Amid their Russophobia, Die Zeit Endorses Goebbels Before it Becomes Embarrassing and Changes Headlines

Brief notes on the larger problem--creeping normalisation of Nazism--across the West

A few weeks ago, I published a short exposé on how, after renowned philosopher Jürgen Habermas called for weapons for Kyiv and negotiations with Moscow:

Nazis Before Breakfast: Mimicking '1984' Indicates Orwell Will Soon be 'Memory-Holed'

Now, as I’m preparing another long-form essay for Propaganda in Focus, their editorial team told me that the headline I’ve criticised Die Zeit for, had changed. (For copyright reasons, I cannot add pictures to the pieces that appear there, but here goes.)

You see, back in mid-February, Moroccan-French-Israeli Eva lllouz (Prof., Sociology, Hebrew U, Jerusalem) published an op-ed in Die Zeit, one of Germany’s leading left-liberal (former) newspapers. It looked like this:

‘I long for a total victory.’

Perhaps only a crushing defeat can help Russia emerge from its dictatorial history.

Source, courtesy of the Internet Archive.

Note that the original piece went live on 15 Feb. 2023, and that, according to the above screenshot, it was ‘updated on 18 Feb. 2023, at 14:16’.

Back in mid-February, I wrote this:

Leaving aside the absurdity of a Jewish voice mimicking Joseph Goebbels’ infamous 1943 Sportpalast Speech, I’d contend that it’s no coincidence that such an incendiary piece was published on the anniversary (18 Feb.) of this speech.

I hardly ever take offence, but in this regard I do, even though I’m unsure to be offended for the utter madness of deploring anyone who isn’t firmly pro Zelenskyy’s régime—or by the utter disregard, if not historical amnesia, of virtually all of Germany’s (and Austria’s) academics, public intellectuals (Habermas excluded), and politicians with respect to our shared history, however deplorable I personally may find it.

I do wonder, though, why (/irony) this ‘coincidence’ has escaped the participants of the editorial meeting. I mean: they’re presumable all very well educated, incl. specifically Germany’s reckoning with the past and its curricular implications. Apparently, no-one appears to be troubled by this.

Die Zeit White-Washes [pun intended] Illouz’ Op-Ed

Imagine my surprise when I re-visited the above link earlier today—and saw this:

Endgame without End.

Source.

Please note that the first screenshot was taken after the ‘update’ on 18 Feb. 2023.

The op-ed has not been changed, but the headline very much has been changed after 18 Feb. 2023, 14:16. (Incidentally, note that Eva Illouz's contribution has since also attracted ‘only’ three further comments).

Die Zeit is firmly in Wonderland

Now, I do not presume to attribute this change to me pointing this out over at TKP.at on 23 Feb. 2023.

I must say I’m both disgusted and slightly bemused by the fact that the honourable gentlemen at Die Zeit’s editorial board felt compelled to bring about this change.

But I do find it strange.

Did it occur to you, dear Zeit editors, sometime after the above-mentioned ‘update’ on 18 Feb. 2023—the 80th anniversary of Joseph Goebbels' infamous speech (‘Do you want total war?’) in the Berlin Sportpalast—how problematic the op-ed is?

I hate to speculate, but at least someone must have noticed.

Be that as it may, it is in any case a sad example of yet another ultra-cheap propaganda stunt, indicative of the massive loss of quality in in legacy media. Apparently, they can’t even get their agit-prop right.

It also raises any number of unpleasant questions about editorial guidelines, bias in media, and the standards of 'what passes for journalism these days’.

I suspect that those who continue to blindly follow ‘the good side’—after, for three years, blindly following ‘the Science™’—will sooner rather than later experience a quite rude awakening.