Politics: Onward from New Hampshire

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
I'm not seeing an inconsistent position. My point was that grades are artifacts of grading systems, and have no intrinsic significance. This is seen in the fact that a B in a class with one professor may mean more than an A- in the same class with another professor.

I think that shows that grades are not a perfect measurement of merit, which is different from saying they have no intrinsic significance.

However, your GPA does reflect your educational performance fairly well, although it is not perfect. This is especially true when you compare a person with a 3.8 to a 2.5, although less true when you compare a person with a 3.8 to one with a 3.6.

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
There are Germans who died trying to stop Hitler, including many privileged officers who were executed in Plotzensee after the bomb in the Wolf's Lair failed to kill Hitler.

But why were they trying to stop him? By and large those who wanted to stop him were interested less in the jews and more in either their own quest for power or their recognition that they would lose this war and that would be bad for Germany. That was my point.

I don't dispute that there were Germans trying to stop Hitler. Some of them saw the potential outcome of losing the war and what it would mean for germany. I just don't think the opposition to Hitler that existed was based on what was being done to the jews.

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
Germans generally accept the country's collective responsibility for the Holocaust.

So they agree with me, too.

Originally posted by Tyrone_Slothrop
One might further note, however, that there are not many examples of a citizenry successfully standing up to a totalitarian government.

I agree but I still maintain that even if the germans had tried to stand up to Hitler, it would have been because they predicted that the war would have a disasterous outcome (i.e., they would lose) and that would wreak havoc on their lives for several decades. Or because they were being oppressed. But it wouldn't have been because they gave a damn about what was being done to the jews.