A few years back I sat in a pub and the waitress was wearing a t-shirt that displayed a large picture of a female face that seemed familiar. I asked the waitress who that was, but she had no clue, she just thought the shirt looked good. When I was back on the street it suddenly occured to me who that was: effin' Ulrike Meinhof! A few weeks later, I started reading about the latest trend in German fashion: Clothes displaying symbols related to the Red Army Fraction. That's right, for a short while in history, many Germans thought it was a jolly good idea to in effect promote a left-wing terrorist organization.
That wouldn't have happened with right-wing insignia. To be sure, there is something like Nazi fashion. But if you see someone wearing that, you can be certain that's an actual self-identified Nazi. The corresponding thing is not true of left-wing symbols: People may wear that stuff because they think it looks cute.
Why? After all, the human rights track record of the left isn't too hot either. Two reasons I can think of:
1. For reasons I probably don't have to spell out, Nazism is particularly taboo in this country. (Yes, we had the GDR, too, but compared to the Nazis that lot look like humanitarians.)
2. Right-wing ideologies are just outright bad. Left-wing ideas, on the other hand, may sound very nice (until you put them into practice). You could argue they're well-meant.
Make sense?
Nothing as Useful as a Bad Theory
4 years ago
2 comments:
"Left-wing ideas, on the other hand, may sound very nice (until you put them into practice). You could argue they're well-meant."
Completely agree, but as I was remarking to someone yesterday, it's pretty damning thing, to say someone "meant well"?
As Kurt Tucholsky put it:
"Das Gegenteil von gut ist gut gemeint."
(Roughly, "The opposite of good is well-meant." Works a bit better in German.)
Post a Comment