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Hitler was Cruel - But I Owe Him My Life
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Do you owe your existence to Hitler?
Definately
14%
 14%  [ 3 ]
Possibly
14%
 14%  [ 3 ]
No - both my parents were already born
23%
 23%  [ 5 ]
No - I was already born!
0%
 0%  [ 0 ]
I probably wasn't affected
19%
 19%  [ 4 ]
No - my family lived in the North Pole
9%
 9%  [ 2 ]
I can't get my head around it.
19%
 19%  [ 4 ]
Total Votes : 21

Author Message
Big_Bird



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...

PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:42 pm    Post subject: Hitler was Cruel - But I Owe Him My Life Reply with quote

Another thread (and a cheeky post of Jongno's) have just given me inspiration.

Now, one of the cardinal rules for time travel is that you must try not to do anything to alter the course of history. So, for example, if you travel back in the Doctor's Tardis to Austria in 1889, you shouldn't drown the baby Hitler, because although you might save millions and millions of civillians in the coming decades, you might alter the course of history in other unforeseen ways.

Certainly, I would be loathe to kill a pre-war Hitler, as in fact, I'd end up killing myself. This is because if Hitler hadn't invaded Poland, England might never have declared war on Germany. That would mean that British women would never have joined the war effort by joining the land army (to replace male agricultural workers enlisted in the forces). That would mean that my old granny would never have left a big industrial city to travel down to a small rural community. That means she would never have worked on the farm where she met my granddad. That means she would never have rolled in the hay with my granddad. That means she would never have got herself knocked up with my uncle. That means she would never have had a shotgun wedding which then resulted in a marriage which subsequently resulted in my mum. So thank you Hitler for invading Poland!

Now, my dad was already born. But who knows, perhaps he could have been destined to meet a lass far more fetching than my mum? Perhaps there was to be such a lass, but she (or one of her potential parents) was in fact killed by a German bombing raid. So, thank you to the Luftwaffe for possibly wiping out a potential rival to my mum, and so allowing me to be born!

An Israeli friend of mine also once brought this up. She hates Hitler for what he did to her grandparents, but pointed out to me she would not have been born if not for him, because her parents would have continued living in different countries, and would never had any reason to leave, and would never have met.

So Hitler was responsible for millions of deaths. However, his actions had such far reaching consequences, that potentially millions of people who are alive today would not have otherwise been born (though of course millions of other people who might have existed today have not been born because of him).

So, anyway, what's your story? Would you have been born anyway? Or do you too owe your existence to this evil unhinged madman from Austria?

[img]http://www.informationblast.com/images/thumb_f_fb_250px-Hitler-speech.jpg[/img]

Note: This is just a playful exercise - and in no way meant to be a tribute to Hitler who was a pathetic and worthless little individual.


Last edited by Big_Bird on Thu Jan 12, 2012 2:58 pm; edited 1 time in total
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SPINOZA



Joined: 10 Jun 2005
Location: $eoul

PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 9:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Reich n roll
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babtangee



Joined: 18 Dec 2004
Location: OMG! Charlie has me surrounded!

PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

My dad told me some great stories about his father. My father was born before he left to fight the war, so I may still be here despite Adolf. But maybe not. These are some of the gems my dad told me:

**************************************
When dad came back from the war he brought a service revolver with him. One day I found it and was playing with it. It was really heavy. My dad saw me playing with it and said, "Come here." I handed the revolver to him immediately - fearfully. He said, "It's all right. It's not loaded... You know what we used to do to the Japs when we had no bullets?"

"No, sir," I shook my head. BANG! He smacked me on the scone with the butt of the pistol. I saw stars.

*****************************
One day dad took me and my brother for a long drive. He bought us a bottle of coke for the journey. We sat in the back of the car and drank all the coke. We were quiet most of the way, as was required of children at the time. When our two-hour journey finished and dad got out of the car he said, "Where's my coke?"

Me and my brother stared at him dumbly with the small, empty glass bottle of coke. He snatched the bottle from my hands and BANG! he smacked me on the scone with it.

*****************************
One day my dad took me for a walk. He bought two ice creams and gave them to me. On the way home he stopped at the pub, telling me to wait outside. He was in the pub for hours. When he came out I had the ice cream cones in my hands, melted ice cream running all down my arms. "Why the hell didn't you eat them, you idiot?" BANG!
*****************************


I suspect my grandfather's stoic nature had a lot to do with my dad leaving home to work on the Snowy River Dam at the age of 14. Highly unlikely that I'd be born if he hadn't done that. Whether my grandfather's nature was the result of fighting the Japanese I can't be sure - it's quite possible that he was just a mean old bstard to begin with.

You have to consider though - maybe many of the millions of people who would have been born in our place would have been much better people. Also, maybe they would never have felt the need to build The Bomb. Maybe.
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Big_Bird



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...

PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:17 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

babtangee wrote:

You have to consider though - maybe many of the millions of people who would have been born in our place would have been much better people. Also, maybe they would never have felt the need to build The Bomb. Maybe.


Or, alternatively, because of the lack of that particular war...people might not have been so chastened by the lessons of history, and might have started a big world war later down the line...for the sheer heck of it!
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Big_Bird



Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...

PostPosted: Fri Jan 19, 2007 10:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

babtangee wrote:

I suspect my grandfather's stoic nature had a lot to do with my dad leaving home to work on the Snowy River Dam at the age of 14. Highly unlikely that I'd be born if he hadn't done that. Whether my grandfather's nature was the result of fighting the Japanese I can't be sure - it's quite possible that he was just a mean old bstard to begin with.



So you'd be a "Possibly" then?
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Boodleheimer



Joined: 10 Mar 2006
Location: working undercover for the Man

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 8:22 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

(bb, please change the spelling of "definately" to "definitely".)

my grandmother was a dutch citizen born in indonesia. she and her brother and parents were taken prisoner by the japanese and spent 4 or 5 years in Tje Deng camp. of course, after the war the family was bankrupt, so while her family went back to holland, gran went to the USA to start a new life. i suppose i can thank a militaristic japan for my existence.
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cbclark4



Joined: 20 Aug 2006
Location: Masan

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 8:49 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If Hitler had not existed the Eugenics projects may have become strict public policy in the US.

http://www.eugenics.net/

http://www.crichton-official.com/fear/index.html

Would be a cool topic for an Alternate History Novel (Harry Turtledove etc.)

cbc
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peony



Joined: 30 Mar 2005

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 9:09 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

no effect at all, now if the korean war hadnt have happened, that's a totally different story as my maternal granddad came down from the north and got closed off from going back, met my gran and had my mom
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babtangee



Joined: 18 Dec 2004
Location: OMG! Charlie has me surrounded!

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 10:18 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

peony wrote:
no effect at all, now if the korean war hadnt have happened, that's a totally different story as my maternal granddad came down from the north and got closed off from going back, met my gran and had my mom


Well, if the US did not go to war with Japan there may well not have been a Korean War.

Big_Bird wrote:
So you'd be a "Possibly" then?


I reckon so.
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djsmnc



Joined: 20 Jan 2003
Location: Dave's ESL Cafe

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:46 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

If Hitler had not existed, a taxi driver in Memphis may not have stopped for a few minutes to hear the radio news report about the war one morning in 1944, which means he would have picked up a woman, which would have prevented her from complaining about taxis to a guy at the nearby bus stop, who then wouldn't have subsequently been late for his appointment, which means that he wouldn't have bumped into my grandfather on the street, therefore never causing my grandfather to drop his newspaper that morning.

Because of that, my grandfather would not have gone back to the paperboy to get another copy, which means he wouldn't have slid on that fateful patch of ice that caused him to bump his head. Without bumping his head, he may not have felt disoriented and overly horny that night, which means he wouldn't have decided to have animalistic sex with my grandma, causing them to realize that the mercury tests the government did on him as a boy hadn't made him sterile!
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Ya-ta Boy



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:34 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

I'm a definitely-wouldn't-have-existed.

My mom's boyfriend convinced her that he didn't want to go to war without having experienced sex at least one time. She agreed. ( Shocked <--- That's me when my mom said that.) He was killed on the beaches at Anzio.

Therefore Mom later married Dad.

A young man's death. My mom's heartbreak and grief. I'm not all that sure I'm worth it.
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JongnoGuru



Joined: 25 May 2004
Location: peeing on your doorstep

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

djsmnc wrote:
If Hitler had not existed, a taxi driver in Memphis may not have stopped for a few minutes to hear the radio news report about the war one morning in 1944, which means he would have picked up a woman, which would have prevented her from complaining about taxis to a guy at the nearby bus stop, who then wouldn't have subsequently been late for his appointment, which means that he wouldn't have bumped into my grandfather on the street, therefore never causing my grandfather to drop his newspaper that morning.

Because of that, my grandfather would not have gone back to the paperboy to get another copy, which means he wouldn't have slid on that fateful patch of ice that caused him to bump his head. Without bumping his head, he may not have felt disoriented and overly horny that night, which means he wouldn't have decided to have animalistic sex with my grandma, causing them to realize that the mercury tests the government did on him as a boy hadn't made him sterile!

Very good post, djsmnc, and one that I think touches on my own thoughts and... annoyances regarding these sorts of inquiries. Except for some hopelessly lost tribe in Papua New Guinea or somewhere (and even in that case it's extremely unlikely), there isn't a one of us who would exist were it not for Hitler, be it in some large or minute, direct or bewilderingly circuitous way. It's inescapable and undeniable. But it's not news.

Remember that Hitler was but one factor in an uncountably large number of people and chance events that all had to occur just when and just as they did in order for any of us to be here today. Yes, I suppose there is some mischievous pleasure in attempting to get people to say "thank goodness for Hitler" to their own horror. And yes, I believe -- strongly, in fact -- that examining who we are, from where and whom we are descended, and tracing our own family's history can be valuable, instructive and just plain fun.

But this causality one attaches to a single historical figure -- Hitler in this case -- must be said of everyone and everything from Jesus to the milkman to djsmnc's "fateful patch of ice". This is one reason the "Back To The Future" movies always annoyed me. If you really went back into your parents' past, you'd better be damned invisible, completely silent, and never touch a farking thing. You can only observe, because the slightest little impact will prevent THAT sperm from ever reaching THAT egg.
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bluelake



Joined: 01 Dec 2005

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:20 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Now if the A-bomb hadn't been dropped, I might not be here now. My dad's ship was heading for what probably would have been a suicide blockade of Tokyo when the bomb was dropped. My dad was married by that time, but it was several years before my time.
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Ya-ta Boy



Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Established in 1994

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:40 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
My dad's ship was heading for what probably would have been a suicide blockade of Tokyo when the bomb was dropped



My dad was right behind yours. He was on Saipan waiting to board ship. He was delighted to hear the Bomb was dropped.
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bluelake



Joined: 01 Dec 2005

PostPosted: Sat Jan 20, 2007 3:00 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ya-ta Boy wrote:
Quote:
My dad's ship was heading for what probably would have been a suicide blockade of Tokyo when the bomb was dropped



My dad was right behind yours. He was on Saipan waiting to board ship. He was delighted to hear the Bomb was dropped.


Yeah, his ship had just left Pearl Harbor on its way; along the way, they received word of Japan's surrender, so his ship headed down to the South Pacific for awhile. In September of that year, my dad became the first member in our family to visit Korea (Incheon), when his ship was one of the first American ships there after the war; the Japanese were still there.



Wolmido 1945 (picture taken by my dad)



Wolmido 1984 (picture I took from the same spot)



My dad (on the right) in Incheon
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