Reaction To Jan Böhmermann - BE DEUTSCH!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ก.ย. 2023
- Reaction To Jan Böhmermann - BE DEUTSCH! | German Satire Parody Music NEO MAGAZIN ROYALE
This is my reaction to Jan Böhmermann - BE DEUTSCH! | German Satire Parody Song NEO MAGAZIN ROYALE
In this video I react to more from satire artists from Germany Jan Böhmermann and his song BE DEUTSCH! following up my reactions to America First, German Second and Varoufakis and the fake finger from NEO MAGAZIN ROYALE ZDFneo
Original Video - • BE DEUTSCH! [Achtung! ...
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A true german is not proud to be german, he is glad to be german.
''Every miserable idiot who has nothing in the world to be proud of takes the last resort of being proud of the nation he happens to be a part of.''
correct - because, as one TH-camr I really adore once said: "What did I personally accomplish to be german? How am I accountable for being born into this country here, eh? That's nothing I did myself, nothing I could have done wrong. I'm just lucky I was born here.
Someone who takes it upon him to flee from a warzone, cross thousands of kilometers, survive, manage to withstand the stress and peril one has to go through in all those refuge camps and the bureaucracy, FINALLY get here, stay here, learn the language, find a job and then, oneday, become a citizen - THAT is someone you can be proud of, because it takes so much to reach this goal."
Ok Leute, sollte von euch mal im Freundeskreis jemand den Nobelpreis gewinnen, tut mir einen Gefallen und seid ja nicht stolz auf diesen Freund. Sollte eines eurer Kinder mal beim Mathewettbewerb gewinnen, seid ja nicht stolz auf euer Kind. Gruppenzugehörigkeit und Erfolge von Menschen aus eigenen Kultur- und Sozialisationskreisen wecken Freude und Stolz in Menschen, sind kulturschaffend und stärken das Sozialwesen schon seit Jahrtausenden! Wie ihr seht können diese Gemeinschaftsgrenzen unterschiedlich groß sein, Familienkreis, Freundeskreis, Volksgruppe, vll sogar Staatenverbund oder eben die gesamte Spezies. Das Absprechen dieser zutiefst menschlichen und im Grunde äusserst positiven Emotion zeugt einfach nur davon wie gehirngewaschen und ungebildet ihr seid.
Ihr wägt euch in moralischer Überlegenheit obwohl ihr Intoleranz und Spaltung durch vermeintliche Einigung fördert. Das liebe Freunde ist wirklich gefährlich und nebenbei gesagt absurd widersprüchlich, falsch und sogar ekelhaft arrogant.
Kant or Heine?@@Robin-vv9iy
@@Robin-vv9iy Exactly.
Hearing "Being proud of not being proud" was the most patriotic I ever felt in my life 😂
Seriously! And not being proud of our country means that we are aware of and admit the terrible atrocities in our past and keep trying to make amends - which is more than can be said of many other countries with a similar past. And that IS something we can be proud of.
Except of course when they made U.S.E.. That song makes you patriotic for a country that doesn’t even exist.
November 9th is called "Schicksalstag der Deutschen", literally translated the "fateful day of the Germans". Various crucial but often infamous historical events occurred on that day: in 1848 the execution of Robert Blum (one of the leaders of the process of democratisation during the German Revolution in opposition to the absolutist restoration of power after the Vienna Congress), the abolition of the autocratic German monarchy in 1918, an attempted coup d'etat in 1923 by the early Nazis around Hitler and WW1-general Erich Ludendorff against the Weimar Republic (first democratic republic on German soil), in 1938 the "Kristallnacht", basically the night of broken glass seeing the pinnacle of pogroms against the Jewish population within pre-WW2 Nazi Germany and eventually in 1989 after more than 40 years of political separation the end of the Iron Curtain dividing Germany and its people as well as the entirety of Europe.
Guter Kommi
*fateful day
and many positive and negative events before and after too.
this
the "Kristallnacht" was not the "pinnacle" of the persecution of the jewish people. obviously the things that happened afterwards are much worse.
so the significance of the date is more that it was a tipping point in the nature of the pogroms. before that the discrimination was mostly non-violent (like boycotting businesses), after that it was just open violence and carnage.
also, most of the persecution of the jewish people was enforced by henchmen of the fascist government (SS, Gestapo etc), during the Kristallnacht, it was common people wreaking havoc.
"We are proud of not being proud!" has another level of understanding, than just "we are not proud being Germans of because what happened". A lot of Germans understand, that it doesn't make sense to be "proud" of a nationality. It is just random where you are born, you did nothing to "achieve" your nationality, so it is nothing to be proud of. One can be proud of personal achievements, but not a random thing like nationality. There is a relatively famous citation from German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer, that is older than the Nazi Regime: “The cheapest sort of pride is national pride; for if a man is proud of his own nation, it argues that he has no qualities of his own of which he can be proud; otherwise he would not have to recourse to those which he shares with so many millions of his fellowmen. The man who is endowed with important personal qualities will be only too ready to see clearly in what respects his own nation falls short, since their failings will be constantly before his eyes. But every miserable fool, who has nothing at all of which he can be proud, adopts, as a last resource, pride in the nation to which he belongs; he is ready and glad to defend all its faults and follies tooth and nail, thus reimbursing himself for his own inferiority.”
I might add that: "being proud to be German" is very often used in the right wing and neo-nationalist's wings.
So being "proud of not being proud" also implies to be proud not to be right wing (or worse).
@@dabash00r sowas von proud! xD
Ganz meine Überzeugung und logisch nachvollziehbar :-)) Wer das nicht versteht, muss irgend wann mal falsch abgebogen sein😅Und bei Wahlen, den IQ-Test nicht bestanden haben :-))
You are right but also wrong. You can be proud on the accomplishments of other people. You can be proud of your daughter or son for acing a test for example. The same way you can be proud of your nation to have achieved different things.
Following this line you can be proud of a nation but still you can't be proud to be of that nationality. You could only be glad to be part of this group you are proud of or you could be humbled.
Absolutely right! Unfortunately this general understanding and general agreement within society seems to change because of the attack of certain parties.
Germany does NOT have that rhyme. It is clearly a Böhmermann version that mimics the Guy Fawkes rhyme, which is interesting because it means that many Germans are familiar with the English rhyme (possibly from the movie “V”)… Also, it of course plays with the idea of German metal music, Rammstein etc. being so popular worldwide and the fact that they often mix English and German to appeal to foreign audiences.
nah just regular history lessons 😅
@@hightidemidafternoon maybe, but I definitely do not recall ever learning the rhyme in history class…
I definitely learned it in English class. There was a part about it in our textbook.
true, it might have been during an english class. I went to a Realschule from 1994-2000. things might have changed since then! @@Ionaev
@@Ionaev cool. Glad schoolbooks today are apparently better than they were when I took English in school…
3:10 "Wir sind das Volk" "We are the people" was famously used by the east german people while protesting against the east german government. Today it is used by many right wing groups because it stands for fighting against violent oppresors which they believe themselves to do.
In 1989 the sentence changed very fast from "We are THE people" (directed against the east-authoritarian leaders, arguing for more democracy) to "we are ONE people" (aiming at german reunification). This confusing mixture at that time is probably kind of connected to the rise of right-wing politics in east-Germany nowadays.
@@anjaboltin3299 it changed because the focus and the intent changed.
At first, it was strictly about democracy and freedom of speech in the DDR. Later on, there were calls for reunification, which then were reflected in that shift.
And yes. Unfortunately the extreme right has appropriated, and thus perversed, much of the protest culture of the "Wendezeit" of 1989/90. It's not just "Wir sind das Volk", but also the Monday Demonstrations.
Exakt. Eine teils propagandistisch verblendete Minderheit, und deren Rattenfänger schreit „Wir sind das Volk“! Echte Faschisten missbrauchen unsere demokratischen Freiheiten, um ungute alte Zeiten wieder aufleben zu lassen! Wehret den Anfängen, die Aufrührer und Opferumkehrer sind im Aufwind, dank unserer „schlafenden“ regierenden Volksverblöder!
german nationalsts claim to be "the people"(wir sind das volk).
Some explanation:
9th of November is a very important date in german history (1918: November revolution, 1923: Hitler's putsch, 1938: Reichspogromnacht/Night of Broken Glass/November pogrom, 1989: Fall of the Berlin Wall).
We are the people (Wir sind das Volk) was a chant in the gdr demonstrations before reunification and was also used by many right wings since 2015 especially (anti-refugees in this case).
Proud of not being proud: it's complicated, but many people are not proud of being german, but love the country of course. It's a debate if you can be proud of something you hadn't any influence on.
The song was meant as a representation of the quiet majority, since the loud minority was representing themselves as the people and there were many demonstrations against refugees and also some attacks
Excellent summary of everything I wanted to write. So no extra comment from me...
@Mert: Glad you watched this song. One of my favourites from Böhmermann. I remember watching it with my Canadian flat mate when it came out. We had a great time watching and debating it :)
@@Marvininini Like i wanted to write. 😅
The bus scene actually happened during the 2015 refugee crisis and was probably a big part of Böhmermanns motivation for making the song.
It was a pretty big scandal, because police failed to protect the refugees in the bus and they had to sit there for hours, being screemed at and refused to leave the bus due to being understandably frightened. Finally police solved the situation by dragging them of the bus with force, through the protesting crowd.
Was a really sad day for modern Germany. :/
Also, "Reisegenuss" was a pretty unsuitable slogan for people who fled their homes in fear of their lives and had pretty horrid trips to get to Germany. At that point a lot of refugees walked to whole Balkan route with their children and sleeping rough.
"Read Kant, Cunt!" is my favorite part!
"We are proud of not being proud!" might be the most german thing ever. It's like you said many Germans don't feel "proud" of their nation, but it's often misunderstood like not being proud is the same as being ashamed. That's not the case. It's really more like a being proud is a statement and you make that statement while being proud of yourself and your values not because of the country you were born in.
@@gagaxueguzheng"how can I be proud of other peoples achievements?" Its called empathy.
@@spacecooookie Well empathy would mean, I'm glad for someone, because they archived something. Maybe I'm proud of my child, if it archived something. 🤔
even though Kant was quite racist here and there in his texts. wich doesn't diminish the beautiy of the cathegorical imperative. he was also convinced that using a person as means to an end and not treating them as having inherent purpose... is just wrong. wich is beautiful. (and a stron anti slavery argument) sometimes I think Kant's racism was just him repeating what was en vouge to say back in the day. he didn't get out much... and the texts or parts of his texts that aren't racist .. are really brilliant. always worth a read. or listen, when it's a "soziopod" episode (because I'm too lazy to read Kant myself. I like listening to people who have read him talk about it...)
“Pride is not the opposite of shame, but it's source. True humility is the only antidote to shame.”
― General Iroh
I think it's different for everybody. Though I feel like our different regions grew together even stronger in the past 10 years. There are still differences in job opportunities and salaries.
There are also still those with other opinions - most recently those voting for right party Afd.
But I feel proud of being German and European.
I'm just of the mindset of cooperation with others - not stepping on them to get ahead.
well observed, I am proud not to be proud. I'd never put up a german flag just because it would make me feel like a nationalist.
the fact that many people feel that way makes me proud. I've been to the US and was kind of shocked how present the flag actually is.
I think it's hilarious to be proud to be a member of a nation, since you have done exactly nothing to become one.
Same here! When I went to the States (NYC in particular) to visit my then boyfriend I was kinda shocked too. Well, I knew already that the US people put their flag like everywhere. Schools, public buildings, important sights (why the hell is there a flag on Brooklyn Bridge?), military installations and private houses. In Germany we fly the flag on public buildings only on special days (November 9th for example (half mast), June 17th (I think halt mast also), October 3rd (day of Reunification) and on election days (which are always a Sunday so every average German has the possibility to take part)). Private houses usually don't fly flags. If someone does, this would be a red flag for me (please insert canned laughter here for this hell of a pun). Sometimes you can see German flags flown in Schrebergärten.
To say I was appalled by the US version of national pride would be too much, but I definetly was flabbergasted. Like "OK that's nice for you to have your flag on your house and hear your national anthem before a regional level (!) baseball game, but WHY though?"
I also don't get the Pledge of Allegiance. For me that's indoctrination.
As already pointed out by many other commenters here, the majority (I hope) of German people gets nothing out of the concept of national pride (and doesn't get the concept at all).
You can be proud of what your nation or region has achieved (where I live both the inventors of the car and of the bycicle's forefather, the Draisine, came from), but I'm not proud to be German. I feel lucky and thankful to be born in a stable country without war, with electricity and running water. I do not take it for granted.
The ONLY time where it's perfectly ok to fly the German flag as a private household is during a sports event like the football world cup! 😃⚽
r/place made me proud to be German. :D
The beginning was actually an homage to the Guy Fawkes Night poem. Most students in Germany learn this poem in English class.
And still, even more know it from the movie "V wie Vendetta" 😉
they dont bruh
it’s only your school dude
no one else learned this at school. it’s from the movie
@@rigdigwusWow, you're really certain dude. Simply search for German school materials or curricula and guy fawkes. You will find thousands of websites about Guy Fawkes school material. I had it in elementary school and again in high school in two different federal states.
Well I happen to know quite a lot of pupils who learn this at school... and quickly forget. 😉
I was born in Western Germany in the 60s, on the sunny side of the wall. I feel I'm blessed to be a german, I feel grateful for what I got and humbled by the knowledge how much more this was compared with people from other parts of the world. I know that germans of all ages have contributed to the progress of mankind, but I'm not proud of it, I'm glad they did - and I'm equally glad of any other contribution. I really like to be german and to live in Germany, but I'm not proud of it ...
Why does it matter to you on which side of the wall you were born in? I thought Germany is united for more than 30 years?
Are you identifying your self as a west German rather a German?
@@viventyful Neither, nor. I identify in many ways that form concentric circles. The most inner circle is me, then my close relatives like brother and sister,, my whole family, the town I live in, the region this town is situated in, the "Bundesland", then germany, EU, Europe, and finally the world.
But for the first 25 or so years of my life the wall was a fact, so I received all of my education in school and most of my education at the university in the "Bonner Republik" which I think of as "country of origin" (that does no longer exist). Feels a bit like grandpa from the Munsters: "back in the old country ..." ...
@@viventyful There are still strong differences in the economic development of the two halves of the country. Even if reunification took place many decades ago, it still matters where you live. Since the conditions in eastern Germany are somewhat worse, there is also a certain brain drain towards the west.
The song by Böhmermann is actually very old (6 years maybe) and was released during the refugee crisis where (for a short while) germany actually was quite welcome (merkel said "Wir schaffen das"). It is even funnier that rammstein (the band where this song is a parody of, at least very similar to their style) have released the song "Deutschland" whitch is actually similar to this song.
The similarities are actually uncanny. Böhmermann just gets Rammstein 😂
Actually, Rammstein have referenced Böhmermann's song on their TH-cam account. So they certainly approve of his song.
But, yeah. "Deutschland" is a powerful Rammstein song, especially the imagery in the video.
It also came out right after Trump got elected, felt like a dig to the US to me
@@miri6600 It's a dig at far right nationalist idiots in general. AfD types in Germany, and of course also MAGA morons in the US.
Sure, the "IQ test" bit is mostly a dig on the MAGA crowd. But also Brexiteers, for example.
Can't wait for him to uncover the existence of POL1Z1STENS0HN haha
Allemagne Zero Points by Böhmermann is also hillarious! :D
Still on my everyday playlist haha
The rhyme is a reference to the Reichskristallnacht or the Night of Broken Glass on 9-10 November 1938.
: "Recht kommt!" und "Polizistensohn" My favourites of Jan Bömermann.
The „not you, we!“ was so fitting, no is alone am not Germany but we, my friends, neighbours, family, enemies, teachers, and so on, we are germany. It’s not one single person but the group and I think that it’s amazingly portrayed in the video.
The funny thing is that the band he parodied here, Rammstein, made an own song years later called “Deutschland”. Which is also very good and Leads in the same direction as the song of Böhmermann.
"Deutschland " was later? This seems to be a tailored reply. I liked the presentation of a conflicting relation with ones nation. Have not seen this before, it adds a more modern germany vibe and is less 1800s nationalistic like Rammstein
@@otterroboter9661"1800s nationalistic like Rammstein"? What do you mean by that?
I don't know of any Rammstein song that could fit this description.
@@cumuluscloud3854 in the sense that they present a "history of great men" look at german history. the highest highs and the lowest lows fits. it fits their pompous and grotesque style. all in regards to "Deutschland"
As Oscar Wilde said, patriotism is the virtue of the vicious.
Dude, it's so healing to see a smart guy reacting to satire who just gets the context and the painful jokes.
Have you been watching Ryan before? 😅
Oh, who was it then?
Because this one got whooshed and didn't understand a single reference to his own country. He was over fixated on WW2 jokes so he didn't even realise that they are NOT WW2 jokes, lol.
As far as I know we have no special rhyme, but it is very much possible that Böhmermann was inspired by your british rhyme. But November 9th was a very importent day in german history: Revolution 1918 (Declaration of Republic), Fall of the Berlin Wall 1989 and Kristallnacht 1938 (which is most likely the rhyme about).
Of course it's the 5th of November poem. They just changed a few words.
and my parents wedding day ... 🤔
@@hightidemidafternoon So definitely another date of historical interest 😜
Germany as a nation has only existed since 1871, so it is still more common to be "proud" of one's region, so-called local patriotism. This is particularly noticeable in Bavaria, for example. This German partiotism first had to be spread among the Germans afterwards. In the first stanza of the national anthem (which is no longer sung) there is a line "Deutschland Deutschland über alles" (Germany Germany above all), which is not meant to affirm a claim to world domination, but the awareness of the Germans that the nation is more important than the individual federal states.
The founding myth of Germany is based on the fact that various tribes of Germania came together to defend themselves against Roman conquest. Once that was done, each tribe went back to doing their own thing and they even fought each other.
I don't know how it is in Britain, but I suspect that Scots refer to themselves as Scots first than as British.
I really LOVE this song.
The line "We are proud of not being proud" is probably something many Germans are not aware of.
This song is the anti movement to the classical nationalistic views.
BUT the song shows that you can be a patriot and love your country without loving everything about it and being a nationalistic dork.
Like you said, many Germans like to talk about how we are not waving flags, this in itself shows that in a way many people are proud of that. Its something that makes us different from many places in the world.
Then, Ive heard many times in my life, that we Germans "dont have a culture anymore".
But this song shows the opposite, Birkenstocks, Jack Wolfskin Jackets, there are so many things we Germans can be proud of.
And the biggest part for me is our Grundgesetz, the first few paragraphs are the Human Rights, and it is not possible to take them out of our constitution.
The fact that "Human dignity is unimpeachable" is the first paragraph of our contitution makes me feel proud. As this is the standard I think everybody should strive for.
And those dorks saying that their the people... it really takes bigger balls to go to a person you fear than to exclude them from society.
I don't know how many people know this phrase but I am pretty sure that a lot of people feel it. Me too. Further up someone wrote that hearing "being proud of not being proud" was the most patriotic he ever felt in his life. I take that and your comment as indications of my guess. ;-) (btw. I am German too and I think too that we have a really good Constitution (Grundgesetz) )
I think the song tries to describe what being German feels like. The fact that the song doesn't provide a consistent picture is very fitting, as Germans can be very nuanced. And of course the song is also a parody of the band RAMMSTEIN.
As a German I definitely prefer the EU flag over the German flag. Because I think the EU is actually a great accomplishment, while Germany is just something that exists, I don't need to specifically point out that I'm German while being in Germany.
Funnily it didn't exist for the longest time. Accomplishment?
You should read up on how our modern flag came to exist then. Hint: The red stands for the blood of the lost to achieve Germany.
The EU is a great achievement, but Germany was too.
Something that just exists is a kinda funny line. But I share the sentiment, being in a supernational democratic alliance is a true miracle if we consider the history of humanity (yes I know the EU has its democratic flaws but its fine)
to be fair, at the time of the german revolution and unification, people probably saw the idea of a united Germany as an accomplishment that's just as great or even greater than our EU.
Du solltest noch mal ganz dringend deine Geschichtskenntnisse aufbessern, das was du so toll an der EU findest, ist genau das wofür Deutschland und die deutsche Flagge stehen.
Please watch the music video „Deutschland“ from Rammstein (maybe with translated lyrics). It shows how many of the germans feel about the past, the land and the history. Also the video a very good history lesson for Germany.
(Please forgive my bad english)
Agreed. There are Rammstein references in this song. Not only in music and voice. Jan is wearing nearly the same outfit as Till Lindemann, for example. I immediately thought of "Deutschland" although it came out 3 years later than the Böhmermann-Song. Another picture of the Germans is the Böhmermannsong Allemagne Zero Points. It is about the long German tradition nearly always failing at the Eurovision Song Contest. th-cam.com/video/_zfnlkiPCVA/w-d-xo.html
While I agree, I think it's a quite difficult song and video to correctly understand, especially as a foreigner and without any knowledge of German. So just be aware, much contextualisation might be needed, if you really do watch that video.
Interestingly, Rammstein itself has a questionable past, their fans are totally unable to address. Nothing changed.
There is an interpretation of the video from “Three Arrows”. It's called "Deutschland by Rammstein: An Analysis" Maybe a reaction video to the interpretation?
@@schnelma605 Good idea!
This is obviously a Rammstein parody!!!!
Obviously not. It is just totally Rammstein formula as Rammstein also plays with German stereotypes in many ways.
@@jotwee63 that is your interpretation. In any case, this is luckily not about Rammstein.
The style, the music, the singing and the costume are the parody of Rammstein. The lyrics aren’t
Not sure if you noticed, but in the last scene the former two separeted groups of germans are combined into one big group. So in the last Scene there is a good reason for the whole group to say "We are Germany".
My interpretation is that the uprisen majority reclaimed the street and put the pegida scum to flight, but a few of them stopped fleeing and mastered their individual integration task into an open and democratic society.
"Proud of not being proud" really describes how I feel because I think it's actually a good achievement to overcome patriotism and look at facts instead... also I feel like patriotism can divide countries and actually work against understanding of different cultures
Just wanted to leave a comment saying how happy I am that you’re enjoying Böhmermanns work, keep it up!
have a look at "Deutschland" by Rammstein - you will see the similarities
Und das witzige ist, dass „Deutschland“ erst 4 Jahre später oder so kam.
Hat sich da jemand inspirieren lassen? 🤔
@@blued_moon4020 Das denkst du wirklich? 😂
@@stiefelriemen632 nope, das war ein Witz. Entschuldige, soll ich das nächste Mal mein Sarkasmus-Schild hochhalten?
Looking forward to all the other song reactions. The situationally correct translation would be "Attention!" or "Beware!".
First scene is a reference to actual events in a town in the east of Germany.
"We Are The People" is the slogan of the peaceful demonstrations (Monday Marches) against the GDR government in the 1980s and was captured and thus perverted by the alt right protestors in the 2010s.
Personally I find it interesting that in the colourful mix of Germans is even a Muslima. Bundespräsident Christian Wulff once said that Islam was a part of Gemrany, which got him eventually removed bei the Springer Press.
The very last line might be directed at the PEGIDA (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the Occident) movement, who also claim to be Europeans, but are just xenophobes. This song mainly fights against right wing protestors to appear as center- and "normal" citizen-oriented. This reminds me of another question, if Germany had something like Trump. Hubert Aiwanger might be the closest match right now, a very normal Bavarian.
Voting being an IQ test can be based on the many Germans who vote AGAINST their interests just because what would be good for them is ridiculed and slandered about by the parties that are just beneficial for the upper crust. Brexit referendum could be seen as a similar IQ test.
edit: elaborated on more topics
In Addtion "Achtung" is used in the military as call to stand to attention.
I think most of the song was a reaction to all the PEGIDA protests that were being shown very often in the media at that time.
The scene at the beginning of the video with the refugee in the bus was also something that happened shortly before in Saxxon, where right-wing demonstrators stopped a bus that was supposed to bring 30 refugees and ended with the police forcing the refugees out of the bus and a boy being brutally pulled out of it. Someone filmed this, the video (and some of the media reactions) can still be found if you search for: bus sachsen flüchtlinge.
The last part about the voting was because it was short before the US voted and was meant as a voice against voting for Trump.
I think being proud of having a nationality is a really weak form of pride, since you usually didn't even actively have to do anything to achieve that. But deciding against the feel-good form of fake-pride is a mental process that can be quite tough, so you can be proud to have overcome this.
RECOMMENDATION (actually a must-see for you): Jan Böhmermanns “Europa” song !
It is from 4 years ago during Brexit time. Incredible that he achieved to get all those people involved in making fun of the UK.
Watch the TV version first:
th-cam.com/video/jgbO9KmGPCA/w-d-xo.html
(german subtitles but you'll get it)
and the extended version afterwards:
th-cam.com/video/Ag-W1x2sjA4/w-d-xo.html
(englisch subtitles)
ENJOY
We don't have "We are the people" but "Wir sind das Volk" which means the same. It was an important slogan when the berlin wall fell in 1989. The message is: The power is with the people, not the elites.
The far right likes to use this slogan in an effort of self importance. They imply they speak for the common man which they don't according to voting numbers.
The far right likes using the slogan as well for the conotations the word "Volk" has in German history, aluding to the "Volkskörper" and "Schicksalsgemeinschaft" and "Lebensraum" Ideology of the Nazis. The "Volk" in far right understanding is a highly anti-democratic and racist idea.
No, I don't think that this was the message behind "Wir sind das Volk!".
The message was more to remind the politicians in the GDR, whom they have to serve with their politics and who needs to change, when the population feels discontent.
Also in the sense that the elite cannot portray the demonstrators as enemies of the people and their elite. Instead, the demonstrators created the image of a conflict between the elite and the people.
It was a straight attack at the self-image of the ruling elite, since the GDR was by definition a classless society.
>> We are Germany. Not you. We.
This is also an answer to "Wir sind das Volk", proclaimed by several right wingers (e.g. Pegida).
His best song undoubtedly is "Right time to Thiel" where he sings about Peter Thiel, the evilest of Bond-Villains, that actually live in real life. And it's in English, so don't need subtitles really.
The rhyme in the beginning is of course a Reference to the famous English one. There is no such rhyme in Germany. But November 9th is the Most important Date in germanys 20th century's History. 1918, 1923, 1938, 1989 (and also 1848). The rhyme Here especially refers to the Reichspogromnacht/Kristallnacht in 1938.
I actually never heard that song before and for some reason, it made me really emotional. I for my part can only agree with everything stated in this song.
The poem at the beginning is actually based on the Guy Fawkes one and was specifically written for the video. Honestly, I think most people probably just know it from V for Vendetta.
And "Wir sind das Volk" (We are the people) was actually an important chant in the context of protests in the GDR back then and especially in the context of the fall of the wall. The thing is that "Volk" can mean both just "the people" but can also refer to a more ethnic/racial charged concept (the way the Nazis used it), it it's naturally very popular with right wingers, especially because it also implies they fight against a communist dictatorship which is of course something many of them would claim. (Even though some of the same people will not shut up how much better it was during the days of the GDR)
And I guess the "We are proud of not being proud" line really depends on the individual. Some say it's stupid, other people can by proud of their countries too and like, yeah sure. But I think "proud of not being proud" just really works for me. Even without Germans past, I just don't really see the point of being proud of belonging to a specific country just because I happened to be born here. Like that's not something I did. And I didn't have any more impact on it than someone who was born in the Netherlands or something. And yeah, I like a lot of German culture and all that, but I also like a lot of stuff from other cultures. Like why should I just be proud of things Germans (or even just people who happened to live in a German-speaking area without actually be modern Germans; like the HRE was not Germany, whatever Germanic tribes lived here was not Germany, those were not Germans in the modern sense) did or do, I just look at stuff and think "Ah, humans can be so cool sometimes".
But I think most people don't even think that much about it.
The scene with the bus was actually a representation of real events around a bus of refugees being attacked in Clausnitz 2015, down to the sign on the bus saying "Reisegenuss" (Wanderlust / "Pleasurable Travel")
"We, the people" here is the translation of the slogan "Wir sind das Volk". in 1989 the so called monday demonstrations brought hinderds of thousands, in the end millions, of people to the streets in the east german republic, they are seen as the great internal opener that led to the opening of the borders east-west und the german reunification. In the refugee crisis right wing groups tried to start demonstrations again and also mondays with the same slogan to conect their goal with the old ones. these demonstartions shrank fast. Many acted against their claim to the old slogan to not let the demonstrations against a totallitarian state and the new ones for close borders be linked. The song references that fight here.
"Proud of not being proud" is very accurate for probably everyone who is left from the political center. I try not to be ashamed of my origins, bc I am not responsible for what my ancestors did - but its my duty to remember, reflect and not letting it happen again. Sadly in recent years some people grew the "my grandpa knew nothing"-attitude. I know my great-grandpa knew - bc he monitored prisoners of Buchenwald. According to my grandma he often got into arguments with my great-grandma bc he was too nice to the prisoners, giving them too much freedom, so she was always scared that one would run away and this would result in my family being killed. But nevertheless: they knew and did nothing actively against it. Do I condemn them? Partly, yes. But I am not sure if I would have acted otherwise, since there is a family you have to protect too. Still, I will never be proud of my great-grandparents. I just can not.
Btw its a little sad too see that people are also using our selfreflecting attitude against us, especially online. I once was called a nazi bc of my origin, while I was speaking out what happened to the workers building the stadiums for the world cup in qatar. The person seriously said I was not allowed to speak out against something bad happening just bc of what my german origin. A lot of people have leanred nothing from the world wars but act as I was the bad one...
"Human dignity is unimpeachable" is sort of the first amendment of Germany. At the very beginning of the German law it already says that no human can ever be stripped off their dignity. Eventually: All humans are equally dignified from the beginning. A refugee is not worth less than someone with another nationality, birth or gender. Unfortunately, many right-wing people see it differently.
At this point: "Recht kommt" (Justice is coming...) by Jan Böhmermann might be a good next reaction. He performed this as "Pol1z1stens0hn" - his pseudonym. (btw: 110 is the tel. number of German police.
Actually, it is a direct translation of the first sentence of article 1 of the Grundgesetz "Die Menschenwürde ist unantastbar". Not just "sort of".
It's interesting because when I first saw this back in the day I loved it because I felt like it was at its core MOSTLY true. The majority of people in Germany really were liberal and still immune to right-wing ideology. But since then a lot has changed and watching it now, I feel the sarcasm much stronger than I did back then. It's probably partly because I myself am older now and got better at understanding satire, but also because the real life situation is that more and more people have left their liberal views behind with every crisis that arose and the AfD is at over 20% now...
1:11 Man, it’s a reference to the 5th November poem, no coincidence 😂 Germans learn about it and its background often during English lessons at school. The 9th of November in Germany has several stories to it, some bad, some good, but all with impact.
You will live "Grab US by the p*ssy" by Böhmermann. Thank you for doing these reactions! (I'm a dutch teacher of the german language and 'use' Jan quite often!)
I dont identify as German but as European so the EU flags kinda fit :D
I think that was the norm for most people growing up in the 90s/early 2000s. Certainly true for me (born 84).
love your content man :D
Same. Looking forward every time.
My initial reaction to “we are proud of not being”, was to me reference to the proud boys in America. Music has a Rammstein quality as well, the often use word game too.
I think patriotism is often a synonym or associated to nationalism in modern german society. And well we know how that worked out in the past for us. I think the "remember remember" line is used here from the guy fawkes stuff, but in Germany a lot of important historical stuff happened on 9th November.
I recommend from Jan:
- Grab US by the P***y
- Baby got Laugengebäck
I was born in 1977 in West Germany. I've never been proud to be german.
I love this song so much! Thanks for following the recommendation and commenting on it!
Personally I can 100% agree with the statements made in it. And the scene about "Maniacs with wicked hair" was mostly directed at Trump I think
The end line " Not you, WE" is a play on an old german commercial and campagne, that had the slogan " Du bist deutschland( you are germany)". And he is saying not you but we are germany.
„Wir sind das Volk“ or „We are the people“ was - originally - a slogan used by protesters against the dictatorship in East-Germany during the peaceful revolution in 1989, but the same slogan is nowadays used by right-wing extremists, Islamophobes and so on, and regarding this, these people are „the past“ with their believes :)
I would interpret the "Not you, we!" at the end more as a rhetoric comeback for their chant "We are the people!". Basically saying: "No, you obviously are not. The tolerant and supporting people are way more." Just doing so using their excluding language.
I would recommend "Commedians for World Peace - Do they know it's Europe?" next, preferably the extended Version. It's a project started by Böhmermann uniting most/all european late night comedy shows for a song. Including a UK one, but I don't want to spoil it for you. Thanks for your thoughtful reaction, mate!
I love how you are shocked whenever someone swears in a parody
Really like your content, Mert!
You are doing a great job on processing information on the go and involving your viewership proactively.
Keep it up and take care!
Rammstein: WRITE THAT DOWN! WRITE THAT DOWN!
This attitude of being proud of not having to be proud is the best thing about the modern German mentality. It makes life much freer
You’re absolutely correct that this is also a satire of people who think Germany all so liberal & „immune“ to fascism now, seeing recent AfD polling results speaks to that being a mere, kinda arrogant illusion. But yes, it’s mostly targeted against inner German and international right wing populism. I really enjoy watching you react to Böhmermann!
We are proud of not being so stupid as to be proud of a nationality that we did absolutely nothing for to be part of. We like our country, but we're not like Americans, who have a flag on every shed and act as if flags are holy. The investment of some Americans into their national pride and president, taking personal offence if either is criticized as if it was about their own child or something, is wild to us. We take pride in our skills, jobs and personal achievements. I for example am proud of my degree, my finial situation and savings, my work, my pretty home, my handiwork and baking skills. I did all that, I enhanced my knowledge and skill, I deserve to be proud of it
Please also take a look at Böhmi's "United States of Europe" and "Comedians for world peace - do they know it's Europe (extended version)" - he's got an incredible musical range in his songs. Those two also have references to Britain - both were written while the Brexit-drama was going on. I'd love to hear what you think about those ;-)
As many other things November 9th to 10th was Kristallnachricht one of tue worst days in German History where all the attacks escalated vs the Jews under the Nazis ... maybe the worst day in German History and one of the most important
Since you reviewed the "Varoufake" video, I'd recommend his song "V for Varoufakis", which is a little older than that "fake".
He made a pretty good fake entry for the last Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool - there's a special episode about it. Well worth it!
I dislike how this song is more or less about how we are eventualy that good now that we are the moral compass for the world. We should not be proud of not being proud but humble and thankful that we got another chance to fail again.
Agreed, I think this was intentional. Democracy is a Never ending project and our progressiv, liberals were way to self righteous for compfort. This Song is an aspirational doublejoke but I like it.😂
Even as an Austrian, this song had been quite healing. Austrians always had a cheap way of sneaking out of this guilt thing, by feeling as a "first victim" and beeing a very innocent operetta-republic. I had been tought this "first victim" theory in school in the 1970ies and still in the 1990s the most important thing Austrians visiting other countries was "not to be German" as a kind of national identy. Later I realized, Austria was not a victim at all, we were in this big bad thing, just as the Germans. (oh, did you just catch me, not saying "it"? Here it is: WW2, the holocaust, destruction of half the world, millons killed, wounded and crippled). There is no way out: its our fault. - And then there is this song. Birkenstock, German engineering, recycling.... lots of good stuff. Really good stuff. And suddenly "beeing Deutsch" is ok. Its ok to be German. (nein, nein, not proud!!!) Just feeing very ok with it. (And Austrian too - we also have a lot of good stuff, by the way.)
The Nazis used to talk a lot about "The Volk" (roughly translated as "the people"). Aside: Kebab is a fast meat-in-flatbread that’s been introduced by Turkish guest workers which can be found everywhere in Germany. We used to go get a Döner weekly while still in school.
Damn, I'd really like to do a reaction with you together with all the references there. Starting with "9th of November" which is a) a reference to the Guy Fawkes rhyme in UK and several critical points in german history on 9th of November.
I personally also quite like the song "Wir sind Versandsoldaten" by Jan, it's song in the style of the traditional labour songs, updated for the 21st century.
Some explanations and opinions that might help:
The poem at the beginning was inspired by the Guy Fawkes one. The 9th November is also called "Fateful Day of the Germans" cause many important events happened on that day. One is the "Kristallnacht" as Nazis called the pogroms against our Jewish citizens in 1939. Another one is the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. This "remember, remember" means to never forget the atrocities our ancestors committed.
"You are not the people, you are the past."
During the Peaceful Revolution that led to the Fall of the Berlin Wall, the main phrase used by protesters was "We are the people!". Unfortunately Nazis these days use that same phrase for their racist demonstrations that take place on Mondays just like the demonstrations during the Peaceful Revolution did.
"We are proud of not being proud."
Our country has experienced firsthand how quickly patriotism can turn into nationalism and crimes because of the belief that one's nation is superior. That's why many aren't really patriotic but have a more pragmatic view on it. We know that there are better countries out there in terms of happiness but also are aware of our achievements in social welfare for example. In fact surveys among European youths have shown that Germans are more likely to identify as European than German and yes, I too like that feeling of belonging to a continental community. We all are citizens of Earth in the first place.
"We see it more like an IQ test."
Yes, many of us do think that voting for a specific party stands for a low IQ. Cause voting Nazis usually means you're either ignorant or really devoid of empathy.
The song was heavily heavily criticised in Poland because it showed and thus criticised a Polish politician of the governing right-wing party PIS. Shortly after release, the comment section was full of angry Polish comments. In Germany though, many liked it but many right-wing people did not. I mean it was released during the refugee crisis. The song's message is still relevant even to this day and from time to time I come back to watch the video. Thanks for your reaction, it was great and interesting as always!
Interesting. I thought "Achtung" would be a well known german word, at least since U2 released their album "Achtung Baby" in 91 ;D
Just an idea: Could you make a video with your reactions to the comments under the last few videos? The comment section here is always quite interesting!
"Free people don't need crutches that were carved out of historically oblivious stupidity!", a quote from Konstantin Weckers song 'Sage Nein!'(Say No!), in which he explains why nationalism and patriotism are the same dangerous mentality that only idiots fall for.
Those who are really free, are free of individually perceived heritage and responsibilities, which are forced upon by these thought groups.
Böhmermann's songs are extremely good. Just take a look at "Tommy Tellerlift und die Fangzauner Schneebrunzer" - "Ischgl-Fieber”.
It is a satire about Ischgl, a village in the Alps from where Covid was deliberately spread because nobody wanted to disturb their tourism (after-ski party) business. The song is a perfect parody of Austrian singer Andreas Gabalier.
I wouldn't say deliberately. More like ignorantly. They just didn't care. Money was more important. The spice must flow.
Mert should try one of the rap songs next. the context and implications of "recht kommt" is so sick... also the music is ok, speaking as a metal head xD
The 9th of November is often called the German *Destiny Day*, because of…
- November Revolution of 1918/19
- Hitler's Coup in 1923 (which failed)
- Reichsprogromnacht (Night of Broken Glass) in 1938, where the Nazis raided shops of Jewish people and burned synagoges and last
- the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989… All of them happened exactly on that date.
Hey man,
your observations are absolutely on point. Respect to you. I am from Germany and as a musician myself I was lucky to work with Jan a lot of times in the last 10 years. I can say that your interpretations are pretty accurate and I love the way you love his shows sarcasm 👍🏼
A German walks in to store and asks the clerk for a green, German flag. The clerk replies: They are only sold in black red and gold. The German: Ok, i`l have the golden one then.
This song makes me feel proud, too. And yeah, it is a strong statement against racists and isolationists and nationalists while making fun of German stereotypes. Germany has the second lagest immigrant population in percent, directly behind the USA. That, too, is something that makes me proud, because it means that we, the Germans with roots here and the Germans with roots somewhere else, get to enrich each other, learn from each other and build a better future together, one that is more resilient than ever, in the true spirit of what it means to be a "volk", not an ethnical or cultural identity or homogenous unit, but, derived from the same root as the verb "folgen"/to follow, a groupnof people following the same idea.
So many references here! The 9th of November is both the Kristallnacht, the "night of broken glass" in 1938 when Nazis rampaged through Germany smashing the windows of Jewish shops, homes and synagogues, and it's also the day the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 after months of peaceful protests in East Germany with people protesting the socialist dictatorship by shouting "Wir sind das Volk" (We are the people).
This parody is taking a potshot at all sides, the populist right, the reasonable centrists and the lefty greens.
The Music is so intensive since it's a parody of Rammsteins 'Deutschland'. That's also why Jan is stiled Like that in the Music video, as an reference to Rammsteins lead singer, Til Lindemann
Please watch one of the recent episodes of Jan's show 'ZDF Magazin Royale' - The UK Special. It's all about King Charles' coronation and has a lot of British stereotypes/humour. You can use the automatic subtitles, which are quite accurate apart from minor mistakes. It's very funny and has another song of Böhmermann at the end thats also in English. Apart from that Jan has some older songs that are parodys of German 'Gansta Rap', where he praises (and slightly criticises) the German police and legal system. They are called "Ich hab Polizei" and "Recht kommt". I love them a lot actually!
Be proud of not being proud. I see it as a liberation to not be proud...not to be patriotic. I see myself as emancipated enough to not have to be proud of the country in which I happened to be born.
We should all appreciate for a moment that the time has arrived, where people from other countries have to look up the word "Achtung!" instead of just knowing it... (it was used in loudspeaker announcements, like "Attention!" in English... I think you can figure out the rest of the significance and why people internationally sadly came to know that word.)
The first few lines were simply taken from Guy Fawkes just changing the date to 9th of november (Reichskristallnacht). a lot of things were well interpreted from the sub context. The song is mainly a reaction to right wings movement(s). For germany it was less the AFD at that time even if they already accepted right wing groups in their party, but the leadership was more euro(the money) critic and conservativ-liberal and far less national right wing at that time (2016) then nowadays. The right wing movements in germany which was very active was called PEGIDA (patriotic europeans against the islamisation of the occident).
The center was around the town of Dresden (Saxonia) and which islamisation will always be a mystery (something they saw on the internet?). Their leader was a known facist. This was/ is a right wing campaign against the refugees. A lot of the participants were heard calling out "we are the people", which got famous as slogan in germany for the peaceful movement that was part of the east german end/transformation of the GDR shortly before the reunification.
btw: the static quote of foreigners for Dresden and nearby was around 2% at that time, one of the lowest in whole germany. So i guess you fear the most what you do not know.
The poem sounded similar because it was a reference to the Guy Fawkes poem.
On November 9th, 1938 was the Reichskristallnacht (also known as just "Kristallnacht" or "Reichspogromnacht"), which led to the open persecution of jews in Nazi Germany. The word "Kristallnacht" meaning "crystal night", its name being derived from the shattered windows of jewish-owned businesses.
Allemangne Zero Points ! That Song from Böhmermann is soooo gooooood
All your thoughts are absolutely right! And I mean all of them.
The music is taken from a Rammstein original.
"Schwiegertochter gesucht" and "Polizistensohn" are both very good.
2:53 We Are the People ore "Wir sind das Volk" slogan Revolution 1989 fall of the Berlin wall !
Source Wikipedia :
The German political slogan “We are one people” emerged during the period of political change in Germany in 1989/1990. He initially invoked the common origins of GDR citizens and security forces at the Monday demonstrations. Its use as a slogan for reunification, which emerged a little later, emerged from the shouted slogan “We are the people”.
That's just a modified copy of Guy Fawkes' poem, which of a reason I don't know is also well known in Germany..
"Wir sind das Volk" = "We are the people" was used by the freedom movement on their freedom marches before the GdR broke down in 1989.
Always remember that this is satire of the sharpest kind. It's widely appreciated or at least tolerated by the German public, but also despised by around 20%.
The Germans were so traumatized of guilt, some did not even dare to call themselves "Deutsch" for years. For example, 30 years ago, before Internet I had a German pen-friend and she never wrote "Deutschland" as the counry of the sender, she wrote "Allemangne" the French word for Germany. We both spoke German (the language) and the letters were sent from Germany to Austria and never left German speaking areas. So it was kind of weird.
Oh, Mr. Böhmermann. We call him „the governments comedian“. Whereas in the old times cabaret was standing by the people, making jokes about the powerful, Mr. Böhmermann stands by those in power, making jokes of the people.
The "We, not you!" line at the end isn't meant as "you aren't german, we are". Not seperating, the we is "we all are German, everybody, you can't devide us!".
The Identitarian movement used him as a stereotype of wokeness and one of the most important enemies. The also produced a videogame and Jan Böhmermann was the endboss or something like that.
The beginning is a spoof of the actual Guy Fawkes poem, or more precisely of the beginning of the movie V for Vendetta, where it was used in exactly that fashion.
And the song is of course a spoof of Rammstein.
"We are the people!" / "Wir sind das Volk!" was the slogan used in the mass protests against the regime of East Germany at the end of the 1980s. However, in the last decade or so it has been appropriated by right wingers, Corona deniers etc.
Thanks for your comment of this this time! We need to remember...
I think we are the people is referring to 1989 when the East Germans protested against the wall between east and west Germany. They were shouting “wir sind das Volk”. And sadly this is what they are shouting again when protesting against immigrants. Also the whole song is made in the style of Rammstein. Which are controversial and seen as being on the political right side, while they them selves see them on the political left (which can be heard if you listen to the song texts and not only to single lines).