Open Bar: Subpoenaed by Congress, but still refusing to testify

[Doktor Howl]

Well, I made it through the Christmas season, once again without being tortured and tormented and brainwashed, by ghosts or waifish children, into understanding  the true meaning of Christmas.

So that's a win.

[Cain]

Did you win the Wham! challenge though?

[LMNO]

Did you win the Wham! challenge though?

This Christmas season I learned that both Ariana Grande and Ashley Tisdale have done covers of that song.

Getting pedicures during the holidays can be dangerous.

[The Johnny]

Is that what you took from that scene?

Yeah, I have to ask the same

Are you aware of Wagner's politics and the role his own music had in the volkisch renaissance under Hitler?

Yes, although its been around a decade since ive watched "Apocalypse".

And well, I do learned that the last thing the Berlin (?) orchestra played was Brunnhildes self-immolation scene, and that Hagen backstabbing Siegfried was taken as a metaphor to how certain segments of the population "backstabbed the war effort and caused them to lose WWI".

But the opera is from the 1870s so I dont think its accountable for the interpretation it was given? Im not aware of Wagners political stances, besides being the king's, whats it called? Protege? I mean, personally sponsored by him.

[Cain]

He was an ardent German nationalist who despised Jews and was part of the milieu of German nationalist "romanticists" who set the popular culture groundwork for National Socialism in Germany.

Nietzsche broke off his friendship with the man over his political stances.

[Cain]

http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/third-reich/wagner-richard/

[Doktor Howl]

I just heard a funk cover of Hanson's "Mm-bop" and...

...It's a really good song.

This causes me anguish.  It makes me doubt everything I understand about the universe.  It feels unjust.

[Doktor Howl]

Also, there is a trope concerning the cover craze.

If there is a female singer, the camera will *always* be focused on her left tit.  No matter what.

[The Johnny]

I ran into a cover of "Every breath you take" of The Police, with the guitar and bass lines intact, just the voice work is like a male guy rapping and a female soul (?) chorus accompanying it, and the lyrics got retconned to not be about stalking, it feels really dumb.

[The Johnny]

http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/third-reich/wagner-richard/

Oh ok, this "Rienzi" opera is literally Hitler's political career, and I see Wagner wrote anti-semitic stuff and was one.

Tho I still dont understand what you guys imply that is wrong with my interpretation of the Valkyries and Apocalypse Now.

Also, biographically speaking I can see how Wagner's anti-capitalist discourse can be equated to his hatred for jews, but i think his anti-capitalist discourse in the Nibelungs opera isnt overtly tied to anti-semitism, at least within the work itself.

[Cain]

Wagner's work is inextricably tied to his Nazi legacy in Europe and most of North America. Ask who is Hitler's favourite composer and Wagner will invariably be the answer.

Taking that into account, what do you think Coppola was trying to say with that scene? Especially contrasted against the scene in which it was actually in for Wagner's work?

Also Wagner's antisemitism was notable even at the time, and anti-semitism and anticapitalist thinking were often conjoined, ironically with an equal fear of "Jewish socialism" on the other hand. The "Jewish capital" of Wall Street and London and the "Jewish socialism" of urban society (and, well after he was dead, the Soviet Union) was a common theme of writings of the time, which saw them as two false choices pushed by the Jews to undermine nationalism.

Nietzsche also wrote quite extensively in his own work about Wagner's virulent hatred of Jews, whom Nietzsche himself considered some of the best and most cultured people in Europe.

[Juana]

http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/third-reich/wagner-richard/

I'm teaching the Holocaust rn aaaand I'm gonna be digging through that site. Thank you!

[Cain]

http://holocaustmusic.ort.org/politics-and-propaganda/third-reich/wagner-richard/

I'm teaching the Holocaust rn aaaand I'm gonna be digging through that site. Thank you!

No worries, it's a recent find but they seem to cite the right sources, so it's a very useful one indeed.

[Doktor Howl]

Why the fuck do people keep adding me to FB Discordian groups?

If I wanted my Discordia with confederate fucking flags, I'd ask for it.

[altered]

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OKupqJ1qKL0

I forgot about my alarm after a week of not using it. I had recently maxed out my alarm volume for other reasons.

I woke up instantly.