Exeter University Would Like to Apologize for That Inspirational Quote by a Nazi General
Source – Exeter University sent students and staff an email with a motivational piece of advice from Erwin Rommel.
The World War Two general known as the Desert Fox was given a state funeral and national day of mourning by Hitler when he died.
He was one of the most senior members of the Nazi war machine.
But someone thought he would be a good role model to rally the spirits of the faculty.
The university’s advice team sent out an email which included a picture of Rommel alongside the quote: ‘One cannot permit unique opportunities to slip by for the sake of trifles.’ …
The quote was taken from the website Quotefancy and the staff member who selected it apparently did not recognise his name.
Exeter University said: ‘This was a genuine error and in no way intentional, however we apologise unreservedly for any offence it may have caused, and have put additional processes in place to ensure this doesn’t happen again.’
Whoopsie. I guess this could happen to anybody. That is to say, it could happen to anyone who likes to put inspirational quotes on their Facebook page with a color background or in their Twitter header, generate memes with them or put them up on the white board to motivate others. And who has never heard of one of the great military tacticians of the 20th century even though he would’ve commanded the invasion of Great Britain if it had come to that.
I guess Exeter University deserves credit for the way they handled this. It can’t be easy to say “We have people on our staff who have never heard of Erwin Rommel.” But it’s easier than going the other route. Which would have been to point out that, as Nazis go – and believe me I am very much grading on a curve here and in no way saying any of them wasn’t inherently evil – Rommel was about as good as they came. Ish. I mean, let’s not lose sight of the fact he was part of a plot to kill Hitler. Which is about as nice a thing as you can say about one of these goosestepping pieces of shit. He apparently rejected anti-Semitism. And most historians contend he was not on board with Nazi ideology and the Holocaust. Which is good. And did I mention he tried to kill Hitler? In fact, only because he was a national hero was he allowed to commit suicide and in exchange his whole family wasn’t tortured and executed as a warning to anyone else who tried to plot against the Fuhrer. So there’s that.
But again, you can’t argue that point to defend your quote. Almost isn’t good enough. Plus, it’s a little hard to forgive all that invading other countries and killing people by the millions thing. No matter how good he was with a turn of a phrase. There’s a reason heroes like Captain America and Indiana Jones are allowed to kill Nazis by the bushel with total impunity. So there’s no upside to dying on the hill of “Well at least Rommel wasn’t all that bad.” It’s much easier to die on the hill marked “Our university is not so educated that we’ve all heard of one of the most recognizable people of the 20th century.”
So word to the wise. If you’re going to scratch that itch to post inspirational quotes, just be on the lookout for ones said by men named Goering, Bormann, Himmler, Goebbels, Eichmann, Haydrich and pretty much anyone with a “dolph” anywhere in their name. No matter how noble the words sound. You might not be big History Channel buff, but never forget that Wikipedia is your friend. You’re welcome.