PART I – Nietzsche
Here are a few things about him you probably didn’t know and have no need to.
1). His philosophy is associated with Nazism. This was due to the fervent anti-Semitic views of his sister, Elisabeth, who started an unsuccessful Jew-hating colony with her husband in Paraguay that strained their relationship to the breaking point. Fortunately for her, Nietzsche went mad and she took over control of his estate (and writings) and became BFFs with Hitler. If you haven’t seen Ricky Gervais’ stand-up routine on Nietzsche, it is a spot on. Talk about selective quoting. Nietzsche was a lover of all things French, hated the fact he had to write in German (he gave up his German/Prussian citizenship at the age of 25), considered himself a good European (EU anyone?), and greatly admired Jews. In fact, one of the last things he wrote before he went completely insane was a letter to his closest (and Jewish) friend Franz Overbeck, saying:
To friend Overbeck and wife.
Although you have so far demonstrated little faith in my ability to pay, I yet hope to demonstrate that I am somebody who pays his debts—for example, to you. I am just having all anti-Semites shot.
- Dionysus
2) One of the words Nietzsche invented has entered our popular culture like the plague. It is the ‘Übermensch’. While it should be translated as ‘Overman’, it is more commonly referred to as ‘Superman’. Yep, the ‘Übermensch’ is the comic basis for the spandex-wearing superhero and a girlfriend so stupid she is fooled by a pair of glasses. Not even Jessica Simpson is that stupid.
3) Nietzsche was a serial misogynist. Here is just one example of his vitriolic woman-bashing:
“Women are considered deep — why? Because one can never discover any bottom to them. Women are not even shallow.”
His views on women are definitely not misunderstood, but should be put into context (psychological, not textual). Nietzsche’s father died when he was four years old and he grew up in a household that consisted of his mother, sister, paternal grandmother (read: his mother’s mother-in-law) and his father’s two unmarried sisters. My grandmother liked to throw frying pans when she got really angry, and she was only half German. I can only imagine Nietzsche’s pain.
To top it off, his marriage proposal to Lou Salomé (the spitfire pictured in this masochistic ménage à trois and the women he considered his soul mate) was rejected outright. Their mutual friend Paul Rée (the other bloke in the picture) played hide-the-salami with Salomé, effectively ending Nietzsche’s courtship. Salomé and Rée moved away, leaving Nietzsche to waste away as a bitter, bitter man spinster.
Thus concludes Part I of our Misunderstood Political Philosophers series. Nietzsche: the only man less likely to give Rosie O’Donnell a free mustache ride than Tom Selleck.
