KARL KRAUS CONSTRUCTION OF VIRTUAL REALITY
"The main steps
a critical paradigm "
a critical paradigm "
Kraus launched into criticism of the press since the creation of the Fack in April 1899. A number of books including the book Jacques Bouveresse, were particularly interested in the first period of the campaign. Released in September 2005, my own book focuses on the second half of the career of Kraus and underlines the continuing relevance in our time of his critique of militarism and media. I would like to show here how he introduced a fundamentally new concept in the debate on the media, the of "simulated reality" or (as we say today) of "virtual reality".
1. LIES, MYTHS & RUMORS
"The bombing of Nuremberg" - "The French gold"
Germany "guilty of war
Germany "guilty of war
In fall 1914, before the abuse patriotic propaganda, Kraus explained his position in a famous proclamation titled In diesergrossen Zeit [in this great period]. " His criticism was all propaganda machine and there stated that "the telegram is a weapon of war just as the grenade. " This reference to telegrams can be related to the operation in August 1914 by the British navy, who cut the underwater telegraph cables linking Germany to America. Berlin quickly lost the initiative in what was then called "war of the cable, while the Reuters news agency was regarded as" the most formidable weapon of the British government. "
propaganda machine in full then beat in all the belligerent countries and Kraus was rightly skeptical of the strong anti-German propaganda, and particularly in dealing with stories about the "German atrocities." To him, the press was "international disgrace". But his main concern was to reveal the lies that were from the German and Austrian. The most important among them, denounced by Kraus as "the vital lie," was the news that French planes had bombed a railway line and around Nuremberg, August 3, 1914. This information was taken the day after the Reichstag by Chancellor Theobald von BethmannHollweg to justify the declaration of war against France. It was to prove that Germany was conducting a "defensive war "And provide a basis for extensive propaganda campaign intended to put the German military aggression as an act of self defense.
Meanwhile, rumors proliferated equally misleading about "French gold." On 3 August, the German Government stated that twenty-five automobiles carrying eighty million gold francs had entered German territory from the Netherlands towards Russia. This announcement led to a panic throughout Germany and caused an almost complete immobilization of traffic. The government itself seems to have believed many of these rumors and, August 9, 1914, the official press organ, the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, made his one on the capture of three vehicles laden with gold. Information of this kind were immediately taken by the rest of the German press, that is to say by some 3,600 newspapers in this country, the most cultivated in the world. These rumors, fabricated by the authorities and fed by the media, were so convincing that twenty-eight people were killed in Germany during the panic of "French gold" because of overzealous border guards attempting to intercept the vehicle. The perfect absurdity of this episode inspired Kraus two scenes of the first act of Latter-day humanity.
"The bombing of Nuremberg" and "French gold" are thus two information circulated in August and September 1914 and proved absolutely false. Yet they were so plausible and so gullible people that almost everyone believed. This is the origin of what Kraus was baptized the "simulated reality". But how can we explain the invention of this false reality? For Kraus, the culprits were the newspapers, in cahoots with politicians and the military. Initially, he blamed only the irresponsible journalists stating that it was they who exploited the diplomats. But in autumn 1915, he published a more elaborate series of aphorisms on the links between politics, journalism and war. He then came to a more balanced decision, which he presented as a question-answer: "How the world is it governed and led to war? - Diplomats tell lies to journalists, then believe them when they are printed. "
The word" sledging "- tampered with or lie - appears hundreds of times in Fackel , entirely constructed from the analysis krausienne a system of lies which engender themselves. The lies published in the press about the alleged atrocities committed on all sides encourage people to take revenge by committing real atrocities. This process will still continue throughout the four years of war, during which the Fackel accumulate dozens of additional examples.
course, a false reality of the same type is created at the same time in France and Great Britain, mainly through reporting on the outrageous "German atrocities." Among these myths, the most disastrous was that the alleged "German war guilt." The assertion that Germany was solely responsible for the outbreak of war had devastating consequences, as demonstrated by the British Liberal politician Arthur Ponsonby in his book Falsehood in Wartime (The Lie in time of war). British and French leaders, Lloyd George and Poincare, knew full well impute to Germany the sole responsibility of the war was a truth-cons. But anti-German atmosphere created by their own propaganda forced the inclusion of the clause on the famous "war guilt" in the Treaty of Versailles. Kraus saw as early as 1919, this treaty was result of making a second world war almost inevitable.
propaganda machine in full then beat in all the belligerent countries and Kraus was rightly skeptical of the strong anti-German propaganda, and particularly in dealing with stories about the "German atrocities." To him, the press was "international disgrace". But his main concern was to reveal the lies that were from the German and Austrian. The most important among them, denounced by Kraus as "the vital lie," was the news that French planes had bombed a railway line and around Nuremberg, August 3, 1914. This information was taken the day after the Reichstag by Chancellor Theobald von BethmannHollweg to justify the declaration of war against France. It was to prove that Germany was conducting a "defensive war "And provide a basis for extensive propaganda campaign intended to put the German military aggression as an act of self defense.
Meanwhile, rumors proliferated equally misleading about "French gold." On 3 August, the German Government stated that twenty-five automobiles carrying eighty million gold francs had entered German territory from the Netherlands towards Russia. This announcement led to a panic throughout Germany and caused an almost complete immobilization of traffic. The government itself seems to have believed many of these rumors and, August 9, 1914, the official press organ, the Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, made his one on the capture of three vehicles laden with gold. Information of this kind were immediately taken by the rest of the German press, that is to say by some 3,600 newspapers in this country, the most cultivated in the world. These rumors, fabricated by the authorities and fed by the media, were so convincing that twenty-eight people were killed in Germany during the panic of "French gold" because of overzealous border guards attempting to intercept the vehicle. The perfect absurdity of this episode inspired Kraus two scenes of the first act of Latter-day humanity.
"The bombing of Nuremberg" and "French gold" are thus two information circulated in August and September 1914 and proved absolutely false. Yet they were so plausible and so gullible people that almost everyone believed. This is the origin of what Kraus was baptized the "simulated reality". But how can we explain the invention of this false reality? For Kraus, the culprits were the newspapers, in cahoots with politicians and the military. Initially, he blamed only the irresponsible journalists stating that it was they who exploited the diplomats. But in autumn 1915, he published a more elaborate series of aphorisms on the links between politics, journalism and war. He then came to a more balanced decision, which he presented as a question-answer: "How the world is it governed and led to war? - Diplomats tell lies to journalists, then believe them when they are printed. "
The word" sledging "- tampered with or lie - appears hundreds of times in Fackel , entirely constructed from the analysis krausienne a system of lies which engender themselves. The lies published in the press about the alleged atrocities committed on all sides encourage people to take revenge by committing real atrocities. This process will still continue throughout the four years of war, during which the Fackel accumulate dozens of additional examples.
course, a false reality of the same type is created at the same time in France and Great Britain, mainly through reporting on the outrageous "German atrocities." Among these myths, the most disastrous was that the alleged "German war guilt." The assertion that Germany was solely responsible for the outbreak of war had devastating consequences, as demonstrated by the British Liberal politician Arthur Ponsonby in his book Falsehood in Wartime (The Lie in time of war). British and French leaders, Lloyd George and Poincare, knew full well impute to Germany the sole responsibility of the war was a truth-cons. But anti-German atmosphere created by their own propaganda forced the inclusion of the clause on the famous "war guilt" in the Treaty of Versailles. Kraus saw as early as 1919, this treaty was result of making a second world war almost inevitable.
2. THE GERMAN POST WAR MENTALITY
"The stab in the back" - "Innocence persecuting"
"The swastika stands"
"The swastika stands"
Kraus borrowed the term " mentality "in modern French sociology to describe the political climate of Germany in the early 1920s. To set this mentality, it incorporates the familiar concept of "innocent victim" and overthrew him in "persecuting innocent - "Verfolgende Unschuld. A perfect illustration of this concept is the famous myth of the "stab in the back, which allowed the militaristic Hindenburg as to say that the German army, remained" undefeated on the battlefield, had been betrayed by defeatists - socialists, pacifists and Jews. If satisfied to belong to the camp of the innocent, the criminal can project his aggression on his victim. With such a mentality is the real victim who becomes the aggressor and, since it is the real aggressor, we can blame it all innocence.
This mentality became so widespread in Germany after the collapse of November 1918, when right-wing activists assaulted and even killed a socialist or a Jew, they had a good chance of being acquitted by the judges German patriots. The courts no longer had their first duty: reviewing the evidence to establish the truth. Thus they allied reactionary judges to irresponsible journalists and politicians revenge. This highlights the commentary in the prophetic Kraus Fackel January 1921: "In Germany, where the swastika rises above the ruins of the conflagration of the world, the legitimate right looks in acquittal, that warms the heart, students from all faculties of the murder. "The swastika fascinated Kraus: he saw himself as a Christian cross that would have bent to give the hooks and make a weapon. It embodied the idea in the sense of "persecuting innocent." The symbol of Christian suffering innocent became the emblem of aggression and evil.
This mentality became so widespread in Germany after the collapse of November 1918, when right-wing activists assaulted and even killed a socialist or a Jew, they had a good chance of being acquitted by the judges German patriots. The courts no longer had their first duty: reviewing the evidence to establish the truth. Thus they allied reactionary judges to irresponsible journalists and politicians revenge. This highlights the commentary in the prophetic Kraus Fackel January 1921: "In Germany, where the swastika rises above the ruins of the conflagration of the world, the legitimate right looks in acquittal, that warms the heart, students from all faculties of the murder. "The swastika fascinated Kraus: he saw himself as a Christian cross that would have bent to give the hooks and make a weapon. It embodied the idea in the sense of "persecuting innocent." The symbol of Christian suffering innocent became the emblem of aggression and evil.
3. FORGERY OF MEMORY
"Amnesia and the Austrian fortress of Przemysl"
criticism lies by Kraus company acquires new strength by its inclusion in the table post-war mentality. But his analysis becomes more complex when it focuses on a third element in the creation of virtual reality, "falsification of memory." In The Last Days of Humanity , published in book form in 1922, the politics of memory is a central theme. One of the most striking scenes of this paper shows that the falsification of memory is not only a psychological phenomenon, it is also political, since it is continually rebuilt by the propaganda machine - a rebuild so plausible that we are tempted to make us accomplices. In the scene 16 of Act II, a general staff dictates a wire report on the Austrian fortress of Przemysl, which has just been taken by the Russians, whereas it was previously regarded as the pride of 'Austro-Hungarian army, General minimizes its loss and treat it as insignificant. Journalist who, at the other end, wonders about the presentation, the general replied "You can forget all my friend! "In the next act, a parallel scene (scene 22) is after the resumption of Przemysl. This time, the wire report returns the argument and reaffirms the strategic importance of the fortress: "The most modern artillery - How? We can not forget? Nothing but hardware? But not anymore! You can do anything to forget, my dear friend! This scene adds to the complexity of the analysis of Kraus showing that journalists do not work away from political institutions. Kraus shows and the editorial of the official press, the government spokesman and communications advisers (spin doctors) are essential elements of the network of misinformation.
"You can do anything to forget, my dear friend! "Is one of the leitmotifs of Fackel between the wars. He led in effect at that time another war - the famous "war of memory" - how we should remember the events of the years 1914-1918. Kraus regularly denounced the Austrian amnesia. This is the theme of his satirical poem in November 1918, "Mir san ja eh die reinen Lamperln [We are like innocent lambs sweet]." In 1918 (and again in 1945), the Austrians claimed that the war was the fault of the wicked Germans. But, as pointed Kraus, the Austrians could not protest their innocence if they were "a glory of their short memory." While the veterans marched through the streets "never forget" became the motto of all European nations after 1918. But everything depended on the respective value systems - the dominant mentality. In England, for example, mobilization of the British Legion to keep alive the memory of "our glorious disappeared" was offset by the development of a certain peace movement. But in Austria and Germany, the commemoration of the war was orchestrated by paramilitary groups and the like Heimwehr Stahlhelm. The memory became politically active; glorious myths and stories disillusioned vied control of the popular consciousness. They put up a gigantic apparatus of war memorials and commemorations to Nimba death for his country with an aura of dignity. Kraus's satire was intended to discredit the cult of heroism - a warped memory of the past that he feared it might cost more later millions of lives.
"You can do anything to forget, my dear friend! "Is one of the leitmotifs of Fackel between the wars. He led in effect at that time another war - the famous "war of memory" - how we should remember the events of the years 1914-1918. Kraus regularly denounced the Austrian amnesia. This is the theme of his satirical poem in November 1918, "Mir san ja eh die reinen Lamperln [We are like innocent lambs sweet]." In 1918 (and again in 1945), the Austrians claimed that the war was the fault of the wicked Germans. But, as pointed Kraus, the Austrians could not protest their innocence if they were "a glory of their short memory." While the veterans marched through the streets "never forget" became the motto of all European nations after 1918. But everything depended on the respective value systems - the dominant mentality. In England, for example, mobilization of the British Legion to keep alive the memory of "our glorious disappeared" was offset by the development of a certain peace movement. But in Austria and Germany, the commemoration of the war was orchestrated by paramilitary groups and the like Heimwehr Stahlhelm. The memory became politically active; glorious myths and stories disillusioned vied control of the popular consciousness. They put up a gigantic apparatus of war memorials and commemorations to Nimba death for his country with an aura of dignity. Kraus's satire was intended to discredit the cult of heroism - a warped memory of the past that he feared it might cost more later millions of lives.
4. PHOTOS & SLOGANS
"stick together"-L "Anschluss" - The "Volk"
If political propaganda and military revenge for Kraus were obvious targets, it reserved its satire the more subtle instruments of persuasion that are hidden "sentences [Phrasen]" - that is to say the slogans and clichés. The word "Phrasen" appears thousands of times in Fackel, and almost invariably in a critical context. In an article in February 1929 when he returns to World War I, Kraus said that his main idea was to identify it at an "outburst of prefabricated clichés." By this brainwashing, the press has become a "deadly organization of intellectual and moral irresponsibility, creating the events itself." It is the corruption of journalistic language, particularly through the use of cliches, he says, which caused the worst damage.
Snapshots are they really so destructive? We can approach this question from two angles. In a sociolinguistic perspective, stereotypes can have a constructive function. They produce cohesion in an unstable world. In periods of rapid modernization, clichés, reminds us does it, "becoming more important as guidance cues" that are "reified blocks to past experiences" that help bridge the "gap Institutional. They organize experience lived in pre-digested segments, encouraging patterns of behavior conformist and predictable. Society could hardly function without such a safety net language, which are formed by meshes of proverbs as "Do not throw the baby out with the bathwater." Such expressions involve practical wisdom for the common link between domestic sphere and public sphere - even politicians may require a "good sweep. Since
Kraus considers language as the crucible where ideas emerge, we would have expected it shows less hostile expressions proverbial. But he makes a distinction between creative and delicate verbal platitudes designed to seduce. Wars break out because of irresponsible politicians "can claim to represent the will of a nation they have previously intoxicated with cliches." It would be impossible if he was not in the nature of stereotypes to foster patterns of collective thought far removed from the realities of political action. The most convincing Kraus gives us is the familiar expression "Schulter Schulter year [stick together]." It is cited more than one hundred times in the Fackel . The politician who declares that Austria and Germany - or, of course, England and the United States - should "stick together" lacks almost all of its duties. It is not just a cliché, it is a political slogan uttered in a tone of bravado schoolchildren to divert attention from the realities of modern warfare.
In the early work of Kraus's critique of cliches about aesthetic issues more than political propaganda. But during the 1920s, the emphasis has changed: it was no longer criticize only the empty clichés but also the slogans for to numb the mind. Slogans such appeared, especially during the campaign for the Anschluss - the annexation of Austria to Germany. Kraus objected to this campaign, especially when the Anschluss was claimed by people claiming socialists but were actually fiercely nationalistic. The most important of these slogans, "the German people" was one that would eventually dominate the entire political discourse of national socialism. The term "Volk [people]," with its connotations of populist, nationalist and racist, shows how a single word can give shape to a destructive vision of the world. In the 1920s, was already a key term in the identity debate in the Austrian campaign in favor of the Anschluss.
In this context, Kraus wrote a prophetic article in Fackel May 1926. This text announces the phenomenon of virtual reality, that is to say, media-generated images to create a plausible world of illusions. In response to headlines in the press about the possibility of the Anschluss, Kraus says that the hypnotic power of the newspaper has created a "simulated reality [Wirklichkeit vorgetauschte]. Citing each other's respective uses concepts Volkstum, from "Das deutsche Volk "and" das Volk Deutschosterreichs "newspapers of Berlin and Vienna produce a circular discourse is not based on any real diplomatic or political event. For example, the Austrian Chancellor is visiting Berlin, but he has not met his German counterpart, or even issued a press release, to fill this vacuum, the press recycled slogans from "the last conversation between the pub two kingdoms. " Kraus comment about it is incisive: "The reality crept and built by journalism, which strangles the imagination and murdering men, lives and spreads based on the single rule to publish in bold and a perfectly empty of opinions, [...] detritus of a simulated reality. [...] Not the Germano-Austrian Volte not tolerate a policy that might make you think the least she could be directed against the German Volte. [... ] The headlines and soundbites create a world where nothing is real except the lies. "In
thus highlighting the word" Volk "- a misleading concept that presupposes both political solidarity and homogeneity biological - the media creates a framework essentially fictitious. The problem is that this gigantic apparatus has the ability to transform "non-events" into "action and death"
Snapshots are they really so destructive? We can approach this question from two angles. In a sociolinguistic perspective, stereotypes can have a constructive function. They produce cohesion in an unstable world. In periods of rapid modernization, clichés, reminds us does it, "becoming more important as guidance cues" that are "reified blocks to past experiences" that help bridge the "gap Institutional. They organize experience lived in pre-digested segments, encouraging patterns of behavior conformist and predictable. Society could hardly function without such a safety net language, which are formed by meshes of proverbs as "Do not throw the baby out with the bathwater." Such expressions involve practical wisdom for the common link between domestic sphere and public sphere - even politicians may require a "good sweep. Since
Kraus considers language as the crucible where ideas emerge, we would have expected it shows less hostile expressions proverbial. But he makes a distinction between creative and delicate verbal platitudes designed to seduce. Wars break out because of irresponsible politicians "can claim to represent the will of a nation they have previously intoxicated with cliches." It would be impossible if he was not in the nature of stereotypes to foster patterns of collective thought far removed from the realities of political action. The most convincing Kraus gives us is the familiar expression "Schulter Schulter year [stick together]." It is cited more than one hundred times in the Fackel . The politician who declares that Austria and Germany - or, of course, England and the United States - should "stick together" lacks almost all of its duties. It is not just a cliché, it is a political slogan uttered in a tone of bravado schoolchildren to divert attention from the realities of modern warfare.
In the early work of Kraus's critique of cliches about aesthetic issues more than political propaganda. But during the 1920s, the emphasis has changed: it was no longer criticize only the empty clichés but also the slogans for to numb the mind. Slogans such appeared, especially during the campaign for the Anschluss - the annexation of Austria to Germany. Kraus objected to this campaign, especially when the Anschluss was claimed by people claiming socialists but were actually fiercely nationalistic. The most important of these slogans, "the German people" was one that would eventually dominate the entire political discourse of national socialism. The term "Volk [people]," with its connotations of populist, nationalist and racist, shows how a single word can give shape to a destructive vision of the world. In the 1920s, was already a key term in the identity debate in the Austrian campaign in favor of the Anschluss.
In this context, Kraus wrote a prophetic article in Fackel May 1926. This text announces the phenomenon of virtual reality, that is to say, media-generated images to create a plausible world of illusions. In response to headlines in the press about the possibility of the Anschluss, Kraus says that the hypnotic power of the newspaper has created a "simulated reality [Wirklichkeit vorgetauschte]. Citing each other's respective uses concepts Volkstum, from "Das deutsche Volk "and" das Volk Deutschosterreichs "newspapers of Berlin and Vienna produce a circular discourse is not based on any real diplomatic or political event. For example, the Austrian Chancellor is visiting Berlin, but he has not met his German counterpart, or even issued a press release, to fill this vacuum, the press recycled slogans from "the last conversation between the pub two kingdoms. " Kraus comment about it is incisive: "The reality crept and built by journalism, which strangles the imagination and murdering men, lives and spreads based on the single rule to publish in bold and a perfectly empty of opinions, [...] detritus of a simulated reality. [...] Not the Germano-Austrian Volte not tolerate a policy that might make you think the least she could be directed against the German Volte. [... ] The headlines and soundbites create a world where nothing is real except the lies. "In
thus highlighting the word" Volk "- a misleading concept that presupposes both political solidarity and homogeneity biological - the media creates a framework essentially fictitious. The problem is that this gigantic apparatus has the ability to transform "non-events" into "action and death"
Transubstantiation metaphors:
"blood", "salt" and "extermination"
sometimes viewed as the metaphor does qu'endimancher language by replacing an ordinary word with a more poetic. For its part, Kraus argues instead that metaphors saturate our everyday discourse and shape our modes of perception. In reading the phrase "for his part," I have just used, no reader has imagined sharing a cake or a money. The origin of the expression is lost, but such invisible metaphors pervade our language and therefore our way of life, as shown by Lakoff and Johnson in their systematic study metaphors in everyday life . This book argues that the core experiences such as love or the dispute, have no intrinsic structure and they do not gain that through the joint metaphorical. Kraus, meanwhile, insists above all on the metaphors for which one can die - the slogan "stick together" for example.
The question of metaphor is central to the philosophy of language Kraus, and he attributes special importance to bodily metaphors, this insistence has a close connection with the construction of virtual reality. When we use a metaphor, for example, "to have hot blood," are we referring literally to something physical, the liquid that flows in our veins, or do we metaphorically refer to something intangible, a psychological disposition? This question lies at the heart of the most powerful criticism that has led Kraus cons propaganda: Third Walpurgis Night, the classic analysis of Nazi propaganda, written during the summer of 1933 and published editions Agone today in a French translation which will reference. The answer is that Kraus German propaganda constantly mixes the literal meaning to metaphorical meaning. Worse: while metaphors characterize civilized behavior, this propaganda brings them back into the world of brutal physical abuse.
The clearest example is that of the ideology of "blood." The blood has multiple meanings, ranging from kinship and biological inheritance in physical excitement and courage in battle. This vital fluid it carries the red blood cells white and becomes a die endlessly invoked by ideological and racist warmongers. During World War I, Kraus reflections led him to recognize the driving force at work in German propaganda as a "bloodlust of language." In The Last Days of Humanity, he reminds us that it's real blood is shed in this war, not propagandists but that "the blood of others" - that of conscripts thrown into the battle. In the aftermath of the war, the German writings were dominated by vengeful cult of 'blood', which blended the concepts of military courage and racial purity.
In Third Walpurgis Night, the "myth of blood" is mentioned dozens of times since the accession of Heidegger's concept of "forces within the earth and blood" to the very special "value of blood "for the SS. Nazi propaganda operates both the belief that the blood determines the genetic heritage, and fear that the "Aryan blood" could be corrupted by sexual intercourse with non-Aryans. Kraus concludes that, in the press and radio in Germany, the word "blood" appears more frequently in one day for an entire year in any other country. He also cites the refrain of the most famous Nazi marching songs,
"When Jewish blood spurts under the knife / can not find it better." These words are from the last verse of Sturmsoldaten a song to be sung not only by the SA but also by youth groups. Kraus adds that such songs have on those who sing the effect of a "good dose of Coue Method." Emile Coue is this French psychologist who was behind the popularity of "self talk" - the colt collective euphoric maxims meant to eradicate the symptoms of depression, this ritual would release the repressed energy because the unconscious is "credulous and accept with docility ingenue what he said." The idea that when Jewish blood is poured "We do think it better" is a grotesque echo of the method Coue, peppered with racial hatred.
For Kraus, the situation is less serious if the "blood" was here only a metaphor. But the "miracle of transubstantiation" was made: "And what is more surprising revelation for those who experienced the close of language? What show would be more sensational than the envelope of the words filling up again blood was once its contents? Pleasing spectacle when the blood is a metaphor [...] Show Gorgon where the rebirth of a physical blood begins to flow out of the crust of the language "
The concept of" crust "of the language implies that words have a healing power, provided they are used appropriately: they then form a protective tissue around the body highly vulnerable. Used wisely, the metaphors are part of a culture of dispute in which physical conflict was moved on a symbolic level. But now, the opposite has happened: "We are witnessing the emergence of sentence becomes deed. "Despite the denials, as bloody metaphors create a climate that encourages real deal damage, it's blood that floods the true German prisons.
The most telling example that gives Kraus body is a metaphor of the term "Pour salt on an open wound." In ancient societies, before the emergence of modern medicine, salt was used as an antiseptic. When sailors were whipped as punishment discipline, their wounds were rubbed with salt, making them more painful course but also helped them heal. When this practice was disappeared, the term has persisted as a metaphor, heighten the sense of someone from a sense of shame or humiliation. In Third Walpurgis Night Kraus uses this example to show that the balance between body and spirit, characteristic of a civilized language, has been broken: the rogue Nazis plunged the bloody hands of the one of their victims in a bag of salt to exacerbate his pain.
His interest in metaphors like "The blood spurts under the knife" or "Pour salt on an open wound" Kraus led to ask the most fundamental of all the Nazi metaphor, that of " extermination. " Which reach really Hitler and his henchmen when they talk to "exterminate [AusRotten]" their enemies? At the time, most observers thought that when the Nazis spoke of "destroying" the communists and "exterminate" the Jews, they used these expressions metaphorically, to mean "the hunt positions of power" . When the British press interpreted such statements, she clung "figuratively." But Kraus shows very clearly that the essence of the Nazi movement is the "annihilation [Vernichtung]" physics. He cites a passage in which lawyers Nazi invoke the old Germanic laws expected to approve "the total elimination of the enemy within." It explains that, traditionally, any member of the Volk could "kill without hiding" the enemies thereof. By highlighting these expressions, Kraus suggests that the warning must be taken seriously. In short, it was well understood that Nazism was governed by a "genocidal mentality".
The question of metaphor is central to the philosophy of language Kraus, and he attributes special importance to bodily metaphors, this insistence has a close connection with the construction of virtual reality. When we use a metaphor, for example, "to have hot blood," are we referring literally to something physical, the liquid that flows in our veins, or do we metaphorically refer to something intangible, a psychological disposition? This question lies at the heart of the most powerful criticism that has led Kraus cons propaganda: Third Walpurgis Night, the classic analysis of Nazi propaganda, written during the summer of 1933 and published editions Agone today in a French translation which will reference. The answer is that Kraus German propaganda constantly mixes the literal meaning to metaphorical meaning. Worse: while metaphors characterize civilized behavior, this propaganda brings them back into the world of brutal physical abuse.
The clearest example is that of the ideology of "blood." The blood has multiple meanings, ranging from kinship and biological inheritance in physical excitement and courage in battle. This vital fluid it carries the red blood cells white and becomes a die endlessly invoked by ideological and racist warmongers. During World War I, Kraus reflections led him to recognize the driving force at work in German propaganda as a "bloodlust of language." In The Last Days of Humanity, he reminds us that it's real blood is shed in this war, not propagandists but that "the blood of others" - that of conscripts thrown into the battle. In the aftermath of the war, the German writings were dominated by vengeful cult of 'blood', which blended the concepts of military courage and racial purity.
In Third Walpurgis Night, the "myth of blood" is mentioned dozens of times since the accession of Heidegger's concept of "forces within the earth and blood" to the very special "value of blood "for the SS. Nazi propaganda operates both the belief that the blood determines the genetic heritage, and fear that the "Aryan blood" could be corrupted by sexual intercourse with non-Aryans. Kraus concludes that, in the press and radio in Germany, the word "blood" appears more frequently in one day for an entire year in any other country. He also cites the refrain of the most famous Nazi marching songs,
"When Jewish blood spurts under the knife / can not find it better." These words are from the last verse of Sturmsoldaten a song to be sung not only by the SA but also by youth groups. Kraus adds that such songs have on those who sing the effect of a "good dose of Coue Method." Emile Coue is this French psychologist who was behind the popularity of "self talk" - the colt collective euphoric maxims meant to eradicate the symptoms of depression, this ritual would release the repressed energy because the unconscious is "credulous and accept with docility ingenue what he said." The idea that when Jewish blood is poured "We do think it better" is a grotesque echo of the method Coue, peppered with racial hatred.
For Kraus, the situation is less serious if the "blood" was here only a metaphor. But the "miracle of transubstantiation" was made: "And what is more surprising revelation for those who experienced the close of language? What show would be more sensational than the envelope of the words filling up again blood was once its contents? Pleasing spectacle when the blood is a metaphor [...] Show Gorgon where the rebirth of a physical blood begins to flow out of the crust of the language "
The concept of" crust "of the language implies that words have a healing power, provided they are used appropriately: they then form a protective tissue around the body highly vulnerable. Used wisely, the metaphors are part of a culture of dispute in which physical conflict was moved on a symbolic level. But now, the opposite has happened: "We are witnessing the emergence of sentence becomes deed. "Despite the denials, as bloody metaphors create a climate that encourages real deal damage, it's blood that floods the true German prisons.
The most telling example that gives Kraus body is a metaphor of the term "Pour salt on an open wound." In ancient societies, before the emergence of modern medicine, salt was used as an antiseptic. When sailors were whipped as punishment discipline, their wounds were rubbed with salt, making them more painful course but also helped them heal. When this practice was disappeared, the term has persisted as a metaphor, heighten the sense of someone from a sense of shame or humiliation. In Third Walpurgis Night Kraus uses this example to show that the balance between body and spirit, characteristic of a civilized language, has been broken: the rogue Nazis plunged the bloody hands of the one of their victims in a bag of salt to exacerbate his pain.
His interest in metaphors like "The blood spurts under the knife" or "Pour salt on an open wound" Kraus led to ask the most fundamental of all the Nazi metaphor, that of " extermination. " Which reach really Hitler and his henchmen when they talk to "exterminate [AusRotten]" their enemies? At the time, most observers thought that when the Nazis spoke of "destroying" the communists and "exterminate" the Jews, they used these expressions metaphorically, to mean "the hunt positions of power" . When the British press interpreted such statements, she clung "figuratively." But Kraus shows very clearly that the essence of the Nazi movement is the "annihilation [Vernichtung]" physics. He cites a passage in which lawyers Nazi invoke the old Germanic laws expected to approve "the total elimination of the enemy within." It explains that, traditionally, any member of the Volk could "kill without hiding" the enemies thereof. By highlighting these expressions, Kraus suggests that the warning must be taken seriously. In short, it was well understood that Nazism was governed by a "genocidal mentality".
CONCLUSION
"FREEDOM OF THE PRESS" & "war propaganda"
Kraus acknowledged in 1933 (as he had already made in 1914) a propaganda machine was set up to justify military aggression. My assumption is that his criticism can be considered a "paradigm" seventy years later, his key categories are still valid and may apply to the war that began in March 2003 with the invasion of Iraq. Some optimists argue that perhaps the current situation is completely different: we now have a more critical press and more independent, not including other media like television and the Internet in particular, guarantee freedom of expression. The response Kraus is that "press freedom" is largely a myth. An independent newspaper or a television channel independently, this does not exist. All are subject to pressure from owners, advertisers, class interests and nationalist ideologies. Moreover, in times of crisis, effective control of the media passes to the political and military leaders who are determined to spread their war propaganda.
Kraus's critique of the links between militarism and the media is one of the most prophetic of his work. We could conclude with a simple example and certainly paradigmatic : Case Friedjung. In 1908, the neoconservative historian Heinrich Friedjung published an article in the main daily newspaper, the Net Freie Presse, where he was state documents supposedly proving that Austria was threatened with treason and conspiracy in the Balkans. It was to justify a preemptive attack against Serbia. But the threat of war faded, and Austria succeeded in annexing Bosnia-Herzegovina without resorting to war planned. A year later, Friedjung was sued for defamation by Croatian politicians that he had falsely accused of treason. His "documents" turned out to be false, fabricated by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Austria, and Friedjung suffers public humiliation. The case inspired
Kraus its largest political analysis in the period preceding the First World War: "The trial Friedjung" (December 1909). In this text we find the following passage: "Austria is the victim of the media that is more consensual. She does not believe what is printed, it also believes the opposite when it is printed. [...] The newspapers scream: "Austria is in danger! "And people say:" No way! Then the same newspapers scream: "Austria has never been in danger! "And the people repeat:" No way! "Unfortunately, as noted by Kraus in this article, the political lesson of the case Friedjung was not accepted, and going into the war have ultimately prevailed. Let us talk now
parallel newest: the false documents to Colin Powell and U.S. and British governments. The evidence used to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003 proved as false as those invoked in the case Friedjung. But no American or English court has managed to condemn the political leaders responsible for this false scenario, although it has cost countless lives. Photos from enemy bases presented by Secretary of State Colin Powell to the UN to justify the attack against Iraq fell more strings of the communication of reliable information. We know today that there were no "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq and that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with Al Qaeda or the attacks against the Twin Towers. But for months, these fables were elementary belaboured by the media with such patriotic insistence that the majority of British MPs and the U.S. Congress have come to believe them. The fiasco Friedjung repeated, but this time it was America who was allegedly in danger of England and the dominant military power must "stand together".
The attack Austria-Hungary against Serbia in August 1914 included at least a pinch of logic, since the plot to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand was actually hatched in Belgrade. But how an act of terrorism committed by Saudis trained in Afghanistan may justify the invasion of Iraq? We're here in front of a simulated reality on a large scale. Thus ends my contribution she as it began, recalling the prophetic statement of Karl Kraus in the fall of 1915 - that statement has lost nothing of its value-vingtdix four years later: "How this world is it governed and led to war? - Diplomats tell lies to journalists and then believe them when they are printed. "
Kraus's critique of the links between militarism and the media is one of the most prophetic of his work. We could conclude with a simple example and certainly paradigmatic : Case Friedjung. In 1908, the neoconservative historian Heinrich Friedjung published an article in the main daily newspaper, the Net Freie Presse, where he was state documents supposedly proving that Austria was threatened with treason and conspiracy in the Balkans. It was to justify a preemptive attack against Serbia. But the threat of war faded, and Austria succeeded in annexing Bosnia-Herzegovina without resorting to war planned. A year later, Friedjung was sued for defamation by Croatian politicians that he had falsely accused of treason. His "documents" turned out to be false, fabricated by Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Austria, and Friedjung suffers public humiliation. The case inspired
Kraus its largest political analysis in the period preceding the First World War: "The trial Friedjung" (December 1909). In this text we find the following passage: "Austria is the victim of the media that is more consensual. She does not believe what is printed, it also believes the opposite when it is printed. [...] The newspapers scream: "Austria is in danger! "And people say:" No way! Then the same newspapers scream: "Austria has never been in danger! "And the people repeat:" No way! "Unfortunately, as noted by Kraus in this article, the political lesson of the case Friedjung was not accepted, and going into the war have ultimately prevailed. Let us talk now
parallel newest: the false documents to Colin Powell and U.S. and British governments. The evidence used to justify the invasion of Iraq in 2003 proved as false as those invoked in the case Friedjung. But no American or English court has managed to condemn the political leaders responsible for this false scenario, although it has cost countless lives. Photos from enemy bases presented by Secretary of State Colin Powell to the UN to justify the attack against Iraq fell more strings of the communication of reliable information. We know today that there were no "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq and that Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with Al Qaeda or the attacks against the Twin Towers. But for months, these fables were elementary belaboured by the media with such patriotic insistence that the majority of British MPs and the U.S. Congress have come to believe them. The fiasco Friedjung repeated, but this time it was America who was allegedly in danger of England and the dominant military power must "stand together".
The attack Austria-Hungary against Serbia in August 1914 included at least a pinch of logic, since the plot to assassinate Archduke Franz Ferdinand was actually hatched in Belgrade. But how an act of terrorism committed by Saudis trained in Afghanistan may justify the invasion of Iraq? We're here in front of a simulated reality on a large scale. Thus ends my contribution she as it began, recalling the prophetic statement of Karl Kraus in the fall of 1915 - that statement has lost nothing of its value-vingtdix four years later: "How this world is it governed and led to war? - Diplomats tell lies to journalists and then believe them when they are printed. "
EDWARD TIMMS
Translated from English by Frederic Cotton
0 comments:
Post a Comment