Election Year or Fear!

[Andy_Faber]

The "Good Germans" in this case .

Thanks but your response, crystalised by the above extract, strengthens my point - you are using it to coralle together anyone who doesn’t stand up for your series of personal beliefs/causes - as such, I might have a completely different set of beliefs/causes, so might everyone here, it’s purely subjective. Maybe it’s a subset of your ‘idiots’, maybe not. In the present day it can only apply directly, as opposed to by analogy, to the rising turning of deaf ears to antisemitic rhetoric. NB I know no Jews, its a general point

[swaledale]

Thanks but your response, crystalised by the above extract, strengthens my point - you are using it to coralle together anyone who doesn’t stand up for your series of personal beliefs/causes - as such, I might have a completely different set of beliefs/causes, so might everyone here, it’s purely subjective. Maybe it’s a subset of your ‘idiots’, maybe not. In the present day it can only apply directly, as opposed to by analogy, to the rising turning of deaf ears to antisemitic rhetoric. NB I know no Jews, its a general point

Mm, thought about this and I wouldn't disagree that my interpretation of the phrase "Good Germans" is influenced by my views, of course it is, but the principle of the phrase and the way I use it, is best summed up by this below, which I freely admit contains material purloined from the internet.

A self-applied term of genteel self-delusion used to describe those members of the German populace who, during the Nazi era, prided themselves on being apolitical, law-abiding, and “decent” — while living within walking distance of genocidal horror.
The “Good German” was always just a little too busy to notice the stench of burning human hair.

They perfected the art of averting their gaze — stepping politely over the shoes left behind on the train platform, whistling past the synagogue on fire, pretending not to see the child in the attic window with the yellow star sewn crooked on their chest.

They paid their taxes.
They made their beds.
They buttered sandwiches for SS officers on their way to mass executions.
They did not protest.
They did not inquire.
They did not see — because seeing might require doing, and doing might jeopardize their enjoyment of life.

To be a “Good German” was to be the sort of person who believed that decency could be preserved in isolation from justice — the kind of coward who, when history cracked open and screamed, pressed their fingers in their ears and complimented the Fuehrers punctuality.


Modern Collaborator (contemporary usage)

Someone willing to sacrifice the rest of humanity’s future in exchange for a few more clicks, a little more money, a peaceful life or the personal thrill of not being the first to burn.

Often found in corporate boardrooms, government committees, residents associations, media owners and tech-sector “ethics panels.”

The modern Good German is the executive who greenlights surveillance programs with a smile and a clever euphemism, the voter who shrugs at fascism because the stock market’s up, the parent who teaches their children that climate change is “a hoax” while buying flood insurance behind closed doors.

They are the kind of person who will sign your deportation orders in blue ink and still hold the elevator for you.
They are polite.
They are quiet.
They are dangerous.
And they will absolutely be the last to admit they were ever complicit, even as they sweep the ashes from their porch.


Your last point about antisemetism does I feel fails to address that ANY kind of religous discrimination or attacks should be condemned outright. This should apply to Jews and Muslims in equal measure. I don't believe there is a rise in deaf ears towards antisemetism any more than there is towards Islamaphobia. Do any of us say or do enough when witnessing an incident where someone is being harassed, threatened, insulted or assaulted or where offensive language is used that should be considered unacceptable in a civilised society?

But in anycase it is not comparable with allowing a partiuclar group fundamentally change the nature of a democratic state without saying or doing anything to counter what is happening.

I would be more sympathetic to those Jews who justifiably complain about increasing incidents of antisemtism, if they also recognised that the actions of Israel in Gaza and its annexation of the West Bank and treatment of Palestinians over decades also been disgraceful. I do happen to know a a few of Jews and not surprisngly their views vary, one I know is very angry at the way Israel has conducted itself, another is unapologetic saying it has no choice.