The Shaming of Volkswagen
The original Volkswagen Beetle was designed by Ferdinand Porsche in 1934 under contract from the National Socialists to create a “people’s car”, and is generally considered “Hitler’s car”. Be that as it may, the VW brand went on to become one of the most beloved automotive icons of the 20th century, that is, until the company was allegedly caught cheating on EPA air pollution standards via clever software. The fines, lawsuits and negative publicity of the scandal will cost the company billions.
Note: In 1902 Ferdinand Porsche was drafted into military service. He served as a chauffeur to Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, the crown prince of Austria whose assassination sparked WWI a decade later.
#babyHitler
10/23/15 the NYT polled its readers on whether they would go back in time and kill Hitler as a baby. This, apparently, was the kind of thing that came to mind at the Times when it wanted to capitalize on the recent Back to the Future 2015 publicity. The birth of #babyJesus is celebrated on 12/25, the date Doc Brown pointed out when he was showing Marty how the time machine worked, along with 7/4/1776 and 11/5/55 - a “red letter day” in the history of science.
Apparently, Jeb Bush has “stepped up” on the question: Jeb Bush On Whether He'd Kill Baby Hitler: 'Hell Yeah, I Would!'
Christmas Moon Hitler
On 11/6/15, Stuart Heritage of the Guardian saw Hitler on the moon in the 2015 John Lewis Christmas ad: John Lewis Christmas advert: who is Moon Hitler?Why has the old man been sent into space? Is he a war criminal?
The little girl and her telescope resonate Jodie Foster’s character Ellie Arroway in the film Contact. Even including the girl shooting an arrow at the moon. In Contact, Hitler is the first image sent to earth by the aliens. In the black comedy sci-fi film Iron Sky, the Nazis do indeed hide on the dark side of the moon.
Look Who's Back
Hitler comedy Look Who's Back becomes Germany's No 1 movie.The Borat-style film, based on the bestselling novel by Timur Vermes, puts Adolf Hitler back into German society and utilises the reactions of real people for humour.
“Germans should be able to laugh at Hitler, rather than viewing him as a monster, because that relieves him of responsibility for his deeds and diverts attention from his guilt for the Holocaust,” director David Wnendt told the Guardian. “But it should be the type of laugh that catches in your throat and you’re almost ashamed when you realise what you’re doing.”
Guilt, shame, Holocaust. The broken record.
Jesus and Hitler are the two greatest scapegoats of the Western world. It feels like it’s time for that goat to rise again. The John Lewis video finishes with: “Show someone they’re loved this Christmas”. Too soon to send swastika themed Christmas cards?
2 comments:
Weird. Why did Blogger/Google make me click on a disclaimer to view this article/blog?
C.f. I presume it is because of some gay racy content here. No worries, the Cronus and back to the future stuff is amazing. Dennis
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