German newspaper is accused of anti-Semitic propaganda

[Behind the Aegis]

Source: Daily Mail

PUBLISHED: 00:19 EST, 25 February 2014 | UPDATED: 00:20 EST, 25 February 2014

(Full title: German newspaper is accused of anti-Semitic propaganda worthy of the Nazis after publishing cartoon depicting Mark Zuckerberg as an octopus)

The German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, has been accused of anti-Semitism after it published a cartoon depicting Mark Zuckerberg as an octopus controlling the world.

The cartoon was published in the newspaper last Friday after the announcement that Facebook had purchased Whatsapp. Two versions were published, one with the caption ‘Krake Zuckerberg’, the other ‘Krake Facebook’ – Facebook Octopus and Zuckerberg Octopus.

In the drawing, the 29-year-old Facebook founder is portrayed with a hooked nose, fleshy lips and curly hair, features ascribed to Jewish people in Nazi cartoons.

The cartoon was ‘starkly reminiscent’ of anti-Semitic Nazi era cartoons, Efraim Zuroff from the Simon Wiesenthal Centre told the Jerusalem Post.

‘(I)f anyone has any doubts about the anti-Semitic dimension of the cartoon, we can point to Mark Zuckerberg’s very prominent nose, which is not the case in real life,’ said Mr Zuroff who added that he found the cartoon, 'Absolutely disgusting!'





Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2567167/Cartoon-German-newspaper-depicting-Mark-Zuckerberg-octopus-taking-world-starkly-reminiscent-Nazi-anti-Semitic-propaganda.html

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Oh, the comments....

[Democracyinkind]

1. Now that's just stupid... The nose? Why go there?

It would have been a pertinent cartoon without the nose thing. I find this... Quite astounding... Süddeutsche isn't the most conservative paper out there... Very strange..

[Behind the Aegis]

2. What is Süddeutsche's leaning?

[dipsydoodle]

3. Anti Israel as opposed to anti semitic

Search to find similar attacks from the past.

Personally this came to mind

[Behind the Aegis]

4. I am sure it does.

[Scootaloo]

23. Two things

1) Israel's nowhere involved in this image.

2) It can't even properly be called a caricature, as it doesn't even have a passing resemblance to Zuckerberg.

[Democracyinkind]

17. It's the Bavarian paper, therefore rather conservative, but establishment conservative, not fringe.

I had trouble believing this at first. It really boggles the mind.

[JackRiddler]

18. It is not conservative.

Munich-based Sueddeutsche is the classic example of a German social democratic daily, in fact, and nationally distributed as the alternative to the very conservative F.A.Z.

That cartoon sucks but it has little to do with the paper as a whole.

[Democracyinkind]

19. It depends on the spectrum. I wouldn't call it a social demcoratic daily.

TAZ and Frankfurter Rundschau are classic examples of social democratic papers.

Süddeutsche isch somewhere between that and FAZ and the Welt.

Süddeutsche is absolutely pro-establishment and mostly associated with the FDP, not the SPD.

I read the Süddeutsche regularly, so these labels derive from my experience and are not generic.

Edit: Americans might think of the FDP as liberals, but in europe, Liberal always means "neoliberal". They are not on the left, by a very wide margin. Not even on social issues, IMHO.

[JackRiddler]

21. TAZ is Green and FR is left-liberal.

And I've read them all too.

Of course SZ is part of the establishment, which in no way contradicts being more or less pro-SPD--a party that is once again currently in a grand coalition! SPD long ago went neo-liberal. So whether that tastes a bit like FDP (also given the FDP's cultural progressivism of a kind) is six of one, a half-dozen of the other.

Thus SZ is center-leftish-rightish, whereas FAZ is the always-on battle organ of that segment of the bourgeoisie that is permanently pissed off about everything vaguely progressive dating back to women wearing trousers (in the Feuilleton this is weirdly mixed in with technoworship and obeisance to The Singularity). Welt is the bilge version of same, absolutely disgusting.

[Democracyinkind]

22. I was trying to give a general overview in my post, a bit simplified.

But Süddeutsche is clearly more in line with the FDP than the SPD IMHO. That is saying much.

And I do not view the FDP as "culturally progressive". It got credit for that by electing Westerwelle, but the base of the party took a very very long time to endorse Gay marriage rights etc., and their discourse on immigration borders on being rightist.

Edit: Disclosure: I was a member of one of the FDP's sister parties in Europe (to be specific their young section) and I left when I realized that their "cultural progressivism" was but lip service. During that time I had intensive contacts with these so called liberals, even in Germany. Their liberalism is mostly reserved for economic issues.

[leftynyc]

5. Holy cow

It doesn't really get more blatant than that. Hook nose and everything - you would think they'd be embarrassed considering their history.

[Behind the Aegis]

6. Apparently, it is just "anti-Israel".

[leftynyc]

7. Has anyone bothered to ask

them how this cartoon is about Israel at all? This is precisely why I consider anti-Zionism a bullshit excuse. Antisemitism is right beneath the surface in the vast majority of their arguments.

[Behind the Aegis]

10. It was raised by another poster...see below.

Apparently, anti-Semitic can't happen in an "anti-Israel" paper.

[dipsydoodle]

8. That was in answer to your own question

which was What is Süddeutsche's leaning? A search will demonstrate they have posted anti Israel cartoons in the past i.e. directed specifically at Israel.

[Behind the Aegis]

9. That didn't answer my question.

"Leaning" does not ask if it is anti-Israel or not, though quite a jump....hmmm. No, it was whether it was right, left or center.

[dipsydoodle]

11. I don't speak German and they don't appear to have an English version

http://www.sueddeutsche.de/

Maybe someone else here does speak German.

[Behind the Aegis]

13. Which is why I asked the poster who made the comment about the paper.

Interesting though, despite not speaking German, you seemed to feel the need to claim they are "anti-Israel."

[dipsydoodle]

14. Just a comment based on their past performance re. cartoons

They appear to have a reputation for being so.

[Behind the Aegis]

16. But, it had NOTHING to do with my question.

You did infer an interesting "parallel" though.

[Democracyinkind]

20. I tried to expand on my impression of where Süddeutsche falls on the political spectrum in #19.

[Recursion]

26. Is Zuckerberg Israeli?

The octopus as a metaphor for Facebook is fine, but combining the face and the awful history of octopus imagery in anti-semitic propaganda... I just don't see any way around calling this what it is.

[JustAnotherGen]

12. I can't click and link the pic

From DM on my iPad.

Halfway down the page they have a propaganda poster from 1938 of an octopus wrapped around the world. Can you add that to the op?

Maybe if people see it in Stark relief they will "get it".


And good luck - we had to have someone post pics of racist propaganda about fried chicken and watermelon a few weeks ago (MrScorpio) and treat people like they are "new' to teach them how images hurt groups of people.

That image you've posted "hurts" to look at.

[Behind the Aegis]

15. Much appreciated!

IMO, it isn't so much the octopus that is the real issue, but rather the face which was drawn. There is an anti-Semitic "octopus" from Japanese propaganda posters as well. I took a picture of it when I was at the WWII museum in New Orleans.

I saw the "soul food" posts. Some people really don't get the concept of historical bigotry and why it is offensive! To me, it is akin to someone defending Obama depicted as an ape or monkey, and then claiming, "but they did it to Bush!" Yeah, because us white folk have been systematically oppressed as "beasts."

[Recursion]

24. Wow. That's shocking.

Holy crap. That's Henry-Ford-level stuff.

[bemildred]

25. OK.

I'll buy it as an anti-semitic dog-whistle in Germany, or Europe really.

A lot of people won't get it, as you can see.

It's the face, not the octopus. Molluscs are very popular political icons in all sorts of contexts.

[Recursion]

27. The octopus as an element in anti-Semitic propaganda goes back a long time

Now, the worst bit is, the cartoon has a decent point to make, and an octopus can be a decent image to satirize facebook. But with the face as drawn, and with the history of the image, it's inexcusable.

[bemildred]

28. Quite, I've seen them. But it is not definitive, as has been pointed out. The face is. nt

[Nye Bevan]

29. Goebbels would have loved that cartoon (nt)

[Tom Ripley]

30. It appears that they favor recycling

[marble falls]

31. I'm a Lutheran from Texas and even I know that cartoon is anti-semitic.

[geek tragedy]

32. looks like a tribute piece to Der Sturmer. nt

[WatermelonRat]

33. Davy Jones frowns upon this use of his likeness.

[img][/img]

[imthevicar]

34. Hello! knock, Knock, Is any one home here!?

Let's all just ignore the real message here, (Face book is into everything and co-operative with the NSA and can't be trusted.) and worry about the small minded shit, (It seems to be an anti Semitic cartoon.) that way nothing gets done about the real problem. Why don't we worry about the BIG problem first and then the small problems will take care of later. Never mind that makes too much sense.

[Behind the Aegis]

36. That excuses the anti-Semitism.

[LanternWaste]

40. Who instructed you that you're unable to handle more than one concern at any given time?

Who instructed you that you're unable to handle more than one concern at any given time?

[imthevicar]

41. They have eyes,

and do not see. Ears and do not hear. you are
Sheep ready for the slaughter.

[azurnoir]

35. The drawing of Zuckerberg's face is what moves this cartoon to antisemitism IMO

as to the octopus the article points out a number of examples of the octopus being used in cartoons that were not antisemitic such as this one



or this one

[Behind the Aegis]

37. The octopus has often been used in anti-Semitic imagery, combined with the face...

...it is undeniably anti-Semitic. Though, it is interesting to watch people claim it isn't.

[azurnoir]

38. is the use of the octopus when applied to Bill Gates okay in your view?

now I've said that the face as drawn makes this antisemitic but simply applying an image of an octopus to Facebook is antisemtic?

[Behind the Aegis]

39. My bad. I hit post, instead of preview.

I hadn't completed my post when the dogs started screaming and I hit the wrong button. I meant to add I was talking about the comments in the feedback section and their focus on the octopus, while failing to mention the face. The revised cartoon, also in the article, would not be anti-Semitic IMO.

[imthevicar]

42. I never said

Nor Implied it. I said it's a distraction from the real issue.

[Behind the Aegis]

43. I never said you did.

You did imply it wasn't important.

[imthevicar]

44. It'a a fly in the ointment.

But this proves to the elite it's a good one for distraction. To which most, including you, took the bate. Nice Job!