Übermensch • noun • (y-buhr-mensh)
Definition: “super person”, guru
Origin: German
In the 1880s, German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche introduced the world to his concept of the Übermensch. Over the centuries, this word has taken on many different and contradictory meanings, but today we need to embrace the intended meaning of the word to help make ourselves and our society better.
In his book Also Spoke Zarathustra, the Übermensch, named Zarathustra, leaves his solitude and travels to a town to share his wisdom with the people. However, the people of the town ridicule Zarathustra’s message, and instead embrace the narrative and way of life of the letzter Mensch, “Last Man.” The letzter Mensch is a contemptible person who prefers comfort and uniformity ahead of the effort required to become your best self.
Eventually, Zarathustra is told that he needs to leave the town because the people of the town, the letzter Menschen, will harm him if he stays. (Menschen is the plural of Mensch.) This is a depiction of a town that actively shuns wisdom, and the threat of violence is their main tool for ridding their community of “super people.”
As America addresses many crises, we need to make sure that we cultivate a society that elevates and does not exterminate our “super people.”
The Corruption of the Übermensch
According to Nietzsche, becoming an Übermensch required effort and not everyone could become an Übermensch. A “super person” equated to a wise person who had mastered the tools for existence. Most people would not become an Übermensch, but by learning from them we should be able to have healthier, more fulfilling lives. An Übermensch is akin to a guru. A guru will teach practices and if people engage in these daily practices, their lives will improve.
Decades after Nietzsche died, the Nazi Party latched on to the idea of the Übermensch and began corrupting the word. The Nazis prioritized essence ahead of existence, and their corruption of the word originated from this ideological shift. An Übermensch aspires to enhance existence, and not define an essence, or idea.
The Nazis turned Übermensch into a concept that required zero effort, and instead the Aryan race became a race of Übermenschen. Becoming “super people” now became a status bestowed to Aryan people from birth. It required neither effort nor wisdom, and the meaning of the word had become completely inverted.
Instead of embracing wisdom and working to be their best selves, these Nazi “Übermenschen” now focused on eradicating non-Aryan people who they described as Untermenschen, or “under people.” They cultivated an unwise way of life while believing that they were the wisest people of all.
To add another layer to the absurd and dangerous corruption of Übermensch by the Nazis, the word mensch is Yiddish. The Nazis used a Jewish word to express their supposed Aryan supremacy and now their false sense of supremacy resulted in them trying to exterminate the Jewish people. After corrupting the language of wisdom, they then decided to exterminate the people who brought the wisdom.
In addition to the word being co-opted by the Nazis, it also suffers from being mistranslated even by those with the best intentions. It is a German word with Yiddish roots, and the confusion derives from the meaning of mensch.
When Übermensch was translated into English it was described as “beyond man” or “super man,” and America’s Superman comics derive from the idea of an Übermensch. However, the problem with this translation is that mensch does not mean “man.” Mensch does not have a gender, so the simplest translation would be “person,” but even that does not express the true meaning of a mensch.
A mensch is a good person or a person with integrity. It is a status of personhood that requires effort and benefits society. We all can put forth the effort to become a Mensch, but not everyone can become an Übermensch. When combined with letzter, “mensch” loses all of its redeeming qualities. In German letzter means “last” as in “worst.” Coming in last place would be the proper translation of letzter. One cannot be the last or worst type of person, and also be a person with integrity.
American Übermenschen
As I have expressed in previous editions of The Word, America’s ethnocidal society divides society between the ethnocider and the ethnocidee. The ethnocider exists via the destruction of the culture of the ethnocidee. The ethnocidee exist via creating their own resilient culture that can survive the inevitable attacks of the ethnocider. Also, an ethnocidal society prioritizes essence before existence because believing that the ethnocider has a superior essence justifies ethnocide’s perpetual division.
The ethnocider proclaims their culture and people to be supreme and born as Übermenschen and that the ethnocidee are born as Untermenschen. America’s ethnociders embrace the narrative and culture of the letzter Menschen, and due to this, America’s Übermenschen are often found within the culture of the ethnocidee.
When I think about America, and especially the history of the South, it becomes impossible to ignore the normalcy of American letzter Menschen aspiring to exterminate American Übermenschen, especially when America’s “super people” are Black.
Martin Luther King Jr. is definitely an American Übermensch and he was assassinated by a white supremacist letzter Mensch. Likewise countless other Black Americans were terrorized and killed simply for listening to an Übermensch and working to be the best Menschen they could.
America has a tragic narrative of destroying American wisdom while also proclaiming that we are the best country in the world.
The attack on the Capitol on January 6, was a relatively predictable domestic act of terror by American letzter Menschen intent on fighting back against the rise of both American menschen and Übermenschen. American letzter Menschen have staged these kinds of attacks for centuries, but this is just the most noticeable of the modern era.
During the era of Reconstruction after the Civil War from 1865-1877, white American letzter Menschen regularly attempted to overthrow governments at the state and local level after Black and white Americans who championed racial equality won elected office. Today, we are seeing the regional terror of Reconstruction at a national level.
To counter the threat of American letzter Menschen, we all must commit ourselves to be menschen and to embrace and not expel the Übermenschen within our society.