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Don't worry, this has nothing to do with Christians or Republicans, try not to faint 
I bring this up because today I was watching a documentary "The Hidden Fuhrer. A debate about Hitler's sexual orientation" (I think that was it's exact name, I may be off a bit). Very fascinating documentary actually. They did have a convincing case that Hitler may have in fact been gay, and that his self hatred may have contributed to what he ultimately did. (for the record, I am fascinated by the rise and fall of Hitler, I feel it very important to understand how a boy from a very unimportant family in Austria, who grew up dreaming of becoming an artist, turned into the most infamous dictator in modern European history, to insure that we can prevent it from happening again).
What fascinated me though was the extra features on the disc talking about whether or not we should even discuss the matter because if it were proved that Hitler were gay it would demonize homosexuals even more than they have been by the fundamentalist right. They argued that merely by pointing out that Hitler was gay would justify people's feelings of nazi=evil, nazi now = gay, therefor gay=evil.
They do bring up something of an interesting point in that people seem to latch onto the orientation of a criminal a lot. If a pedophile is gay immediately you'll hear people saying "oh, see, I told you those gays are pedophiles" (yet oddly you would never hear someone say after a heterosexual molests a child saying "oh, see, I told you those heteros are pedophiles"). I'm curious why it is that despite the majority of offenses being committed by heterosexuals, pedophilia has been labled a "gay crime"
I've seen the same thing with black people and robbery. "oh, a black man robbed a 7-11, go figure."
Ditto Latinos and gang violence, "oh, look another mexican was involved in a gang shooting, what else is new"
So, were those historians right... looking at just how much we stereotype crime as a society, would proving the orientation of Hitler do anything other than build yet another stereotype?
I bring this up because today I was watching a documentary "The Hidden Fuhrer. A debate about Hitler's sexual orientation" (I think that was it's exact name, I may be off a bit). Very fascinating documentary actually. They did have a convincing case that Hitler may have in fact been gay, and that his self hatred may have contributed to what he ultimately did. (for the record, I am fascinated by the rise and fall of Hitler, I feel it very important to understand how a boy from a very unimportant family in Austria, who grew up dreaming of becoming an artist, turned into the most infamous dictator in modern European history, to insure that we can prevent it from happening again).
What fascinated me though was the extra features on the disc talking about whether or not we should even discuss the matter because if it were proved that Hitler were gay it would demonize homosexuals even more than they have been by the fundamentalist right. They argued that merely by pointing out that Hitler was gay would justify people's feelings of nazi=evil, nazi now = gay, therefor gay=evil.
They do bring up something of an interesting point in that people seem to latch onto the orientation of a criminal a lot. If a pedophile is gay immediately you'll hear people saying "oh, see, I told you those gays are pedophiles" (yet oddly you would never hear someone say after a heterosexual molests a child saying "oh, see, I told you those heteros are pedophiles"). I'm curious why it is that despite the majority of offenses being committed by heterosexuals, pedophilia has been labled a "gay crime"
I've seen the same thing with black people and robbery. "oh, a black man robbed a 7-11, go figure."
Ditto Latinos and gang violence, "oh, look another mexican was involved in a gang shooting, what else is new"
So, were those historians right... looking at just how much we stereotype crime as a society, would proving the orientation of Hitler do anything other than build yet another stereotype?
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