Mephisto

Doesn’t seem like much of a bargain. An uber-being shows and coincidentally knows what you want --- merely sign away your post-existence --- usually in blood, that might be a clue! But repeatedly, people actually sign away their souls --- in the form of their pride, their morality, their sense of worth, friendships, family. Come on --- it’s an allegory! But what a tale! Why does it occur in the stories and representations of numerous cultures, religions, and nations? Perhaps because it explains away the failings of humans who make that irrational choice --- that opt to choose the power, the riches, the adoration and give away what really matters in return. That is --- a deal with the devil, whether you believe in the devil or not. Humans make that fatal choice, even if not confronted with a signpost such as a devilish Lucifer with a dripping bloody pen to incite you to sign. How does this fit with the German industrialists of The Damned from last month and their deals with the fascistic Nazis of the 1930s? As we saw, the trail of murder, betrayal, madness, and a lack of morality was well-rewarded, in the end, for the industrial family based on the Krupps of Germany. Machine guns for untold riches and power beyond reason? Why not? But to continue to use the fascism of Nazi Germany in the 30s as our background --- why did less powerful people sign on? Why did those in line to make a lesser fortune, or attain modest power, or simply to be left alone, go down the road hand-in-hand with the Nazis? 

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