This follows the opening scene of the Quinten Tarrantino movie ‘Inglorious Bastards’ where a Nazi S.S. official is interrogating a farmer in Nazi-occupied France to try and locate any Jewish people that may be hidden on the property.
To me, it is the single greatest conversation and metaphor that explains the thinking and mindset of prejudice and since hearing it I approach people who are obviously racist with a completely different strategy.
Personally, I found it brilliant and just felt compelled to share it. Read it when you have the time. It is made in lieu with Jewish people but it can easily apply for blacks, foreigners or even poor people.
‘COL LANDA
The feature that makes me such a effective
hunter of the Jews, is, as opposed to most
German soldiers, I can think like a jew.
where they can only think like a German,
or more precisely, a German soldier.
Now if one were to determine what attribute
the German people share with a beast, it
would be the cunning and predatory instinct
of a hawk.
Negro's - gorilla's - brain - lips -
smell - physical strength - penis size.
But, if one were to determine what attributes
the jews share with a beast, it would be
that of the rat.
Now the Fuhrer and Gobbles propaganda
have said pretty much the same thing.
Where our conclusions differ, is I don't
consider the comparison a insult.
Consider for a moment, the world a rat
lives in. It's a hostile world indeed.
If a rat were to scamper through your
front door right now, would you greet it
with hostility?
PERRIER
I suppose I would.
COL LANDA
Has a rat ever done anything to you to
create this animosity you feel toward
them?
PERRIER
Rat's spread disease, they bite people -
COL LANDA
- Unless some fool is stupid enough to
try and handle a live one, rats don't
make it a practise of biting human beings.
Rats were the cause of the bubonic plague,
but that was some time ago. In all your
born days, has a rat ever caused you to
be sick a day in your life? I purpose to
you, any disease a rat could spread,
a squirrel could equally carry.
Yet I a**ume you don't share the same
animosity with squirrels that you do with
rats, do you?
PERRIER
No.
COL LANDA
Yet, they are both rodent's, are they
not? And except for the fact that one
has a big bushy tail, while the other
has a long repugnt tail of rodent skin,
they even rather look alike, don't they?
PERRIER
It is a interesting thought,
beer Colonel.
COL LANDA
However, interesting as the thought may
be, it makes not one bit of difference
to how you feel. If a rat were to scamper
through your door, this very minute,
would you offer it a saucer of your
delicious milk?
PERRIER
Probably not.
COL LANDA
I didn't think so. You don't like them.
You don't really know why you don't like
them. All you know is, you find them
repulsive.
