Ellenpoly,

Could you tell me who wrote the "What If" book please. I am teaching a high-school equivalent English class at an adult vocational college and the scenarios in that book could be just what I am looking for to build some thinking, analysis and writing exercises around.

My initial thoughts on this topic:

When I was mercilessly bullied by a former boss, in front of 40 or so other people for 14 months, only two people reached out an emotional lifeline to me. Both were new to the section, both reached out as soon as they realised that I was in trouble. 38 or so other people put their heads down and deliberately ignored my situation in the earnest hope that they would not call attention to themselves, and thereby making themselves another target for the bully.

The "innocent bystander" mentality is a very scary one in situations like these, and this is the part about Hitler's influence on the German society that I find fascinating. The insidious, manipulative nature of Hitler's communications and actions. The way that most people choose to believe the best and not the worst of other people's (i.e. Hitler's, the government's, etc) intentions, while other people are all too ready to believe nasty things about other people because it gives them something to whinge, complain, & gossip about. And how this escalated to such an extent in such a relatively short time.

And reading this thread, and what freightdawg said "....but move them 50 years forward or back and I wonder if they would have had the same kind of significant influence" - how much does modern communication technology influence these events. If Hitler was born a century earlier without communications and transport technology, how much influence would he have had. Could he have mobilised a whole society the way that he did.   Could he have just gotten away with it all within his own country and be just a name carried down in history, feared and/or revered but a story not really completely unravelled. Like Ghengis Khan.

Helen