Monday, August 21, 2006

A nice 1930s retro-vibe going on at The Sun

Occasionally, just occasionally, I think to myself that maybe I’m over-reacting just a little bit when I start comparing what’s happening in the UK and US today with what happened in Germany, Italy and Russia in the 1930s.

And then I come across articles like this in The Sun and any self-doubts rapidly disappear…


Typical Muslim child complete with bomber jacket


Hunt on for baby bombers

By JOHN KAY

Chief Reporter

and SIMON HUGHES

HATE-filled mums willing to sacrifice themselves and their BABIES are being hunted in the war on terror. Security sources confirmed last night that alleged "baby bombers" were among those arrested over the plot to massacre thousands by downing transatlantic flights. Those being quizzed included a husband and wife with a six-month-old infant.

The discovery prompted fears that there were fanatical mothers in secret al-Qaeda cells in Britain ready to become suicide bombers — and to die with their tots in their arms. And it emerged as the reason why women at airports were ordered to drink from their babies’ bottles before being allowed to board flights during last week’s massive alert.

One senior Government security adviser warned of a race against time to identify individuals who might pose a threat. The adviser said: "It may be beyond belief, but we are convinced that there are now women in Britain who are prepared to die with their babies for their twisted cause. They are ruthless, single-minded and totally committed."

The nightmare is that mums carrying tiny tots would provide "very good cover" and not raise suspicions among even the most alert security guards. The threat was identified along with an additional warning that as many as two dozen terror cells may still be active in Britain.

The source added: "We believe all the known players involved in last week’s plot have been detained. Our biggest concern now is all the unknown players who may be out there. "And that includes mothers who are ready and willing to see their little ones die. It is a race against time." Women around the world have carried out suicide attacks in the past.

Two female Chechen terrorists blew themselves up on separate flights in Russia two years ago.

An intelligence source said: "Al-Qaeda specialises in attempting the unexpected. What could be more unexpected in Western eyes than women willing to die with their babies?"

MI5 chiefs are jubilant over cracking the plan to disguise bombs as soft drinks or baby bottles — but warned that other forms of transport are massively at risk from suicide attacks. The Government source said: "There are dozens of other outrages being plotted on all forms of transport because they offer the highest potential body count."


another typical Muslim child in a bomber jacket
- best kept off the plane


Connoisseurs of the 1930s may have started to notice that The Sun is reading more and more like Der Sturmer every day -

Der Stürmer ("The Attacker") was a weekly Nazi newspaper published by Julius Streicher from 1923 to the end of World War II in 1945, with a brief suspension in circulation during the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It was a significant part of the Nazi propaganda machinery and was vehemently anti-Semitic. Unlike the Völkischer Beobachter, the official party paper which gave itself an outwardly serious appearance, the tabloid-style Der Stürmer often ran obscene materials such as pornography, ran anti-Catholic and anti-"reactionary" material, mixed with extremely anti-Semitic caricatures and open, undisguised hate propaganda like accusations of blood libel.

Of course, to really understand the similarities between the two newspapers you have to perform a challenging feat of mental gymnastics and swop out Semitic for Islamic. I say challenging because a lot of people seem unable, or unwilling, to do it.

I always thought that the expression 'Never again' was supposed to be a universal one.

There is a tendency on the part of the chattering classes to dismiss the kind of foaming hate-filled insanity printed in The Sun as being of not much significance.

as I’ve said before Cognitive Dissonance is a very wonderful thing

The stark truth is that The Sun is -

  • The most popular newspaper in the country, with all the influence that goes with that
  • Owned by a man who’s probably going to give our Prime Minister a job once we’re finally rid of him
  • Owned by the same man who owns lots of other of our newspapers and quite a lot of our television as well

In all meaningful respects, the demented racist shit printed in The Sun is not really any different to the demented racist shit promoted by plenty of other outlets, including our government. The only real, and relatively minor, difference is that The Sun is more honest about it.

OK, maybe I’m being a little over the top with the comparison with Der Sturmer thing. The Sun and Der Sturmer aren’t exactly the same

Der Sturmer only came out weekly.


3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Falsehood in wartime

"In this enduring classic, Ponsonby, a member of the British Parliament, debunks the most scurrilous propaganda lies of the First World War that were hurled against the enemy during that war to "make the world safe for democracy." Examples discussed here (mostly of British origin) include:

The British commitment to France;
Serbia and the murder of the Archduke;
Invasion of Belgium as cause of war;
Germany's sole responsibility for the war;
Passage of Russian troops through Great Britain;
The mutilated nurse;
The criminal Kaiser;
The Belgian baby without hands;
The Louvain altar-piece;
The contemptible little army;
Deutschland, Deutschland über alles;
The baby of Courbeck Loo;
The crucified Canadian;
The shooting of the Franzosling;
Little Alf's stamp collection;
The tattooed man;
The corpse factory;
The Bishop of Zanzibar's letter;
The German U-Boat outrage;
Constantinople;
The "Lusitania";
Report of a broken-up meeting;
Atrocity stories;
Faked photographs;
The doctoring of official papers;
Hypocritical indignation;
Other lies;
The manufacture of news;
War aims;
Foreign lies: Germany, France, the United States, Italy."

Fairuse copyabove ... from http://www.versandbuchhandelscriptorium.com/angebot/e0401fals.html

Anonymous said...

Like you I find this historical asymmetry quite disturbing. Yet more so is the realisation that some of the groups of individuals who are cheering-on this program should, through bitter experience, know better. I have been witness to the outpouring of hatred as some of them laid their plans. This is a sad turn of the page in the history of humanity.

ziz said...

Rational debate is now imposible. To suggest that Israel is a racist , fascist apartheid state is met with disbelief.

THat Blair can go on about the evikl of Mulsim fundamentalists and go unchallenged by anybody in power or authority, or by any elected political representative is astonishing.

We are further along the trail of the 3rd Reich than we can imagine in our wildest dreams.

www.coldtype.net/Assets.05/Essays/08.Mein.pdf

Is a piece that was ridiculed some time ago, for making the comparison and is worth re-examining.