would cause during his time in power in the 1930s and ’40s.
What was Will Smith really trying to say? Here’s a part of the interview they have since removed from the article on Ynet:
Remarkably, Will believes everyone is basically good.
Isn’t this what we’re all supposed to believe? But throw in the “H” word and all logic goes to the wind.
Popularity: 2% [?]
December 26th, 2007 at 9:58 pm
I don’t see anything he said as all that bad… Hitlers a man…. a bad man, but just a man.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Having read the article linked to and all the angry responces placed after it, I had to read the actual interview for myself, and you know what- in the context of the interview, and in the way he said it, it’s hardly anything to get riled up over.
Everyone is taking just that bit, but the whole quote of the article that should really be shown is:
—-Smart, friendly and funny, you have to wonder if anything ever upsets Will Smith’s good nature.
“Well, if I understand the problem then I don’t get annoyed,” he explained. “People driving past in the car and giving me the finger annoys my wife but it’s because they think you did something to them.
“They think you’re driving too slow and keeping them from getting to their daughter’s birthday party, or you cut them off and didn’t see.”
Remarkably, Will believes everyone is basically good.
“Even Hitler didn’t wake up going, ‘let me do the most evil thing I can do today’,” said Will. “I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was ‘good’. Stuff like that just needs reprogramming.
“I wake up every day full of hope, positive that every day is going to be better than yesterday. And I’m looking to infect people with my positivity. I think I can start an epidemic.”—-
I’m reminded of a passage I read by a Buddhist teacher- “There are unforgivable acts, but no man is unforgivable.”
Ah well, easier to get riled up over nothing.
December 26th, 2007 at 10:32 pm
Wow, so to me that tells me that Will Smith is an honorable, temperate, empathetic person who is able to have an opinion that is not just based on passion and indoctrination… kudos to him.
December 27th, 2007 at 7:58 am
Thanks Skitz for clarifying that! Note to self: Remember to drink more coffee when writing before 8am.
December 27th, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Sounds like the evil media machine just wants to ostracize someone else. Must be a slow war news day…