Well There's Your Problem | Episode 144: The Berlin Wall

lotta walls in the news recently huh
Our Patreon: / wtyppod
Send us stuff! our address:
Well There's Your Podcasting Company
PO Box 26929 Philadelphia, PA 19134
DO NOT SEND US LETTER BOMBS thanks in advance
Captions by Pineapples Foster Media Services
Twitter: @annasfoster
E-mail: [e-mail]
allmylinks.com/pineapples-foster
Chapters courtesy of user Mickulty
00:00 Authentic Banter Update
00:02:59 Intro
00:06:39 The GD News: Conditions in Twitter Bad, Conditions in Gaza Much Worse
00:26:58 Division of Germany and Berlin after WW2
00:42:28 DDR Established
00:49:53 Effect of Communism on The Line
00:58:28 Wall
01:01:06 Immediate Response
01:04:03 Wall Development
01:28:35 Debunking Capitalist Propaganda
01:38:38 Border in The Age of Wall
01:47:09 Transport in the DDR
01:58:35 The Berlin't Wall
02:00:09 Robert Moses but Wall
02:04:54 Digression: Housing in the DDR
02:08:24 The Descent of Communism
02:18:55 The Descent of Wall
02:25:25 Remnants and Legacy
02:37:14 NO PARALLELS MOVING ON
02:44:20 Safety Third: Nuclear Aircraft Carrier vs Mud
in the commercial: Local Forecast - Elevator Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License creativecommons.org/licenses/b...

[@SewingandCaring]

A serving police officer on my criminology uni course once called the removal of the Berlin wall "woke", and now you have this information in your head too.

[@dog-ez2nu]

Based GDR supporter.

[@SolarFlareAmerica]

police consistently demonstrating which side of an issue is the bad one that you shouldn't associate with.

[@chillzedd8179]

did- did they think the Americans built it to keep the communists out???

[@crybernetics9007]

woke antifa is trying to cancel the Antifascist Protection Rampart!

[@Yognaughto]

boy they really served

[@TalkingSoup]

"hitler dood? wat nou?" coming IMMEDIATELY after an extremely somber and depressing goddamned news was the most perfect gut punch this podcast has ever delivered

[@TheLucanicLord]

Nu fone hoo dat?

[@synthgal1090]

I was in an urgent care waiting room and fucking miserable and seething. Then that headline popped up and it took everything to not burst out laughing very loudly.

[@K-o-R]

I truly believe that Dutch is actively trolling the language world.

[@HamburgerTime209]

Alternative Title: Alice gets an excuse to talk about East Germany for *checks video length* 3 fuckin hours holy shit

[@P-Mouse]

Need some more excuses for DDR episodes. Forst Zinna maybe

[@Altoclarinets]

​@@P-MouseThe Trabant

[@TheArkTheArkTheArk]

I’m shocked at least 30 minutes of that wasn’t talking about uniforms.

[@valkest49]

Shout out to Devon for "systems are maintained by shared public belief in their efficacy" - brilliant way to word that

[@AnEntropyFan]

Wait, so the 40K Ork society is... just society?!

[@loadeddice4696]

@@AnEntropyFan They have a system and it works more or less OK for them. Unironically the Orks are one of the most functional nations in 40K, they have their shit together a lot more than some species I could name (cough cough Aeldari)

[@quantumblur_3145]

​@@AnEntropyFanjorker truly is just a normal guy

[@xenosphobatic]

That's cool and all. Wonder if we will feel the same way when the conservatives control all the branches of federal power.

[@LostInDub]

Came down here for this comment 👍

[@lyndonwesthaven6623]

Thoroughly enjoying Nameless Guest's ability to deliver facts, jokes, and personal experiences all in the same gentle, unobtrusive monotone.

[@SupremeRuleroftheWorld]

German humor is no laughing matter

[@johanneswerner1140]

Their accent when speaking English doesn't quite sound like a Kraut. So... Dunno.

[@purplebrick131]

​@@johanneswerner1140 it's cause they speak like a normal person and not like a bavarian ;)

[@DefendYoungstown]

Alice: "Your own personal Germany." Me: 🎶 _REACH_ _OUT_ _AND_ _DEUTSCH_ _FAITH_ _!!!_ 🎶

[@cipherrephicsamplename554]

two 3-hour episodes AND a bonus in the space of two weeks? truly, the lord is merciful

[@erikawhelan4673]

Mashallah

[@cholulahotsauce6166]

And Justin posted a cities Skylines video

[@Puddlef1sh]

Praise be. Incredible.

[@user-ve7hn2dh8h]

I'm also happy this is not a teaser for the stuff behind a pay wall

[@danielled8665]

​@user-ve7hn2dh8h it's like 2$, you don't even have to do it more than once to watche everything they made

[@tarasaurus98]

Hello, and welcome to well there's your comments. It's a comment section, with pins. I'm tarasaurus, my pronouns are she/her, ok go.

[@pmcgee003]

❤

[@HamburgerTime209]

Good comment

[@user6122]

+2

[@AP-su9oc]

Hello, my name is [redacted]. My pronouns are he/him (for now), and I am the one stealing your socks. Yay, Liam!

[@gonzoengineering4894]

Hi I'm Gonzo Engineering my pronouns are she/they. Yay Liam!

[@thomasgiles2876]

I appreciate a Safety Third that reinforces the Nuclear Age is still just the Steam Age.

[@MrJimheeren]

I still appreciate the fact that basically all electricity is still, water or steam under pressure makes the propeller go spin

[@callsignapollo_]

​@@MrJimheeren>looks inside new power source >boiling water

[@TalesOfWar]

@@MrJimheeren Spicy rock make propeller spin.

[@Kuhmuhnistische_Partei]

@@MrJimheeren Except photovoltaics I think? And also wind energy where wind makes the propeller go spin.

[@MrJimheeren]

@@TalesOfWarthe Spicy rock makes water boil under pressure what makes a propeller go spin

[@alexroselle]

This month's God Damn News and the fact that Benjamin Netanyahu grew up in and around Philadelphia, means you have the opportunity to do the funniest thing possible and make a bonus WTYP episode about that man's whole career

[@thetrainhopper8992]

He is engineering the longevity of his political career and it is an unfolding disaster. So it checks all the boxes.

[@alexroselle]

@@thetrainhopper8992 throw in personal corruption and partisan gamesmanship [e.g. his attempts to mess with Israel's judiciary and other institutions, especially in the past year], and he's even more in the wheelhouse of this podcast!

[@enbyennui]

I can't believe Alice misgendered bituminous coal

[@catherinepage969]

I can vouch for what was said about being from the west and visiting East Germany and ignoring the East German police. When my dad was a kid, grandad was a US Army chaplain stationed in France for a few years. The instructions were just as described, whether for business or a family trip: Grandad wore dress uniform, the family wore nice traveling clothes. East German police would board the train and demand your papers; you would stiffly ignore them until the Soviet soldiers showed up. Then you could show papers. Rules applied to all family members.

[@highjumpstudios2384]

God that must have made them so angry.

[@Daneelro]

During Kennedy's time, there was an incident that could have escalated into nuclear Armageddon but is much less known than the Cuban crisis: the October 1961 Checkpoint Charlie Tank Standoff. It's relevant because it started with an ill-fated attempt by East Germany to demonstrate independence from the Soviets. This incident is noteworthy for neither side having the correct assessment of the other side's intentions throughout the escalation _and_ the de-escalation phases. It all started with East Germany introducing its own border checks in Berlin for allied soldiers. Walter Ulbricht's order was in direct violation of an order from Khrushchev to avoid provocations in a tensions-easing phase. Enter US general L.D. Clay, who was certain that the East Germans could not have acted without Soviet orders, and surmised that this is a prelude to the takeover of West Berlin - so he sent armed patrols with tanks to guard the checkpoints. The problem is, days before, the Soviet military has observed US soldiers doing breakthrough exercises on a dummy of the Berlin Wall. Not knowing that Clay did this on his own, Khrushchev guessed that Kennedy launched an operation to break down of the Berlin Wall, so he ordered 33 T-54s to Checkpoint Charlie. Clay soon matched that with 33 Pattons. On both sides, the tanks were loaded and aimed, and since both sides thought this is only a prelude to something big from the other side, the generals on both sides readied major retaliatory strikes, so a single shot could have escalated into a nuclear exchange within hours. The standoff lasted almost 18 hours. It ended because both Kennedy & Churchill thought they checked the imaginary aggression of the other side. First Kennedy sent a message through an emissary, then Khrushchev thought he'll let the youngling save face by withdrawing his tanks first. Meanwhile, the clueless gung-ho idiot general Clay had no clue what his boss Kennedy was doing and _also_ thought he won: he thought that in the end, the T-54s were just Khruschev's way of communicating to _him_ that he backed off from using Ulbricht as a proxy.

[@elfappo9330]

@@Daneelro Thank you for this comment. I'd never heard of this standoff and it's fascinating

[@Gentleman...Driver]

@@highjumpstudios2384 They were used to it, but they had the orders to ask for papers anyway, as they hoped some of the allied soldiers may give up under the pressure. That would have been portrayed as a win for the GDR as the state wasnt recognized by most of the western countries and it would have been some sort of recognition if an allied soldier obeyed orders of state authorities of the GDR.

[@Hsereal]

26:58 Okay, I am trying really hard to be respectful of the serious subject matter of the episode so far; but for reasons I cannot adequately explain, "HITLER DOOD, WAT NOU?" is among the funniest things I have ever seen in my life.

[@bremsnix]

Germans sometimes joke about Bonn being so incredibly boring. My dad frequently calls it B.O.N.N. Bundeshauptstadt Ohne Nennenswertes Nachtleben which translates to Federal capital Without any Noteworthy Nightlife

[@ghostD0C]

That said, it's kind of fascinating how the city basically has the character of a small town but the infrastructure and commercial institutions of a major regional center. Seems like an okay place to live, if you like it quiet but want a decent job and short commute.

[@johanneswerner1140]

In our family it's called the Bundeshauptdorf (main capital village). There was a lengthy discussion if Frankfurt or Bonn should be the capital, but in the end Adenauer got his wish, and it was Bonn, so he did not have to move (yeah, that's not the real reason, but a good story).

[@Gentleman...Driver]

@@ghostD0C If you are into that sort of thing: Bonn is also very close to two of the most beautiful and largest permanent race tracks in the world. Nürburgring and Spa-Francorchamps. You wont have so much traffic in between those locations, because you dont have to go through Cologne (Cologne is always a major headache if you are travelling by car - avoiding this city is the best!). The Eifel and the Ardennes are also very large forrestal areas where you can do all sorts of activities. Unfortunately most of the big companies are leaving Bonn. The city has an old "capital city" flair. You can really feel the 1950s and 1960s. Have been occasionally for work in Bonn (United Nations).

[@NukaLemonade]

"I am a NIMBY for the Berlin Wall!" - Justin Roczniak

[@DMasterplanL]

To Devon: we already seen it work less than a month ago in Nagorno Karabakh, 120000 Armenians were banished from the land they lived in for 1700 years.

[@Nosirrbro]

Seriously nobody was talking about that even before things popped off in palestine

[@SJKlapecki]

The phrase "Hitler dood wat nou" convinced me more than anything else could that the Dutch do not speak a real language, they are trolling the world. Edit: Apparently it's Afrikaans. this does not change my opinion, the Boers are trolling the world just as much and do not speak a real language.

[@DeetexSeraphine]

Kinda..

[@akhilkarandikar99]

that wasn't Dutch, it is Afrikaans

[@kw9849]

I like that the portrait of Hitler is explicitly titled "Adolf Hitler" , as if there was some possibility that a reader had not heard of him by 1945.

[@SJKlapecki]

@@akhilkarandikar99 Close enough - Afrikaans is even less real than Dutch if you ask me.

[@jeandrepeach]

Reposting from another comment. I get the funny part, and the "made up language" bit is true, as far as most language is made up, and perhaps a bit more than most, but the context is interesting nonetheless: There is a currently ongoing media battle about a related linguistic story. South Africa played against England in the Rugby World Cup semi final this past weekend, and during the match, an England player whinged to the ref, implying that one of our players(a black South African) called him a "white c*nt". Nothing came of it during the match, and we ended up beating the poms by 1 point, but the English media has gone rabid since. Now for the linguistic side - the Springboks speak Afrikaans on the field, and "side" in Afrikaans is "kant" (sounds very similar what the pom heard). "Wit" is white, and "wyd" is wide - and both "wit kant" (could refer to either the English, who wear white, or to left vs right, the boks use a colour based code on field)and "wyd kant"(wide side of the field relative to the ruck vs blind/small side) would be expected phrases on the field. In the only audio so far found related to the incident, the SA player can be heard shouting what sounds like the phrase, not at the English player, but at his own team mates, as part of on-field communication. The "kant" is very clear, but the first word is not, could be either of the possibilities. Point being, we shouldn't be suprised when related languages sound similar. Sure, "dood" kan be said as "dude", but the link to "dead"is interesting by it self. The sentences: "My hand is in warm water" And "My pen is in my hand" Is exactly the same in Afrikaans and English - letter for letter and by meaning, with only a slight difference when spoken. All due hate to Dutch, but the history of Afrikaans is more complicated than simply being the Dutch spoken by white South Africans - it is a new, more vibrant language, born during the pain and conflict of the colonial history of my country, language both of the settlers, but importantly (and firstly) by the coloured people. Then it was first used to unite (turning what had been 2 diverging groups, Cape Dutch and Boer, into Afrikaners who could get a slight majority over anglos in white-only elections) and then to divide and dominate - for example the Soweto Uprising when black school children protested against the forced use of Afrikaans as medium of instruction in black schools. But Afrikaans is more than it's appropriation by the reactionaries, and has always been, and the post-apartheid history of Afrikaans has shown this. Today, Afrikaans is spoken by millions, and has formed part of the intercultural vernacular for practically ALL South Africans. The language still shows the scars of the people who speak it (and that is not even a settled question, there is some movement to consider the Afrikaans spoken by Coloured South Africans as a seperate language, Kaaps). Afrikaans, alongside the beautiful mosiac of languages spoken in South Africa, form part of a complex web of language mixing, cultural osmosis, hurt and reconciliation and possibility. Watchers of the Expanse will be familiar with Belter Creole - Afrikaans is the closest existing language to Belter, both in (surprisingly) sound, but also in history.

[@jaspershift]

I would’ve been so much cooler and more gd annoying to my conservative family if I’d listened to this podcast as a teen. The future is bright with the newer generations.

[@quantumblur_3145]

And nobody will ever be ignorant again

[@jaspershift]

@@quantumblur_3145 It will be far less, but ignorance always seems to find a way.

[@quantumblur_3145]

@@jaspershift it will always be possible for Jill to be raised in a field far from society on the philosophies of her parents who haven't spoken to anyone in years. Ignorance will always be the default

[@_marlene]

@@jaspershift i can tell by that optimism you are still young😝

[@DokturProfesur]

Why do you think politicians and CEOs are getting older and older? They dont want to make room for people that aren't in lockstep behind them.

[@jamespuffer2889]

Just here to throw some love out to the Activate Windows logo, the unrecognized member of this podcast.

[@TalesOfWar]

It was gone for so long too. I'm happy to see its return in recent times.

[@tarasaurus98]

I like how around 2 hours the guest keeps pointing out how much of the city was torn out to build the wall and all i can think is how much MORE the US tears down just to build highways. That Berlin wall 'scar' is relatively small compared to the size of the highway scars in US cities.

[@Daneelro]

For a train-friendly podcast, it was a big omission to not mention something Wall-related still very much visible on Berlin maps, in the form of weird-shaped parks and bushland cutting up the city: the death of all but one of the old main stations. Before WWII, like Paris and London, Berlin used to have several big beautiful terminal stations. After the war, all of them were in ruins, but still in use. But most of them were in West Berlin and the Berlin Wall cut them off from any meaningful traffic, and all of them died a slow death. After Reunification, the city got a new central station, which is two through stations on top of each other (on an underground north-south and an elevated east-west through line, respectively).

[@snack881]

"Actually Alice, you are wrong" - iconic German representation

[@mrpieceofwork]

THIS! This is WAY better than watching a bunch of videos trying to figure out where a mystery washer goes on a lawn mower. Thank you for saving me!

[@mgkleym]

It probably wasn't important anyway. Think of it as weight reduction.

[@thomasgiles2876]

Let me distract you more ______ + lawnmower Crazy in Alabama Mad Men Dead Alive Sinister The Happening Hobo With A Shotgun

[@elaztec.aztecca]

The washer goes on the doohickey. I know, I’m from Alabama.

[@platedlizard]

If you turn the mower on without any worrying rattling you didn’t need the washer

[@relwalretep]

​@@platedlizardhard facts

[@GaldirEonai]

Regarding the shared police jeeps: "Die Vier im Jeep" (the four in the jeep) was a very popular comedy trope in post-war Vienna. You can find caricatures of them all over the place in the time between the end of the war and the State Treaty in 1955. _Everyone_ thought it was silly. A huge embarrassment for everyone involved, and as such one of the most viennese pieces of austrian history ever.

[@Valkyrie9000]

WTYP whistleblower protections include a tube of Burt's Bees lip balm and an unused corner in a utility closet in Liam's guest bedroom.

[@stmisbehavin662]

The skeletons in Liam's closet are former WTYP whistleblowers that never left.

[@TheArkTheArkTheArk]

There is also security provided by the Pennsylvania secret service. It’s not very effective, but it’s there.

[@capsjukebox]

I love / dread when the Goddamned News foreshadows a future episode

[@TheLolzKnight]

"I'm going to bed" - WTYP: Episode 144: The Berlin Wall "Guess not then"

[@huntermorgan4201]

Now every time I remember, "Men make history, but not of their own choosing," I can also remember, "I hate to exist in a context"

[@thomasgiles2876]

I had an uncle who was stationed along the East/West German border. He told my family about watching the Berlin Wall fall while he was recovering from a night of drinking while the base was on lockdown, and everyone was just watching CNN.

[@Philip271828]

It must have been a tall watchtower, they're 110 miles apart (according to Wiki).

[@thomasgiles2876]

@@Philip271828 He was a captain in the American military, hence drunk watching CNN. The MPs rousted him from a bar when it started, he remembered seeing what he thought were weird Golfs withs too many people in them, he later learned they were Trabants. Theres a Safety Third out there for him. If you know what the song The Way is about, that happened to him while driving to work, brain death while your body keeps going.

[@martinn.6082]

That's funny, my uncle was stationed at the border, too. But he was a GDR conscript.

[@brycedyck8450]

The Soviets weren't the only ones to remove factory equipment at the end of the war. The Iron Worker,(a machine which cuts lengths of steel and angle iron, an also punches holes in it), which I used at a Precast Concrete plant, was manufactured in Germany in 1942😊

[@TalesOfWar]

Both sides were also good of removing people from Germany and owe their respective space programmes to them lol.

[@Yora21]

The Western Allies soon realized that they needed the West German economy to create an effective barrier against Soviet expansion. So they invested heavily in helping to rebuild the West German industrial infrastructure. Which apparently got the West German factories shiny new shit, while the British factories were using the old German stuff.

[@spyone4828]

Regarding the guard who "went out to get something to eat": my brother had a coworker once who said "I'm gonna go get some chili" and then disappeared for more than a week. And when he returned was surprised that anyone was upset. He ... his brain didn't exactly fire on all cylinders. He thought it was common knowledge that you couldn't get good chili outside Texas, and that therefore his statement should have clearly communicated his intention to hitchhike 1500+miles in his (fast food chain) uniform.

[@Mickulty]

Timestamps: 0:00:00 Authentic Banter Update 0:02:59 Intro 0:06:39 The GD News: Conditions in Twitter Bad, Conditions in Gaza Much Worse 0:26:58 Division of Germany and Berlin after WW2 0:42:28 DDR Established 0:49:53 Effect of Communism on The Line 0:58:28 Wall 1:01:06 Immediate Response 1:04:03 Wall Development 1:28:35 Debunking Capitalist Propaganda 1:38:38 Border in The Age of Wall 1:47:09 Transport in the DDR 1:58:35 The Berlin't Wall 2:00:09 Robert Moses but Wall 2:04:54 Digression: Housing in the DDR 2:08:24 The Descent of Communism 2:18:55 The Descent of Wall 2:25:25 Remnants and Legacy 2:37:14 NO PARALLELS MOVING ON 2:44:20 Safety Third: Nuclear Aircraft Carrier vs Mud EDIT: Grats on 100K to WTYP!

[@verderuso]

💓

[@tadferd4340]

"Conditions in Twitter Bad, Conditions in Gaza Much Worse" Well done.

[@Floedekage]

Congratulations WTYP podcast! You've made a gross amount of episodes. 🎉

[@AGenericMoron]

And some amount of gross episodes.

[@PFMediaServices]

You've been really looking forward to making this comment, haven't you? It's fantastic.

[@regulate.artificer_g23.mdctlsk]

They've also hit 100k subs!

[@PFMediaServices]

@@regulate.artificer_g23.mdctlsk Sure did! Their tweets last week, while that count circled the target, were very fitting of the show's theme. Highly recommend.

[@elfinfluff]

So begins a long streak of WTYP episodes that are dedicated to the memory of their previous episode's guest.

[@LillyP-xs5qe]

hi, I'm Jewish (athiest) AND Israeli, and half of Israel think the way gaza is treated is totally fucked up and we hate Benjamin Netanyahu (aka Bibi) for this horrible genocide. P.S. don't worry, I'm fine, I saw the writing on the wall and managed to move to the UK to live with my partner 4 years ago.

[@robk7266]

Is it is possible for people who were victims of genocide to become the people doing it?

[@TitaniaBird]

If you're inclined towards fascism and have no sense of irony, like the Israeli government? Disturbingly possible.@@robk7266

[@PaulAngileri]

@@robk7266 Are you asking rhetorically or seriously?

[@Raptor747]

Look, I know people throw out this language all the time, but can we acknowledge the fact that there is NO genocide going on, at all, even a little bit? Like, there's no actual strategy (or even remotely close to it) involving the destruction of the people of Gaza nor the ethnic cleansing of them either. Realistically speaking, Biden would be screaming from the hilltops of Israel was actually planning anything even remotely like that, and it isn't. There is plenty of room for debate and concern, but let's not assume that Bibi is trying to push for genocide or that the IDF would be willing to follow such a plan even if he tried.

[@Honzo13]

Be Safe, the whole thing hurts my heart as someone who used to be very devout that we are all ultimately children of the Father and all suffering is heart wrenching. Fascism and hate should never be justified with faith

[@HassassinCat]

Petition for a weekly news read from WTYP. Also, I hope Devon would keep their comments in screen for a bit longer for people like me that hears the sound and scrambles back to the computer and try to find the right tab just to read it. Hi Devon!!!

[@jrenema]

Seconded

[@lexp6099]

*their comments and agreed, I know the notification sound bothers some people but I also appreciate it.

[@HassassinCat]

@@lexp6099 thanks for the correction!

[@alistairsmj1602]

Seconded! And hi Dev seconded👋

[@deancostello14]

27:28, Hey! I'm not a 60 year old train enthusiast, I'm a 31 year old train enthusiast. *presses play on watching a cab ride of a thameslink train whilst listening to the pod*.

[@thetrainhopper8992]

I’m a middle school history teacher, we stop during the progressive era in US history and the Age of Exploration in World History. But yeah, we don’t really talk about some parts of history. But I’m going to break that mold a bit.

[@shadeitplease7383]

Props to you friend! My fiancé is in her last year as a teacher. She’s tapping out the conditions are too bad. Much respect for teachers y’all deserve so much more.

[@thetrainhopper8992]

@@shadeitplease7383 I’m honestly willing to tap out at my current district. There is only so much I can put up with. Everything is at critical failure constantly. I love teaching, but hate my district.

[@suterb]

Frank Zappa played a show in Berlin in 1968 and the audience rioted. There's a song he played called "Holiday in Berlin" that he usually played as an instrumental, but there are lyrics to the song that talk about what happened. Oddly enough, that's not the only time the audience rioted at one of his shows.

[@ianking7511]

I admire the tenacity of doing a safety third after almost three hours.

[@TVs_Brent]

In around 2008 I went to Berlin for a couple weeks to get hammered and ignore how fucked up my life was. So I was wandering around near Potsdamerplatz and walked down the green strip and the little line that marks where it used to stand. I was having some emotional moments considering where I was, the lives affected by it and how at one time this was one of the most important places in the world. The weight of nations pushed against each other on exactly the spot my feet stood. There were at that time still some original pieces of the wall standing outside the train station so I approached and had myself a little cry over it all. Then saw the equivalent of a Times Square Spider-Man. A dude in a soviet officer's uniform and greatcoat who would put a fake stamp on your passport for a couple Euros. The wall was wrong and the soviets were wrong on this one, but god damn if the victory of capital doesn't cheapen even that which should be held sacred. They'll even commodify our warnings to the future.

[@Gentleman...Driver]

I wouldnt argue so much against capitalism. Yes, a lot of the stuff capitalism does is wrong. But on the other hand: No other economic system was more successfull and thats for a few reasons. Capitalism means competition. And competition is good if you want to advance in tech and products. Thats why most western states were technologically far ahead of any communist state. In a communist state there is no benefit in working harder, as you get the same as everyone else. There are also a lot of "bullshit" jobs, just standing around, because there is no unemployment. The state generates a job for you if necessary. Even if you just stand around doing nothing all day. Obviously the statement "The market regulates itself" isnt true. There NEEDS to be regulation. What you want to oppose is therefor "neoliberalism". And MOST parties in western democratic countries ARE neoliberalists. Neoliberalism means politics for the rich and for big companies, and basically lobbyism. It goes along with privatization and with deregulation. Thatcher brought this to the UK. She deregulated the banks (we all know where this led!!!), she privatizised state companies (like the railway!) and used "climate change" as a conservative politician to argue for the nuclear lobby to build new plants in order to get weaponized plutonium for the UK nuclear weapons program. Just one great example of many out there!

[@grmpEqweer]

This podcast is both pro-Palestine and pro-Opossum.

[@thomasgiles2876]

PrOpossum

[@trioptimum9027]

But anti-fish.

[@dracorex426]

​@@trioptimum9027 And anti-fash.

[@quantumblur_3145]

Opposossum

[@adambordacs4589]

Pretty pirriat

[@LifesNeverHumDrum]

I’m enjoying Devon’s ARG-esque annotations on this one

[@PrismaticGoth]

I'm a graphic designer and the font chat portion of this episode highly pleases me.

[@pmcgee003]

"Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun; And makes gaps even two can pass abreast."

[@EMRK001]

I'm happy to confirm for Alice that the buses in Berlin are indeed bright yellow, along with the trams and U-Bahns. The West Berlin buses pre-unification were a paler creamy yellow colour.

[@ashbelero]

My ex had that World in Conflict box set with the piece of the Berlin Wall. They really did just throw that shit in everywhere like it was leftover cereal box prizes.

[@Man2quilla]

I'm so sorry, Devon. Also, thank you, Devon!

[@LeaHyvonen]

It's 3am in Finland and my sleep schedule is once again ruined

[@GadBoDag]

Lol same. Going to drift off in my sänky to this.

[@ianhomerpura8937]

8 am here in the Philippines and just woke up, already late for work. But we have a new episode so yay Liam

[@thenoze5767]

Just found this podcast last week and both guests have come on the show fearing for their jobs and lives, pretty cool show! 👍

[@iamjustkiwi]

Yooo shout out to possums, we just got our wildlife rescue licenses and are getting some baby possums on friday!

[@grmpEqweer]

Those are adorable!

[@relwalretep]

As an Australian passport holder, to a Kiwi, I'm sorry about the mess but thanks.

[@fergusporteous-gregory2557]

​@relwalretep don't be they've earned me a lot pocket money when is was younger

[@iamjustkiwi]

@@relwalretep oh, I'm not from NZ, Kiwi is just a nickname everyone uses for me for a different reason lol

[@platedlizard]

The cute Australian kind or the terrifying American kind?

[@MrCalls1]

26:37 Sadly. That yes got won over the last 8 years. The migration crisis of 2015, destroyed the capacity of European society to discuss migration or refugees. Every single boring centrist voice utterly capitulated (except Merkel, which is why despite her being an Ordo liberal and in many ways a failure in hindsight she got huge credit with me). Since then the war was won. The Russian war in Ukraine offered a great chance, but again another boat was missed to truly humanise migration, and refugees, the response to Ukraine as an individual event was spectacular, I’m proud that this continent found the social, bureaucratic and financial capacity to deal with it. But we a society and humanitarian-ideology section, whether that be left wing or Christian democrats with a soul, let it just happen quietly, no questions asked, we didn’t use this as a wedge to keep this door open, everyone in Europe understood, these people deserve aid, and we should give it, implicitly it didn’t need to be said, they felt it was right, they needed it explained why they felt that, and once they learnt that maybe next time we have a migration wave we a a society would be better prepared and more reasonable. But as is. No. The idea of shooting boats, sinking into them at sea, pushing them into dead water uni, the sink and drown in full view of boats, that’s for 2000 years been a crime, and frankly as Brit for 500 years we went around the world punishing countries that did not recognise their duty to care for all those in distress on the oceans, it’s horrific. Detaching from migration even, we should find it repulsive to sit back and let people drown in the med or the channel or the Rio grande or wherever, even if you were a migration hawk, you need to save them and give them a fair and speedy trial and out them on a aeroplane home, So no. Gaza as a test bed isn’t new. Its not a test bed. We already know. We’ve been primed since at least 2008 to view those with non-western skin tones and religions as lesser, and not not since when they die. We’ve been trained to revel in our pain and wish only more on those who seek to ‘take’ our crumbs from us from the outside.

[@wtice4632]

If you care at all about the social fabric and culture of your country and communities you must be highly skeptical of migration and refugees. This is common sense.

[@fartface8918]

@@wtice4632 wrong

[@wtice4632]

@@fartface8918 no its self evident truth.

[@fartface8918]

@@wtice4632 your feelings don't overturn decades of data collection and studys even before getting to the fact murdering innocent people over that belief as is currently happening is ghoulish

[@wtice4632]

@@fartface8918 bruh what? What does murder have to do with any of this? Its not my belief, its reality and logic.

[@Hail_The_Fish]

"You can't have a berghain without a berg" only 5 minutes in and this episode is already amazing

[@th3oryO]

Cheers on the new episode. Cold enough here in Alberta today to knock out power; stay warm out there.

[@PoolNoodleGundam]

Eh I'm not goona complain until ft mac hits -30c

[@communisticus191]

its been ridiculously warm so far this fall/winter though, right now its more just catching up to what it should have been. Our first snow fall was a few days ago, nearly 2 months later than September long weekend which has been relatively consistently the day of first snowfall for decades (at least since the 60s).

[@iciajay6891]

I'm in North ontario. It has been on average 5-10'c warmer this season. We should have snow rn but still have some flowers. It's wild. But the new normal I think.

[@LoPhatKao]

so many dumbasses forgot how to drive in inclement weather - like always

[@AsbestosMuffins]

"They used these to build what's it called...the house for the cows." i know this is what I would sound like speaking german but that's still a funny bit

[@harrycullen6515]

Good run of guests putting their employment in danger for the pod, loving the vibes it gives

[@yakovgolyadkin]

@29:50: "I've always said Bavaria is Germany's Texas." I thought that too, and when I moved there at first that was my impression. There was a weapons store with a big crucifix above it down the street from me, it was very religious, the people there all clearly see themselves as Bavarian first and German second and as better than the rest of Germany, etc. But after living in the Alps for a few years, I realized it's not Germany's Texas. Bavaria (at least the Alps) is Germany's Utah: some of the most beautiful land on earth absolutely fucking ruined by the insane pricks who live there.

[@HeadsFullOfEyeballs]

"Bavaria: Where Prussian charm meets Austrian dilligence."

[@Aquatarkus96]

Huh, I wonder if it's at all relevant that Texas has had a pretty visible Bavarian expat community in the hill country for a while?

[@pennyforyourthots]

I think most countries have their own bit of texas in them. Quebec is Canadian texas, Bavaria is German texas, Catalonia is Spanish Texas, and every country in the UK is a four-way brawl between different varieties of texas.

[@evilspoons]

@@pennyforyourthots ah, you see, Quebec is spiritually Canada's Texas due to the independent attitude, but Alberta is literally trying to *be Texas* by copying their values. Ride-or-die Big Oil, ranches, conservatism, getting angry at the federal government for no actual reason. I'm not sure which is worse.

[@kennethcox2224]

I lived in West Germany between '69-'72. I was a pre-teen army brat. My father was in the Special Weapons (tactical nukes. At our tiny little school our German teacher had escaped from East Berlin in '62

[@davidwright7193]

What horrible crime had your father committed to be given the job of pulling the pin on a nuclear hand grenade?

[@kennethcox2224]

He joined the army when they developed the first tactical nukes. He also received bonus pay for his MOS. He retired has a first Sargent in '74. Four years later has a civilian he was writing manuals on the storage and handling of nuclear weapons on board aircraft carriers and submarines. 20 years later he retired from that. He was drawing 10 grand a month with free health care cheap insurance

[@Rinasoir]

Ah, the 3 hr pod on Dance Dance Revolution. My commiserations to Devon having to edit this.

[@matt39581]

the tendency of the rate of profit to fall also affects defense contractors, and their products will inevitably become as shitty as everything else here in capitalist hell

[@Frommerman]

Their products are already shitty. The most advanced surveillance and assault systems on the planet failed before the might of some guys with jury-rigged hanggliders.

[@AsbestosMuffins]

the berlin airlift is still such a huge deal that the airforce museum has a memorial to it between the ww2 and cold war galleries

[@5508Vanderdekken]

Before this conflict, since 2000, over 10k civilian Palestinians were killed in the occupied territory and over 150,000 have been injured. The same numbers for Israelis are 1300 killed and over 6,000 injured. This does not even take into account deaths related to the abhorrent conditions Israel forces upon Gaza residents.

[@LadyGoggles]

could i trouble you for a source? not that i don’t believe you, i just want more info

[@5508Vanderdekken]

@@LadyGogglesUnited Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs- Israeli-Palestinian Fatalities Since 2000 (2007) & United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs - Data on Casualties (2008 - September 21, 2023)

[@LadyGoggles]

@@5508Vanderdekken much obliged, thank you!

[@grahamariss2111]

It can't be that bad, population has doubled within 30 years and is reflected in 65% of the population being 24 or under.

[@henryfleischer404]

@@grahamariss2111 People can have kids while other people are killed.

[@smatthewson2613]

Well Here's my problem: can I stay awake and engaged till 0400 local to enjoy this sweet sweet content from my bestest parasocial buddies? or do I save it for getting ready to go out on saturday?

[@finneire1282]

I had the same question and I'm still here 1:11:16 in 😂

[@platedlizard]

Listen to it as you fall asleep and start the episode over again when you wake up

[@jordanmiller42]

...good morning@@platedlizard

[@incoherentbee9502]

i used to play with a chunk of the berlin wall. my grandpa was stationed there when it came down, and he took a chuck. then for some reason it was put on the shelf with all of the knicknacks i would play with, so i used it as a magical rock that would kill barbies on contact. my other grandpa has a section of the original barbed wire fence, because he was stationed in berlin for a long time during the cold war (that grandpa missed it coming down and is a little bit but hurt over that fact)

[@Iknowtoomuchable]

Why does Alice not have a "If you or a loved one has suffered from Mesothelioma..." drop?

[@dkbmaestrorules]

1:15:30 it's a little more complex than that: in quite a lot of parts of Berlin, the district boundaries ran/run along the front of the buildings (so that the road is the undivided responsibility of just one district). Almost all of the wall followed the district boundaries. The situation in that photo is that the building with the walled-up windows is in East Berlin, but the pavement and street in front of it are in West Berlin.

[@botbtquarrel4072]

Can't believe you'd drop this the day I finish my Cold War history unit, I could've put y'all in the bibliography

[@devinfaux6987]

I can't believe they got through talking about using the Bagger-288 to excavate the entire state of West Virginia without mentioning it as a possible site for the Big Hole.

[@CrimsonAmaryllis]

Devon just casually dropping generational quality quotes regarding uprisings, society & philosophy

[@davidhenck942]

Oh nice, a Safety third that involves Newport News Shipyard! I'll have to submit mine at some point because my first introduction to the yard after getting out of welding school was the very definition of safety third lol

[@aniseeubanks9686]

My grandfather was last US commanding officer over Dachau, before it was returned to Germany. I remember a few stories from him and my father who was a 6 year old kid playing in the camp. Just waiting for his service records to get declassified.

[@SolarFlareAmerica]

Keep us appraised! If you're comfortable, that is.

[@aniseeubanks9686]

@@SolarFlareAmerica I will what I can. Grandmother is still living and still refuses to let us get his files. But know of several times he had to cross the wall

[@nickkennedy9034]

I have a few things to say about East Germany 1. A good friend of mine grew up in East Germany and she talks about it from time-to-time, most notably that if you stayed up till like 2 AM in the morning you could watch western anime like Lupin the Third and shit 2. I have a pair of East German military cold weather pants and they are very comfortable and were only like $30 3. I had the opportunity to buy an original East German AK parts kit complete with the weird plastic furniture it had all for like $15 and I passed up on it to buy a 1964 aluminum G3 magazine and now I see those same parts kits go for like $500 minimum and I am pissed. At least it wasn't an Albanian SKS for the price of 1 sandwich and a handshake or else I would have a mental illness. 4. My grandad spied on East Germany, that is all I know about my grandad's military career 5. One of my favorite modded vehicles in snowrunner is an East German Ural 375 6. Arma 3's Global Mobilization DLC is fucking cool, you get a G11 AND a winter map 7. A lot of people who live in former East Germany vote for AFD because they idealize the cold war and are believe modern day Russia to be the vanguard of their interests for some reason. that's all I have to say about that

[@ianhomerpura8937]

For #7, post-1990 deindustrialization by Köhl really made a huge impact in eastern cities, and with depopulation and lack of industries pushing it into a downward spiral, I wouldn't be surprised if it has swung to the far right

[@DamianMarx]

​@@ianhomerpura8937plus the Neonazis realised that east Germany is prime ground for underground shit and to further their cause which is why a good chunk of them moved east in the 90s

[@nickkennedy9034]

@@ianhomerpura8937 so they are basically the rust belt maga dipshits but in Germany? Sounds real dumb.

[@wtice4632]

​@@ianhomerpura8937is it "far right" to not want your communities over run with 3rd world transplants that you didnt have a say in?

[@ianhomerpura8937]

@@wtice4632 interestingly, the former East German states rarely have immigrants coming in, except in Berlin. They all go to the former west.

[@peter_smyth]

If it's not from the eastern Appalachia region it's not banter, it's just sparkling chat.

[@typical_name8682]

1:32:45 - I remember reading that apparently sometimes anarchists on the western side would hop over the wall to hide from west german police. The east german authorities weren't particularly fond of them, given the whole anarchism thing, so they didn't stick around and went back over the wall once the coast was clear (how they managed to do this, I have no idea).

[@TeeBeeOhh]

Devon is absolutely right about Germans and the letter I, it turns any word into a friend

[@trashrabbit69]

This should be more than enough Content to stuff in the back of my Trabant 601 hidden within X-ray images and bookcovers across the checkpoint. The people must know!

[@mikeschumacher]

30:20 Missed opportunity to talk about the Saar Republic (light blue), which has some amazing and crazy history from 1870 through 1955. Would recommend a visit Historical Museum of the Saar in Saarbrücken if you can get there.

[@LordoftheThings327]

two 3 hour episodes in a row? dear good folks, thank you for your service but also take a vacation or something

[@johannageisel5390]

Last time I was this early, my parents were still taking me to the Monday Demonstrations in Leipzig. (They stopped after we got too close to the cops beating up people.)

[@ericnute]

Maybe someone else wrote this: Devon is in fine form. Love it!

[@The_Sin_Squad]

I don’t have the energy for a well-worded response. I’m sick of fellow leftists buying into the idea that it’s better not to vote than to vote for Biden. I don’t understand how people could believe that between the two war criminals on the docket, Trump would be the better option. I’m so exhausted and hopeless for the future with how often I’ve seen people pledge not to vote this next election. I don’t even know what to say.

[@GorgeDawes]

As I said to someone else in a similar context recently, Biden isn’t your cup of tea so instead you are going to drink bleach?

[@Akmt96]

I would happily buy a "no walls- no masters" shirt that transitions through all the most oppressive walls in history left to right.

[@trunkage]

With that robust whistelblower protection, can we finally get the dirt on WTYP hosts that we are all here for?

[@SolarFlareAmerica]

Love how Justin circled the bird as if it wasn't completely evident, though he's probably met a bunch of people who could've missed it anyways.

[@JPR3D]

Hey guys, congrats on 100k . I came acrodd this podcast by blind luck about 6 months ago and it quickly became my favorite.

[@SizzleCorndog]

Gotta say this has become my new sleep episode because Edward has such a fantastic voice

[@thehaprust6312]

Wim Wenders's "Wings of Desire" is fascinating in that it is a really good movie, but also a historical record of Berlin during the time of the wall. Almost all of the filming was done on location in West Berlin, and it features many notable locations.

[@MrJohndoakes]

"The Blues Brothers" is like that, but for Chicago. You can hate that movie, but watch it to see how certain things looked in 1979-1980 in that part of Illinois.

[@thehaprust6312]

@@MrJohndoakesI could not ever hate that movie.

[@MrJohndoakes]

@@thehaprust6312 Tom Scharpling (voice of Greg Universe, host of "The Best Show") is not a fan of Jake and Elwood Blues.

[@3bydacreekside]

"its happening to me too, I can joke about it" me too Alice 😢

[@MrJohndoakes]

1:09:14 The NVA/Grenztruppen uniform resembles its Wehrmacht predecessor, but it's mostly Rayon (like the pre-War black SS uniforms) unlike Wehrmacht wool or cotton, and the working dress buttons are made out of some light pot metal or aluminum. By the early 1970s, the draftees wear slightly different uniforms than the lifers. The enlisted cap is no longer the WWII-style "Einheitsmutze" and looks more North Korean or Czech. They wear small ushanka hats in the winter, even the officers. One writer called the NVA "the last true German army", because it was very Prussian.

[@RoyalKnightVIII]

"Rebuild the wall and make it 10 feet higher!" A disgruntled east German after west German annexation

[@PoolNoodleGundam]

My 3rd favorite wall, after the Great and Pink Floyd

[@aliceosako792]

Disappointed that no one mentioned Eija-Riitta Eklöf, the woman who claimed to be the wife (and then, widow) of the Berlin Wall.

[@kevinlardi5961]

That roadrunner at the end is magnificent, thank you.

[@AVS_uk]

I suddenly realised I was the person who listened to over 2 hours but wasn't subscribed. My bad. I'm now subscribed. You have a good podcast. Well done

[@user-om8pb8ob9i]

for our ap history in high school, middle ages to ww1 were covered in depth for two trimesters. third tri was optional preparation for the ap test, with a little bit of post-ww1 history sprinkled in. berlin wall and cuban missile crisis were covered in a day, we watched a documentary. (we got news that the ap test would not cover anything past ww1, so it literally was "useless information"

[@user-om8pb8ob9i]

don't worry some history was supplanted in other classes like english with the great gatsby. and animal farm

[@Sputnik2708]

My American friends all agreed among each other that the only history you are taught repeatedly and in depth are the US war of independence, the US civil way and the Holocaust.

[@TalesOfWar]

Got to love a system designed to make you pass a test and not to actually teach you things.

[@dajiba8291]

Shoutout to Devon for their input on the Gaza situation

[@christophervanerp1133]

54:25 - Holy Shit! is that a *Disco Elysium* Reference??!?!!!?!?!!

[@gbrading]

Absolutely need an episode about Palast der Republik. Get Nameless Guest back for it!

[@DelightingalePlays]

There's a section of the Berlin wall up in my CTA station and it actually took a few weeks of using it regularly before I noticed it was there. It kind of blends in until you notice, "Oh this graffitied bit of wall is cordoned off? OH."

[@AtomicKing74]

Must say, as a 2013 high school grad in Chicago. History classes covered upto World War 2 and the Atomic Bomb. Anything after that was cold war blah blah go to your next class. Looking back, it was surprising to have an assignment on whether or not to use the atomic bomb on Japan.

[@ant4812]

If you guys wanted to do an episode on asbestos, you should do one on Wittenoom, West Australia. A town which has been erased from the map. CSR, a big sugar company, used to mine blue asbestos there.

[@johanneswerner1140]

Yeah! The blue sky mine - also a great Midnight Oil song