"In an accompanying video, ‘Adolf’ spoke to Reuters about the drills. A provided caption identified him by his moniker, totally not named after the genocidal Fuhrer of the German Third Reich, a title that was also plainly visible on a patch on his camos
It gets even better. The video also clearly shows that the interview with “Adolf” of the SS [Witzbold: "Spartan Storm"] Brigade was filmed on April 20th..."
Wow, I didn't know others are 'playing' the game that well, too. Thanks for bringing this up, and perhaps I'll translate it into German, if only the hype in Austria is all about Eiernockerl…(believe it or not)
There's a reason most courses on/in rethorics and debate-techniques at least make mention of the subset of Reductio ad Absurdum sarcastically called Reduction ad Hitlerum.
Injecting "Hitler (dis)liked ______!" in a debate if far older than Godwin and remains the post-1950s era go-to ersatz of "Heretic!" or "Apostate!".
In two centuries, maybe the children of a true Dark Age will erect efigies of The Evil One who ruined the works of the glorious Age of Equity, Climate-neutrality and Multikultur. Like the children seen in the background in 'The Terminator', watching fire burning in an old TV now used for roasting rats.
And then there's the notion that it was Jewish (neo)conservative Leo Strauss who proposed the term 'reductio ad Hitlerum' to decry the shallow nature of 'debate' you alluded to. 'Even' Wikipedia is quite accurate about it:
I agree with your takes on this, Epimetheus, the media are normalising these words and by inference the associated ideologies in the collective consciousness of the public and it will backfire badly.
Repeated and sustained hyperbole desensitises an audience to the original meaning of the terms used and to any potential shock value of their more judicious application. My mother very, very, very rarely swore but, if she did, it made my blood run cold and it felt truly transgressive. On the other hand, the increasing ubiquity of obscenities or profanities in popular music and film in my lifetime has (dependent on social group and context) normalised such words robbing them of their one-time shock value or any transgressive quality.
In political discourse, I can recall the Obama/Clinton presidency when it became a normalised talking point in the increasingly wide-reaching Republican media universe to pejoratively describe the neoliberal-to-the-core Democratic President and his neoliberal Secretary of State as "socialists" (amongst other things). The Republican spin doctors must have intended this to carry significant shock value since socialism had previously been tantamount in the eyes of many Americans to communism, with communism considered ideologically anti-American.
A long-term unintended consequence of this seems to have been to raise the profile of the word "socialism" in the popular US consciousness and, like him or loathe him, because Obama was a hugely popular president, it effectively boosted interest in and the acceptability of the concept of socialism in America. The popularity and acceptability of professing support of Bernie Sanders' subsequent presidential bid is testament to this.
During the Trump presidency when so many lost their minds to TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) the preferred rhetorical tactic of the Democratic media world was to wield the word "fascism" and expression "white supremacy" as widely as possible in reference to Trump and any who dared support him. IMHO, as Trump was a hugely popular president for whole swathes of American society, this only served to normalise and raise the profile of both of those terms and their associated ideologies.
In the Corona times of the last 3 years I have perceived a similar phenomenon here in Germany. The media framing around any criticism of the pandemic response, be it non-pharmaceutical interventions or the so-called vaccines has, at least for me, defused the terms "anti-vaxxer" and "far-right" of their once untouchable status. There have been scientifically, legally, and ethically legitimate criticisms and concerns which were dismissed as extreme and I know that my own political worldview is far from "far-right" yet that is how the media have tried to portray me and any who joined me on the streets in protest walks. Why should I recoil from these words anymore if they are used so loosely to describe myself and myriad others for whom these labels are patently inapplicable?
Psychologically speaking, whatever we focus our minds and attention on will be reinforced. So long as the media and the powers-that-be continue to lazily apply such ad-hominem labels of extremism to any and all oppositional voices (instead of addressing the merits of their arguments) I fear it will inevitably lead to the normalisation and rise of genuine extremist political factions within German society.
Sadly, you're correct, esp. since the one thing no-one talks about is: in yelling 'Nazi' at literally everyone one disagrees with over whatever, the woke-ified 'left' is also trivialising the actual crimes and depravities of the Nazi régime.
Care for an example? Why would anyone continue to 'remember' anything about, say, Nazi crimes vs. civilians if jumping the check-out queue or questioning anything related to Covid-19 is taken to be the moral (!!!) equivalent of Auschwitz.
Yes, indeed! Queue jumpers are called nazis and actual neo-nazis in Ukraine and elsewhere are rehabilitated by the media to expediently accommodate political or military alliances.
It all serves to render the labels meaningless and prepares the way for worse to come.
As a kid migrating from Ukraine to united states of America we passed thru Austria, 2 weeks, I was impressed how orderly and non chaotic the people on the public buses were--like crickets, deafening. In Russia and Ukraine, images of babushkas getting their hand shut, their body left outside, screaming for driver to open the door to let them in were not uncommon, and being stuck in a bus like sardines, pressed tight against flesh all around not unlike during the Oktoberfest in München at 5 am in the morning. What was I thinking! I could've walked over to the more relaxed beer garten where the proper Germans were lol
I enjoyed Berlin ( still carries the austere spirit embedded in large forbidding buildings), Munich, and Trier. The food; the schweinshaxe!
The Sofitel Hotel Bayerpost wow $3000 euro a night! Lol. But I enjoyed their drinks at the bar, exceedingly arrogant aristocratic hotel.
Vienna, Austria, witnessed its first killing (in a subway stop, no less) perpetrated by someone wielding a machete. More than 50% of violent crimes in Vienna, as reported by legacy media, are committed by non-nationals.
The Vienna I saw as a kid was very proper and neat, and idyllic. However, someone, ahem, dumped gay and straight porn next to our hotel, reams of porn. Same thing occurred in Rome Italy. I guess "they" wanted to "liberalize" the new immigrants in the USofA. This was 1988.
Thank you for showing these the immense amounts of stupidity. I maybe shouldn't have, but I found this article really funny, as in it made me laugh, out loud.
I suspect that was not the intent but laughter is good medicine and these things need to be said. It seems common sense and joined up thinking has gotten lost somewhere along the way.
Hi Epimetheus, I really think you would appreciate this substack post by Mark Sleboda:
Spot That Nazi!!! - Reuters Interviews Ukrainian Stormtrooper "Adolf"
https://marksleboda.substack.com/p/spot-that-nazi?
"In an accompanying video, ‘Adolf’ spoke to Reuters about the drills. A provided caption identified him by his moniker, totally not named after the genocidal Fuhrer of the German Third Reich, a title that was also plainly visible on a patch on his camos
It gets even better. The video also clearly shows that the interview with “Adolf” of the SS [Witzbold: "Spartan Storm"] Brigade was filmed on April 20th..."
Wow, I didn't know others are 'playing' the game that well, too. Thanks for bringing this up, and perhaps I'll translate it into German, if only the hype in Austria is all about Eiernockerl…(believe it or not)
There's a reason most courses on/in rethorics and debate-techniques at least make mention of the subset of Reductio ad Absurdum sarcastically called Reduction ad Hitlerum.
Injecting "Hitler (dis)liked ______!" in a debate if far older than Godwin and remains the post-1950s era go-to ersatz of "Heretic!" or "Apostate!".
In two centuries, maybe the children of a true Dark Age will erect efigies of The Evil One who ruined the works of the glorious Age of Equity, Climate-neutrality and Multikultur. Like the children seen in the background in 'The Terminator', watching fire burning in an old TV now used for roasting rats.
And then there's the notion that it was Jewish (neo)conservative Leo Strauss who proposed the term 'reductio ad Hitlerum' to decry the shallow nature of 'debate' you alluded to. 'Even' Wikipedia is quite accurate about it:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_Hitlerum
I agree with your takes on this, Epimetheus, the media are normalising these words and by inference the associated ideologies in the collective consciousness of the public and it will backfire badly.
Repeated and sustained hyperbole desensitises an audience to the original meaning of the terms used and to any potential shock value of their more judicious application. My mother very, very, very rarely swore but, if she did, it made my blood run cold and it felt truly transgressive. On the other hand, the increasing ubiquity of obscenities or profanities in popular music and film in my lifetime has (dependent on social group and context) normalised such words robbing them of their one-time shock value or any transgressive quality.
In political discourse, I can recall the Obama/Clinton presidency when it became a normalised talking point in the increasingly wide-reaching Republican media universe to pejoratively describe the neoliberal-to-the-core Democratic President and his neoliberal Secretary of State as "socialists" (amongst other things). The Republican spin doctors must have intended this to carry significant shock value since socialism had previously been tantamount in the eyes of many Americans to communism, with communism considered ideologically anti-American.
A long-term unintended consequence of this seems to have been to raise the profile of the word "socialism" in the popular US consciousness and, like him or loathe him, because Obama was a hugely popular president, it effectively boosted interest in and the acceptability of the concept of socialism in America. The popularity and acceptability of professing support of Bernie Sanders' subsequent presidential bid is testament to this.
During the Trump presidency when so many lost their minds to TDS (Trump Derangement Syndrome) the preferred rhetorical tactic of the Democratic media world was to wield the word "fascism" and expression "white supremacy" as widely as possible in reference to Trump and any who dared support him. IMHO, as Trump was a hugely popular president for whole swathes of American society, this only served to normalise and raise the profile of both of those terms and their associated ideologies.
In the Corona times of the last 3 years I have perceived a similar phenomenon here in Germany. The media framing around any criticism of the pandemic response, be it non-pharmaceutical interventions or the so-called vaccines has, at least for me, defused the terms "anti-vaxxer" and "far-right" of their once untouchable status. There have been scientifically, legally, and ethically legitimate criticisms and concerns which were dismissed as extreme and I know that my own political worldview is far from "far-right" yet that is how the media have tried to portray me and any who joined me on the streets in protest walks. Why should I recoil from these words anymore if they are used so loosely to describe myself and myriad others for whom these labels are patently inapplicable?
Psychologically speaking, whatever we focus our minds and attention on will be reinforced. So long as the media and the powers-that-be continue to lazily apply such ad-hominem labels of extremism to any and all oppositional voices (instead of addressing the merits of their arguments) I fear it will inevitably lead to the normalisation and rise of genuine extremist political factions within German society.
Sadly, you're correct, esp. since the one thing no-one talks about is: in yelling 'Nazi' at literally everyone one disagrees with over whatever, the woke-ified 'left' is also trivialising the actual crimes and depravities of the Nazi régime.
Care for an example? Why would anyone continue to 'remember' anything about, say, Nazi crimes vs. civilians if jumping the check-out queue or questioning anything related to Covid-19 is taken to be the moral (!!!) equivalent of Auschwitz.
Sigh.
Yes, indeed! Queue jumpers are called nazis and actual neo-nazis in Ukraine and elsewhere are rehabilitated by the media to expediently accommodate political or military alliances.
It all serves to render the labels meaningless and prepares the way for worse to come.
As a kid migrating from Ukraine to united states of America we passed thru Austria, 2 weeks, I was impressed how orderly and non chaotic the people on the public buses were--like crickets, deafening. In Russia and Ukraine, images of babushkas getting their hand shut, their body left outside, screaming for driver to open the door to let them in were not uncommon, and being stuck in a bus like sardines, pressed tight against flesh all around not unlike during the Oktoberfest in München at 5 am in the morning. What was I thinking! I could've walked over to the more relaxed beer garten where the proper Germans were lol
I enjoyed Berlin ( still carries the austere spirit embedded in large forbidding buildings), Munich, and Trier. The food; the schweinshaxe!
The Sofitel Hotel Bayerpost wow $3000 euro a night! Lol. But I enjoyed their drinks at the bar, exceedingly arrogant aristocratic hotel.
No more.
Vienna, Austria, witnessed its first killing (in a subway stop, no less) perpetrated by someone wielding a machete. More than 50% of violent crimes in Vienna, as reported by legacy media, are committed by non-nationals.
No discussions are permitted.
Sad.
The Vienna I saw as a kid was very proper and neat, and idyllic. However, someone, ahem, dumped gay and straight porn next to our hotel, reams of porn. Same thing occurred in Rome Italy. I guess "they" wanted to "liberalize" the new immigrants in the USofA. This was 1988.
Thank you for showing these the immense amounts of stupidity. I maybe shouldn't have, but I found this article really funny, as in it made me laugh, out loud.
I suspect that was not the intent but laughter is good medicine and these things need to be said. It seems common sense and joined up thinking has gotten lost somewhere along the way.
Thanks again!
Thanks for your kind words.
I'm somewhere between laughing and crying, sometimes both, yet, I'd also say that satire and ridicule is perhaps all that's left.