Nietzsche

So another semester beckons with History and Context of Journalism Part Four commencing tomorrow afternoon. The first topic is concerning Frederick Nietzsche.

For Nietzsche the greatest, most powerful, and honest emotion is that of hatred. He was a man who embraced 'ruthlessness, war, and aristocratic pride.' He was of the opinion that evil was good as its end result was the production of 'a great man'. Bertrand Russell writes of Nietzsche in his book History of Western Philosophy that 'he alludes habitually to ordinary human beings as the 'bungled and botched', and sees no objection to their suffering if its necessary for the production of a great man.' Russel cites the example of Napoleon to convey this point. So does this indicate that Nietzsche would be complementary of other 'great men' who have inflicted mass suffering to the 'bungled and botched' such as Hitler and Stalin? Would he be in favour of Tony Blair and George Bush for their implicit responsibility for bringing suffering to the 'bungled and botched' in Iraq and Afghanistan? For Nietzsche 'the misery of a whole nation is of less importance than the suffering of a great individual.'

Chris described in his webcast lecture on Nietzsche how he agreed with him that hatred is the most powerful and honest emotion. Chris used the example of football fans as evidence to convey Nietzsche's belief. I have to agree with Chris on this one. If you conduct a study of football fans terrace chants you are likely to find more references to hatred of the other team rather than the glorification of your own side. This can also be seen through the booing of opposition players. Just because they turn out in different colours, the powerful and honest emotion of hatred comes to the forefront. The hatred for the opposition is the more powerful emotion than the want for your own team to win.