George Santayana was right.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by icenine

You are missing the whole point. To the Germans in WWII they were not acting criminally in their own minds not did they view their leaders as such.

If I missed the point, you missed the metaphor as I agree with you: if the Germans win WWII, there is no recognized criminality as they do not perceive their acts to be as such. (For example, forefathers of the United States gave no credence to the crime of treason as there was no personal recognition of the King's power as Sovereign.)

Bottom line? Nation-states (including ours) regularly commit acts which other entities do not condone...

This is no better or worse than it has always been, there is no universal moral spoilage of society in which to lay our ills at the modern feet of. That theory is complete Straw Man.