I was actually quite surprised to find many US people around me seemingly being unaware of the red triangle's association with concentration camps, until it occurred to me that the US likely never...
I was actually quite surprised to find many US people around me seemingly being unaware of the red triangle's association with concentration camps, until it occurred to me that the US likely never had many people returning from those camps with testimony about the system. I had been taught about the various triangles as a child in school and later by my family as well (one great-grandfather was deported to a camp for having hidden Jewish people and got a red triangle).
I know about the pink triangles (being a gay man), and I've heard of the yellow stars for Jewish people. If someone pressed me, I might remember that the pink triangle was only one of many...
I know about the pink triangles (being a gay man), and I've heard of the yellow stars for Jewish people. If someone pressed me, I might remember that the pink triangle was only one of many triangles used in Nazi Germany - but I would not, for the life of me, know what the other colours were or what they signified. And, compared to most people I know, I'm an educated and informed person who's likely to know these things. Most people wouldn't know at all.
After all, we're talking about history here - the concentration camps closed 75 years ago. History fades into book learning rather than lived memory as the people involved die off.
From the different answers people have given here it seems like, to some extent, this involves active decision making on whether or not to teach this history in schools. The lived experience of...
From the different answers people have given here it seems like, to some extent, this involves active decision making on whether or not to teach this history in schools. The lived experience of history may fade with generations but the knowledge can still be actively passed on, and knowing just how extensive yet seemingly arbitrary the Nazi regime's persecution of it's enemies goes seems like it's worth passing on.
I don't think knowing the exact colour of the triangles that Nazis used to identify their various undesirables is essential historical knowledge. Knowing that Nazis incarcerated political...
I don't think knowing the exact colour of the triangles that Nazis used to identify their various undesirables is essential historical knowledge. Knowing that Nazis incarcerated political dissidents is important. Knowing that they used red triangles to identify those political dissidents in incarceration is not important.
How many lictors was a Roman consul entitled to? What were the names of the months in the French Republican Calendar? I bet you don't know the answers to these questions without checking a...
How many lictors was a Roman consul entitled to?
What were the names of the months in the French Republican Calendar?
I bet you don't know the answers to these questions without checking a resource like Wikipedia. I don't expect you to know the answer to these questions. Even I don't know the answer to one of these questions.
My point is that we don't need to know every single detail of history - and it would be humanly impossible for us all to remember everything. It's important to know that Republican Rome was ruled by two consuls, but only experts will know the details about how those consuls operated. It's important to know that the French Revolution led to a reinventing of lots of things, including the calendar, but only experts will know the details about how that calendar operated.
Similarly, knowing the colour used by Nazis on triangles to identify prisoners in concentration camps isn't as important as knowing who was incarcerated in those concentration camps.
You know about the Nazis' red triangles because that's part of your family history. This is relevant to you. But, to most other people, this information is in the same class as Roman lictors and French months.
I've never heard of the red triangle and there were concentration camps in my country during WW2. I think it's fairly obscure to the general public, not just in the US.
it occurred to me that the US likely never had many people returning from those camps with testimony about the system.
I've never heard of the red triangle and there were concentration camps in my country during WW2. I think it's fairly obscure to the general public, not just in the US.
Someone on reddit pointed out that the campaign ran 88 ads with the symbol, and that the first sentence in all of the ads has 14 words (if you count "far-left" as one word since it's hyphenated)....
Someone on reddit pointed out that the campaign ran 88 ads with the symbol, and that the first sentence in all of the ads has 14 words (if you count "far-left" as one word since it's hyphenated). It might be a coincidence but it combined with the symbol that starts to get hard to believe.
The crazy thing to me about that is that it's clearly not a dogwhistle for the people seeing the ad. They wouldn't see that number. Was it just like... the ad person's favorite number?
The crazy thing to me about that is that it's clearly not a dogwhistle for the people seeing the ad. They wouldn't see that number. Was it just like... the ad person's favorite number?
The link on "ran 88 ads" is to just a single picture of 3 ads. https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3878791 Am I missing something? Is the link incorrect?
In the top left corner of the three ads there—which seem to be the same text/image under 3 different names: Donald J. Trump, Mike Pence, and Team Trump—they have 30, 28, and 30, and 30+28+30 = 88....
In the top left corner of the three ads there—which seem to be the same text/image under 3 different names: Donald J. Trump, Mike Pence, and Team Trump—they have 30, 28, and 30, and 30+28+30 = 88.
From what I can tell from the Facebook Ad Library, those numbers are the number of "versions" of the ad, but I don't know exactly what that means - different targeting?
It's really scary idea, that the president of USA apparently thinks this kind of ad not only will not hurt his chances for reelection, but apparently believes that is the best way to ensure it. I...
It's really scary idea, that the president of USA apparently thinks this kind of ad not only will not hurt his chances for reelection, but apparently believes that is the best way to ensure it. I like to believe that here in Europe it would be instant political suicide, but maybe I am just being naive and we're hurtling towards fascism everywhere.
I was actually quite surprised to find many US people around me seemingly being unaware of the red triangle's association with concentration camps, until it occurred to me that the US likely never had many people returning from those camps with testimony about the system. I had been taught about the various triangles as a child in school and later by my family as well (one great-grandfather was deported to a camp for having hidden Jewish people and got a red triangle).
We learned about the marks, but all I'd heard about were the stars and pink triangles.
I know about the pink triangles (being a gay man), and I've heard of the yellow stars for Jewish people. If someone pressed me, I might remember that the pink triangle was only one of many triangles used in Nazi Germany - but I would not, for the life of me, know what the other colours were or what they signified. And, compared to most people I know, I'm an educated and informed person who's likely to know these things. Most people wouldn't know at all.
After all, we're talking about history here - the concentration camps closed 75 years ago. History fades into book learning rather than lived memory as the people involved die off.
From the different answers people have given here it seems like, to some extent, this involves active decision making on whether or not to teach this history in schools. The lived experience of history may fade with generations but the knowledge can still be actively passed on, and knowing just how extensive yet seemingly arbitrary the Nazi regime's persecution of it's enemies goes seems like it's worth passing on.
I don't think knowing the exact colour of the triangles that Nazis used to identify their various undesirables is essential historical knowledge. Knowing that Nazis incarcerated political dissidents is important. Knowing that they used red triangles to identify those political dissidents in incarceration is not important.
Lil' dismissive but ok.
How many lictors was a Roman consul entitled to?
What were the names of the months in the French Republican Calendar?
I bet you don't know the answers to these questions without checking a resource like Wikipedia. I don't expect you to know the answer to these questions. Even I don't know the answer to one of these questions.
My point is that we don't need to know every single detail of history - and it would be humanly impossible for us all to remember everything. It's important to know that Republican Rome was ruled by two consuls, but only experts will know the details about how those consuls operated. It's important to know that the French Revolution led to a reinventing of lots of things, including the calendar, but only experts will know the details about how that calendar operated.
Similarly, knowing the colour used by Nazis on triangles to identify prisoners in concentration camps isn't as important as knowing who was incarcerated in those concentration camps.
You know about the Nazis' red triangles because that's part of your family history. This is relevant to you. But, to most other people, this information is in the same class as Roman lictors and French months.
I've never heard of the red triangle and there were concentration camps in my country during WW2. I think it's fairly obscure to the general public, not just in the US.
Someone on reddit pointed out that the campaign ran 88 ads with the symbol, and that the first sentence in all of the ads has 14 words (if you count "far-left" as one word since it's hyphenated). It might be a coincidence but it combined with the symbol that starts to get hard to believe.
The source of the 88 ads is this Media Matters article.
It feels a bit like connecting pictures on a cork board with red string, but when there’s that many coincidences it was probably on purpose.
Some context: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteen_Words
The crazy thing to me about that is that it's clearly not a dogwhistle for the people seeing the ad. They wouldn't see that number. Was it just like... the ad person's favorite number?
It's like somebody was just adding little Neo-Nazi easter eggs for their own enjoyment...
The link on "ran 88 ads" is to just a single picture of 3 ads. https://www.mediamatters.org/media/3878791
Am I missing something? Is the link incorrect?
In the top left corner of the three ads there—which seem to be the same text/image under 3 different names: Donald J. Trump, Mike Pence, and Team Trump—they have 30, 28, and 30, and 30+28+30 = 88.
From what I can tell from the Facebook Ad Library, those numbers are the number of "versions" of the ad, but I don't know exactly what that means - different targeting?
It's really scary idea, that the president of USA apparently thinks this kind of ad not only will not hurt his chances for reelection, but apparently believes that is the best way to ensure it. I like to believe that here in Europe it would be instant political suicide, but maybe I am just being naive and we're hurtling towards fascism everywhere.