Mass Media

After the debate today, and learning that the fascists (my group) had lost i was at first slightly disappointed- but honestly, I'm no fascist. I do see the appeal- nationalistic country, more jobs for me, a better economy, more military strength, more confidence in our nation, etc... but actually, the people lost a lot of freedom. The Nazi's censored the media and started to use this mass media as "efficient means of indoctrination and control" (935). These media campaigns and big parades/rallies were designed to show off the glorious Reich and how awesome Hitler really was! Of course this new mass culture (such as radio, film, propaganda, advertising) wasn't just in Germany- but all over the world. The United States media industry was all about "Hollywood westerns, cheap dime novels, jazz music", and new concepts of femininity ("with bobbed haircuts and short dresses")(933). The Nazi's tried to get rid of all influences of American popular culture because it would tarnish the purity of the German race since it "accepted" the blacks and most importantly, the Jews. The German film industry (UFA- taken over by the Nazis in the 1920's) created a lot of anti-Semitic films, such as The Eternal Jew (1940), where a line from the video is "there is a plague here (in the ghettos)- a plague  that threatens the health of the Aryan people." Apparently the Jews couldn't be civilized and their homes were filthy and barbaric. Also- Hitler associated the modern, international style of art to be a "Jewish conspiracy" and therefore he only like the "Aryan" art. It's hard to read about this kind of anti-semitism in my textbook. I visited the Holocaust Memorial Museum this past summer and there are lots of videos, statistics, articles of clothing (such as the millions of pairs of burnt shoes from the concentration camps), pictures, etc...  but what is even harder to accept is that it wasn't just one evil man (Hitler) that believed all of these horrible things- but many, many people for thousands and thousands of years. Cas pointed out earlier today that this anti-Semitism started off being about religion, but now it is just about race and how the Germans want to purify their race of any bad pathogens. Therefore- one must save the country and get rid of all those dirty Jews- and that is exactly what he did- violence, murder, destruction, lies, deceit, more murder.