this post was submitted on 30 Jul 2024

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1936 Olympics, Berlin, Nazi Germany (lemmy.world)

submitted 4 months ago by PugJesus to c/historyporn

48 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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[–] [email protected] 83 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I mean. They invented the Olympic torch relay and overall showed their competence in Propaganda. You can sell literally anything if you do it right.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1936_Summer_Olympics

The Games were the first to be televised, with radio broadcasts reaching 41 countries.[2] Filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl was commissioned by the German Olympic Committee to film the Games for $7 million.[2] Her film, titled Olympia, pioneered many of the techniques now common in the filming of sports.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

Yeah, the 1936 was a huge and famously pretty successful propaganda event for Nazi Germany. It might have served as an inspiration for certain other authoritarian regimes.

At least the Chinese and the Russians didn't upset American sensitivities! Good for them. <3

[–] [email protected] 12 points 4 months ago (1 children)

except for the fact that jesse owens embarassed them so much by being phenominal.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

Nothing short of legendary.

[–] Noodle07 1 points 4 months ago

If you do it right.. Ain't no way we can sell any mattresses in France now

[–] [email protected] 68 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (3 children)

I think this year's opening ceremony did a wonderful job showcasing France and French culture in all its diversity. There's some really clever juxtaposition of tradition and contemporary France. Aya Nakamura, who has been criticized for her unconventional use of French language, dancing with the guards of the Académie Française (the institution responsible for the French language) was amazing, and a great fuck you to the people out there who pretend to be traditionalist but are really just poorly camouflaged racists with their heads stuck up their asses.

The blue naked man everybody seem so upset by is a cultural treasure, and he did not disappoint.

The fact that Americans are having a meltdown over it of course makes everything better, but it's just a bonus.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (2 children)

I think it was actually great on so many levels. Original, spectacular and pissing all the rabid bigots off. You have to love France for that fuck you attitude.

Not just Americans having a meltdown

https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/politics/jim-allister-to-raise-blasphemous-show-at-olympics-opening-ceremony-with-mps/a572992127.html

Man is a complete tit, but still funny to see!

[–] Eatspancakes84 7 points 4 months ago

It’s so ridiculous people get pissed over this. We are talking about Paris. They had royalty that were playing with sexuality and gender since the 1700s. When did we get so f*cking prude??

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

I agree - I think they did something truly great. It was great fun, completely harmless, showcased France and its people, and pissed off a lot of people I don't care for in the process. And it gave a lot of genuine talents a moment in the spotlight, without ever getting dull or overly traditional.

I can't read the article beyond the headline, but that's already hilarious.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 4 months ago

Yeah, it was certainly unconventional, but I liked it. Had some serious ESC vibes.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

I wasn't upset because I thought they were a Smurf 😂

[–] [email protected] 51 points 4 months ago (1 children)

"it was the only time the olympics weren't woke" - some daily wire dude on twitter, probably

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

dude it was woke as shit, an African-American took four gold medals in the capital of Nazi Germany

[–] [email protected] 27 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Finally, an Olympics christians can get behind and support.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 4 months ago

Only using triangle energies based on logic systems like GNU Octave, which should calm the mind.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 4 months ago

The people complaining about the Paris 2024 opening ceremonies are probably big fans of the Germany 1936 opening ceremonies.

[–] Got_Bent 10 points 4 months ago

Depending on how the election goes, this could very well be a precursor to the upcoming Los Angeles Olympics.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 4 months ago

Paris 2024: occasionally cringy but well intentioned
Berlin 1936: just cringe

[–] son_named_bort 7 points 4 months ago

It was so bad that they had to cancel the next two Olympics.

[–] Phegan 6 points 4 months ago

If I remember correctly, this Olympics started the trend of elaborate opening ceremonies because Hitler wanted to create more fanfare.

Opening ceremonies are legit Nazi shit.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 4 months ago

but yeah it was pretty shitty. the American president snubbed Jesse Owens

[–] drmoose 5 points 4 months ago

amazing how a society can zombify itself

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

that was just an ordinary type of salute in 1936. it wasn't replaced in the American flag code until 1942

*guys stop getting butthurt over wikipedia articles

[–] [email protected] -2 points 4 months ago

This was a very clear Olympic war full of square structures and no useful triangles that could generate peaceful harmonic energy. Try learning GNU Octave coding for more.

[+] [email protected] -18 points 4 months ago (2 children)

As opposed to the other Germany?

[–] [email protected] 13 points 4 months ago (1 children)

You often refer to Germany by the state then in place you mean, as there were multiple times where there has not been a single Germany (think DDR/BRD or before there was a single Germany to begin with) and overall a lot of German states with very different political systems during the years.

[+] [email protected] -18 points 4 months ago (3 children)

No I don't think I do... I probably used west and east Germany a couple of times but that's it. Any country in the past were different than the modern counterpart anyway, and I feel distinguishing Nazi Germany from current Germany leans into some magical trasformation that I personally don't love.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 4 months ago

Yeah, I mean, I get that. Still, one could argue, not every country had such a (at best) mixed history politics-wise and naming the different states existing at different points in time quickly tells the reader a lot of political context as well as highlights that there was a said transformation process (but not a magical one).

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (1 children)

You often refer to Germany by the state then in place you mean

No I don’t think I do…

Here you go: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_you

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

Silly, generic, me.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago (1 children)

distinguishing Nazi Germany from current Germany leans into some magical trasformation

There's an interesting debate on the amount of Nazi leaders, government officials and capitalists that were allowed to stay in their positions of power in western Germany after the Nazi were defeated. As a Spanish person, I myself sadly see the legacy of fascism in the Spanish institutions, and believe that the transition to democracy was way, way, way too lenient with fascists and fascism. That said, it's useful to refer to countries whose systems of governance have changed drastically over time, by the system of the time you're referring to, it's not exclusive to Germany.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I'm not so convinced you can even talk about a "transition". Fascism and its nazi derivation, brewed and rised within democratic countries. And, lo and behold, they are still among us in our democracies so much so that they are ruling a number of countries.

Fascist Spain is Spain. Fascist Italy is Italy. Fascist Japan is Japan and Nazi Germany is as clearly just Germany.

Denying that is dangerous and doesn't give you the tools, as a country, to change.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Again, I agree that the fascists weren't properly tried for their crimes and removed from the institutions (they were in east-germany). I'm just saying that there's a consensus nowadays about using those terms to refer to countries that changed their regime at least in theory. If you want to make the argument to change that consensus, you'd be better understood explaining from the start your issues with the terms because of the lack of renovation of people in power and power structures, rather than just saying "there's no other Germany".

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

Considering the context I priorityzed brevity. I'll make a note and include that as a chapter in my magnus opum.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 4 months ago

When countries have had antecessor-states that have been drastically changed over historical events, normally through a change or system of governance, it's common to refer to the type of system that was in place at the time you're referring to.

For example, it's common to refer to 1950s Spain as Fascist Spain (no more Spains on earth at that time), 1950s Russia as Soviet Russia (no more Russias at that time), 1890s Russia as Tsarist Russia (no more Russias at the time)... You get my point.

[+] [email protected] -49 points 4 months ago (2 children)

Yeah, but it’s close tho 🤷‍♂️

[–] PugJesus 64 points 4 months ago (3 children)

I'll take "weird and tacky" over "Literally Nazi" any day.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 4 months ago (2 children)

I quite liked the 2024 opening ceremony

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It was weird and all, but very entertaining and nice in that it did something new

[–] [email protected] 6 points 4 months ago

Yes! Especially the performance through all of paris's landmarks. Much nicer than one in a generic stadium. Although I wouldn't fault Beijing 2008 or London 2012 either.

[–] PugJesus 3 points 4 months ago (1 children)

Didn't care for it personally, but I'm indifferent to most Olympics and halftime shows and such displays, so I also understand it wasn't meant for me.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 4 months ago

It's of course impossible to reach everyone, but the opening ceremony had many things going for it appealing to a lot of different people. I was talking to a death metal fan the other day who was over his head in excitement over Gojira's performance and how it seemed they were given artistic liberty to do what they wanted with it, not sanitized by some outsider who doesn't understand the art.

It seems to me the opening ceremony did a great job at representing a broad spectrum of France. What offends people is not that they themselves are not represented, but rather that other people and expressions are. As if they are crying over a loss of cultural hegemony. And what's worse, they seem to be mostly white conservative Americans crying over a loss of cultural hegemony over a French event.

It's absurd. And it seems the director of the ceremony anticipated the outrage and chose to lean into it rather than to shy away from it, which is personally why I think it might have been the best opening ceremony ever. Because, like so many other represented groups, I belong to a subculture: The subculture of hating these stuck up hypocritical conservative self-proclaimed guardians of public morality and taste with all my guts. And that subculture was very well represented! :)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

I see your comment and I raise you family members who would vote the opposite in an election.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 months ago

dude we had Snoop Dogg jogging with a torch