May 17, 2018

"The man admitted he had found the wine amusing upon purchasing it. But he said he had lost interest and described himself now as 'rather left-wing orientated.'"

"An Austrian man has been locked up for glorifying Nazism after cops found multiple bottles of Hitler-branded wine at his home," The Mirror reports. He bought the wine in Italy:
On the Italian side of the Brenner Pass linking the country to Austria, where Hitler and Mussolini met three times in the 1940s, fascist 'souvenirs' are still widely sold. But they are forbidden across the border in Austria. One souvenir shop owner claimed "it was mainly youngsters" buying such items, saying "there is a huge demand" for wines with the labels of Mussolini, Hitler and other fascists and Nazis.

31 comments:

n.n said...

Still left-wing oriented. Perhaps he got confused in the left-right nexus.

tim in vermont said...

How different exactly is supporting Hitler from being “left wing”?

Nonapod said...

It seems kinda fascist to lock up someone for buying ironic fascist novelties.

Bay Area Guy said...

Obviously, I'm not gonna buy or drink Hitler wine, but how on earth is this a crime? Poor taste? possibly. Poor sense of humor? likely.

But who got hurt and what is the crime?

"When Thou shall speak of Hitler, thou must denounce in the strongest terms or thou shall be punished with a term in prison, not to exceed 1 year."

The European Left will allow Muslims to enter their country and rape women, but they take a strong stand against Hitler jokes.

stevew said...

Imagine a world in which you can be arrested for buying and possessing wine deemed illegal by its label. Oh, wait, we don't have to imagine. Shouldn't The Mirror be sanctioned for publishing a photo of the offensive item?

-sw

Rob said...

Stockpile your Trump Wine now. It's only a matter of time.

tim in vermont said...

It is fascist to lock up someone for glorifying a repugnant ideology.

We let them run around in Che T-shirts after all. They only don’t like Hitler because he lost.

Ralph L said...

Tim, look at who he attacked.

Wasn't Hitler a teetotaler in addition to being a vegetarian?

tim in vermont said...

Tim, look at who he attacked.

The competition.

Char Char Binks, Esq. said...

Overcorrecting is still wrong, just like the wrong being overcorrected.

Quaestor said...

Austria hasn't got this "freedom of expression" thing nailed down yet. The leadership would like to blame their insane laws on comparatively recent history, however, 500 years ago they'd burn you at the stake for "glorifying" Martin Luther.

A friend of mine has a bottle of Mussolini, which he never intends on opening. The libation within is said to be quite a bit shy of even mediocre. The only reason to have it is to spark some lively conversation and to outrage any nearby snowflakes (now that's entertainment). Drinking it is pointless to anyone but a desperate wino who's run out of Listerine.

Quaestor said...

Wasn't Hitler a teetotaler in addition to being a vegetarian?

And a non-smoker. He was also hostile to the Jews and spoke highly of the Palestinians. If alive today Hitler would be getting a stipend from George Soros.

Lloyd W. Robertson said...

I've probably mentioned one of my favourite Father Ted episodes here before. An aged priest, on the verge of retiring, asks Ted to look after his precious artifacts. What are they? Nazi memorabilia. Ted looks around: do you have any U.S. Air Force stuff, anything like that? Oh no says the old priest, I have no interest in that kind of thing. Word spreads that Ted has become a fascist. When he gets a chance, he addresses a large group: once and for all, I'm not a fascist. There's a big difference between a priest and a fascist. A fascist dresses all in black and tells people what to do. A priest ... never mind.

rcocean said...

Che T-shirts? Yes.
Mao's little red book? Yes.
Stalin Statues? Yes.

Hitler wine? No.

traditionalguy said...

A good Malbec can be imported back on the Pope’s ratline back from Argentina. The best ones are probably grown on Hitlers retirement winery’s transplanted vines. They are guaranteed to contain no mixture with Morgan David grapes.

robother said...

Austria owes a debt of gratitude to Der Fuhrer for introducing the legal concept of forbidden speech, which obviously still endures, and for stifling the nascent Austrian sense of humor in the cradle. HItler and his Gestapo were the original "that's not funny" guys

robother said...

"If alive today Hitler would be getting a stipend from George Soros."

Probably only fair, given that Soros got his start helping Nazis locate Hungarian Jew's hidden art.

buwaya said...

"Austria hasn't got this "freedom of expression" thing nailed down yet. "

No, they don't, that is not such a value in those parts. This is not a lot different from European speech laws in general.

There are only a few countries with a US-style ideal of free speech codified into a constitution or held as a social value. The others can be a surprise.

Philippine Constitution. Article III Section 4 of the Bill of Rights:

"No law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech, of expression, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble and petition the government for redress of grievances."

buwaya said...

"Austria owes a debt of gratitude to Der Fuhrer for introducing the legal concept of forbidden speech"

No, censorship was a normal thing in the prior Royal-Imperial government, though almost always extremely lax.

rcocean said...

Of course young people want it. Once you make it "verboten" then teenagers think its "Cool" and "Subversive" to buy Hitler wine.

PackerBronco said...

We must lock wrong-thinking people up in order to avoid a return to fascism ...

bagoh20 said...

Locking him up is very Hitlerian. Looks like it might be a problem with the Austrian genetic code.

Sal said...

It's like converting from Lutheran to Methodist.

The Godfather said...

In the years immediately following the end of WWII, there was a reasonable fear that Naziism and Fascism might be revived in Germany, Italy, Austria, France, etc., where that evil had once been popular. So, if you were not committed to free expression as an important principle, a pragmatic thing to do would be to ban the use of symbols, images, slogans, etc. related to that past evil. However, after more than 70 years, whatever risk there is of a revival of Naziism/Fascism in those countries is not going to be addressed effectively by such a ban.

Anti-Semiticism today is a left-wing movement, tied to sympathy for Muslims as a down-trodden group. Fascism today is represented best by the Antifa, and proto-Fascism by "political correctness". If Hitler came back from the dead, he'd find a ready audience for his rhetoric, but it probably wouldn't be on what we now call The Right.

He'd be part of "The Resistance". Wouldn't he?

JaimeRoberto said...

If Obama's press secretary can have Soviet propaganda posters on his wall, why can't regular people buy this stuff?

ALP said...

You laugh but incidents like this are why I will not be surprised if Seattle rounded up everyone with a German surname...just in case there are any lurking genetic Nazi tendencies.

Bob Boyd said...

It was an impertinent little wine.

John L. Korey said...

From the Constitution of the People's Republic of China:
"Article 35. Citizens of the People's Republic of China enjoy freedom of speech, of the press, of assembly, of association, of procession and of demonstration."

Howard said...

The Austrians are brilliant people. They made the world believe that Hitler was a German and Beethoven an Austrian. Billy Wilder

Bilwick said...

Maybe the young people found out about Mussolini's "Everything for the State, nothing against the State, nothing outside the State," and thought, "Cool! Sounds like Obama and Hillary!" An easy mistake to make.

Ingachuck'stoothlessARM said...

Der Fuhrer is a pretty nice guy,
But he doesnt have a lot to say
Der Fuhrer is a pretty nice guy,
But he changes Day to Day.
Wanna tell him I love him a lot,
But I gotta get a belly full of wine!
Der Fuhrer's a pretty nice guy--
Today I'm gonna make him mein !
Oh yeah!
Today I'm gonna make him mein.