Godwin comes to the banking crisis
February 17, 2009 3:17 AM Subscribe
As the bankers retreat to their bunkers, a video commentary by an insider.
One fun part is that the subtitles nearly match the German being spoken, at times.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:43 AM on February 17, 2009
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:43 AM on February 17, 2009
I was all set to snark about YADS (Yet Another Downfall Subtitle) but these at least use more than the once scene and are quite well put together. Good stuff.
posted by Happy Dave at 4:12 AM on February 17, 2009
posted by Happy Dave at 4:12 AM on February 17, 2009
Thanks, these are brilliant mash-ups. I don't know, really, how they sit as critiques of the Wall-street's business culture. There's something about equating Nazi Germany with Wall Street that is jarring in a way I'm not all sure is productive.
I don't really know enough about the culture of Wall street 'financial sector' to know if the downfall of Goldman-Sachs really was like the last weeks of Nazi Germany, but the scale of crazy on the Nazi's part, well, if GS and the other big banks are/were that exceptionally crazy then we're all better off without them.
Here, pictures of Nazi Germany mostly from "Life" magazine, for a little of one kind of perspective (of course, the medium today is no longer the big public rally but the TV and Internet, so who knows but that the image-control the Nazis used so successfully hasn't also been applied today, though people have not recognized it as it has been through a different medium.) It's all real interesting, I'll give you that. I will say from the first time Bush was given the Presidency all my German in-laws were aghast that no one recognized this was how Hitler seized power.
posted by From Bklyn at 4:50 AM on February 17, 2009 [2 favorites]
I don't really know enough about the culture of Wall street 'financial sector' to know if the downfall of Goldman-Sachs really was like the last weeks of Nazi Germany, but the scale of crazy on the Nazi's part, well, if GS and the other big banks are/were that exceptionally crazy then we're all better off without them.
Here, pictures of Nazi Germany mostly from "Life" magazine, for a little of one kind of perspective (of course, the medium today is no longer the big public rally but the TV and Internet, so who knows but that the image-control the Nazis used so successfully hasn't also been applied today, though people have not recognized it as it has been through a different medium.) It's all real interesting, I'll give you that. I will say from the first time Bush was given the Presidency all my German in-laws were aghast that no one recognized this was how Hitler seized power.
posted by From Bklyn at 4:50 AM on February 17, 2009 [2 favorites]
Nobody in the board room at Goldman had the sack to fall on their swords and put a bullet in their skulls. So, the parallel ends there.
posted by spicynuts at 7:03 AM on February 17, 2009
posted by spicynuts at 7:03 AM on February 17, 2009
Well, I'd admire anyone who'd fall on their sword AND put a bullet in their skull. That's real commitment to the cause there.
posted by jamstigator at 7:11 AM on February 17, 2009
posted by jamstigator at 7:11 AM on February 17, 2009
Hitler is angry that you guys keep mis-subtitling him.
posted by EarBucket at 9:08 AM on February 17, 2009 [1 favorite]
posted by EarBucket at 9:08 AM on February 17, 2009 [1 favorite]
“I will say from the first time Bush was given the Presidency all my German in-laws were aghast that no one recognized this was how Hitler seized power.”
Atrocities arm the future for more atrocities. People keep saying “Bush isn’t Hitler” but Hitler wasn’t Bahattin Shakir (and he knew this - he did say “Who remembers the Armenians?”). Those who commit atrocities are responsible for the future atrocities those create.
Hitler made such grabs for power possible by laying the blueprints. Like Himmler and Speer and Goering said - it is easy to fool people. Fool them into war. Fool them into persecution. Fool them into giving up their rights and representation to be ‘safe.’ What’s scary about the American version of this is the complicity of those who are in that ‘money’ mindset. I mean, build camps, torture equipment, all that, because there’s a buck in it. Send rotten meat and shit-filled water to the troops, because there’s money in it. Dump crap in the drinking water, hell, gas your own mother for a buck. And in the end, that money doesn’t mean your safe from the rapaciousness you’ve created. Power, money, all that - people forget, things change. The environment one creates won’t care that you’re one of the creators. If you can’t face that change - for all the tough words about ‘competition’ and ‘survival of the fittest,’ you shouldn’t build that kind of world in the first place. Hitler couldn’t face up to that. He was a punk.
I don’t know if these Goldman Sachs schmucks are even that. They’re such schmucks they still come in second place in the world’s biggest schumck contest. You know why? Because they’re schmucks.
posted by Smedleyman at 10:05 AM on February 17, 2009
Atrocities arm the future for more atrocities. People keep saying “Bush isn’t Hitler” but Hitler wasn’t Bahattin Shakir (and he knew this - he did say “Who remembers the Armenians?”). Those who commit atrocities are responsible for the future atrocities those create.
Hitler made such grabs for power possible by laying the blueprints. Like Himmler and Speer and Goering said - it is easy to fool people. Fool them into war. Fool them into persecution. Fool them into giving up their rights and representation to be ‘safe.’ What’s scary about the American version of this is the complicity of those who are in that ‘money’ mindset. I mean, build camps, torture equipment, all that, because there’s a buck in it. Send rotten meat and shit-filled water to the troops, because there’s money in it. Dump crap in the drinking water, hell, gas your own mother for a buck. And in the end, that money doesn’t mean your safe from the rapaciousness you’ve created. Power, money, all that - people forget, things change. The environment one creates won’t care that you’re one of the creators. If you can’t face that change - for all the tough words about ‘competition’ and ‘survival of the fittest,’ you shouldn’t build that kind of world in the first place. Hitler couldn’t face up to that. He was a punk.
I don’t know if these Goldman Sachs schmucks are even that. They’re such schmucks they still come in second place in the world’s biggest schumck contest. You know why? Because they’re schmucks.
posted by Smedleyman at 10:05 AM on February 17, 2009
Thanks for that, EarBucket. I think that's my favorite one so far.
posted by Ryvar at 10:07 AM on February 17, 2009
posted by Ryvar at 10:07 AM on February 17, 2009
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This makes those Der Untergang videos parodying the HD format wars made with Windows Movie Maker look so shameful in comparison.
posted by amuseDetachment at 3:40 AM on February 17, 2009