Will Smith Blasts Gossip Sites for Misinterpreting Quote About Hitler

Associated Press ^ | 12/25/07 | Associated Press

[winstonwolf33]

LOS ANGELES — Will Smith is angry over celebrity gossip Web site articles that he said misinterpreted a recent remark he made in a Scottish newspaper about Adolf Hitler. In a story published Saturday in the Daily Record, Smith was quoted saying: "Even Hitler didn't wake up going, 'let me do the most evil thing I can do today.' I think he woke up in the morning and using a twisted, backwards logic, he set out to do what he thought was 'good."' The quote was preceded by the writer's observation: "Remarkably, Will believes everyone is basically good." Over the weekend, dozens of celebrity gossip Web sites posted articles about the comment, many saying that Smith believed that Hitler was a "good" person. "It is an awful and disgusting lie," Smith said in a statement Monday provided by his publicist. "It speaks to the dangerous power of an ignorant person with a pen. I am incensed and infuriated to have to respond to such ludicrous misinterpretation." "Adolf Hitler was a vile, heinous vicious killer responsible for one of the greatest acts of evil committed on this planet," read the statement.

[winstonwolf33]

"Adolf Hitler was a vile, heinous vicious killer responsible for one of the greatest acts of evil committed on this planet"

He should've said that in the beginning!

[Mr. Jeeves]

Smith was just making a simple point: there hasn't been a bad guy in history who didn't think he was the good guy.

Unfortunately, that's far too complicated a concept for today's average Hollywood propaganda consumer to get their minds around. ;)

[Borges]

It’s the writer of the intial interview that misinterpreted his quote by putting in the asinine comment “Will believes everyone is basically good.” before it.

[Tainan]

"He should've said that in the beginning!

Will made the obviously mistaken assumption that anyone with more sense than a garden slug knew that fact already.

[hometoroost]

Good point. I think what Smith said is right on point but simple logic is far too complex for most newspaper types these days.

[chesty_puller]

I can’t help but to like Will Smith.

[eyedigress]

Red State Update is close.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9-Gia0c8HI

[hole_n_one]

He should've said that in the beginning!

You're right!

Smith should have known that a disingenuous hack writer was going to attribute words to him that he never uttered, put those specious words in the headline, surrounded by quotation marks no less.

Maybe Smith should fire his agent and his PR person and hire you instead.

You seem to know it all.

[max americana]

Smith had to make the statement. I saw “I Am Legend” just yesterday, and just like “The Pursuit of Happyness”, it also had a conservative vibe to it. Kudos to Smith for the quick statement.

[technomage]

Welcome to the world of liberal media Will!

[no dems]

He should have known that this would bring a lot of criticism.

[Moonman62]

My advice to celebrities. Talk only about stupid superficial topics. Don’t ever talk about Hitler and and stay away from politics, unless you think Reagan was the greatest modern president.

[madison10]

He should have known that this would bring a lot of criticism.

Will Smith isn't a mind reader, he thought he was speaking in English, to English speaking people with brains. Pity the media is too cretinous to figure out what Mr. Smith actually said.

[weegee]

So what’s the retraction? What WAS the context of the ‘Hitler was misguided’ quote?

Is he claiming now that it was a complete fabrication? I saw plenty here on FR willing to agree with the assinine statement that Hitler did not know what he did was wrong.

[hole_n_one]

Will Smith: 'Hitler Was a Good Person' (NY Post Misquote)

[Rastus]

Smith was just making a simple point: there hasn't been a bad guy in history who didn't think he was the good guy.

I understand his point, but I don't agree with it. I doubt Saddam or the henchman carrying out his orders was thinking, "Well, it hurts me to do this, but it's for the greater good" when he loaded someone into the mulcher.

[thefactor]

in response to this story, my dad said: "hitler is off limits. just don't mention him...ever!"

why is this so hard for these people to understand?

[Young Scholar]

Exactly. I think Dale Carnegie made the same point at the beginning of How to Win Friends and Influence People by describing some famous criminal during a gunfight. It's hardly a revolutionary concept.

[hole_n_one]

Apparently, the full text of NY Post article is no longer accessible via the source link of the FR thread cited @ #15.

[unspun]

Good for Will. Likin' the guy.

[L.N. Smithee]

He should've said that in the beginning!

Only because he forgot for the moment what some people will do to make headlines. Otherwise, there wasn't a thing wrong with what he said.

Now, when it comes to marital fidelity, that's another matter...

[Misterioso]

I understand his point, but I don't agree with it.

When I don't agree with someone's point it's because I don't understand him. You might understand why he holds that view, but not his reasoning.

[kms61]

exactly. Much ado about nothing.

[M203M4]

His meaning was clear to me, and I agree with the sentiment (which is neither profound nor novel). Many evil people are deluded into thinking that their horrible actions are moral, just, and/or reasonable. At best, they suspend the question of morality on some fronts, while putting all of their moral focus on some twisted delusion.

Highly functional monsters, like Hitler and Saddam Hussein, seemingly went about their business without remorse. I think too often we project our own emotions and thought processes onto others - hoping to map the view of the sane and moral onto the view of monsters in whose minds rest either amorality or truly warped visions of morality. I am reminded of this quote:

"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the 'common good' may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for 'our own good' will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience."
-- C. S. Lewis

It doesn't make their actions better, just as hacking up your neighbor to use his flesh to feed your goldfish would not make your actions any better than vanilla murder. Instead, it serves as a lesson why we should examine our own actions more carefully, more completely.

[maine-iac7]

Smith had to make the statement. I saw “I Am Legend” just yesterday, and just like “The Pursuit of Happyness”, it also had a conservative vibe to it. Kudos to Smith for the quick statement.

One of my sons just saw "Legend" and says it's a must = my sons are ALL staunch conservatives

[Misterioso]

"Remarkably, Will believes everyone is basically good."

What's so remarkable about that. It's a Christian tenet, I believe. But the converse, that no one is basically bad, is a harder proposition to defend. Good people are not murderers. The Bad vs. Good distinction is obliterated by Smith's statement.

[Misterioso]

Is Will Smith a conservative? I hadn’t heard that.

[max americana]

One of my sons just saw "Legend" and says it's a must = my sons are ALL staunch conservatives One of the best parts? Seeing the UN building EMPTY with weeds growing out of it...oh, man how I wish it were real. Check out the prayer part: Will Smith praying 'Our Father' with his family! The nerve of liberal Hollywood!

[weegee]

He’s claiming that was a misquote. So what DID he claim he actually said?

[tired1]

n response to this story, my dad said: “hitler is off limits. just don’t mention him...ever!”

however, Stalin - the master butcher is OK.

[gigster]

Quotes between Hillary Clinton, Hitler, and Stalin are interchangeable. I’m sure when Hitlery crawls out from under her her slimy rock in the morning,it thinks it is doing the “Greatest Good For The Greatest Number”.

[tired1]

it’s late and i’m too tired to quibble. it’s always been a premise of mine that it were not for the influences of the USSR (Lenin/Stalin) there would not have been a platform for an Adolf to come to power.

That having been said, Have A Merry Christmas.

[Owl_Eagle]

however, Stalin - the master butcher is OK.

Stalin couldn't hold Mao's jock.

"The Chairman" will always be at the top of the bone pile in my book.

It's a shame how all the real mass murderers are liberals. Maybe one day we'll have one of our own...

[tired1]

keep your powder dry.

[B-Chan]

"If it came down to it, then one can say to the other, 'Look, I need to have sex with somebody. I'm not going to if you don't approve of it -- but please approve of it.'"

LOL

Man, I can just picture me saying that to Mrs. Chan. The cops would never find my body...

[pepsionice]

I would place Smith in the shadow of a youthful Bill Crosby. He actually has alot of common sense and doesn’t go around jumping on stupid bandwagons or special causes.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

"Take it from me, bloggers just don't understand."

[Diplomat]

This dunb arse statement about hitler is how Will Smith rationalizes his BDS. Seems the reporter didn’t play any cover for him as Smith has grown to expect.

[Bear_Slayer]

What's so remarkable about that. It's a Christian tenet, I believe

The bible teaches no such thing. In fact it teaches the exact opposite.

I'll quote one of many verses

There is none righteous, no not one. None seek after God . . .

It gets worse for mankind, according to the bible.

Mankind may do good deeds, but outside of the moral power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, no one's "good" act is entirely good. At some point it breaks down.

A moral act has two aspects:

motivation & activation

In other words: Why we perform some act & how we perform some act.

Apart from the moral wisdom and power found in Jesus Christ a good act falls short of what Christ would do.

[DCPatriot]

Why should he have to say that?

His point was that there can be 'good' found in any human, regardless of their evil nature. It was purposely taken out of context in order to make headlines.

[Chucky is a girlie man]

Will Smith is a Scientologist.

[Chucky is a girlie man]

Gee... was he misquoted here, too? ...Smith’s power marriage has begotten some power friendships, most notably with newlyweirds Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes. “That’s my man right there,” says Smith. “We push one another to be better. We both homeschool our children, and there’s a comprehension of what each of us goes through that everybody else can’t understand, that’s a really unique position that less than .0001 percent of people on earth will ever experience.” t is through Cruise that Smith — a polymath in a town of pedants — is learning about Scientology, and if there’s anyone in the world who can make L. Ron Hubbard’s universe sound less spooky, it’s Will Smith. “I studied Islam for ‘Ali,’ I grew up in a Baptist household, I went to a Catholic school,” he reasons. “I’ve studied Buddhism and Hinduism and I’ve studied Scientology through Tom. And nobody’s saying anything different! Look, I use the Bible to explain the ideas of God, and life, and love, and relationships, and the life of Jesus Christ to teach my children how to defend their spirit. But in all of the experiences I’ve had with Tom and Scientology, like, 98 percent of the principles are identical to the principles of the Bible. The Bible says, Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. And you know, there’s a Scientology principle: Do not create experiences for others that they cannot comfortably perceive.” Smith would rather stroll many paths to enlightenment than commit to one high road. “The Bible talks about your spirit being immortal, that you were created for existence beyond your physical body. Well, that’s no different from Scientology! I don’t think that because the word someone uses for spirit is thetan that the definition becomes any different.” Link

[Hegewisch Dupa]

Are you saying Hitler thought it was wrong to push forward the cause for Aryan supremacy at the expense of other, lesser peoples? What did he ever do that helps prove your non-asinine idea he thought he was doing something wrong?

[Virginia Ridgerunner]

That’s exactly right!

[GoforBroke]

I think it’s a stretch to put Will Smith into a nutter category just because he “studies” Scientology. It would be like saying he is also professional golfer. “An impressive 12 handicap — “single digits when I’m down for a month” — Smith belongs to Sherwood Country Club, in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and keeps an entire golf trailer on set, replete with a putting green, electronic driving range, and swing-analysis video monitors.”

It’s not good to park your brain at the door. It appears he is a thinker.

[elcid1970]

Listen, folks, you’ve got it all wrong! Wil Smith was actually talking about Mr. HILTER, and Ron Vivventrop and Heinrich Bimmler and Mr. MacGoering.

(Sigh) just couldn’t resist the Python plug. Anyway, it’s true - the world’s worst bad guys all think they’re the good guy. But suppose Wil Smith had said “I don’t think Mao Tse-tung or Fidel Castro or Ho Chi Minh woke up each morning wondering what’s the most evil thing they could do that day”.

Now THAT would trigger a REAL firestorm!

[advertising guy]

I know what he meant then and now..........I got ya back Will...........and merry Xmas too

[Badeye]

I think he figured most intelligent people already knew that.

[weegee]

Remember the days when Hollywood Reds like Brando proudly carried a copy of Mao’s Little Red Book (his personal copy sold on ebay a few years ago).