Jalpha wrote:Does the fact that western culture is to blame for the oppressive management of post WWI Germany which led to Hitlers rise to power have any influence?
How about what he did for the German economy and creating an engineering and manufacturing legacy which remains to this day?
There is a very fine line between genius and insanity and Hitler fell off the tightrope. I don't have enough facts at hand to decide personally whether Hitler had a net negative or net positive effect on the world at large. It's truly a shame you felt the need to escalate the scenario to Hitler from Hemingway in an attempt to add weight to your claims.
It's also impolite to answer a question with a question. For future reference.
You can't quantify positive and negative effect on the world, since some things are considered more positive by ones while others consider the same things more negative. I, personally, would say that mass murder far exceeds any positive effect on the world, unless it saves an equal or bigger number people. And before you say it, saving people who don't exist yet doesn't count, since he is harming them less directly than their parents.