V for Vendetta

>> Hitler was an incredibly intelligent man. If you want proof, read a list
> of
>> his accomplishments. As gruesome as many of them were, he was actually
> able
>> to convince people to do all that dirty work for him. No idiot could have
>> done that. Hitler is no doubt one of the worst examples of human life
>> ever
>> to walk the earth, but he was intellectually brilliant... and grossly
>> deranged.
>
> You are making the same point Minister Farrakhan made several years ago,
> when he claimed that Hitler was "wickedly great". I disagree.
>
> I am not a student of Hitler's life, but I am somewhat familiar with his
> life accomplishments. I did a bit of research not too long ago in an
> effort
> to try and figure out why a human being would choose the path he did. He
> didn't strike me as intellectually brilliant. He did have a talent for
> speech. But, he chose to use that talent for evil, rather than for good.

His intelligence was not with academia; it was with people. From a very
young age, Hitler was an amateur student of psychology and sociology, a
natural step into the rest of the social sciences. And, naturally,
understand people and how to appeal to them made him a brilliant orator, and
a brilliant leader. That said, his "brilliance" was of a very evil kind --
and that point does not need to be overlooked. Hitler was one of the worst
people ever to live.


> You made a point in a previous post that emotive storytelling is smart,
> but
> I would say that is not necessarily true. Talent is a gift from the
> creator.

You base your argument on a logically unproven foundation. The idea of "the
creator" is only that, an idea, at least until proven without doubt. (I
concede, of course, that perhaps my logic is simply incapable of accepting
the "proof" that others observe; maybe they're just smarter for accepting a
truth that I can only perceive to be a plausibilty.)


> A great artist has moments when he does not know where or how what he does
> comes into being. Jimi Hendrix with his eyes closed and his voice so in
> tune
> with each note he plays. That brief fraction of a second at the top of his
> leap when it really did seem like Michael Jordan was floating beyond the
> reach of gravity. These are examples of the Source of all things working
> through mortals, the highest expression of art.
>
> When an artist chooses to use his talent to drag people down, rather than
> uplift them, that sort of art is neither smart or good.

That statement is rich with OPINION.

An opinion that I agree with, but opinion nonetheless.

Moral judgments do not stand up against objective logic, no matter how
widely accepted they may be. Every human on earth could share the same
opinion, but then if there were really a God in Heaven who disagreed, then
we ALL would be wrong according to the supreme judgment. (I'm leaning into
Christian dogma here; forgive me if it's irrelevant.)

The definition of all human words are contrivances of man. So to label an
action as smart or intelligent or good is to express an opinion, or perhaps
a value judgment. Such a judgment is not fact in and of itself; only the
statement of the opinion's existence is fact.

These two points simplify to this: opinions are neither proof nor fact, and
should not be expressed as such.

That said, I have in the past been lambasted by someone who gave me hell for
leaving out the words "I think" from various opinions. But, in statements
such as yours, where it is obvious that it is an opinion, such a
clarification is unnecessary. Except that, without it, you bring about a
much longer argument that could have been avoided by simply clarifying that
your statement was, indeed, a personal opinion.

(Lesson learned, Jonas. And I was never a troll. :)


> It is sub-par work
> from an artist who is capable of much better. Which gets us back to the Ws
> and their V story. It does not uplift humanity. It attempts to drag us
> down
> to the level of dumb beasts. That is not good art. It is, rather, reactive
> and sensual rather than inspired ... what you would expect from
> Neanderthals, not Homo Sapiens.

I agree with your opinion for the most part, but the morality of an action
does not undermine a person's intelligence. A person can use their gifts to
inflict pain and still be intelligent, even if deranged according to popular
opinion.
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