Gott mit uns: Taiwan on for Christmas

Note:  I really screwed up when I originally posted this yesterday.  Despite reading the articles and watching the video, I somehow had it in my head that this occurred in Thailand, not Taiwan!  I repeatedly referred to Thailand and Thai culture in the post, even asking rhetorical questions about Thailand's royal family to prove a point: that I'm an idiot, apparently.  An idiot in desperate need of a proof-reader.
 
I did a post a while back about "Hitler branding" in Thailand and India, mentioning "Hitler chic" as a pop cultural phenomenon throughout Asia.  Apparently, a furor has recently erupted in Taiwan over a school parade in which the kids marched carrying swastika placards and wearing black uniforms and swastika armbands.  Although the students chose the theme, the school's principal (or ex-principal; he's resigned) is quick to point out the kids aren't a problem, but that the (lack of) education on the subject is at fault.  A local Jewish leader agrees, and doesn't see the parade as an act of Antisemitism.  Just wildly inappropriate.

As the article states, there are only a thousand or so Jews living in Taiwan, and textbooks there naturally focus more on the Asian war rather than the European theater.  An interesting read; something so sensitive and well-known in the West seems to be something a lot of countries of the world know as much about as, well, most Americans for example, know about Taiwanese history and culture.

From the New York Times.

CNN's photos are pretty eye-popping; those kids' uniforms weren't just cobbled together by mom from old clothes laying about; some time and care went into making those things.  They're quite detailed and very, erm uniform. 

TIME's video shows the high quality of the props such as banners and eagle flag pole tops.  What strikes me is that while researching this stuff -- the banners and regalia are pretty detailed and authentic -- didn't they come across anything about what it all represented, and led to?

That this idea even made it to the voting stage demonstrates the vast cultural gulf between East and West.  We would have once called this a SNAFU, but now it might be what they call a "teaching moment".  One would think that somewhere along the line some adult involved would have said, "Wait a minute here...."  This regalia clearly wasn't clapped together overnight, although the video does mention the theme was chosen in part because it was relatively easy to convert their school uniform into spiffy SS duds!  It also mentions that "some" were unaware of Hitler's atrocities.  So that leaves "some" others with questionable judgment.  But as I've asked in other posts, how many of us know what subject could have the potential to offend the Taiwanese people, a nation of 23.5 million?  How many can even name the current President?  [This is where I originally went full-metal moron by asking how many among us could name Thailand's current king, or if you readers even knew Thailand is a kingdom.  It is.  And Quito is the capital of Ecuador.]

They take their parades seriously, I suppose.  That's a lot of work for a one-off event!  It happened at a Catholic school....maybe they saw some of those "Gott mit uns" belt buckles worn by the Wehrmacht and thought they must have been OK guys.  How can you be wrong with God on your side?

The Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And then we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now, too
Have God on their side

Kind of reminds of a book I read long ago called The Wave, a novelization from a film by the same name, loosely based on an actual experiment.  In the book, a school lesson/role play on how people came to embrace Nazism goes dangerously awry as the students actually begin to transform themselves into a movement of facho bully-boys.  From what I remember of my high school experience, this isn't much of a leap....

Hitler on Ice

Pure vanilla goodness

Here at LoS we've already linked to an article about Hitler's popularity in India (Mein Kampf Vindaloo) and the subsequent use of Hitler and/or Nazi-related imagery in Indian films, TV shows and businesses (Hitler Branding) -- cases in which Indians quoted in the articles we read found the idea harmless, even amusing.  We contrasted this against instances where Hitler has made an (presumably) accidental appearance in Western products, such as coffee mugs and creamer, and provoked public apologies and genuine horror among the companies that sold those products (NO black coffee!).  We even did a post about people seeing comedy in Hitler kittens, a Hitler house and even a Hitler teapot.

Not to mention the explosion of Hitler photos done up in meme font for use in Facebook comments and the like ("I did Nazi that coming" etc.)

The Daily Mail scores big with this punny title to the latest Indian Hitler branding to outrage the West:  The Luft-wafer: Ice cream cone named after Adolf Hitler on sale in India sparks anger in Germany 

The Luft-wafer.  Hehe.  The Mail article is pretty flimsy and focuses more on the angry German reaction, but does pretty much echo the point I made in Hitler Branding that in this vast country with its own complex history, people simply aren't that aware of the extent of Hitler's crimes and thus, he's more of an icon rather than a taboo.  Like, how many people sporting a Che Guevara shirt actually know anything about the man?  A sexy open shirt, beard and a stogie may look hippy-ish, but the man wasn't really all about "peace and love".

Photos of the ice cream cone's packaging are kind of interesting.  In one, Hitler is rendered fairly realistically, but in another, he's cartoonish, wearing a swastika top hat and bow-tie that make Der Führer resemble....Uncle Sam!  They both sport eccentric facial hair and have the same glare, not to mention the same nose.  I daresay some cheeky Indian git had modeled his comical Adolf after dear old James Flagg's famous finger-pointing curmudgeon!

What that implies is beyond my ken!

Hitler branding

Back in 2010, an LoS post entitled Mein Kampf Vindaloo consisted of this weird quote:

Dimple Kumari, a research associate in Pune, has not read Mein Kampf but she would wear the Hitler T-shirt out of admiration for him. She calls him "a legend" and tries to put her admiration for him in perspective: "The killing of Jews was not good, but everybody has a positive and negative side."

The BBC article explains:

Slowly but steadily, a decade-old business around the dead and universally despised dictator Adolf Hitler is emerging as a small-scale industry in India.

Books and memorabilia on the German leader's life have found a steady market in some sections of Indian society where he is idolised and admired, mostly by the young. 

This came flooding back to me when I read a HuffPo article about a chicken joint in Bangkok called "Hitler", whose logo is a parody of KFC's Colonel Sanders.  To whit:

According to the article, KFC is considering legal action.  It goes on to say:

Alan Robertson, 43, who lives in Bangkok, told The Daily Mail the chicken was "pretty good" and said a server told him the proprietors thought Hitler was a "good image."

A good image?  Apparently, in Thailand this explanation has wings.  CNN reports that "Hitler chic" is all the rage in Thailand, where young people sport T-shirts with cartoonish Hitler images on them:  Smurfs, Teletubbies, Ronald McDonald, etc. are mashed up with Hitler to produce weird hybrids.

Westerners may be shocked, even incensed.  Locals are oblivious.  This is normal....trendy....fun....

Somehow this seems logical in a city renowned for prostitution named "Bangkok".  A pun at which anglophones can titter, but which in Thai of course, means squat.

2010.  Back in India, a clothing store in Ahmedabad called "Hitler" got a lot of people riled up, and the German and Israeli diplomatic missions got involved.  According to the proprietor, he didn't know Hitler was responsible for the deaths of so many, or what his ideology represents.  He just wanted to honor his grandfather, who was called Hitler because he was so strict.

Notice the swastika in the photo isn't at the same angle as in the Nazi version.  In fact, what we see as totally shocking in this context is perfectly acceptable in India, where it's a sacred symbol dating back millennia before Adolf and Co. were flying it.

Again, Westerners are aghast, but I'd bet many young Indians sincerely don't know who Hitler was.  And why should they?  Can you tell me the name of any Indian political figure besides Nehru and Gandhi, who were alive 60 years ago....anything recent?  No?  It's only the second-most populous nation in the world we're talking about.  Ponder that over your next hamburger....

I also assume the owner was unaware of the irony of having a "Superman" T-shirt in the window.....

2006.  In Mumbai, a restaurant called Hitler's Cross not only featured a "correct" Nazi swastika in the logo, but was decorated in red, white and black and an enormous portrait of the man himself was hanging inside.  Again, an outcry caused the restaurant to reconsider the name.  Oddly, a lot of local dignitaries and celebrities were at its inauguration, with nary a peep.

"When asked by a news reporter if he felt disturbed by the name of the restaurant, [actor Murli Sharma]: "I am not really agitated as I have not read much about the man (Hitler). However, from what I know about Hitler, I find this name rather amusing."

Ho! Ho!  On the menu:  Pol Pot roast!

The restaurant is now called the Cross Café.  One of the new names that had been considered was Exotic Goblet. 

This is all part of the banality of Hitler in India.  Consider the following two examples:

2011 - Present.  Here is a daily soap opera called Hitler Didi.  Why Hitler?  Because Auntie Hitler is strict.  Like the Hitler store guy's grandfather.

Hitler Didi is all about the strict, tough and strong minded Indira Sharma (Rati Pandey) who is the "Hitler Didi" of Chandni chowk . She has the responsibility of her whole family, as she is the sole earner. Her life revolves around bills and the financial situation of their family. And due to the heavy burden of her family, her life has become dull and colorless and she has become a mere working machine without any emotions in her. Until one day when her new tenant Rishi Kumar (Sumit Vats) arrives, who lights up her life. He brings joy in her life, helps her at every step of life. He becomes the shoulder she can cry on, the one person she can trust the most.

2011.  Hero Hitler in Love.

Hero Hitler in Love revolves around Hitler who lives in his village Ishqpura. Hitler is a man with unique and different thoughts who loves his fellow villagers and helps soul mates come together. Hitler falls in love with Sahiban, who lives in Pakistan and decides to bring her to his village. Hitler believes in solving problems by talking about them but when something crosses the line, he decides to become real "Adolf Hitler".

So he decided to become "real" Adolf Hitler?  What does that mean?  He trims his mustache?  Practices his elocution?  Starts murdering Indian Jews?

The film also revolves around car racing. Hitler who loves to race, but when he is set up to fail in the Asian Car Racing competition he decides to take revenge. The story relates how Hitler takes his revenge and fights to win his girl and reunite the nations of India and Pakistan.

Much like Hitler "reuniting" Czechoslovakia, Austria and Poland with the Fatherland, I suppose.  Except Adolf Hitler, as far as I know, didn't race cars.

Clearly, there's some vast cultural difference to explain all this.  These things would get you fined in France and to be honest, I'm pretty sure you'd be denied your freedom of speech in the USA in these cases....can you imagine a Hitler Chicken in Williamsburg, Ybor City or the French Quarter?

It's weird, I gotta admit.  The whole Engrish thing is more than just bad grammar, it's also a misunderstanding of Western cultural norms.  And Westerners don't get the East, either, it would appear.

I'm just waiting for a pizza joint called Mussolini's:  "Hey, whatsa matta you!  Bada bing!"

I guess it could all be written off with a smirk, but in India, there is a nationalist element that admires Hitler, substituting Muslims for Jews.  The article I link to is a bit alarmist, dropping figures like 100,000 copies of Mein Kampf  sold over seven years as if it means fuck all in a country of 1 billion.

So, I don't think these droplets in an ocean mean Indians have taken to Antisemitism, it's just one of those weird losses in translation that leaves us aghast and the Indians, for the most part....indifferent.

Mein Kampf Vindaloo

Dimple Kumari, a research associate in Pune, has not read Mein Kampf but she would wear the Hitler T-shirt out of admiration for him. She calls him "a legend" and tries to put her admiration for him in perspective: "The killing of Jews was not good, but everybody has a positive and negative side."

from Hitler memorabilia 'attracts young Indians'

Actually looks kind of fun....

Villagers throw babies from temple roof

(CNN) -- In a ritual that would terrify most mothers, Indian villagers have cheered as screaming babies were dropped from a 50-foot temple tower.

For 500 years, worshippers at a Muslim shrine in western India have continued the tradition -- a rite considered to bring good health and good luck to the children.

The infants land and bounce on a bed-sheet held taut by men 50 feet below, and are quickly passed through the crowd to their mothers.

Villagers say no babies have been injured during the ritual, which is practiced by Muslims and Hindus in Musti village in the district of Solapur, in the state of Maharashtra.

It also takes place elsewhere in the country, mostly in smaller villages, on special occasions.

Parents who want their infants to participate in the event first take a vow at the Baba Sheikh Umar Saheb Dargah, or temple. Villagers say the ritual is a way of giving thanks.

But critics want the practice banned, with many saying it's unsafe.

"The state has to interfere," said Sanal Edamaruku, founder and president of Rationalist International and the Indian Rationalist Association. The group supports secularism and freedom of expression.


That's the entire CNN article above, but the real gem is this raw footage on CNN Video without commentary. Interesting bit about this ritual is that it's practiced both by Hindus and Muslims. No further comment at this time.

Jesus Bleeds

Thousands of people are descending upon the town of Port Blair in India's Andaman Islands to pray before a policeman's house, where two votive portraits appear to have bled during a period of ten days. Although crowds caused one of the portraits to be temporarily housed in the Anglican Bishop's house, the portraits are now back at the original location.

It's being hailed as a miracle, of course, in a place where at least 7,000 people lost their lives during the terrible tsunami of 2004. But there are those who have suggested that the "blood" is merely the red paint of Jesus' tunic, melting in the humidity.

This article makes sure to note that the crowds are Protestant Christians, which belies other reports that even Hindus and Muslims are gathering to pay homage. A Catholic or two is probably somewhere in the mix.

But dig this sulk from the Catholic Bishop: “I heard about the story, but I have not seen the painting and I do not plan on doing so. In the past there have been similar incidents and so I urge caution in order to avoid fueling false religious sentiments. Now if you will excuse me, I must attend the Confirmation of some young children, something which to me is much more important than this painting.”

The miracle will remain, as always, in the eye of the beholder.