Re: The new US Air Force motto: Those who forget history...

[elfs]

I see the Air Force has annouced their new logo and motto.



Enjoy the schadenfreude.

(via Boing Boing)

Comments

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

Much as I dislike the military, I don't see the problem. It sounds like knee-jerk outrage by people ill-informed about the German language, and I've made a comment to this effect on BB (http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/12/air-force-uber-alles.html#comment-142021).

The problem, if there is a problem, is that the makers of the slogan failed to anticipate "knee-jerk outrage by ill-informed people" as a possible outcome, not that the slogan genuinely aims to echo some verses of the German national anthem. The USAF should know to walk on eggshells these days, they sure have fucked up a lot of things.

Hey, maybe this is a conscious misdirection? Let's get the US lefties riled up against a ridiculous non-issue so they lose credibility and have less time to address the real crimes of their soldiers? That's just devious enough to be possible.

Yes, a knee-jerk reaction, exactly

[ideaphile.livejournal.com]

"Über alles" doesn't translate to "above all".

"Above all" doesn't have any connotations of moral superiority or manifest destiny.

It seems to me that any controversy over this slogan has less to do with the slogan and more to do with people trying too hard to find fault in a military organization that has arguably done more to promote peace and freedom than any other in history.

And besides, we all know that people who post and comment on political topics on Boing Boing tend to be goddamn communist idiots anyway. There's never been any good reason to pay attention to anything they say.

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Re: Yes, a knee-jerk reaction, exactly

[caprinus.livejournal.com]

Oh, ha ha, you lose me there by the third paragraph. ;) Unless you're being very sarcastic? But I do post on BB, and usually their Canuckistani socialist leanings stroke me just right -- guess I'm just one of them idiots! I can also think of a few good reasons to find fault with the USAF, this one just doesn't happen to be one of them, on good historical and linguistic grounds.

It's not entirely a bad thing to have a knee-jerk reaction to things, I guess; better than no nerve reflex at all.

Re: Yes, a knee-jerk reaction, exactly

[elfs.livejournal.com]

He's not being sarcastic; as much as I dearly love Peter, I sometimes suspect that his RSS reader has about 200 tech blogs and Lew Rockwell (http://lewrockwell.com). There might be just a few too many red diaper trust fund babies at Reason (http://www.reason.com) for his taste.

On the other hand...

[mikstera.livejournal.com]

it could be that people see a disturbing parallel between the look of the logo and the motto "Above All" and slogans of the past, including a comparison between "Above All" and "Uber Alles."

Does anyone still use "Communists" as an epithet? If so, how... quaint.

It's all fallout from the nightmare of an Administration we've been suffering under for the past 7+ years, the erosion of good will both within and outside the US, and a general lack of trust and suspicion of motives.

Re: On the other hand...

[ideaphile.livejournal.com]

People still use "fascist" as an epithet on Boing Boing, and almost never correctly. Heck, there are plenty of people on Boing Boing who use "capitalist" as an insult, and most of them have probably never even met a capitalist.

But when I say there are a lot of communist idiots posting there, I'm using those terms correctly. (I really shouldn't have said "goddamn," though, since that certainly isn't a true statement.)

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Re: On the other hand...

[(Anonymous)]

Just so we're on the same page, what's your definition of "communist idiot" ?