Thursday Morning Diversion: It Was Only A Matter Of Time...
Chicago 2016 Olympic FAILGATE is starting to become a fleeting memory, which is why we're so glad we came upon this video before we fully move on to other things. If you're familiar with the various "Hitler bitches about..." Internet memes floating around the wasteland, then you already know some (all?) of the language is NSFW.
Filed in News and tagged chicago 2016, hitler internet videos, mayor daley, videos, youtube
so fucking great.
I'm old and boring, but these Hitler YouTube things annoy me.
They seem to trivialize a specific point in history by which time tens of millions of people had lost their lives due to the direct actions of the racist Austrian corporal, and do so in the name of some short-lived YouTube glory. It's not really obscene, immoral or amoral, only unseemly and, I think, a bit ignorant. I wonder how many of the creators of such things even know more than the most basic details about the Third Reich or WWII. Based on some recent surveys of younger people in the US, I'm not hopeful. Then again, I was offended when Brit punks/hardcores and some US followers made cheap use of the swastika and other Nazi images (the SS lightning bolts, for instance) in the late 1970s and early 1980s (no, not talking about the skinheads). Though I think the "Triumph of the Will" rip-off at the end of the original "Star Wars" movie was more a homage to good cinema than a wink and a nod to Nazi propaganda (even if the whole Jedi structure is more than a bit fascist).
Besides, the Hilter/"Downfall"/YouTube thing is rather a cliche by this point, which is what happens when your average pop culture trend has a life span of, say, three minutes at this point.
It was brilliant at the beginning but like so many internet memes it's passed its sell by date.
Jokes at Hitler's expense = good in my book.
"Jokes at Hitler's expense = good in my book."
That's one reason I love Mel Brooks, even after "Men in Tights" and "Spaceballs."
That said, I'm not sure this is as much as joke at Hitler's expense as a trivialization of a bloody time in history for a brief period of attention. I admit I am likely overly sensitive to this matter, and perhaps my judgement is clouded by what I see as the lack of deep knowledge of history among so many, which turns one of the worst murderers in history into a prop for cheap amusement.
I'd say Hitler gets quite a lot of historical recognition. Ask those kids you mentioned what they know about Stalin, Pol Pot, or the genocide of the people who used live on the land their parents now own, and enjoy the blank stares. Regarding nazi punk bullshit, you should read Lester Bang's "white noise supremacists" if you haven't. Really great observations on that 70's trend. http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=lester+bangs+white+noise+&aq=f&oq=&aqi=
BTW if you haven't seen the actual film (Downfall) you should, it's fantastic.
Thanks for the Bangs recommendation. I will look it up.
Yeah, the movie is fantastic (though hard to watch), and I've read numerous books about the last days, as well as stood on the approximate spot where Hitler's body was burned (I'm not a neo-nazi or anything, just really into the history, thanks to family matters and simple interest about totalitarianism). As I said, I might have too much of a personal and emotional stake in this matter, but these YouTube Downfall parodies just strike me the wrong way for some reason. It seems disrespectful of the history more than making jokes about a person who deserve eternal mockery and scorn.
Let's not even start talk about people's knowledge of Stalin, the Khmer Rouge or Mao for that matter. It makes me sad. But, that's why history's a cycle more than a progression, I think.
Making light of mass suffering can certainly be distasteful and hamfisted, I'll agree on that. Unfortunately not everybody's as clever as Mel Brooks right? There's a fine line between hilarious satire and base humor. Like Brooks, I too think that these topics should be open to comedy, I think it does a good job of spoiling what some people would like to consider sacred (Hitler worshipping neo-nazis) and kinda takes the wind out of their sails. Germany's taken the opposite approach and it doesn't seem to be working so well, imho.
Your welcome on the Bangs thing, it's really great. It's just a few pages too btw.
So, Germany as a whole should lighten up and stop being so uptight about the Holocaust?
From a purely dispassionate, analytic standpoint, I've found it fascinating to watch what happens as this particular bit of history passes from remembered experience to textbook recitation. We are now passing into the fourth generation since the war. Most people alive today only know of it from what we were told by those who were there. This has always happened, though it's odd to see it happen to the Holocaust because we felt so close to it, and because the atrocities were orders of magnitude worse than any other. But it's inevitable that the horror will lose its punch. It always does.
I share that fascination, Blue, and see your point.
"Germany's taken the opposite approach and it doesn't seem to be working so well, imho."
I agree completely.
Interesting article, not sure yet what I think about it, mainly because I've forgotten how reading Bangs can be so freaking trippy sometimes. Thanks, though.
Not sure if people would be interested to know this, but it's somewhat related. There has been a tradition that started with Usenet many years ago and has carried into modern web forums, which states that as any discussion grows longer, the probability that someone mentions Nazis or Hitler approaches 1 (and whoever does mention it instantly loses the argument). Wikipedia has more on Godwin's Law.
Not sure that's related. I think the law has to with one side calling the other a Nazi.
Yeah I should have said "tangentially related" instead of "somewhat related." I just thought it would be amusing for those who hadn't seen it before.
so this discussion was over 12 comments ago. what a waste of time.
Thought 'Godwins law' was common knowledge, tbh.