 |
| Illinois Holocaust Museum |
Did you notice, in Monday's column, how I copped to not knowing about the Greek god Artemis before the current moon mission, despite all my talk about being educated? How can I do that? Because one of the things I learned is that the world is big, filled with stuff, and most people know absolutely nothing about almost everything. The shame is in pretending otherwise.
So I can confess that it wasn't until Monday, reading my Sun-Times with my morning Nespresso, that I learned, on Page 12, that Ye, the artist formerly known as Kanye West, last year released a song called "Heil Hitler." If, like me, you just found out about it now, what is your reaction?
Are you offended? Incredulous? I hope not. As one of my cherished readers, I'd prefer your reaction to be curiosity, mirroring my own response: an enthusiastic, "I gotta hear this song."
Easier said than done. One of the worst aspects of our current dilemma is the idea of gatekeepers preventing supposedly vulnerable populations from having their sensibilities seared. Whether the right, vindictively trying to purge life of people they hate. Or the left, timidly trying to pretend that hate doesn't exist. One is worse; neither are commendable.
I started at YouTube. Nothing but criticisms and parodies. Then Apple Music. The same. So I did a Google search, and found the full song — of course — on that slop sink of hate, X, nee Twitter.
I stopped using X regularly when Elon Musk went full fascist — his Nazi salute, his blowing kisses at European neo-Nazi groups. Kind of a giveaway. But I didn't quit, for eventualities like this.
"With all of the money and fame I still can't get my kids back," Ye trills. "So I became a Nazi, yeah."
Stop right there. Offended yet? Of course not. At this point, if you are like me, you feel sorry for Ye, who has four children with his former wife Kim Kardashian.
Imagine connecting those two thoughts — complaining about not being able to see your children, then using that as an excuse to embrace Nazism. Is Ye expecting that to help? "Your honor, I need to see my kids. I know I had troubles in the past — never should grabbed that microphone from Taylor Swift. But I've worked hard to improve myself. I'm a Nazi now ..."
Not a smart strategy, right?
I shouldn't jest. Ye has admitted to being bipolar, and nobody disagreed with him. He also apologized for the song, though that's a tough one to claw back. Hard to argue it was a gaffe; he also sold Nazi merchandise.
I think it's important to recognize that people still embrace the Nazis. It's valuable to be reminded of their error, which sadly is not confined to the 1930s. To embrace Nazism is to be lulled by a strong start — great uniforms, bold iconography, massive Nuremberg rallies, the Blitzkrieg, those diving Stukas — but ignore the bad end. Your nation bombed to total ruin, the Nuremberg trials.
To continue reading, click here.
I wouldn't give Ye ten cents, nor spend time listening to that or any other song of his. He belongs in a padded cell as does a certain President.
ReplyDeleteHe was on Colbert Monday night. Reached for the remote.
ReplyDeleteHave never had any use for that a-hole. Nazi, shmatzi. Hard pass.
Keanu Reeves and Jack White were the guests on Colbert Monday night. I watched the show. Numerous sources checked and none of them indicate that Ye was booked for that night. Further checking showed that he didn't appear on any American television program that night.
DeleteYou're right. I stand corrected. Hell, I'm pushing 80...so I will readily admit to getting a lot of current "celebrities" mixed up. But they do have one thing in common: I don't give a shit about many of them, if not most of them.
DeleteDidn't even bother watching Oprah on Colbert last night. Have never liked her. Most of the time, I turn off "The Late Show" before the guests appear. The majority of the current crop of names and faces mean little or nothing to me, which makes it very easy to confuse them.
An icon like Tom Hanks or Bill Murray...that's another story. But naturally all of them are there to peddle their latest book, or a new TV show, or a new movie, or some other new project. That's par for the course on late-night TV, and not a BFD.
The word "celebrity" has always honked me off.
With some notable exceptions, exactly what the hell are we celebrating?
Generally speaking talk shows have always been promoting something. They probably spend less than a minute or two promoting what what ever it is they have going on.
DeleteI remember back in about 1987 Carl Reiner was a guest one night on Late Night With David Letterman, and the big fanfare that kept getting repeated was “Carl Reiner is here tonight with NOTHING TO PLUG!”. It had never occurred to me up until that point that, anytime anyone was any of those shows, it was always to promote their latest movie, book, TV show or album.
DeleteI have both Ye Derangement Syndrome and TDS. I fear that I will never be cured.
ReplyDeleteGreat job commenting on an unpleasant topic with humor and insight.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that multiple things have warped his tiny mind.
ReplyDeleteHis mother died because of her plastic surgery obsession. The good surgeons turned her down, telling her she didn't need it, so she finally found one that would do it & that killed her.
He lost it after that.
He's been conked on the a head several times, most famously when a TMZ camera was following him & he walked right into a low mounted sign. I'm sure he has CTE from all the concussions he's gotten.
He once said slavery was good & the 13th Amendment should be repealed, the one that banned slavery!
Which means he's also very, very stupid!
He bought a beach house in Malibu designed by a famous Japanese architect. He then proceeded to gut the entire place. Now it's just an empty concrete shell, that's in foreclosure owned by someone else.
He's bought property in Wyoming for some reason, trashed that & left.
He started a school in Los Angeles, where everyone had to wear weird uniforms he designed. He also claims to be a clothing designer, he's terrible at that. The school didn't teach in any way recognized by an accreditation group & has since shut down.
He was finally fired by Adidas as one of their shoe designers, after yet another of his Nazi outbursts, Adidas, having been built by a German Nazi Party member, was forced by public outcry to disown him, but it took months to get those fools to dump him, then they were stuck with at least 100 million shoes he designed, which by the way are ugly beyond belief. They finally disposed of them, losing close to a billion on that misadventure!
His current girlfriend or maybe wife, no one is really sure about the relationship, was apparently studying to be an architect at one time, but is obviously been mesmerized by him, she wears clothing designed by him, which usually leaves her nude or in totally see through clothes. She is obviously as mentally ill as he is! They have been kicked out of Japan because of her nude clothing & banned from other places.
He loves the current demented & deranged child rapist in the White House & is actually a lot like him, everything he touches dies!
Well said, Clark.
DeleteThanks, Clark. Did not know about ANY of that stuff. But I do now.
DeleteYou seem to know a good deal about the dude. Do you keep up with the doings of many so-called celebrities, or just the ones you don't like, in order to stockpile ammo to use against them? In this instance, you appear to be well-armed.
This guy is obviously a world-class jamoke, and I have always ignored him as much as possible. Plenty of other jerks in the Sargasso Sea of popular culture.
If his apology is real all proceeds from his music should go to a charity that clearly supports those who have been harmed by Nazism
ReplyDeletePeople change. Not all change is growth. Life, or worse, happens. The person that used to be fun at the cookout becomes someone you wouldn't sit next to on a bus. Life is too short to waste time on their nonsense...but sometimes that nonsense is too dangerous too ignore.
ReplyDeleteThat is the crux...turn away to save your own sanity, or face it head on and lose your faith in humanity.
DeleteI think a lot of people don't know exactly know who Hitler and the NAZIs really were. Lack of education and incuriosity lead these people to--as you noted--focus on fancy uniforms and Tiger tanks while fed a diet of "you're right and the people you hate should be annihilated."
ReplyDeleteIn 1967, Star Trek has one of its characters state, "Nazi Germany was the most efficient nation ever," obviously expecting that its viewers would accept that statement as self evident. Assuming the purpose of the Nazis was to rule the world and not just administer as much hate and turmoil as they could, the whole anti Jewish campaign was a horrible waste of assets. Plus, one would think that Hitler could have cajoled the companies that supplied his armies to cooperate, whereas the Germans were long delayed in acquiring radar due to the reluctance of these companies to share the results of their research. On top of which is the fact that "made the trains run on time" was only true by rigging the system. All in all, the Nazi government was highly inefficient, such that it was out of everything, food, weapons and cannon fodder at the end of the war. That they kept good records actually worked against them, as it must have been demoralizing for the record keepers to see the inevitable defeat long before the end. What Ye expected from "Heil Hitler" is an even deeper mystery.
Deletetate
As the Medved Brothers wrote in their book "The 50 Worst Movies Of All time?, Goebbels made an insane propaganda film titled "Kolberg", which was supposed to shore up public confidence while they were losing the war. he had so much power, arms factories were tasked into making replica early 19th Century guns that only fired blank, along with the ammo needed for them. While Nazi soldiers were freezing to death on the Russian Front, clothing manufacturers were ordered to make tens of thousands of replica Napoleonic Era uniforms. Thousands of horses were requisitioned, even though the German Army still used horse to pull artillery, unlike the Allies, who were fully mechanized.
DeleteAgfa was ordered to produce millions of feet of color film for the movie, despite the need for the chemicals elsewhere.
The movie was a massive failure, all because Goebbels had his own personal copy of "Gone With The Wind" & was obsessed with making an even bigger movie than that!
Never paid any attention to him before, don't see any reason to now.
ReplyDeleteI've done a good job of ignoring Kanye. I didn't even know that his name was still Ye. He might consider shortening his name to Y. Then we can all say clever things like, "We've been meaning to ask you that very question."
ReplyDeleteDid a Google search for "Heil Hitler" and came up with a YouTube video. First time I ever heard Ye's voice -- sounds like a girl to me. Amazing that Clark Street is so well informed about his misadventures: a life well wasted, it seems. Even Trump probably doesn't return his calls these days.
ReplyDeletetate
That's what i get for recording & then watching TMZ Live every day. I zip through it at 64 times speed, only watching anything mildly interesting, as it's gotten to the point I've never heard of 75% of the people the cover & call celebrities.
DeleteBut then I also record jeopardy every day & even got the Final Jeopardy correct which all three got wrong, about the multi-billion plan to connect two islands. I knew immediately it was Great Britain & Ireland.
Bravo!
Deletetate
Is it any wonder that there are people willing to spend money on this idiot's clothing, shoes, music or anything else when there have been and are people willing to vote for the orange idiot three times? I'm surprised that the convicted felon in the white house hasn't named this goof to a cabinet position. If he did, the trump acolytes would sing his praises.
ReplyDeleteTwo of my uncles were wounded in WW2 fighting the nazis. Both of them paid a price physically and mentally during the ensuing 35 years until their deaths. The nazis started a war that led to the deaths of millions of people including 6 million Jews. Anyone who glorifies in any way the nazi way of thinking or acting is my enemy and should be the enemy of anyone with a brain.
“Admiring the Nazis is betting on a team that has already lost.” The same could certainly be said of the neo-Confederates and that’s been going on for a lot longer.
ReplyDeleteSomehow Kanye West has been able to regain a significant amount of his fortune over the last few years after having alienated many of his business partners.
ReplyDeleteCoupled with his clear hatred for many rich and powerful people this gives me pause and makes me wonder who his supporters are and how it's possible that he has so many.
He has regained billions of dollars!
Does supporting him mean you support Nazis?
God I hope not or there are many millions of Nazi supporters around the world I guess that's possible.
I am very familiar with much of his music but I had completely missed this heil Hitler crap. Hard to separate the artist from the art in this circumstance
Franco
I have never, to my knowledge, engaged online with a Nazi. The closest I can recall to such an experience occurred with someone from Romania.
ReplyDeleteI listened on YouTube to a rendition of the Romanian national anthem -- a gloomy/ominous minor-key affair -- and saw a comment underneath to the effect that the song was about proud resistance to invaders. I replied, kind of snarkily I guess, that with leaders like Antonescu and Ceausescu, invaders might not have been Romania's worst problem.
The guy (or someone else, don't recall) wrote back that he didn't see why Antonescu was a problem, and as for Ceausescu, if it hadn't been him it would have been some other Soviet puppet. Fair enough as to the latter, I conceded, but I pointed out that Antonescu had led Romania into an alliance with Hitler that ended disastrously, with Romanian troops used as cannon fodder in debacles like Stalingrad, and of course ultimate invasion and domination by the USSR. Didn't he consider those to be problems? Another individual then chimed in to the effect that these were all "Jew lies."
At that point I stopped engaging, because really, what can you say?
I guess my point is, if the Nazis who drop in on you never engage, count your blessings.
Never engaged online with a Nazi? I have. Just one memorable time.
DeleteHe called me an oyster. Some Jews say "Oy!" a lot. Get it? "Oyster!"
That was a new one on me. Learned something from that bastard.
The first time I saw a rightie screed that used the word "heshe," I thought it was some sort of obscure anti-semitic insult, like calling a Jewish guy "Moishe" when that's not his name, or something. It took me a while to realize that they meant "he-she," a slur on trans people.
DeleteBigots. Who can keep track, or keep up?
A tip so your future searches don't have you unnecessarily patronizing Xitter: search the Internet Archive, https://web.archive.org. Typing "heil hitler ye song" in their search box yields several authentic-looking versions on the first page, including this one with lyrics: https://archive.org/embed/ye-hil-htlr-full-song. It's no "Credo in un dio crudel".
ReplyDeleteI wonder how many people buying nazi cars(tesla) understand what elonski is, even as they saw him raise the nazi salute more than once.
ReplyDelete