What can we learn from Dietrich von Hildebrand?

[Tybourne]

Those who have open eyes and ears to hear will have noticed some similarities between recent events in the US and Europe with the rise of Facism and Nazism in the 1930s. What can we learn from Dietrich von Hildebrand about how to stand up to tyranny and destruction of cultural values in favour of solidarity?

 

[Edmundus1581]

That was interesting. I was only able to watch about thirty minutes, although I’d like to see the rest.

Although I’ve often seen his name mentioned I don’t know much about him. It was very much to his credit that he opposed nazism right from the start, in Bavaria, and that he consistently opposed it when some Catholics were swayed by it. It was interesting that one of his reasons for opposition was nazism’s anti-semitism, which some of his Catholic friends were sympathetic to. It’s a mark of a great man that he stands up for the vulnerable even when that’s an unpopular position.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

Those who have open eyes and ears to hear will have noticed some similarities between recent events in the US and Europe with the rise of Facism and Nazism in the 1930s.

While Dietrich was a good man, and I can’t speak to what is going on in Europe, comparing the state of the US now with the 30s really stretches the bounds of credibility. It’s also not “unpopular” in the US to oppose the current President, so no one suffers any consequences from doing so. You’re more likely to be unpopular if you don’t oppose him.

 

[Tybourne]

Thanks for the responses, both of you. Could it be possible that we, here in Europe, can see the situation in the US more clearly than you can yourselves? In the same way, some US commentators can see the destructive trends in Europe more clearly than we can ourselves.

In the US, we have seen people vilified on the basis of their religion and ethnicity. We have seen people put in cages and babies ripped away from their parents. What closer parralels do we need? Watch the movie Children of Men and you will see it is only an exaggeration of where we are now, in the UK and US.