26 October 2016

"Lügenpresse" explained

When a video of two Donald Trump supporters shouting “Lügenpresse” (lying press) started to circulate Sunday, viewers from Germany soon noted its explosive nature. The defamatory word was most frequently used in Nazi Germany... Both the Nazi regime and the East German government made use of it, turning it into an anti-democracy slogan...

“Lügenpresse” was branded a taboo word in Germany in 2015 by an academic panel after anti-Islam movements, such as Pegida, started using it more frequently in the presence of journalists.

The term emerged way before the Nazis took over in Germany. For instance, the German Defense Ministry released a book titled “The Lügenpresse of Our Enemies” in 1918 during World War I... At that time, the word was used more descriptively. A decade later, it had turned into an explosive and stigmatizing propaganda slogan...
Text above from the Washington Post.  For a more complete history of the word, see the Wikipedia entry.

5 comments:

  1. Let's see. Could it be possible that those shouting might be Neo-Nazis?

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  2. No fan of Trump, but I also wouldn't be surprised in the least to discover they weren't really trump supporters, but paid plants.

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  3. Why would you think that, Mike? I mean, Trump has been endorsed by all sorts of "alt-right" and hate groups. And there have been many instances of people giving Nazi salutes during Trump rallies.

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  4. no alt, just right. the enemies of the people must be destroyed.

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    Replies
    1. Are you quoting this Fox analyst?

      "And heretics and apostates, the “enemies of the people,” must be destroyed. Allah and Stalin will it."

      http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2015/06/26/islamic-state-and-utopia-problem-destroying-past-to-command-future.html

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