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The German Navy ship blasting the Darth Vader theme on the Thames was in London for training and a supply stop. A German Navy spokesperson said the choice of m
by cs702 2y ago
The German Navy ship blasting the Darth Vader theme on the Thames was in London for training and a supply stop.
A German Navy spokesperson said the choice of music had "no deeper message." The ship's commander personally chose the music.
Given the history between the two countries, it was perceived as a poor choice.[a]
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[a] In particular, think of the elderly in the UK who lived through the Nazi bombing raids and their aftermath:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Blitz
- zo1 2y ago[flagged]
- jibe 2y agoPlaying the imperial march seems more like a “we are the bad guys” move - the German Navy finally arrives in London, 80 years late.
- rsynnott 2y ago… Wait, when did the UK descend into totalitarianism? Weird chaos, yes, for years. Totalitarianism, not so much (you could argue that Patel was that way inclined, but far too incompetent to actually do that much about it).
- _cenw 2y agoIf you want to know where things are going, watch how politics are treating their most vulnerable population. It's not going too well.
- opheliate 2y agoI’m shocked to hear that I am apparently living under totalitarianism, and would love to see some concrete examples of this dramatic shift in Labour party policy, rather than vague gesturing.
- _cenw 2y agothe continued decline of transgender rights and support of the same in civil society. the UK has always been jokingly referred to as TERF Island, but more recently, after the made-to-order Cass review that goes against all known research in the field and was authored by a biased party (even consulting with the architect of the florida ban on transitioning), organizations that'd usually staunchly support transgender rights like Stonewall and Pink News are pulling back. newspapers have turned up the anti-trans rhetoric to 11 as well, and especially in England no mainstream party is refusing to participate in the moral panic. it has ceased to be a culture war, and is now much more of a cultural consensus. the common punching bag. that looks pretty dire for civil society to me. i didn't call it totalitarian, but it sure looks like a precursor to it.
- rsynnott 2y agoOh, yeah, the UK has big problems. Brexit more or less broke it (I’m half convinced that the Tory trans obsession was borne out of a need for distraction after Brexit was no longer looking so good for them…) Totalitarian is pushing it tho.
- _cenw 2y agoIt's a worrying direction if the forth estate is this defunct and populism is at an all time high. How the UK treats trans people (not sure if they're the most vulnerable, but they're vulnerable and easy targets) is just one very poignant example of the shift.
- vivock 2y agoCass and her team did an excellent job assessing the available evidence and current clinical practice. Anyone who has read the Review with an open mind, and considers the wellbeing of children first and foremost, can see that. There's a great deal of ideologically-driven pushback to her team's work, mostly from people without expertise in the field. But that can be safely ignored due to not being based upon evidence nor reason.
- adammarples 2y agoI'm english and although everything is a bit run down and creaking, we're not going through totalitarianism, in fact, we just had an election which unlike the US preceded an orderly transfer of power.
- king_magic 2y agothe most vulnerable populations in the UK look to be doing a heck of a lot better than the most vulnerable populations in other areas of the world. not sure how you're concluding totalitarianism is running the show in the UK.
- mardifoufs 2y agoHow do they treat immigrants and racial minorities? Unless you're implying those aren't the most vulnerable?
- zo1 2y agoMaybe totalitarianism is the wrong word and not 100% correct by definition, but I'm certainly struggling to find a single word to define the direction the UK is descending into. It's definitely a descent, and it's definitely not looking pretty with no hope of recovery that I can see. I mean, geeze, just the hate-speech laws that are being used to punish wrong-think. That alone should scare you to the bone.
- cjs_ac 2y agoIrony is a fundamental aspect of British culture and communication, and exceptionally few Britons would find this anything other than amusing.
- leprechaun1066 2y agoA couple of old fogies down in Tunbridge Wells, "I say old chap, how very uncouth." Meanwhile everyone else, "It's been almost 50 years since Fawlty Towers. Took them long enough."
- rkangel 2y agoThe absolute funniest moment of my entire life happened to me in Germany. I was on a theatre tour (as Technical Director), the show had ended, it was late and night and everyone was tired after a long day and packing everything away. The German host gathered us together and stood on a chair to tell us about accommodation arrangements. He was clearly your stereotypical, humourless, German. He introduced himself - "Hi, my name is Hans. As you can see, I am German". Short pause, then in a loud stage whisper "Don't mention the war!". It was SO unexpected to have any humour at all, let alone self-referential Fawlty Towers reference. There was a pause while all the tired people processed what they'd just heard and then absolutely dissolved in laughter.
- ahazred8ta 2y agoThere was a german-language Monty Python special, the Fliegender Zirkus: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xmWN9fwmOKM https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xmWN9fwmOKM - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python%27s_Fliegender_Zirkus https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monty_Python%27s_Fliegender_Zi...
- johndunne 2y agoI live in the UK and this will be taken with the tongue in cheek it was delivered with. Most here in the UK will probably appreciate the humor. Now, how to counter?
- dkga 2y agoMonty Python’s “Bright side of life”?
- cs702 2y agoThis is probably the best answer. Thank you for suggesting it!
- bostonwalker 2y agoMaybe position someone on shore with a megaphone to read out The Funniest Joke in the World?
- H8crilA 2y agoNext time a British RC-135 overflies Germany it should change its callsign to Obi Wan Kenobi, or something like that. People from flight tracking forums will take care of the rest. Though it is not quite flashy enough, hmmm...
- johndunne 2y agoOr play out the Faulty Tower's "We didn't start it" clip. "Yes you did, you invaded Poland!" Maybe too close to the bone just yet!
- WillAdams 2y agoOr cue: >Speedbird 206: Frankfurt, Speedbird 206 clear of active runway. >ATC: Speedbird 206. Taxi to gate Alpha One-Seven. >BA 747 pulled onto the main taxiway and slowed to a stop. >ATC: Speedbird, do you not know where you are going? >Speedbird 206: Stand by, Ground, I’m looking up our gate location now. >ATC (annoyed): Speedbird 206, have you not been to Frankfurt before? >Speedbird 206 (nonchalantly): “Yes, twice in 1944, but it was dark ... and I didn't land.”. https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=391043 https://www.airliners.net/forum/viewtopic.php?t=391043 Or perhaps this is more apt: >Lufthansa (in German): "Ground, what is our start clearance time?" >Ground (in English): "If you want an answer you must speak in English." >Lufthansa (in English): "I am a German, flying a German airplane, in Germany. Why must I speak English?" >Unknown voice from another plane (in a beautiful British accent): "Because you lost the bloody war."
- mjbeswick 2y agoIt was a great choice; as most people in Britain would find it bloody funny!
- johndunne 2y agoAnd here's me thinking the Germans don't have a sense of humor. Well played Commander, well played. :-)
- theGnuMe 2y agoYou do realize all of the Imperial commanders have British accents...
- GJim 2y ago*English accents. I don't recall any of them sounding Welsh or Scottish! A "British accent" is something I've yet to hear anywhere in Blighty.
- mnw21cam 2y agoAlthough you could say the same about an "English accent" as well. Which particular part of England do you want this accent to be from? For example, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tb63PdPweDc is a fine example of an English accent.
- projektfu 2y ago11 days earlier and it could have been a tribute to Peter Cushing, thirty years after his death.
- vundercind 2y agoNot just he history between the countries, but the heavy influence of Nazi propaganda films on the appearance of and shot choices around the Empire in Star Wars, and that two of the most-cribbed-from movies for the first film were about the British bombing either Germany directly, or German-controlled Norway, during WWII. It’s not just bad guy music, it’s bad-guys-very-directly-inspired-by-WWII-Germany music. (But put me on team “it’s funny”—oh no, ze Germans!) [edit] I just watched the video and it’s even funnier than I thought, because the lines of that vessel call to mind a star destroyer more effectively than most non-battleships do.
- kjfarm 2y agoThat is not what the BBC link says (text copied below. including their weird British spelling of "recognisable"). It's seems much more light hearted and funny than what you are portraying. > German Navy blasts out Darth Vader theme on Thames Londoners spotted this ship on the Thames near Tower Bridge, playing the iconic Imperial March theme from the Star Wars trilogies, otherwise recognisable as the Darth Vader music. But it wasn’t coming from a galaxy far, far away - it was a German Navy ship, in London for training and a supply stop. A spokesperson from the German Navy told the BBC the music had "no deeper message" and "the commander can choose the music freely".
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ttepasse 2y ago> [a] Someone who has still memories of the bombing will be in their 90s. I don’t want to complete minify that – my late German grandmother had bad memories of the allied bombing her teenage years – but witnesses who lived through WWII are very few still alive. Time flies. The release of Star Wars and the Imperial March (Ep V, 1980) is closer to WWII than to our times.
- GJim 2y ago> Given the history between the two countries, it was perceived as a poor choice Don't be daft! It was a damn good choice. Though I for one, won't be happy until we have extracted our revenge; sending a 00 agent undercover to retune the Kraut Kapitans musical cocktail cabinet to play 'God Save the King'.
- DiggyJohnson 2y agoWhy are you complaining on their behalf? The number of elderly who lived through and remember the Blitz is in the hundreds at the most. And most of them recognize that the war was ~80 years ago.