Re book burning

Certainly, it is very well established that the anti-Semitism of Nietzsche's sister, Elisabeth Foerster-Nietzsche, colored her interpretation of the philosopher poet's work. But let us bear in mind that Nietzsche was not necessarily well-disposed toward Jews; he was an anti-anti-Semite, regarding anti-Semitism as just another expression of the curse of shallow mindedness that afflicted Germany.

Yet, I notice that even his chief American apologist, Walter Kaufmann, found the posthumous Will to Power was worthy of translation and commentary, tho it had been compiled by from Nietzsche's notes by Foerster and "Peter Gast," Nietzsche's devoted assistant. To Kaufmann, the book was not THAT misaligned with Nietzsche's views.

My basic point is that Nietzsche's work, under its various interpretations, has in the main a very bad effect on many people -- especially young men -- who identify with the crafty, penetrating insights puncturing the posturing and false fronts of much of "Christian" society. But unlike Kierkegaard, whose attacks on "Christendom" were meant to contrast with true Christianity, Nietzsche sought to extirpate anything at all that might be used as a defense of that belief system.

Nietzsche implies, or sometimes upholds, an anti-Christ set of values that, in the hands of aggressive activists, becomes a recipe for mass destruction. That is to say, he was not only a prophet of destruction, but an instigator of destruction, something of which he seems to have been aware, at least on occasion.

Obviously, his idea of reconciling the emotional and rational sides of human nature has much to recommend it, tho his means of doing so -- aside from being philosophically arcane -- do not appear to be workable at all. In fact, he preached that such reconciliation would only work for a special elite of the strong-willed. (One can see his influence, whether direct or indirect, on later atheists such as Ayn Rand.)

Unfortunately, in his relentless campaign to defeat and overthrow anything and everything that might be used to shore up Christ or Christianity, Nietzsche went far afield of his one strong point of hoping to heal the division between reason and emotion -- blaming the mental schism on the pernicious influence of Christianity. If only as a young man he had been able to heed a "Christian" sexual taboo, he would have averted a life of suffering brought on by the advancing syphilis, which eventually felled him. (There has been dispute over this diagnosis, but the weight of evidence favors syphilis.)

I don't mean to judge Nietzsche for a youthful indiscretion; my point is that there were valid social reasons for at least some of the "Christian" taboos of his day.

Also, it is evident that he often caricatured Christian views on an array of complex topics, perhaps taking his mother's dogmatism as his template. (I view most of his work as a lifelong struggle against the anti-masculinism of a domineering mother, who always had a Bible quote at the ready to keep her son from displaying his testosterone too robustly.)

Nietzsche was brilliant enough to realize that the whole thrust of Western thought, right down to its foundations, appeared to point toward, even require, some form of universal christological principle (an insight shared by Bertrand Russell, who had very little sympathy for Nietzsche). Rather than accept such a notion, Nietzsche decided to tear up nearly all systematic thinking, root and branch.

Yet, unlike some other atheists, for whom he had contempt, Nietzsche realized that godlessness leads directly to nihilism, the view that fundamental values are not only delusory but can be bypassed by those who fear neither God nor man. Tho Nietzsche thought "eternal truths" to be delusions, or conventions, he sought to replace the Christian value system with a new value system that would somehow uphold humanity and save it from nihilism.

How was this to be done? The plan never came to fruition, as his health problems overtook him before he could establish such a structure. And let it be remarked that the plan was very unlikely to go far, as it was supposed to rest on something called "eternal return," whereby people are stuck on a broken record and keep doing the same things again and again forever Amen. (Here you see how God can be eliminated from Nietzsche's universe.) A few people see this destiny and accept their fates with joy. How one gets a viable, strong value system out of that vision escapes me.

In sum, Nietzsche's ideas are often alluring and, in some ways, highly insightful, but end in much labor and possible confusion. While Nietzsche cannot be held responsible for all the extreme interpretations that have followed in his wake, his attitude toward his fellow humans certainly is rife with elitism and the master-slave motif.

As far as I am concerned, I have no problem with burning my copies of his books, along with my copies from the large volume of literature concerning him.