Althouse: The Greek "system ... literally exterminates, for paltry reasons, whoever dares to express a different opinion, even in jest."

July 26, 2012

The Greek "system ... literally exterminates, for paltry reasons, whoever dares to express a different opinion, even in jest."

Says Golden Dawn.

47 comments:

MadisonMan said...: Someone doesn't know what 'literally exterminates' means.; 7/26/12, 11:22 AM
Andy said...: Racist does something racist. Non-racist people react. Racists complains about a lack of "tolerance". Non-racist people are so intolerant!

This same dynamic plays out when anti-gay people complain that others aren't being tolerant of them.; 7/26/12, 11:23 AM
Michael said...: So. The young Greek jumper joked that the mosquitoes in Athens would feed on home food because there are a number of African immigrants in Athens. Not a particularly funny joke but hardly racist. More geographic I would say but then I am a rational human being and not some twisted barking mad politically correct scold.

You could not make any of this up.; 7/26/12, 11:25 AM
traditionalguy said...: The memories of what comes from Ayrian master race dogma are probably still sore subjects in Greece.

The young social media hip lady has stepped into am old taboo.

That joke was tasteless. But the ideas behind it coming from Golden Dawn are re-cycled calls to save the Nordic Ayrians from subspecies of the planet. That should be opposed by all men of good conscience.; 7/26/12, 11:26 AM
Andy said...: I had quotes around tolerance, because that's not how tolerance actually works, not because I was quoting someone from the article, by the way.

I wish there was a better way to distinguish between scare quotes and quotation quotes.; 7/26/12, 11:27 AM
Michael said...: Andy R: As you know there are hundreds of inside jokes about gays that are told by gays to gays that cannot be told by non-gays. They are mean and they are rough and you can pretend you have never heard or told them but then you would not be telling the truth.; 7/26/12, 11:28 AM
Andy said...: You could not make any of this up.

From the article: The extreme far-right Golden Dawn party has deplored the expulsion of a Greek Olympian for comments on Twitter mocking African immigrants and voicing support for the party.

I wish the article was more clear about how much of the reaction to her is because of the joke versus praising a neo-nazi political party.; 7/26/12, 11:29 AM
Michael said...: AndyR:"I wish the article was more clear about how much of the reaction to her is because of the joke versus praising a neo-nazi political party."

Good point.; 7/26/12, 11:31 AM
Andy said...: They are mean and they are rough and you can pretend you have never heard or told them but then you would not be telling the truth.

I'm not pretending anything. I'm not sure what this has to do with anything. Are you one of the people that is upset that black people can say the n-word but white people can't?; 7/26/12, 11:31 AM
Nonapod said...: I actually don't understand the "joke" or comment. Are the mosquitoes supposed to be immigrants too? The more I think about it, the stranger it gets. But no matter how I interpret it, it's offensive.; 7/26/12, 11:36 AM
edutcher said...: It's not the Greek system. It's the Lefty system.

They just wish they had a gulag for her.

Andy R. said...

Racist does something racist. Non-racist people react. Racists complains about a lack of "tolerance". Non-racist people are so intolerant!

More like joke told. Unserious, narrow-minded Leftist react to enforce total conformity and obliterate free speech.

Lovers of liberty object.

Non-racist people usually the most racist of all.

FIFY

This same dynamic plays out when anti-gay people complain that others aren't being tolerant of them.

Oh, like when the queers try to have someone fired from their job and run out of public life because they take a different view and people expose it for the storm trooper tactic it is?; 7/26/12, 11:39 AM
Sorun said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 7/26/12, 11:40 AM
Wince said...: In a related story, Louis Farrakhan will be representing Greece on the women's Rhythmic Gymnastic team in the rope, hoop, ball, clubs and ribbon events.

MadisonMan said...
Someone doesn't know what 'literally exterminates' means.

Exterminate:
To get rid of by destroying completely; extirpate. See Synonyms at abolish.

Extirpate:
1. To pull up by the roots.
2. To destroy totally; exterminate. See Synonyms at abolish.
3. To remove by surgery.; 7/26/12, 11:40 AM
YoungHegelian said...: The Golden Dawn folks are a piece of work, too. I'm always hesitant about using the overworked term "Neo-Nazi", especially when the European left wing press will use the term for anyone to the right of themselves. In the case of Golden Dawn, however, it appears to be a more-or-less accurate description, with the appropriations of explicit Nazi symbolism & praise of Hitler by name in the party's journal.

The Far Right in Europe is, sadly, probably only at the beginning of its ascendancy in Europe.; 7/26/12, 11:45 AM
Andy said...: People are really standing with an athlete that got canned from the Olympics after she voiced support for a neo-nazi political party?; 7/26/12, 11:46 AM
YoungHegelian said...: @Andy,

Racist does something racist. Non-racist people react. Racists complains about a lack of "tolerance". Non-racist people are so intolerant!

You know, Andy, Stalin, Mao, and Hitler thought that they were murdering their "oppressors". They did, they really did!

And when some lefty starts yammering on about how it's so awful about those bigots have a right to free speech, those of us on the right who know our history check to see if our powder is dry, because we know who's next in line for the gulag.; 7/26/12, 11:50 AM
Revenant said...: The joke struck me as off-color but not racist. It doesn't imply that black people are inferior or bad, just that there are a lot of them in Greece.; 7/26/12, 11:50 AM
Alex said...: Andy - stfu.; 7/26/12, 11:52 AM
test said...: "The joke struck me as off-color but not racist"

Once you realize "racist" means whatever it needs to mean for the accusation of racism to be effective it will all make sense.; 7/26/12, 11:53 AM
Anonymous said...: This has been the whole goal of leftist politics: expulsion for anyone not toeing the PC line. It would be an infringement on free speech to NOT expel a person for thinking things that are so offensive.; 7/26/12, 11:55 AM
Balfegor said...: The joke struck me as off-color but not racist. It doesn't imply that black people are inferior or bad, just that there are a lot of them in Greece.

Yeah, on the scale of racist tweets that's like, maybe a 2 or 3? You want to see real racism on twitter? Try some Korean pop stars.; 7/26/12, 11:56 AM
Sorun said...: I didn't find the joke racist at all, nor was it mocking anyone.; 7/26/12, 11:57 AM
Anonymous said...: Racist does something racist.

The boy cries wolf one more time and is expecting to be taken seriously. Ha!; 7/26/12, 11:57 AM
Bryan C said...: Andy R, It's distasteful. But how is it any different from Chinese athletes voicing support for their government back home? Or the Russians doing the same thing?

And in those cases the athletes are supporting tyrants who are actually in power, and who are actively doing these terrible things.; 7/26/12, 11:58 AM
Anonymous said...: It's also hilarious that a neo-Nazi party is being described as far right, when even a passing understanding of the Nazis let's you know they were a far left political party.; 7/26/12, 11:59 AM
MadisonMan said...: Exterminate!; 7/26/12, 12:00 PM
Shanna said...: Are the mosquitoes supposed to be immigrants too?

Yeah, that confused me too. Are the mosquitoes supposed to be from africa?

FWIW, I had some friends who went to greece after college graduation and reported back that they were very racist. (They were rude to the black girl, liked the white guy only a little better but really liked the guy who is part hispanic, I guess because he looked almost greek.); 7/26/12, 12:01 PM
Andy said...: And when some lefty starts yammering on about how it's so awful about those bigots have a right to free speech, those of us on the right who know our history check to see if our powder is dry, because we know who's next in line for the gulag.

I support American First Amendment free speech protections, even for bigots. If there are people that want to restrict the right to speech for US bigots, I think they are wrong.

Does Greece have anything like a First Amendment or do they not have free speech the same way we do? It seems like the role of an Olympic athlete is as much to serve as an ambassador for the country as to win a medal. Sending a neo-nazi supporter sounds like something a government would have a legitimate right to be concerned about.; 7/26/12, 12:02 PM
ricpic said...: The hatboy brigade will tolerate no dissent from the total destruction of the hated retrograde bourgeois values, wherever they dare pop up! Bigotry, BIGOTRY, BIGOTRY must be wiped off the face of the planet so that glorious buggery shall prevail!!!; 7/26/12, 12:06 PM
James said...: Nonapod said...
I actually don't understand the "joke" or comment. Are the mosquitoes supposed to be immigrants too? The more I think about it, the stranger it gets. But no matter how I interpret it, it's offensive.

Offensive to whom? I'm black, and an immigrant to the U.S., and I don't see what's offensive about the "joke."

I'm always amused by people like you and Andy R. who presume to tell me what I should offended over.; 7/26/12, 12:06 PM
Anonymous said...: It seems like the role of an Olympic athlete is as much to serve as an ambassador for the country as to win a medal.

That's good, because a team made up of big donors to the incumbent president's last campaign isn't likely to win a lot of medals.; 7/26/12, 12:07 PM
Bryan C said...: "People are really standing with an athlete that got canned from the Olympics after she voiced support for a neo-nazi political party?"

Once again you seem to confuse tolerance with approval, Andy. It's not my job or your job or the IOCs job to approve people's political views. The remedy for bad speech is good speech, not censorship.; 7/26/12, 12:08 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: Yes, MadisonMan. That's the Prime Minister Jim Hacker non-literal "literally." ("He literally had steam coming out of his ears." "I was literally torn." &c.)

wv: 10 comelat. Sort of like Camelot, but with WJC rather than JFK? (Well, actually, it would do for either, wouldn't it?); 7/26/12, 12:08 PM
Bryan C said...: "Does Greece have anything like a First Amendment or do they not have free speech the same way we do?"

Everyone has the same right to free speech that we do. It's just a matter of whether their governments are enlightened enough to recognize that right.

Good post. And I actually agree with you in this specific instance.

An Olympic athlete is chosen for a lot of reasons, and if that athlete is suddenly deemed not suitable, then they can be replaced. I suspect that Greece and the IOC have the contractual authority to do what they did.

But that's a different question from whether or not what they chose to do was correct in a broader sense.; 7/26/12, 12:13 PM
Anonymous said...: Hey Andy:

"Tolerance" is what you show for behaviors you do not approve of.

If you want people who think "homosexuality is a sin" to "tolerate" homosexuals, you damn well better be ready to tolerate those people yourself.

It's ok to fire someone for saying something that you, Andy, don't like? Great! Then it's absolutely ok to fire someone for saying something you do like, or for doing something you, Andy, approve of.

What goes around, comes around.; 7/26/12, 12:20 PM
Nathan Alexander said...: What race is "African"?

Andy R., why do you assume Africa is inhabited by only one race?

Not that I expect you to show one bit of remorse for your racist views.; 7/26/12, 12:32 PM
Michelle Dulak Thomson said...: I agree with YoungHegelian. "Neo-Nazi" is tossed around too frequently in European politics. Applied to Haider or the elder LePen, not too big a stretch; applied to, say, Pim Fortuyn, ridiculous. (Mark Steyn has a great line somewhere about the menacing spectre of legions of pot-smoking gay sociology professors goose-stepping in their fabulously camp jackboots all over Europe.)

But Golden Dawn? I think there you've got yourselves some 100% certified pure neo-Nazis. In fact, you might as well drop the "neo-." They're not exactly shy about it.; 7/26/12, 12:35 PM
Fen said...: Golden Dawn? As in Yeat's Order of the Golden Dawn?

Where's Crack when you have a real cult to be mocked....; 7/26/12, 12:37 PM
I Callahan said...: voicing support for the party

The tweets in question referred to links and youtube videos that promoted the views of the Golden Dawn party. Since the WaPo didn't post what she posted, I'm not so convinced that what she referred to was actual support.

If someone I dislike says "Obama should not be reelected", and I say I agree, am I supporting the guy I dislike? Or am I just agreeing with something he said.

Tempest in a teapot, and the Golden Dawn party was correct in their characterization here.; 7/26/12, 12:37 PM
Fen said...: The cycle of economic collapse goes:

Democracy -> Anarchy -> Fascism

Coming soon to a city near you.; 7/26/12, 12:38 PM
Cedarford said...: tradguy - "That joke was tasteless. But the ideas behind it coming from Golden Dawn are re-cycled calls to save the Nordic Ayrians from subspecies of the planet. That should be opposed by all men of good conscience."

--------------

Like it or not, after Europe became prosperous and stabilized their population of native people, they also legitimized the idea of Noble 3rd World Refugees. They never planned for what they thought was to be a few thousand dissidents they could feel all noble sheltering and giving all sorts of free socialist benefits to ..

Becoming a flood of tens of millions of fast breeding Muslims and Africans pouring in and threatening the native cultures by demographics within decades, as the Muslims and Africans stayed fast-breeding, even had more kids as all survived childhood thanks to all the free medical care and other benefits (clean food and water go a long way).

After 9/11, lots of talk about how Belgium, the Netherlands will soon be majority Muslim. Norway, Sweden.

Less attention until recently on the hordes of black African "refugees" running past the Arab countries and Turkey to demand the sweet life and all the EU "nice free stuff"...in places like Italy, Greece, Spain. And outside the EU, now Israel is hit with a flood of blacks that are beginning to transform some Israeli areas into dangerous, high crime slums.

And tradguy, fresh off his bizarre Saint Trayvon utterances...believes as does the Euro Left that welcomes the white oppressor race becoming minorities in their own country...that any that oppose the 3rd World invasion and speak out are RAAAAAAAAACCCCISSST????

That any resistance by tradguy's Nordics, the white oppressor race French and Greeks and Serbs and Spaniards that resisted past efforts of Muslims to promote Harmony by invasion and occupation...don't have Haiti or Detroit on their tourist itineries must be opposed??
Opposed by all good (Western) men of good conscience?; 7/26/12, 1:06 PM
Rliyen said...: The hatboy brigade will tolerate no dissent from the total destruction of the hated retrograde bourgeois values, wherever they dare pop up! Bigotry, BIGOTRY, BIGOTRY must be wiped off the face of the planet so that glorious buggery shall prevail!!!

Is it completely wrong of me to hear that in a Dalek's voice?; 7/26/12, 1:11 PM
edutcher said...: Andy R. said...

And when some lefty starts yammering on about how it's so awful about those bigots have a right to free speech, those of us on the right who know our history check to see if our powder is dry, because we know who's next in line for the gulag.

I support American First Amendment free speech protections, even for bigots.

Until the people who hand him his talking points tell him the "bigots" (i.e., anybody who has a different point of view) have to be expunged, and then he'll be standing on the platform alongside Dr Mengele as the next trainload arrives, happy to help in any way he can.

Bet Hatman can't even tell you what the First Amendment guarantees (even if he looks).; 7/26/12, 1:15 PM
Cedarford said...: Fen said...
The cycle of economic collapse goes:

Democracy -> Anarchy -> Fascism

Coming soon to a city near you.

===========
But in many ways it is a RATIONAL CYCLE!!
If Democracy fails by voting themselves and their constituents more money than the treasury has..eventually they can't print enough money or the lenders cut off credit.
Then the most parasitic, including the Noble 3rd Worlders that swarmed in because they outbred the resources and jobs in their own lands go into rioting and anarchy as the Government Teat withers away. The people that saw themselves as the producers and suppliers of resources they had give under government coercion to the parasites - suddenly are free of that obligation with the fiscal collapse of the Government and its policing the masses powers. So they initially walk away, feeding the anarchy.

After enough has been burned, people RATIONALLY look and see that the situation cannot go on and on without becoming like what exists in African nation shitholes or Haiti. Order must be restored. But not the Democracy that caused the fiscal collapse or imported tens of millions of 3rd Worlders.

But Facism, a Totalitarian Communist revolution, or Military Junta --they all WORK --and as long as military adventurism is held in check so war does not destroy the new regime, it can last for decades.
Until the masses wish to replace it with a new and better Democracy that will avoid the failures of popular rule that happened under the last iteration of Democracy.

Could happen in America.
We are in decline.
The middle class has been sold out by the plutocrats of both Parties.
Our jobs and standard of living sold out to Free TRade, Outsourcing, use of illegal alien labor or mass 3rd World immigration to suppress American wages since 1978.
We are 15 trillion in debt.

The cycle going from a failed democracy to anarchy is starting here. Slower than most people notice. Obama has opened some eyes to us being frogs slowly poached in water.; 7/26/12, 1:28 PM
virgil xenophon said...: Cedarford hits the nail on the head. As I said previously on Althouses' first post on this matter, N. African and ME Muslim immigration is the Elephant in the room the "right sort of people"--the "decents"--wish devoutly to ignore and their answer to anyone with the temerity to point out the obvious, even jokingly, is to label them as beyond-the-pale raaacists. Ironically this very act of whistling past the graveyard by these sorts and labeling opponents of such immigration as racist is bringing about the growth of political parties like the Golden Dawn and the EDL in the UK precisely because anyone not a PC multiculti has nowhere else to go politically--hence we witness many obviously NON "neo-nazi" types (i.e., ordinary citizens) drifting to these parties out of frustration by the failure/unwillingness of the maj. political parties to seriously address the mass immigration problem.; 7/26/12, 1:36 PM
virgil xenophon said...: "TEST"; 7/26/12, 1:41 PM
ken in tx said...: I don't think the joke was all that tasteless. It was just lame. It's the kind of joke people would groan at in a comedy club.; 7/26/12, 2:30 PM