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Why it works.
When we think about Hitler and The Holocaust, or genocide in general it is difficult to believe or imagine how something like that could happen so easily.  Hitler’s actions are without a doubt heinous. The magnitude of atrocity is difficult to even image, all of it happened almost too easily. How could an agenda so hideous come into being? Hitler gained power and following because in the end its all about how you paint the picture.

Burke does an excellent job at breaking down how Hitler’s rhetoric worked successfully to further his plans.  At face value and stated flatly could Hitler’s ideas have been successful enough for a whole country to relinquish power to one man? Burke’s makes us aware of how Hitler’s plans were delivered in a way that swayed people to go along with something that they ordinarily would not. He uses imagery, allusion, foreshadowing, and denial to illustrate a world which will put Germany back together. His strategy was systematic and calculated but he used ideas of peace and unity to bring everyone in.

He uses various literary devices that evoke emotion and relation among the masses.  Burke discusses how Hitler uses sexual symbolism by characterizing the “masses” as feminine which means that they have a desire to be led by a dominating male, “this mane orator woos them-and, when he was won them, he commands them” (195). A few sentences later the Jews are portrayed as evil angling to seduce the masses in turn poisoning their blood. Just the mention of blood poisoning creates the opportunity to attack things like prostitution, syphilis, and incest.

There are a lot of aspects that Hitler purposefully leaves out and glosses over. He never acknowledges how the war has impacted their current plight. He places no responsibility on the individual. All the blame is placed on the Jews as the ultimate scapegoat. He manages to relate every negative aspect of life and society in Germany back to the Jews. One obvious issue of the time had to do with money and finance as a whole, but Hitler managed to separate the finances of the Jews versus everyone else. So to avoid making the people feel like they have any part in the misfortune all of the blame is place elsewhere.

It is interesting how a person can talk their way into anything essentially. While Hitler is a very extreme case of the power rhetoric can have, we see the same sort of thing happening today in modern politics. Even though scapegoating might be too strong word blame is constantly being thrown around. In American politics our great divide is liberal and conservative. There is no doubt that the separation between the two political views creates a sense of unity within them.  It is safe to say that everyone has an audience. Hitler had followers despite the horror of his content , and politicians that one person thinks is dead wrong are followed by people that think you are crazy.