Hitler’s Wind Farm

By Kitty Lapin Agile on March 20, 2012 • ( 4 )

Adolph Hitler was a man responsible for anywhere from 7 million to 48 million deaths, depending on who is counting (or none, if you believe certain conspiracies). While experts disagree about the exact number, Hitler is easily on anyone’s list of most evil human beings to have ever lived. It’s not just the number of deaths, but the manner of those deaths that adds to the horror. Hitler played on people’s fears and prejudices. This led to the extermination of gypsies, Jews and gays as if they were simply pests to be eradicated without even a twinge of guilt. An entire nation was seduced by the monster that was Hitler into the worst behavior human beings are capable of.

Lempster Wind Farm, in Lempster, New Hampshire (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

There is a part of the story of Hitler that I appear to have missed in history class. That is where Hitler built a wind farm to generate energy without the full approval of a small town. This obvious deficiency in my knowledge of Hitler came to my attention when I was reading the local free paper called “The Villager”. This week’s issue (“Defiant Antrim stages write-in after Wind Signed”, Michael Pon, March 16, 2012) has a lead story about the local selectman‘s meeting for the town of Antrim. The high point of the meeting was when Sarah Gorman compared the selectmen to Hitler. To quote, “One resident…went so far as to compare the selectmen to Hitler…it was not clear whether Sarah Gorman was addressing Genest alone, or all three selectmen.”

Antrim is a small town in New Hampshire, that has been trying for the past few years to allow a company known as “Antrim Wind Energy LLC” (a division of Eolian Renewable Energy) set up a wind farm.

Antrim, New Hampshire (Photo credit: Dougtone)

There are many exceptions made for the drilling of oil and gas, and much controversy about the need for energy being balanced with the needs of our environment. Alternative clean energy like wind also has to face many hurdles. Sadly, “The Villager”, over the past year, has seen objections to wind farming to be mainly “wind turbines cause migraines” and “wind turbines cause children to become ADHD”. These unproven and outright silly objections, from a skeptical point of view, seem to be the rallying cry. I see very little of the more rational objections, such as “my view will be different”, or “my property value will go down”. Like most critical thinkers, I believe there are many good points to a wind farm, among which are cheap clean energy and lower taxes for the good citizens of Antrim. As a property owner in Antrim, I welcome a wind farm. I wish they would stick a turbine right in my yard and let me power my home that way! No, I don’t fear migraines or unfocused hyperactive children.

These Antrim kids look healthy enough

However, as far as I have been able to tell, Hitler never committed the atrocity of wanting a wind farm in a small town. The selectmen are simply doing what they feel is best for the future of our country and for Antrim, New Hampshire. Sarah Gorman disagrees with the wind farm. Sarah Gorman feels that anyone that disagrees with her point of view is indeed, like Hitler. This sadly has become all too common on the internet and in real life these days. A man that is responsible for millions of deaths and the destruction of much of the history of Europe from the damages of warfare, is the same as a selectman serving in a small town in New Hampshire. Playing the “Hitler” card is like cutting someone’s leg off if they have a splinter in their toe. Comparisons to Hitler should be confided to people committing mass genocide or endangering millions of people with their dangerous ideas. There are certainly people in the world today engaging in very Hitler like behavior. As far as I know, none of those people reside in Antrim, New Hampshire. Comparing anyone that disagrees with you to Hitler is an insult to the millions that died because of Hitler. It is especially insulting to Jews and gays. When you compare someone to Hitler in public, you are guilty of belittling the suffering and horror of what those people went through. Sarah Gorman should instead of attending selectman meetings, go to the lovely Antrim Town Library where she can read about what Hitler was really like. If she finds a chapter on his evil wind farm plan I will be very surprised.