Remember the monsters, too

The anniversary of D-Day was three days ago.

An associate asked people to remember the Allied soldiers who died for the liberation of Europe.

Another person suggested people remember the German soldiers as well, because they were people to, fighting for their country. (Apparently the Italians the Japanese get no love.) People agreed, for the most part, but someone added, but not Hitler and the rest of the bastards at the top.

And I say, why not? Hitler and his fellows were horrible people, certainly, but they were people. Not monsters or evil demons sent by Satan to spread death and destruction among the naturally good societies of man, but people, shaped by genetics and experiences and their own choices.

I find it interesting that "humanizing" is often associated with "sympathizing" -- the idea that if you know more about a person, understand them, you must feel sorry for them. An amusing example I read was the statement that Osama bin Laden likes to play tennis -- the common reaction is to become on guard, waiting for the speaker to try to get you to like bin Laden or feel bad for him and his plight.

But to me, humanizing our villains is more horrifying. If Hitler or bin Laden or all those history has declared as villains were truly demons sent by Satan, then that would mean that evil wasn't our fault, it was the work of an external force, one that we could happily lay all the blame on and go on as we had before without a care in the world.

But if Hitler and the rest weren't demons, but humans, the same as us, then evil is a part of us, and in some way it's our fault. The idea that Hitler was similar to us is rightfully horrifying (but true). And this, of course, is why people don't like it -- not because it makes them like Hitler, but because it makes them dislike themselves.

The problem is that the kind of delusion that lets us call Hitler a demon is the very same one that allows us to shut out other people, ignore their circumstances and arguments and opinions, and declare that we're the right ones, that we're on top and on God's side and that everybody else isn't worthy. When we start demarcating individuals as inhuman, as fundamentally different from us, it's a slippery slope to demarcating groups -- as the person mentioned at the beginning did, with "the rest of the bastards at the top" -- and eventually everybody we don't like. We end up becoming that which we fear because we couldn't accept that it was a part of us. (How's that for irony?)

It's not just the slippery slope, however. Even the dehumanization of one man, whom nearly everyone on the planet would agree was evil beyond a shadow of a doubt, is wrong. And if you don't see why, I'm not sure I could ever convince you -- not that any of this is meant to convince people. I'm just writing what I think and hoping it will someday mean something to somebody.

Maybe there are people who don't deserve to be remembered. Maybe there are people who are fundamentally evil. But that's not our decision to make. If I believed in one I'd say it was God's; but since I don't, I'll just have to say that it's no one's, and that we have to remember everyone, and understand and believe in and forgive them, if we're going to survive as a species.

(We'll screw it up, of course, and fail and die. But if we try real hard, we might last a little bit longer.)