of the multi-lingual blog “any criticism of Jewish people is still a taboo in Germany.”
Nicht war! Like, if an Israeli programmer wrote some bad code for the program you are using, no German can say so, and if a Jewish hairdresser in Hamburg gives you a haircut with a wonky fringe you must tip heavily and not mention it, and if the 1998 winner of the Eurovision Song Contest appeared to you to be lacking in talent your lips must be sealed, and if Ariel Sharon’s policies seem to you mistaken then not one word must be said until you are safely across the Rhine and standing on French soil?
That surprises me very much. Or it would if it were not a load of cobblers. Germans of all ranks from Chancellor downwards can and do make all sorts of criticisms of Jewish people, both Israeli and non-Israeli, and it’s not taboo at all.
The thing that is a leetle bit sensitive given events from 1941-1945 is when some jerk says that the Jews orchestrated the killings by the Russian revolutionaries, and compares that to the Holocaust.
the bbc yesterday reported in their breaking news, about the german general who got sacked/fired/laid off/dismissed, over supporting the mp’s comments.
they use however the headline :”German general AXED in Jewish row”.
( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3240799.stm ).
now i wonder, why one should use such a word?
to me it seems like jews axed german general, (and then used his blood to make matsot).
note: i’m not an english speaker, so maybe it’s a common expression, excuse my paranoia 🙂
i’m curious about that term though, if i’m wrong please let me know.
ISTM that a key is the missing word “the”. I assume that Ray Furlong of BBC meant that “any criticism of THE Jewish people is still a taboo in Germany.”
Questions:
— Did Mr. Furlong’s statement omit the word “the” (as reported by the BBC) or was it inaccurately left out of the BBC article?
— Was the omission of “the” intentional?
— Are there people at the BBC who are insensitive to the difference, as pointed out by Ms. Solent?
— Isn’t it appropriate that any criticism of THE Jewish people be taboo in Germany? It’s taboo in the United States as well. In fact, a negative generalization about any ethnic group is regarded as a likely bigotry.
It’s true, an extra “the” would make a great deal of difference.
If it was a mistake, so much the better for Mr Furlong, but so much the worse for the BBC’s copy editors. Aren’t they paid to avoid this sort of thing? It’s not that unusual for much to hang on a single word.
The BBC tonline on this morning carried a curious reaction story from the town where Hohmann made the remarks.
IA front page flag for the story has now been dropped, but still appears in the Europe front page.
The writer explains the row and then says:
“But many people in Neuhof, an orderly town of well-kept gardens and tidy streets, stand by Mr Hohmann.
“He was just telling the truth – if you read history, you know what happened,” said an employee at a car repair shop on the edge of town. “It’s not just Germans who have done bad things. Other nations have too.”
A woman from a neighbouring office also stood up for Mr Hohmann. :But many people in Neuhof, an orderly town of well-kept gardens and tidy streets, stand by Mr Hohmann.
“He was just telling the truth – if you read history, you know what happened,” said an employee at a car repair shop on the edge of town. “It’s not just Germans who have done bad things. Other nations have too.”
A woman from a neighbouring office also stood up for Mr Hohmann. But many people in Neuhof, an orderly town of well-kept gardens and tidy streets, stand by Mr Hohmann.
“He was just telling the truth – if you read history, you know what happened,” said an employee at a car repair shop on the edge of town. “It’s not just Germans who have done bad things. Other nations have too.”
A woman from a neighbouring office also stood up for Mr Hohmann. “He said it doesn’t matter whether you’re Jewish or German. People who forgot their religion did terrible things.”
The report adds: “However, Mr Hohmann went to some lengths to prove his thesis about Jewish guilt for Bolshevik repression – quoting extensive historical statistics and even a 1920s book by car magnate Henry Ford.”
Yes, that is going to some lengths all right, quoting a book by one of the most notoriously rabid anti-Semites of the 20th century: a man who declared, what’s more: “History is bunk”
Good God.
Sorry, I have had a cock-up on the cut-and-paste front. It’s all there somewhere, apologies.
Dan – FYI “axed” is a common English synonym for “fired”.