Stephen Fry - The power of words in Nazi Germany

[@probablygraham]

It was very confusing growing up in the 50s and 60s. We kids would buy comics full of war stories where German soldiers were all eating sausages all day and shouting "Achtung" and "Schweinehund" but our soldiers always shot them all and won. At school I decided to learn German and after 2 years the school offered us a pupil exchange where we went to Germany for two weeks and a German pupil came to stay with us for two weeks. When I met my exchange partner's father, it was obvious that he had a serious injury in one arm and as I went to shake hands he gave me the other hand and said "I was shot down by the RAF during the war". I was totally shocked, couldn't speak and thought I was going to faint or throw up or run away. He smiled and said something like "Isn't it wonderful that we can be friends today?". I actually ended up moving to Germany and have been here for many years. It really upsets me when people who have never had more experience of people from another country than going on a package holiday or reading a comic say things which are totally wrong. I think Stephen Fry - as usual - does an excellent job of explaining things here.

[@MerkinMuffly]

Those comics were talking about Nazis, not Germans. There's a difference, you should specify which one of those you're taking up for.

[@probablygraham]

@@MerkinMuffly - the problem is that many many people still talk about the Germans as if they are all Nazis. I'm not "taking up" for anyone, but talking about my experiences which when it comes down to it weren't very long after World War II.

[@thegoodgeneral]

Such a cool story. Thank you for sharing!

[@Brian-xd2oi]

Well said sir.

[@MrHarumakiSensei]

Are you allowed to use public transport, or are you in the wrong group?

[@AGoodJoe]

Crazy how relevant this remains right this moment.

[@BatMan-oe2gh]

Shame it is so obvious, yet so many ignore it. We are on the precipice again due to peoples stupid ideologies regarding each other. Cheers

[@justme.9711]

@@BatMan-oe2gh Due to people being so easily led, incapable, or unwilling to exercise independent thought/discernment.

[@BatMan-oe2gh]

@@justme.9711 Agree. I am 60 and when I was at school and 15 I thought the world would be so smart and advanced. Yet I see so many attacks on Schools, Medical, Genders etc. It seems there is no tolerance anymore. And I see the biggest problems with the Right Wing Conservative ideology. Constantly attacking others and refusing to compromise or listen to others. Plus I see Religion as a cult to woo the uneducated and the feeble minded. Cheers mate and stay safe. 😊👍

[@ThumpRat]

@@BatMan-oe2gh you managed to not only spectacularly miss Stephen's message and blame a group at random, but also the thread starter's original point

[@BatMan-oe2gh]

@@ThumpRat Hahaha, I did not blame a group at random, I pointed out who the culprits are. Right Wing Conservatives and Religion. Did you know there are 4300 different religions in the world. So which is the true God? I got Stephen's message as it shows how propaganda worked in Germany and how it still works today. And I understood Joe's comment, and I agree with him.

[@timp8584]

Oh I could listen to this man for hours. Particularly if he's talking about such an important issue in such an intelligent way.

[@wretch1]

Intelligent; meaning 'with a British accent'? lol

[@areyoustupid.....]

@@wretch1 no. Just intelligent. Jordan Peters on is another.....from north America

[@tungstenkid2271]

Fry's a clever bloke but when he starts badmouthing religion he doesn't sound so clever..;)

[@r.s.334]

Greetings from 9 years in the future. I regret to inform you we haven't listened to his wise words and we are a clusterf*ck.

[@kevinherbert4256]

How generous of Fry to declare that the Germans are human....were they human when the North Sea Blockade brought the whole 61 million of them to the brink of starvation in early 1916?....do you even know what happened then?.....and that the German nation was kept on the brink of starvation until the 1919 Versailles Treaty double-cross was signed.......Fry is a brainwashed dill

[@jmalcomfortescue6587]

Love Fry to bits, a highly intelligent and funny man!

[@DB-qw6xq]

The aggressive secularism/atheism (i.e. New Atheism) that Fry has signed up to is perfectly capable of becoming another nazi type regime, afterall, atheism unperpinned Naziism and Communism.

[@tfootball8704]

And Gay, he is a hero in the Gay community.

[@TheTruthKiwi]

Stephen is an international treasure. He would've made a great university professor but I'm glad he chose to entertain, inform and inspire us instead. Truly a great great man.

[@hans-joachimbierwirth4727]

Same Fry is happy to support fascists like Jordan Peterson. His drivel above is among the worst i ever heard.

[@TheTruthKiwi]

@@hans-joachimbierwirth4727 You're allowed to your opinion my friend. Jordan makes some good points and also many that I don't agree with and I expect Stephen thinks the same. You do realise that you don't have to agree with everything that someone says right?

[@DB-qw6xq]

The aggressive secularism/atheism (i.e. New Atheism) that Fry has signed up to is perfectly capable of becoming another nazi type regime, afterall, atheism unperpinned Naziism and Communism.

[@pchamney]

We are fortunate to be living in Stephen Fry's time. He is a magnificent thinker with great heart.

[@DB-qw6xq]

The aggressive secularism/atheism (i.e. New Atheism) that Fry has signed up to is perfectly capable of becoming another nazi type regime, afterall, atheism unperpinned Naziism and Communism.

[@princeraith]

He's an academic, a film writer, film and television producer, actor, author, lecturer and most importantly, was at the forefront of British comedy in the 80's and early 90's. His double act "Fry and Laurie" consisted of himself and Hugh Laurie - who is now famous for playing House on the eponymous American show. He's considered something of a national institution in the UK, as well as being one of the funniest and smartest people alive.

[@b00tn]

he's right but give the man a normal chair ffs, just watching him moving around on that little barstool makes me nervous

[@willypeeters6136]

Right, it surely distracts...although I doubt he realizes it himself... I found a solution though, I minimized the screen while continue working on my artwork in Illustrator so I just listened to it without watching it...

[@robkunkel8833]

I love Stephen Fry but he is hard to watch, if you focus on his mannerisms. If he is doing a bit, he doesn’t flinch but speaking impromptu, that is what he does. When he speaks at the Universities, he is often given a comfy chair. That helps, but he does seem to prefer standing, at times. The content, however, is precious. .

[@AdultDevelopmentInstitute]

He's also a huge bloke... makes it worse for him.

[@paulhunter1525]

What Mr Fry is sitting on totally irrelevant. What he's talking about is Earth shattering. We can use language to help bring people together. Or to exterminate entire cultures.

[@paulhunter1525]

He like use his hands when stressing a point. A lot of speakers do this just he trying balance himself same time.

[@lekoman]

I love that videos of Stephen Fry lecturing are one of the few places on KZbin where the comments section isn't an unmitigated cesspool of racism and homophobia, nor fawning leftist ideologues. Even though he's speaking on controversial subjects, seems his particular style attracts folks who want to think about these things with a little more nuance. He's really, truly, a gift to the world and I'm glad we have him.

[@Smith.S.E.]

Most people are like us. Regular people in the middle are helpless against the fringes

[@comradestarbucks2726]

@S. Smith Most of the people OP is talking about are like us too. They’re just caught up in it all.

[@hunterluxton5976]

I'm not disagreeing with you, but " racism" is a term that's been thrown about by any body and everybody for a long time. It's easy to accuse, difficult to defend.

[@brmbkl]

@@Smith.S.E. that's the thing; there's not an abundance of heroes for the people in the middle. what catches the interest of the common man is in fact common (meaning vulgar). but what is called common is in fact uncommon, I agree with the term "the fringes". the media serves their interest with extremes, only catering to the basest instincts. they do anyone a disservice.

[@kevinherbert4256]

and he's talking total bunkum about the GNS & Germany during that period...total dross

[@daviddemar8749]

I have recently watched a bunch of Mr. Fry's lectures and interviews on KZbin. He has now become one of my new heroes. thank you sir (and thank you to your family and to Cambridge ) for being who you continue to be :-)

[@union310]

The man is a hypocrite, he believes in free speech so long as you agree with him.

[@daviddemar8749]

@@union310 Well if that's true ( and I would like you to point me to the evidence that you are relying upon to support your contention ) then it is a paradigmatic and very common type of hypocrisy amongst all sorts of people across a variety of subjects/ topics .i will keep an open mind about him until then and review any examples that you can show me.

[@union310]

@@daviddemar8749 Look at his views on religion and homosexual and lesbian rights.

[@daviddemar8749]

@@union310 ok , will do. Can you be a little more specific about the way he is inconsistent? Or point me to a particular speech/ essay /interview?

[@union310]

@@daviddemar8749 He speaks of everyone having the ability to speak freely , but gets annoyed and dismissive when it is pointed out in the bible and by science that the reproduction of society has to follow man with woman. Like his take on non binary, he doesn't like fact.

[@Norwegian_Forest_Dragon]

Yes, that's what I thought, too. I very much appreciated him reminding people in the beginning that Germans are human. A lot of people like to believe that there was something inherent in the German people, an evil gene perhaps when the sad fact is: Every society, nation or people is capable of these atrocities given the circumstances and a trigger.

[@liamg88]

It also has to be said that not all Germans were Nazis, and not all Nazis were/are German. Even a lot (I’d like to say most, but I don’t know for sure) of Germans who fought for the Nazis had no desire to be associated with them and only did so for the same reasons as the British and such. Also, the “circumstances” you refer to in this case are largely described by Philip Zimbardo. When you give someone total power and control over someone else - or multiple people - it so easily ends up in that person horribly abusing those they hold power over, whether or not they had shown abusive or aggressive behaviour before. The Stanford Prison Experiment is a good example of this.

[@sallyfield8405]

Basically the only "difference" peculiar to the Germans was their sheer efficiency.

[@danielscott4514]

Following on from the points Stephen makes here about seeing other humans as humans - there's an interesting thing I've observed in people of my parents' generation (who were born shortly after WWII and whose fathers were of fighting age in WWII): They are able to hold on to prejudices against the Japanese far more than they hold grudges against the Germans. I don't think it's simply because they're Australians and New Zealanders who involved more with the war in the Pacific than with the war in Europe. I think it's because the Japanese look different to westerners and have an unfamiliar culture. It's easier to see someone who doesn't look or act like you as something other than "human". Of course, everything Stephen says about ordinary people being capable of the most awful things is true. We have Nazi Germany, Imperialist Japan, the Vietnam war, the Stanford Prison experiment, and many other episodes in history to teach us this.

[@cogitoxyz9645]

@@danielscott4514 What you wrote is accurate as to probably most humans: difference is felt to be a tacit threat, if not even an overt one. That said, the are historical facts that are relevant: unlike (western) Germany which went through a de-Nazification program (however incomplete), the Japanese people were in significant measure shielded from learning of the vast, systematic atrocities committed in their name by the Imperial Japanese Army. And, to the extent they may have been informed, many would have reacted as European civilians (both of the Axis and of the Allies) did when confronting the horrors committed by the aggressors: “we suffered too, so they should stop complaining.” There were circumstances that shielded the Japanese public from knowledge of --much less accountability for-- the crimes committed by their nation in WW2. First, US Gen. Douglas MacArthur‘s rule over Japan was corrupt in insidious ways, heavily motivated by a desire to suppress Japanese leftists who were inclined both to criticize Japanese conservatives and were also perceived (at least partially accurately) as threatening the development of an essentially capitalist society and economy. Then, in June, 1950 when N. Korea invaded S. Korea, Japan became essential to the US led UN defense against the communist North. It was ‘inconvenient‘ to the war effort to rub the nose of the Japanese public in the crimes their country had committed throughout Asia where their army committed atrocities on a scale rivaling those committed by Germany. Japan oppressed all the countries it occupied but Korea (occupied by Japan since c. 1905) and China suffered in the extreme. TO THIS DAY, Japan refuses to acknowledge --much less apologize for-- the tens of thousands of Korean women forced into sexual slavery as ‘comfort women‘ held to serve the appetites of Japanese soldiers. In 1937 the Imperial Army committed the infamous Rape of Nanking, brutally killing some 800,000 Chinese civilians during a ten week period. Later, Japan‘s infamous Unit 731 committed atrociously abusive experimentation on Chinese and on captured Allied air crews; it was no less inhumane than that committed by such Germans as Mengele. Other Japanese military biological experimentation programs are estimated to have killed over half a million. Even now Japanese nationalists refuse to acknowledge, much less apologize for, the crimes against humanity committed by their government before and during WW2. We in the US are not pure: most Americans today would have difficulty locating Vietnam or Iraq on a world map but our unjustified ‘interventions‘ in those countries resulted in the deaths of millions despite the proven fact that neither country posed a threat to the US. Those born long after the War are not personally responsible for what their parents and grandparents did but by refusing to acknowledge their crimes their countries grant themselves unjustified pardons.

[@marcraygun6290]

@@sallyfield8405 I think an experiment was done to see if Germans had an inherent flaw of blind loyalty, people were asked to give increasing electric shocks to a experiment subject up to the point of it being fatal by a authority figure, turns out a lot of people followed these orders German or not

[@NowFunStarts]

More of this program please. Thanks for posting.

[@jbrettar]

What a brilliant mind! There is an urgent need for more people like him, analyzing the roots of human cruelty in the past ...and the present.

[@tomcavanagh2643]

It seems to me that the use of dehumanizing language starts when we classify groups of people as “other”. We start to use phrases like “All [insert hated group] are [insert undesirable trade], rather than dealing with people as distinct individuals.

[@Pan_Z]

Using a label is the first step to dehumanising someone. "You're [blank], therefore you're beneath me." This sentiment is growing recently. Out of insecurity or ignorance, people will dismiss someone's way of life, refuse so much as to enter discussion with the person, ascribe him some political or emotional term, and then use it as an excuse to justify some sort of action. As of 2021 that mostly manifests as censorship or deplatforming, but I fear it will magnify into something more extreme.

[@georget6179]

I'd also be wary of the repeated promise to "make (insert place name) great again". It seems to me that statements like this are the new way of saying that there are groups among us who have ruined everything, leading to a similar and chilling spread disdain for certain groups. Rarely ends well.

[@Magnus_Loov]

@@georget6179 But then again you should be wary of any repeated political slogans. The MAGA (which of course is what you imply) thing was more about saying that the group of people that belonged to the "other party" ruined America in the last 8 years. Then word "deplorables" comes to mind, which was used by a certain very well known democratic leader to describe the followers of "the other party". And that is much more in line with what Fry is talking about here. Calling a group of people deplorable is de-facto dehumanising them much more so than saying a more generalised slogan like "Maga". As a Swede I was always (And still is) very much against most of what the republican party stood for. Well to be honest, the democratic party is not that much different either (a little less religious, a bit more state but not much. Still the crazy gun laws, private health care, the focus on the milltary etc. Also more support for some crazy (in my view) identity politics that not even the left wing government in Sweden ever even comes close to) But at the same time I can see that there is language used on both sides that is just in line with what Fry was talking about. A current political slogan to really be worried about is "Build Back Better". An alliteration that is used by world leaders (often associated with the G8)trying to force some new decisions through post covid (well it is happening right now). It implies that we did most things wrong pre covid and now its time to change things dramatically globally without concerns for democratic rights of individuals in all respective nations. Yes, we have to change many things when it comes to the environment, how we cooperate in times of global crisis like a pandemic, but I also see big, BIG problems with covid passports, even more digital tracking done on a government (or even global) scale, which can be (ab)used for controlling individuals in so many other aspects in life. Same thing with some not so well thought through "new green deals" where people living in rural areas all across both America and western/northern Europe are neglected in so many ways or even plain looked down at, using similar type of language (even here in Sweden) where urban rich and trendy "know better" people are directly put against the rural "white trash"... Let's tax them to hell so that they move to a city, the damn polluters of lesser populated areas (which have to use cars much more to commute)... This is a great problem and its the rich people in power put against the poor people. In the past that would have been a classic left (the rural) vs right (the urban) wing case. But now that way of looking at views on a political scale has gone out the window. The GAL/TAN-scale where it is more important to have "the right values" than giving everybody the same opportunity to make a good living. Where the belonging to a group (the "Right one" of just two opposite sides) is much more important than individual freedom. Where language is the most important tool to control the people to choose "the right side" and to smear "the wrong side" and to cancel "The wrong people that gets too much attention" in global platforms.

[@WaaDoku]

3:19 "The moment we begin to use special language for special people ... that's when ... ordinary people are able to kill."

[@Choraldiscourse]

Nurses in Abortion units are lovely people. They carry out "a medical procedure" involving a "fetus".

[@mikejstrehl]

"Man is the only animal that blushes-or has need to." (Mark Twain)

[@fredericoduvel3092]

That’s actually not true macaws blush.

[@gcallananpainting]

That's not true. My dog would get embarrassed sometimes.

[@jakefarronmerlin7963]

Octopus blushes *

[@UnleashthePhury]

@@gcallananpainting Mine too, and it’s always because she knows she done goofed

[@gcallananpainting]

@John Doe that's not true either. You're trying hard though.

[@chevinbarghest8453]

A good lesson. My dad taught me that all humanity was the same. He served in the British Army 1939 to 1945 and in the jungles of Burma. Many of my (now) American fellow citizens managed to dehumanize the Japanese in WW2. My dad related how a young Japanese soldier jumped out of the jungle and into the back of a British staff car where he held a grenade to the chest of a British Officer. It killed the officer and blew the boy's hand off. The British soldiers put a rope around the boys neck and dragged him (untreated) behind the car for 3 days until he died. My dad told me this to demonstrate that the most appalling savagery exists in all races and nationalities... He told me that coloured people are "Just like us, but with a sun tan that's all".. Living just a few miles out of Milwaukee, which is the most segregated city in the US, I find that info useful...

[@pmathews109]

Yes, I witnessed the atrocities of the British army in my own country, mans inhumanity to man.

[@Kajpaje]

You are lucky to be connected to a father who didn't lose his humanity, when it was tested beyond my experience and knowledge.

[@yba666_]

This comment is more sensible and error free than respected stephen fry in this regard. Ur dad oozes intelligence n a wider xperience. I agree totally n respects to him. I lov s.fry but this time, its fallen with a thud. Soo naive. Jews and others were prosecuted all across the world. All those 'languages' contributed is it. So sooo wrong. Similarly, 'we r the only ones to do it' Absolutely wrong. Attenbo.. wd burst out laughing if he heard this. So both aspects r wrong n its safe to say mr fry is ohsowrong here. It sounds nice, in how he speaks, we all love it. Humans do have serious violence in them, be it without or with language. And such violence n massacres will happen within most communities among humans. Im not white but i know! Its scary. Just dont make it sound that the nazis had exclusive domain over that(wonder y the british always act 'omg' over nazis all the time) its not funny anymore. Us asians hv done same, even the brits hv done it. The islamic invaders hv done it.Alll hv done it! Humans dooo these thngs! They do it, they hv it. This video conclusion is just so naive, childish n a bit typical. ...esp whn it comes frm the same group who again n again n again blab about just one group. You encountered one group,so u make it sound lik omggggg. Pls dont try t tell us that they are the wrst. Cos its jst ur group's xperience. Its limited xperience then.

[@oldnelson4298]

@@yba666_ Did you watch the same video? You seem to have completely misinterpreted what was said.

[@areyoustupid.....]

@@yba666_ perhaps if you learned English you would appreciate what he was describing. Your words were jibberish and way off!

[@BenHatira]

Full respect for this man, just for his intro about humanity !

[@lizgower5405]

I could listen to him for a very long time. He is fascinating - not just in what he says, but in the way he says it.

[@davidgodfrey4168]

Love Mr Fry, intelligent, witty, highly engaging.

[@TomFynn]

As a native German speaker, I have to state that his German is damn good.

[@TheRABIDdude]

I wish more people would watch this video, it seems almost as important to educate people on

[@chubbypekingese]

Every generation says 'not again' but we fail to learn history. Because we fail to learn history we miss the warning signs and are doomed to repeat it again. How many times do you hear the zealots of a political party dismiss their counterparts with catchy insults? First you dismiss the political arguement then you dismiss the person. This IS the plan... Remember we already said NOT AGAIN. Lets hope we meant it.

[@thomaswilkinson3241]

chubbypekingese it is because the generation of Grandchildren after every massive War or Plague or Happening have no grasp whatsoever of what their Grandparents experienced. This is what I at least came across as a conclusion of this train of thought.

[@2804393]

No, not true. I think your reasoning is too simple and you are just repeating the old maximum.We do learn. We do things different and we are still making mistakes but I don't believe we repeat history.

[@thehellyousay]

Are you naive or just stupid.

[@thehellyousay]

@@2804393 No, we don't repeat history. We rhyme it.

[@the_godfather9974]

@Mickey G I see your point but just look at the examples of today for what stephen is talking about: in the us a orange shouting lunatic and his cabinet of goons are dehumanizing immigrants, foreigners and muslims bigtime and many people seem to love them for that. In turkey Erdogan is suppressing the kurds and talks about them as rats and terrorists. China is locking the Uyghurs up in camps, concentration camps if you will, and also calls them names. All this is right now and nobody gives enough of a s**t to seriously do something about it or more than some few sanctions. Until now all this painfully reminds me of the appeasement policy of MacDonald, Baldwin and Chamberlain.

[@Bookish_Lattes]

I could listen to Stephen Fry talk 24 hours a day.

[@kreepykraut8153]

Gosh, this bloke never ceases to amaze me. How very well put! What a guy!!

[@DeckerFI]

To me it just looks like he's got an intensive thought process going on. Even if it was the nerves, he'd probably be the first one to admit it. He's not just a mastermind free thinker. Like most great thinkers, he's got his issues which are quite public in his case. But he also seems to be well in touch with his problems.

[@dokaduka]

"Once you label me you negate me" Kierkegaard

Yes In a church yard

[@decab8292]

dokaduka Yet in today’s world we are all labelled and categorised.

[@oblo7389]

Mad Technician exactly.

[@lucaslorenz8812]

Party on, Wayne

[@RickyMacHatton]

I know this quote from Wayne’s world 😂😂

[@JD12ish]

Despite my rants I still like this video because Fry explains eloquently the basis of dehumanization and answers succinctly the question of "how could this have happened?"

[@RemainIndoorsPainting]

Well done on providing such a great example of exactly the kind of behavior Stephen Fry was talking about in this video.

[@craighorton8339]

"The death of one person is a tragedy. The death of millions is statistic".

[@garysandiego]

Relevant in it’s entirety here on November 21, 2021.

[@Alxoholiker]

aw man,... i would so like to meet him in person... love you sir mr. fry

[@freddyzcount90]

He's not nervous at all. Stuttering doesn't necessarily mean you're uncomfortable and he also does not seem erratic.

[@MotoRiderTube]

Are you serious? He's twitching and touching and scratching and dancing and stuttering and bumbling and... won't stop for a second. It doesn't mean he's "nervous" as in anxious, but his nerves won't let him stand still for a bit, that's a very nervous person.

[@elizabethshort3404]

@@MotoRiderTubeI doubt you’ll be getting a response any time soon

[@MotoRiderTube]

@@elizabethshort3404 better late than never

[@Spooms1961]

A most sublime and wonderful talk by a treasure of the world. Stephen is wonderful to hear and a true joy to learn from.

[@DB-qw6xq]

The aggressive secularism/atheism (i.e. New Atheism) that Fry has signed up to is perfectly capable of becoming another nazi type regime, afterall, atheism unperpinned Naziism and Communism.

[@TheLegendaryDoc]

Smart man. And very educated. Could listen to him for much longer, there is much thought behind the things he expresses. Cheers from Germany!

[@malcolmdale]

What a pleasant change to hear someone talking for five minutes without once saying "you know".

[@danielscott4514]

Like, what? ;)

[@thatchoirgirl94]

Well, he just knows that they don't know yet. 🤭

[@alexrogersanimation]

Social normality. The tribe says it's ok to do this thing without retribution and will be rewarded. We should try to make sure that no country gets so desperate that war is their only way out of it.

[@MauriatOttolink]

"The bigger the lie, the greater the belief".....Himmler. Stephen illustrates this fully.

[@edinfific2576]

I have tragically realized the power and the importance of words in the early '90s when their skillful usage have led to our former neighbors and "brotherly nations" to comit genocidal atrocities in Bosnia. It is exactly how Fry says it here: make your target seem less than human. But he has failed to mention a few other important elements: 1) make your own group seem either as the only humans or even superhumans who are either right below God or even equal to God; 2) make your target seem like the enemies whose mere existence means an imminent threat to your own people's existence; 3) make your people seem as the (eternal) victims of the targeted people. ALL of these play a significant role in leading a genocidal campaign. Without mentioning all of them, it is harder to understand the German mind influenced by them. And of course, constantly repeating them as a mantra in the media and politics is necessary to make people believe them, in other words to brainwash them. "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

[@StarboyXL9]

It's weird how you don't see that the people who are making you believe absurdities fought AGAINST Germany in the war...

[@jlight1965]

Although an unpopular (and inconvenient) theory. There is quite a lot of evidence to support the fact that Hitler was, in effect, a successful populist, telling the people of Germany exactly what they wanted to hear. The Jews had been blamed for the loss of the First World War since 1918. It should not be forgotten that Hitler was voted into power

[@blueband8114]

Jlight1965 yes, but he was not voted into power, with the pledge to drag Europe into a world war, and commit genocide. Can't blame the voters of 1933 for that.

[@zakmarsden5997]

that's incorrect, he was given the chancellorship by intrigue and managed to make himself Dictator with the support of the same people who wanted a dictatorship that would get rid of the left w ing .the socialists and communists, That was the Conservative right allied to the Army big business and landowners, Both the Protestant and catholic churches wanted Hitler as a dictator to fight the "godless anti national Left.even in the last Nazi controlled "election they never got more than 44% of the vote,The Nazis were haemorrhaging votes and support just before Hitler was made Chancellor and they would have split into factions and became irrelevant in German politics were it not for the Traditional Right wing thinking they could use and control him.

[@JaMaZz77]

I just love Stephen Fry

[@tungstenkid2271]

And just to digress slightly, a German civilian was asked in a postwar TV documentary- "Why didn't the German people rise up against the nazis as allied bombing systematically turned their cities to rubble?", and he replied "Because we were more afraid of the nazis than the bombers"

[@kevinherbert4256]

yaaaaawn...any source for that..or did you see it on the History Channel

[@richsackett3423]

​@@kevinherbert4256 Loozersezwaht?

[@thelakeman5207]

Now, just replace nazis with Republicans and you'll see it in a different light.

[@Ladypavs]

Unfortunately events of present day prove we are incapable or unwilling to learn.

[@frankyandme2]

Than You, Mr. Fry... Such rumbling and labeling is happening this very day, all over the world...

[@TheEncouragementKid]

Thanks for uploading this Ed Reeves.

[@happypanda46]

That man is so good in so many ways.

[@relaxedswede]

This man knows stuff! Kudos to him #Respect

[@RM-ti8nf]

I love this man, I love hearing speeches of love.

[@metalguy098]

And people today have the gall to say that words don't harm people. Well done Stephen.

[@briancox9357]

They don't

[@Pappa_66]

Thank you for this great video! No matter the subject always brilliant!

[@Starsword]

Although I knew Fry was a very clever man and excellent actor, I never knew he was so historically well versed (although I suppose it shouldn't given that he was educated at Oxford. Nor did I know he spoke German with such fluency. He seems to be a man of unlimited talent.

[@adywhitwam]

Educated at Cambridge.

[@judyveness7581]

Stephen Fry is amazing - a polymath would not be an exaggeration.

[@hailstone2554]

The Intellect of this man is incredible. 👍👍👍

[@HarionDafar]

Excellent summary on the subject.

[@tdb5318]

And in 50 years time, and new Mr. Fry will hold the exact same lecture about our time. Sad thing human nature does never change

[@Mathias-kz5dr]

That s why it s called nature.

[@tdb5318]

@@Mathias-kz5dr doesn't nature evolve?

[@Mathias-kz5dr]

@@tdb5318 en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Scorpion_and_the_Frog We are who we are

[@LooseNewf]

Propaganda basics: demonizing the enemy en masses with slurs, insults, and hurtful diminutives works on the small and large scale. I enjoy listening to the erudite Mr. Fry but prefer to see him in dramatic roles. You can download and then eventually read "Propaganda" for free - published in the mid 20's by Edward Bernays (nephew of Sigmund Freud).

[@prideofdurham4776]

Like forcing people to be vaccinated?

[@hewhoisknownastaco]

@@prideofdurham4776 What?

[@johnmorgan4124]

Vaccination is not demonising or mass murdering others. Facts.

[@jacobblanton5179]

Propaganda isn't about insulting a subject of hatred, but the listener, who is then molded through self doubt and shame into ANY action deemed necessary by the propagandist. Hatred of "The Other" is not the purpose of propaganda but one of its outlets, a force of distraction that further prevents the brainwashed victim from challenging those who lord over them

[@solgato5186]

@@jacobblanton5179 truth

[@galloe8933]

I think what Mr.Fry shared was concise, well thought out, and intelligent. Why Nazis and, not current atrocities? Most sane people can see the Nazis party in the same light, and with understanding that not all of them had been "bad" people, but found it easy to follow the same path, no matter how misguided it was. This is essentially a parable of all the tings being spoken of, only far less inflammatory. If Mr.Fry picked a side in current events, well... The rhetoric would have gotten out of hand to the point of making this all very moot. There are better things to talk about, sure there is, however this is a powerful jumping off point.

[@zhouwu]

We're all social animals and need a tribe to belong to. And what's tricky is that pretty much all the tribes you can belong to have certain characteristics that make you rather not belong to it. Take me, for example. I can choose to belong to the Mainland Chinese Tribe, the biggest tribe on earth. But I'd rather not be seen as a hidden threat, threatening to take over the world. I've also lived in Germany. But I'd rather stay away from the War Guilt Culture. Now I'm in New Zealand. But it's hard to identify myself with the Pakeha, and especially how the burden of guilt for the historical trauma to the Maori get put onto my shoulders to solve. I can sympathise with how traumatic the 19th to 20th centuries were. China experienced two humiliations, once at the hands of the European Powers. And the second time at the hands of Imperial Japan. Germany oppressed twice, and experienced two crushing defeats, losing territory. And the Pakeha lost men and never experienced peace. So what makes Maori suffering so special? But then again, it's nice to be away from home. But for them, everything must remind them of the bloodshed of the innocents by the guilty. At least, so given labels in their own eyes. But everything happens for a reason. Not always for a good reason. But always for a reason. And I'm not sure to what extent the Maori might want to understand why things happened they way they did, instead of just trying to turn back time, and attempt to live in a bubble in the past, where they don't need to have any contact with the outside world, which is pretty much the most dangerous and vulnerable position for any culture to be in. You end up just being a sitting duck with zero intelligence of the outside world and zero support.

[@kevinherbert4256]

How generous of Fry to declare that the Germans are human....were they human when the North Sea Blockade brought the whole 61 million of them to the brink of starvation in early 1916?....do you even know what happened then?.....and that the German nation was kept on the brink of starvation until the 1919 Versailles Treaty double cross was signed.......Fry is a brainwashed dill

[@Barbary]

Is his full speech available to watch somewhere?

[@bugjuicer]

This is someone who I'd love to sit down, and just enjoy a quiet cup of tea with.

[@fenbury]

He's so smart Steven. Would love to have a beer with him and hear him talk about the world

[@claykemper7193]

Stephen, as long as you are talking about words, I do not think "extraordinary brutality" was a good choice of words when referring to mass murders. Brutality is never ordinary.

[@allenjenkins7947]

Unfortunately, it seems to be all too ordinary.

[@jonmarchant5334]

They say they're only obeying orders (where have I heard that before?)

[@Beccalotte1021]

This entire argument was used in a skit on A Bit of Fry and Laurie when a pompous intellectual logophile, as portrayed by Fry, uses complicated language to flesh out the argument in a very round about way. I love that the skit had a grain of truth in that he really does believe in this argument.

[@flemmingbisgaard521]

Stephen Fry as a listen to you and know more of you through this wonderful internet media I find myself akin to your mind and I find myself feeling you are a beacon of solid knowledge and insight. Thank you

[@martinburrows6844]

So well articulated

[@Richard_is_cool]

The language helped, but it was eugenics which was at the roots of this evil -- a then scientific idea that some humans are inferior, then there was this notion that there isn't a place for all people ('Malthusian catastrophe') and that it was the Germans who had to do this for historic reasons (Germany as the site of recently fallen Holy Roman Empire - an 'heir' to Roman Empire, the cornerstone of German Nazism itself) and then you are in the camps guarding the people doing something good for the world, aren't you? It's very easy to get lost in the world, and many people crave just for a man like Hitler, a visionary who tells them what to do. And if it sounds good (and the eugenics sounded good to ethnic Germans), then they do it. Just so easily.

[@drwatsonca6945]

Then that is why Americans voted for trump and continue to support him.

[@mireilleronhaar5487]

The point is: words matter. Words most definitely do matter.

[@paulsc2066]

I Think Germans of today are the most peaceful people in Europe. I been here in Germany since 2 years.

[@Lulzwurst]

Paul Sc 15 years ago, maybe. But today... i don't think so. With the increased flow of refugees in the last years, contempt for "other people" is on the rise again, and hate speeches have become more popular too. And although there is still a huge public opposition to this developement, one might wonder where this will lead to. It happens so fast...

[@fartloudYT]

+Lulzwurst cant really blame them for questioning a decision that they had no say in. its less about refugees and more about european union being built on protection of europe and democracy. hard to say if its gonna be dangerous in the long run (personally i think it will be and there is enough evidence to support that, sweden being a good example, but my opinion is my own and im not going to impose it), but it is clear that democratic principles were broken not just for germany, but europe as a whole. people were forced to accept the decision and people cant do anything about it. the politicians responsible for it are also questionable (Angela Merkel have said that multiculturalism doesnt work in germany a few years ago. that wasnt just an opinion, but she based it on observation. now she is taking refugees with open arms. doesnt make sense to me) and pretty sure others were indirectly bullied into it (not taking refugees would be seen as racist and people would then blame germany for being nazi state again), while all others most likely were trying to be politically correct as well. and we all know where political correctness is going. definition of free speech is unstable, everything is seen as racist, mysognistic etc. even things like halloween costumes or christmas are getting whacked by questionably sane people. mental patients are running the asylum that sooner or later will lead to society that would be anything, but free.

[@germanvisitor2]

" we arent the most peaceful just the most brainwashed and guilt ridden that were told to be proud of your country is equivalent with glorifying nazi warcrimes or being a nazi yourself ." Do you personally know anyone who is guilt-ridden for being German? I don't.

[@pikiwiki]

From what i've learned about WW2, propaganda was the first battleground in Germany. And that was taken from Madison Avenue

[@pikiwiki]

​@SunshineonLeith2016Mass marketing as an idea was first developed with modern tools in the 1930's, I believe. Also, not sure if it's mentioned here, but, the first radios were also either given away free or introduced in to the marketplace during the Nazi's rise to power. The broadcast of Hitler's speeches would have been incredibly powerful as the first introduction of Hitler to the German populace. Also, Leni Reifenstahl, who filmed Triumph of the Will borrowed from Hollywood techniques in her filming style to portray Hitler as a powerful leader. Not to mention Hugo Boss, who designed the head Nazi's uniforms to convey a commanding sense of authority as well as style.

[@nabanitabanerjee9385]

Resonance of this in Trump's America today.

[@paulhunter1525]

God Blessed the World with Stephen Fry , not only can he make us laugh, he makes us think too.

[@shakthidhasan4544]

This man's heart is bigger than he is, and he is big.

[@wetlazer]

When we listen to the language of The Right against The Left in America we hear echos of this kind of language.

[@drumcdoo9050]

Love this amazingly intelligent man's perspective on everything, especially religion when he had talks with the late Christopher and Richard Dawkins with religious leaders. The way he argues and proves through intelligent conversation without bias or being derogratory toward those brainwashed by religion showing it is merely a myth based on ignorance and fear made up to control others is simply masterful. Long may he continue to inspire and educate millions.

[@deepzepp4176]

Shame he buys into other myths that are used to control people.

[@finnkennedymusic]

@@deepzepp4176 such as?

[@deepzepp4176]

@@finnkennedymusic Certain historical events.

[@garyconyers-davies5781]

@@deepzepp4176 can you be more specific. I genuinely have no idea what you are on about, what argument you are trying to make.

[@deepzepp4176]

@@garyconyers-davies5781 Come on now.

[@jimbonsf]

He has such clarity and is an intelligent, learned man. I hope we learn from his words and embrace each other, since we are all the Children of Mother Earth. Can we agree to unite for a better world and civil societies? We must be willing to be the change that moves the world toward that vision. #Ferguson #EndRacism #MichaelBrown #TrayvonMartin

[@vicordecastro2851]

_ part of an 'evil design' or perhaps just a nuance of an idiosyncratic hypothesis, probably or perhaps the best contradiction towards existence of a central & superior intelligence ?!?

[@Alresu]

There is a book by the German author Victor Klemperer called "LTI". "Lingua Tertii Imperii" ("The language of the Third Reich"). Klemperer was philologist and described his own experience with language as a jewish person in Nazi Germany. Quite an interesting read that goes into this topic in more detail.

[@mrfester42]

I agree... and very well said. I would simply add that he's pointing out that language is the medium of culture in all its positive and negative forms.

[@michaelcooper6291]

Can I take your order please.

[@MrMajsterixx]

Yes thats what iam saying alway : you have to understand those werent germans who did that , those were human beings, the same species with the same capabilities as each of us.

[@mrdiavel4807]

And here we are again , someone needs to give the prime minister of Austria a history lesson .

[@peterfromgw4615]

Mate, can you clearly and concisely explain the meaning behind your statement? I don’t understand the gist of your comment. Tschuess aus Australien.

[@udornyc]

@@MrChristyCree, yeah, those are misguided and uninformed anti-science, anti-vaxxers and conspiracy theorists (terrorists?). People with academic education, outside the internet, weeping by those idiotic statements and false equivalencies by the internet "researchers"!

[@strickostricko]

@@udornyc You think you’ve got a good command of the English language. You know what you want to say and you think you’ve expressed your thoughts concisely but what you’ve written here doesn’t convey your message clearly.

[@udornyc]

@@strickostricko Thank you for giving me some slack. FYI, I can not think that I have a good command of the English language, because I make mistakes daily and try to improve as much as I can. English is NOT my native tongue and I didn't come to NYC until I was an adult. So, being misunderstood at times is nothing new. I wasn't totally happy with how I've written it, but was too lazy to correct it tonight. Maybe tomorrow/later.

[@strickostricko]

@@udornyc I was interested in what you were saying, it just wasn’t that clear.

[@Bastiat90]

Damn it why do you have to sound so reasonable and level headed? I just can't compete with this sorcery

[@rjpender70]

Wonderful man, could listen to him all day. X

[@terrydoyle]

Interesting that YT just put this in my timeline the same day as a video saying that Austria is going to pass a law making the jabs leggaly madated for all and with some of the messaging around those who don’t want the jabs … we are already seeing the dehumanization pushed by the media and politicians

[@pmathews109]

Yes, it is the absolutely the right of any citizen of the world not to take the jab if they don’t want it. So what if they contaminate a few hundred others who die, that’s the way the cookie crumbles. It is now a virus of the unvaccinated.

[@gcallananpainting]

@@pmathews109 yes it's the same misinformation and propaganda that the germans used. They are prepping you to commit atrocities and you'll believe you are doing the right thing. Good luck.

[@eylab1541]

​@@pmathews109 huh? Unvaccinated people contaminate who...? Other unvaccinated people, I guess you mean? Even though vaccinated people can just as likely pass on the virus, given that the vaccine does not protect from infection? Or did you mean they would infect vaccinated people, in which case, if you do believe the vaccines work, then you would have to admit there is no problem there, since that is why you would get the vaccine in the first place, to protect yourself from having severe symptoms. Man, pull yourself together...

[@gailascari]

I had Covid, it's real and it's horrible. I was impatient to get vaccinated. Am now fully vaccinated. I don't understand the refusal of healthy people to get the jab. You refuse science? Then please do not go to hospital when you get covid; do not take the bed from someone who needs to be in hospital.

[@beatmet2355]

Just call an individual an antivaxxer, and pretend that that individual is more a danger than the oligarch that declares your inhumanity because you refuse it and we see a parallel to what Frye is referring.

[@da33smith37]

I didn't like Fry much as a comedian, but would go out of my way to hear Fry speak on his ideas. I wonder if today he would speak so eloquently against the incivility of cancel culture.

[@garysandiego]

I suspect his views would be sufficiently nuanced to leave you discomforted.

[@da33smith37]

@@garysandiego Yeah, I'm pretty thick. I'm always mistaking nuanced sophistry for unprincipled weaseling, and vice versa.

[@EverGreen1888]

"Oddly enough we're the only species who does it..." i.e. treating your own species as in anyway different. Well said

[@hans-joachimbierwirth4727]

Not the case. Lots of species do that. Fry is an idiot spouting a lot of nonsense.

[@sanghelian]

exept that's just plain wrong. Apes have tribes that go to war, and dolphins attack outgroup dolphins who have different calls.

[@biturboism]

Watching this in the COVID era, every time Stephen touches his mouth can give one shivers

[@TheRainman591]

Douglas Adams illustrates this beautifully in H2G2 using the example of the planet Krikkit

[@The_Prenna]

The early stages of this process has begun here in Australia with official policy being to refer to refugees as "illegals" and if specific cases are being discussed the government will only refer to the case number not the person's name. We've already seen the navy firing warning shots at a boat full of refugees. Things are only likely to get worse too.

[@MS-il3ht]

Oh, how horrible. Imagine not every Western country is majority Islamic or Chinese in 50 years.

[@The_Prenna]

@@MS-il3ht Imagine being so triggered you reply to 8 year old comments. It's a New Year. Take this opportunity to touch grass, my friend.

[@MS-il3ht]

@@The_Prenna Why possibly go outside if I’ve just stocked up on Vitamine D tablets!?

[@cogitoxyz9645]

A more recent (if only slightly more subtle) example of how the Nazis used language for divisive purposes was LANGUAGE: A KEY MECHANISM OF CONTROL by *Newt Gingrich* which was distributed to Republican legislative candidates throughout the US in 1990 through GOPAC. The purpose was to train Republican candidates how to use specific negative words and phrases to mis-characterize and attack opposing candidates while using specific positive words to describe themselves. It was not less effective when Gingrich used this technique in the early 1990s in the US than it was 60 years earlier when used in Germany. That is not to say that Gingrich or Trump were or are true Nazis but it is nevertheless true that they used and use virtually identically dishonest manipulation of language and vocabulary to divide people and promote hostility as the Nazis had done earlier. It is not accidental that Trump described the white racists who rioted in Virginia in 2017 as including “very fine people.” The incessantly false use of words like radical, extremist, socialist etc. are obvious examples that misinform, divide and promote hostility. Further info is online by searching A KEY MECHANISM OF CONTROL.

[@paulwelch1992]

Look at the language the Democrats are currently using: "Domestic terrorist", "White supremacist" etc. It's a political tool. The "Green New Deal" has sod all to do with the actual environment. User friendly phrases are now being used to justify political action. "Build back better"? - more like destroy everything before we reshape it to benefit corporate goals.. It's rarely reported that Trump referred to "Fine people on both sides" I felt he was trying to dilute the tension but the MSM always cast him in the role of bogey man. I'm not a US citizen, I'm looking in from the other side of the Atlantic but the burning and looting during the summer of 2020 appalled me and it appalled me even more to hear the MSM and Democratic politicians refer to the mostly peaceful protests. There have been 'mostly peaceful' protests over covid measures but at the weekend the BBC only focused on the 'Riots' so to add to 'Dirty' and 'Selfish', unvaxed people (and many of the protesters have taken the jab) are now 'Violent' there's an agenda and it bears an uncanny resemblance to the 1930's.

[@2write2sing2dance]

I think its safe to say that what is going on/has been going on in United States re:black people being killed by police and killed emotionally in the western world by racism is another example of what he is referring to. He's right on point

[@thomthom6268]

You don't even realized what he's just said and then he repeats it. Amazing man.

[@SP-ny1fk]

The sad thing is that people will agree with this mentally - but the moment the crowd forms and the nooses come out, that agreement won't matter - because fear (of not fitting in) is more powerful than strongly holding to what one knows in their heart is right.

[@tpjpower]

"The Hutu and the Tutu". Damn that genocidal archbishop.

[@zhouwu]

Tutsi?!

[@simonmcneilly55]

Gobbles had nothing on the current crop of propagandists... they put him to shame.

[@Bardlettt]

"The Volkswagen Golf: From Berlin to Warsaw in just one tank!"

[@2804393]

Oh you are naughty.

[@LukeVidler]

Pinker says this in 'the better angels of our nature'. Fry is gradually becoming one of my intellectual heroes, such a knowledgable guy and clear thinker.

[@stevecostello4278]

His mention of the letter from a camp guard brings to mind Arendt’s observation of the “ordinariness “ of the perpetrators, the so called ‘banality of evil’. We are all capable of such horrible actions, but we would like to think otherwise.

[@Scorpion81177]

This kind of oppression is going on right now to the unvaxed

[@nicolasflores8544]

You have to be stupid to compare the holocaust to people not getting vacinated

[@Scorpion81177]

@@nicolasflores8544 let's wait and see

[@Slarti]

03:00 - I disagree with Fry on his comments regarding not mocking people. Some people with influence and power need to be mocked to show them that they are not the superhuman they pretend to be.

[@G4rr0.]

completely agree with your sentiment, but I think Fry makes it clear he's talking about an open and honest debate forum and not life in general

[@Exevium]

It need to be questioned, and a joke or two wouldn't hurt. But mocking (at least to me) has a degrading sound to it. Like you're looking down on them.

[@miniboy37]

Good Stephen very well said, (just becareful - it was the Hutus & the Tutsi.)

They were wearing tutus..

[@FosterZygote]

"He has NOT used dehumanizing language against his opponents." Indeed. SImply saying, in so many words, "I've examined your claims and I think you are wrong", is not dehumanizing, or even rude. It is something that falls under the auspices of the free exchange of ideas that Mr. Fry is defending. If one's only response to critical doubt of one's ideas is to take offense, then perhaps there is no rational defense.

[@TheAbsorbant]

Does anyone know if this is from a longer talk? It sure seems like it was cut out of a full length thing.