Are you seriously trying to imply that for most of the rest of the world “Deutschland Ueber Alles” isn’t thoroughly associated with Nazism, the Second World War, and the Holocaust?
To a degree the official meaning of things doesn’t matter if the meaning in popular culture is something else. Airman Doors isn’t complaining that this new slogan is a promise of Nazism, he’s complaining that it’s going to leave almost anyone who hears it associating his organization, The Air Force, with the Nazis. And I think he’s correct to believe that.
The first stanza was as close to a Nazi anthem as it gets. The second and third stanzas, not so much.
No, only the third stanza is now considered the “offiicial” national anthem.
While it’s likely Hoffman didn’t think of it in that way while he wrote, it’s pretty clear that Hitler’s heavy use of the first stanza was a sign of his take on the meaning.
I noticed the slogan on the AF Portal page a couple weeks ago. (Remind me to pit the admins at work for enforcing a mandatory start page…it gets in the way of slacking off!)
I must say, I had the same first reaction to Airman. I instantly wondered if anyone had thought this through. Justified or not, “Über Alles” has definite negative connotations. The only consolation we have is that most people are too dumb to make the English-German translation as a first thought.
Yes. And the swastika is an important and meaningful symbol used in Hindu design and iconography. The Nazis reversed the direction and used it. Compared to the Indian usage, dating back to ancient times, the Nazi usage is merely a blip on the proverbial radar screen.
So what?
That sure doesn’t mean that it would be in any way appropriate for a woman to walk around New Jersey in 2008 with a swastika-covered sari on.
When I was in the USAF circa 1971 the recruiting slogan was “Find yourself in the Air Force”. We used to say “Yeah, one morning I woke up and found myself in the Air Force.”
If we’re going to nitpick, the Deutschlandlied (the name of the song), didn’t become the anthem until 1922. During WWI, the anthem was “Heil dir im Siegerkranz”
I am aware of this, and while your points are well-taken, my problem is that uber alles in conjunction with military organizations raises an issue that does not exist when it is used in the German National Anthem. While I am a member of the military, I am not a big fan of militarism as practiced by the Nazis, and this has horrible connotations that I really do not want to be associated with my service.
I remember reading the Guns of August about 10 years ago by Barbara Tuchman who mentioned the German soldiers marching to the front singing away repeatedly, to the point of contempt.
Maybe they could change the slogan to “…To Thine Own Self Be True”, and leave it to the readers to fill in the rest from their knowledge of Shakespeare.
[Nitpick] Actually, in Indian iconography both directions are utilized. “Nazi” swastikas and their mirror images are widely visible throughout the sub-continent. [/Nitpick]
This does seem like a pretty lousy idea for a USAF slogan, however. Even without Nazi associations, it’s just a lame slogan. What exactly was wrong with “Aim High” anyway? I thought that was a pretty catchy one, IMHO. Is it like re-branding or pro sports uniforms where they just have to make a change every decade or so, regardless of the necessity for doing so?