The continual allegation that Hitler was a vegetarian is usually motivated by a wish to discredit vegetarianism by those who oppose it. Good morality or good health policy should neither be motivated nor discredited by whether evil people embrace a certain principle.
The (false) singleton fallacy
"The fact that Hitler had a nose doesn't mean we should cut off our noses." The Nazis implemented many health policies such as anti-smoking and anti-pollution legislation, pregnancy and birthing measures for women, that we regard as good measures.
Had Hitler actually chosen to be a vegetarian, that would simply have been one of the better choices he made. If Hitler were fond of chess, that wouldn't invalidate chess. In fact, one of the best players in the history of the game, Bobby Fischer, was a raving anti-Semite, but nobody stops playing chess because of that.
However, the allegation that Hitler was a vegetarian is so qualified that one can only call Hitler a "vegetarian" by excluding from the definition of "meat" food such as ham and sausages, which he ate all his life. Robert Proctor calls Hitler a vegetarian "of sorts" (The Nazi War on Cancer, p. 134), which is the most that one can say of his vegetarianism.
Self deceive to overcome guilty consciousness
It seems that many people want to believe that Hitler was a vegetarian. Perhaps they're threatened by vegetarianism because it implies that they're doing something wrong. But armed with the (mistaken) idea that the infamous Hitler himself was a veggie, that allows them to easily dismiss the whole concept of vegetarianism in one fell swoop. "Hitler was a vegetarian, therefore vegetarianism itself must be flawed!" Of course, that's a patently retarded argument. But the point is, many people are eager to believe it, which is why they require no proof at all when they hear that Hitler was a veggie, and then suddenly demand reams of supporting evidence when someone suggests he wasn't.
The facts
At various times Hitler reduced the amount of meat in his diet, primarily for medical reasons. Sometimes he reduced it a lot but the evidence shows that he never stopped eating meat completely for any significant length of time. Unfortunately many meat-eaters, including historians, use the term 'vegetarian' incorrectly to describe someone who simply reduced their meat consumption.
Hitler's reputation for being a vegetarian seems to consist solely of his not having eaten red meat. Many witnesses attested to him eating liver, Bavarian sausages and stuffed squab (young pigeon). The latter was said to be his favorite dish by a restaurant that he attended regularly in the 1930s.
The effort to describe Hitler's eating habits as vegetarian requires changing the definition of "vegetarian" to exclude liver, ham, and sausages from the list of meats, and changing the definition of "animal" to exclude pigs.
Part of Gibbels’ propaganda
According to Robert Payne (Hitler's biographer), the vegetarian claim was made up by Goebbels to give the impression of an ascete in the manner of Ghandi; Goebbels claimed that Hitler did not smoke, drink, eat meat or have anything to do with women. In fact, it is known he did all of these -- except smoke.
So, apart from his many other faults, Hitler was also dishonest about his diet.
Propaganda of multi-billions dollar worth meat industry
, Vegetarianism – a form of child abus, etc..
The propaganda myth of Hitler's vegetarianism is just one of meat producing multi-national companies' propaganda.
References:
- Was Hitler a vegetarian?
- Hitler was not a vegetarian
- Facts about: Hitler's [So-Called] Vegetarianism
- Vegetarians are Evil (A site that promote meat consumption and slaughter)
Related posts:
- World Famous Vegetarians
- Reality of meat consumption in post colonial period in Sri Lanka
- Adolf Hitler – The rise of a soldier turned into a dictator
- Finger licking Murali
- Veddha of modern era
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