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His struggle, indeed
By adamg on Wed, 08/24/2011 - 8:27pm
In 2010, WGBH's "Frontline" won a Peabody Award for its story on the demons that possessed one Army platoon after its sergeant died in an attack in Iraq. One of the members of the platoon, Dave Nash, now credits Frontline with getting him the help he needed for his PTSD. This month, WGBH put Nash on the cover of its member magazine with his arms crossed, which highlights his Gothic-lettered "Mein Kampf" tattoo.
THURSDAY AFTERNOON UPDATE: A WGBH spokesman replies:
When we became aware of the tattoo, we spoke with David and he said: "Only part of the tattoo is visible. Those words are part of a larger phrase 'my struggle is eternal' (mein kampf ist ewig) that continues on my arm. This is an entirely personal statement that reflects struggles I have had in my own life, and is meaningful for me. It is not related to any other words or beliefs. I chose the tattoo in German because of my family heritage. I regret any misinterpretation, and I apologize if it has offended anyone."
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Comments
He did have a struggle, after
He did have a struggle, after all.
But seriously, I'll never watch WGBH again.
ease up whitey
Whitey, ease up there... it's just a tattoo - albeit not a very smart choice for one.
As for not watching WGBH again that's a little extreme, but of course your choice.
If he was like the local GrandWizard/NeoNazi youth leader then that is one thing. A tattoo in poor taste is another - free speech remember (even if we don't agree with it).
Honestly, I think the 'stuff' that comes out of many of the GOP's mouth is more offensive: the sewage that comes out of Sarah's, Glenn's and the 'headache one' and 'witchy-poo' is way worse and ill conceived.
I think many people replying to this blog post by Adam can do well to see the movie http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defamation_(film).
Anyway... let the flaming begin!!!!
i only know you through your
i only know you through your posts but i'm guessing you weren't a big WGBH guy to begin with.....
challenges of on-line communications
You hit the nail on the head. Sarcasm can be hard to detect in on-line fora such as UHub. Sarcasm that relies on your knowledge of the folks who regularly post here is even harder. Given his past posts I would guess that NotWhitey may watch PBS from time to time (maybe with gritted teeth?), but is ridiculing the folks who get offended by a given media outlet's editorial decisions and then vow to never patronize that outlet again. He's reveling in the opportunity to pretend to do so with a perceived librul media source.
Which is why it's frequently better to stick to humor that hovers around the Horowitz brothers' level. nyuk nyuk nyuk.
proof of theory
...just ask that humor author extraordinaire Eric Fehrnstrom.
Oh, Eric
Back to Twitter Apps 101 for you, pal.
i only know you through your
I'm guessing that I was watching WGBH before you were born.
quite possibly
Maybe so, but it would have to have been nearly 45 years ago gramps. One doesn't get this obnoxious in 20 years.
EDIT: oops, you weren't responding to me... damn indents. I'm still obnoxious, I have no idea what the other guy's deal is.
probably were, it definitely
probably were, it definitely has been around longer than me. But you typically espouse conservative, free-market minded views on here, I just wouldn't expect you to be consuming entertainment from taxpayer-funded, socialiss, liberal media news stations.
Why? Do you honestly think
Why? Do you honestly think WGBH was like "Neo-Nazism is a value we want to promote!" It's obvious someone in the promo department wasn't paying attention when they put this thing together.
Still not going to watch WGBH?
So, now that the true explanation is out, what say you?
Does the article explain or make reference to it?
The photographer, and the touchup or cover layout person almost certainly aware of a tattoo there, but might not have looked closely. If they did know the tattoo says, I think that's fair game for the portrait, but they really have to explain in the article, and be clear that they're not glorifying or endorsing that offensive message.
I didn't watch the original show
But neither the new video nor the "article" (more of an editor's note, really) explains the tattoo.
mein kampf guy graduated from harvard...
in 1926.
I'm guessing he went white
I'm guessing he went white nationalist after brown skinned people killed his sergeant. That's one of the demons that possessed him.
Mental Illness
Sometimes leads to poor judgement.
Could be the opposite too. A
Could be the opposite too. A white supremacist who reformed and hasn't yet been able to erase his past mistakes (literally)
Easier to ink over than erase
.
If anyone's looking for a job
Some currently filled positions at WGBH might be opening up.
Slick move
How much you want to bet that a significant percentage of their viewership is Jewish and brought up to be very wary of such things?
I have heard that a lot of
I have heard that a lot of Jews don't like tattoos.
Once again who cares. I mean
Once again who cares. I mean ghb might have messed up a little but than again just because the guy may have different political views doesn't mean his story is invalid.
Well just cause you're a
Well just cause you're a racist doesn't mean you don't deserve treatment for your illnesses.
exactly, the point of the show was his story, not tattoo
and SwillyGrl, what makes you think he got that tattoo cause he's mentally ill...? Come tell us all about one of your myriad life stories that support your viewpoint on this... like your work with disadvantaged Nazi Youth or something like that....
"Different political views"
Well, that's one way of saying that he would prefer Adam and me (and probably other UHub readers) be tortured and killed.
Non-story so far
Does his tat take away his PTSD symptoms?
Did WGBH know he was a neo-Nazi douche and portray, not justhis PTSD and war experiences, but his lifestyle in a sympathetic light?
Doubt it.
Bad choice for a cover shot, though, I will agree.
If you have to magnify it THAT much ...
Seems to be a bit of manufactured outrage, here. Yes, it is on the cover of the magazine, but if you really need to blow it up to see it and it is still almost illegible, the whole "uproar and upset" seems to be entirely created by those who are "outraged!".
In other words, nobody would have seen it if it hadn't been blown out of proportion ... in more ways than one. In the context of this guy's troubled past, which we know about, it seems silly.
(neo-nazism is not silly ... it is the blowing up of the picture and telling us what it says and THEN getting OUTRAGED that "ZOMG! WGBH is promoting Neo-Nazi ideology!!!" is silly)
The tattoo continues
Updated the original post with a comment from WGBH.
his other arm says "hitler was a god....
damned sonofabitch"
in german, of course.
Another sad thing the enlargement reveals...
... is the extremely amateurish Photoshop work done to put the woman in blue in front of the guy with the tattoo...
"Mein kampf" tattoo front and center
Smells Dominionist to me...
In light of Fundamentalist Christian Right efforts to Christianize America's military and the equal fascination with Hitler's "strategies" in raising "God's Army", I find this fairly disturbing.
"Jesus Killed Mohammed: The crusade for a Christian military" by Jeff Sharlet (Harpers Magazine);
http://harpers.org/archive/2009/05/0082488
Veterans Today: [Re: MRFF] "No Dominion: The Lonely, Dangerous Fight Against Christian Supremacists Inside the Armed Forces" [Reprinted from Truthout]:
http://www.veteranstoday.com/2010/07/12/no-dominio...
www.militaryreligiousfreedom.org
[VIDEO: NBC News ] The two faces of Doug Coe ("The Fellowship") featuring Jeff Sharlet, author of "The Family: The Secret Fundamentalism at the Heart of American Power":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYeGR7O1lKI
While I'm not a fan of Illuminati conspiracy theories, this NBC news story reveals the Christian Right's adulation of Nazi "devotion" to a cause (Doug Coe appears midway through spouting off)... These people are insidious and on a propaganda campaign to promote "Christian" fascism in whatever ways possible.
[VIDEO: Daily Kos] Pastor Rick Warren urges Christians to be "Dedicated as Hitler Youth":
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2009/01/15/684537/-U...
WGBH: get a clue... you're unwittingly (I assume) helping promote "Christian" Dominionism. Nobody but a "Christian military crusader" would sport a tattoo of a Hitler quote on his arm and then claim it doesn't mean what it means. When they get around to telling us "Arbeit Macht Frei" will that be equally as inoffensive to the know-nothings? I'm guessing yes.
"At Boston’s PBS Station, Unionbusting Tactics and a Koch Connection"
http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/7168/bos...
Hmmmm... Koch brothers (among a network of donors to Dominionist causes) involvement at the station... must also be a huge coincidence.
Wow
I thought the deep diving off a short building competition was a few weekends ago...
This is not a huge surprise,
This is not a huge surprise, as the original article on RawStory (not unlike the one here) was a trumped-up story about a non-existent controversy and featured close to zero actual reporting. It was an ideological Rorschach test and the denizens at RawStory are turning the comments section there into even more of a nervous hospital than usual.
I envy whoever has the tinfoil concession.