Is it me or what is with this "homeland" crap?

[Puglover]

Pre 9/11 the ONLY time I ever heard the term "homeland" was in german, "heimat". A community choir I was in was performing a piece by Brahms which was called "Heimat" According to the director the term was somewhat controversial because the Nazis used it so much in their propaganda. And suddenly, like 9/12/2001 it was homeland this and homeland that. It bugs the shit out of me.

[BuyingThyme]

1. Yes, pure nationalist propaganda.

[malaise]

11. Remember this always

AUTHOR: Samuel Johnson (1709–84)
QUOTATION: Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.
ATTRIBUTION: SAMUEL JOHNSON.—James Boswell, Life of Johnson, entry for Friday, April 7, 1775, p. 615 (1970).

“In Dr. Johnson’s famous dictionary patriotism is defined as the last resort of a scoundrel. With all due respect to an enlightened but inferior lexicographer, I beg to submit that it is the first.”—Ambrose Bierce, The Devil’s Dictionary, at entry for patriotism, The Collected Writings of Ambrose Bierce, p. 323 (1946, reprinted 1973).

H. L. Mencken added this to Johnson’s dictum: “But there is something even worse: it is the first, last, and middle range of fools.”—The World, New York City, November 7, 1926, p. 3E.

From Columbia Encyclopedia

[annabanana]

2. It always struck a false note with me.

It's a bad, emotional name for a government agency.

[KharmaTrain]

3. Germany was "Motherland"

But I get your point and I agree. It's part of the fear game this regime plays...creating their own lexicon that, as we've seen, they employ where they see fit and change the definitions to suit their game.

[Swamp Rat]

13. Vaterland - Fatherland

It's even in their national anthem:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Das_Lied_der_Deutschen

Third stanza
(Germany's National Anthem)

Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Für das deutsche Vaterland!
Danach lasst uns alle streben
Brüderlich mit Herz und Hand!
Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit
Sind des Glückes Unterpfand;
Blüh' im Glanze dieses Glückes,
Blühe, deutsches Vaterland.

Unity and justice and freedom
For the German fatherland;
This let us all pursue,
Brotherly with heart and hand.
Unity and justice and freedom
Are the pledge of happiness.
Flourish in this blessing's glory,
Flourish, German fatherland.

_______

Groups that refer to their native country as a "fatherland":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatherland

[KharmaTrain]

18. I'm Confused With "Mother Russia"

Sorry, Swampie...

:hi:

I appreciate the correction.

Cheers...

[Swamp Rat]

23. Check out Larry Gonick's "Cartoon History Of The Universe":

I love these comix! :D

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0385265204/ref=pd_sim_b_1/002-4967772-1057661?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=283155

http://www.ripoffpress.com/CatPage.cfm?ShowAll=Yes&Category=Nonfiction%20Titles&MerchType=B

:hi:

[KharmaTrain]

25. Glad To See You Back In Form!

Gornick's stuff is great...but then I'm a non-traditional history buff.

Thanks for the links...

:hi:

[Swamp Rat]

26. ... back in HUMAN form.

:D

I think I hit my daily peak a couple of hours ago: ;)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=232050&mesg_id=233738

[JohnnyRingo]

14. Not to be picky, but wasn't that "Fatherland"?

Maybe motherland was an Eastern European thing.
Or maybe I'm wrong on both

Homeland, fatherland, motherland, I get my totalitarian regimes all mixed up

[KharmaTrain]

17. I Need Coffee...LOL

I was just looking at one of my father's WWII momentos...a dagger taken (he always embellished the story) from a German soldier. Enscribed on the blade is "Deutchland Fur Alles" in large bold Germanic writing...along with the swastika on the grip. It's a real shocking reminder of how deep the indoctrination was...and the parallels to what we see in today's corporate and political atmosphere.

My appologies!

[JohnnyRingo]

28. Sounds like the "Hitler Youth Knife"

A very coveted and valued war souvenir, they were issued to those in the Youth Party and carried by those who later voluteered for service. Kind of like an ROTC thing here.

It was special because it denotes one who was not a conscript and therefore a more avid and experienced soldier.

[KharmaTrain]

29. Well It Doesn't Look Like It Was Used

It's definitely a "decoration" piece...I'm sure a prized possession from whomever owned it. My father served in the Medical Corps during the war and treated all sides and I've learned he picked this up as part of the "spoils" that were common at the time...kinda taking a piece of the war back home. He used to tell those who'd let him go on how he picked it up on the battlefield. LOL.

I'd like to learn more about this item someday since I'm sure as the years go by these objects will become more difficult to find.

Cheers...

[JohnnyRingo]

33. Though many symbolic daggers were issued in Germany

you may find help in ID and value here:

http://www.wwiidaggers.com/HYK.htm

[SushiFan]

4. Try looking into the Bush family's wartime associations with

the German Nazis. That heritage plus GWB's love for loyalty, elitism and racial science are all parts of the Bush family history, ideals which GWB continues to admire and promote from his Skull and Bones days as well.

[liberal N proud]

5. Homeland - Fatherland - all the same to me

[stellanoir]

6. I'm still trying to figure out

WTF is the subtle distinction between National Security and Homeland Security aside from the color coded charts that only appeared to register * plummeting in the polls in the run up to the faux elections.

Go figure. Intelligence agencies failed to function in concert prior to 9/11 so what does the gov do. . .? Create yet another big bad bloated bureaucratic disfunctional agency. Brilliant.

[Boomer]

7. It creeps me out

But that's an advantage, as far as I'm concerned. Every time I hear the word "homeland" I'm reminded of what this country has become: a fascist theocracy.

[canichelouis]

8. I refuse to use the word

Have always found it unnatural in reference to the US.

Just use National in it's place.

[ixion]

9. that word has always struck me as being bogus propaganda

along the lines of drug 'czar'.

It's creepy, and I'd like to go back to the days when we were land of the free and the brave, instead of the land of the enslaved and terrified. :-(

[nanbrown]

10. homeland

as in the homelands used in apartheid south africa

[ixion]

42. or as in Deutchland Uber Alles

by you know who.

[Puglover]

12. I wish I knew where it started.

It had to be within some spew from the Whitehouse I guess. It just seems so orchestrated to me.

[Rockholm]

15. Homeland it such a creepy term.

It's not like we are leaving the US and going to Australia and then loving recalling "my homeland" when waxing poetic. Whenever I herar homeland for some reason I think of something foreign from the US.

[adriennui]

16. homeland, heartland

they're both retch-inducing

[radwriter0555]

19. The nazification of the USA under bush.

Welkome!

[mattclearing]

40. And yet, the department was proposed by Sen. Lieberman. n/t

[Kansas Wyatt]

41. Dimson was too lazy to come up with his own plan.

So he just copied the Nazi plan.

[baldguy]

20. America is not about the "Land".

It's defined by the Constitution. The President swears to "preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States."

Why don't we have a Department of Constitutional Protection?

[Im with Rosey]

21. Not only homeland, but...

folks. I am ready to poke out someone's eye when I hear * say "folks".

[mcscajun]

22. What's so wrong with "folks"?

I use it quite a bit. It's a friendly, inclusive term.

Phone lines are open. :)

[alcibiades_mystery]

32. I use "folks" a lot too

And I'm from NYC.

I can see it both ways. Folks is a "friendly nad inclusive" term, but its also onbe of those terms thatallow people to pretend trhjat they have a more authentic relationship to a "community" or some such. It's both a good word and an extraordinarily obnoxious word.

[Tracer]

36. I only use the term "folks" when referring to ...

... my immediate family ---- and then only on rare occasions.

SmirkyBoy has cheapened the word by using it in his usual patronizing speeches. He's even referred to "terrsts" as "folks". The dope.

[EFerrari]

38. Family and friends. That's why it's so nauseating when

Idiot Son uses it. I will not be related to *that*.

[Ikonoklast]

24. We are a Fascist state

We espouse the terminology.



I always thought that term "homeland" was used especially for the connotation. The mindless masses that cannot or will not do any critical thinking accept that Daddy/President/Savior/Warrior will save them and keep them safe from the Devil/Liberal/Terrorist/Homosexual agenda.

Fools, all of them.

[Village Idiot]

27. Wait until the Canadian Anschluss!

The traitor Harper will sell Canada to the US in a red-hot minute!!!

[Ikonoklast]

34. Uhhhh, do you take credit?

We'll have to ask our Chinese owners if it is okay.
We're kinda short right now, hows about I write a check for it? Do you want it in Euros, or Loonies? We know dollars are kinda iffy right now.

[Village Idiot]

37. Just get your foreign overlords to contact our foreign overlords.

I am sure that payment in Chinese Yuan will be suitable. After all, it will be the de-facto world currency in a few months, anyway.

[Lost4words]

30. I hate it as well, "Got Goose Step"

[donco6]

31. I hate it.

I cringe whenever I hear it. And it's tossed off so casually these days.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

35. "Patriotism is the egg from which wars are born." de Maupassant

"Homeland", "Vaterland", "Motherland", "My Country Right or Wrong", all the nationalistic drivel that keeps the troops killing lesser beings and the populace cheering.

[mattclearing]

39. I was shocked when I first heard it. Horrible term. n/t

[earth mom]

43. You aren't alone. It freaks me out...

and bugs the crap out of me.

The Nazi overtones are chilling. :scared:

[Flying Dream Blues]

44. I've hated it since the first time I heard it. I kept waiting for

someone to protest the name, but it didn't happen. Little did I know it was just the beginning of Amerika Uber Alles.

[dogday]

45. It reminds me of Nazis too

The Motherland, The Fatherland... All to impose patriotism....