The juxtaposition of this gave me a jolt:
“It’s hard to explain why people elsewhere are being vaccinated more quickly with an excellent vaccine developed in Germany. Time is crucial. If Israel, the US, or the UK are far ahead of us with jabs, they’ll also gain economically.”
Israel has vaccinated more than a million people with the German jab.
I might be primed by having been reading some Simon Schama.
But think back to 1945 and the incredulity with which Jews lining up for German injections would be greeted. Voluntarily lining up that is.
The place still ain’t perfect, definitely still some cleaning up in the corners to be done, but hasn’t the world got better since then?
As Paul Johnson pointed out, historically Germany has always been safe and popular among Jews. France has been the country of intellectual anti-semitism, Russia the home of pogroms and the less said about the Poles the better.
That is why most European Jews not only had German names but also spoke a weird dialect of German.
It is not a surprise to see a return to the long-term trend. I know the Nazis loom big in our generations’ eyes, but it was 12 (admittedly rather memorable) years out of more than 2000 years of recorded history.
I’m not anti-vacuum or nothing, but I’m not interested in being injected with an entirely new type of vaccine that tickles your DNA like Dickie Attenborough’s theme park unless it could give me super powers or turn me into a stunning and brave T Rex or something.
Incidentally, my gran was understandably a bit paranoid about nazis. She went to a stage version of the Sound of Music once and nearly choked on her Fox’s Glacier Mint when a bunch of blond extras dressed up like Hitler groupies marched down the aisles.
Dunno what she would’ve made of this vaccine lark, but she’d probably have told people not to be big jessies about a cough.
Steve Sailer tells a tale about US Jews being kept out of country clubs. He says it was often a case of ruffianly, vulgar ex-Russian Jews being kept out by civilised, well-mannered ex-German Jews.
A thousand years of German tolerance? Well, to a degree, but there was still a lot of anti-semitism about. The great advantage was German disunity. If the local prince / bishop / burger decided to blame the Jews for some local crop failure / business collapse / military setback then exile could be had only a few miles away.
In Canada they are prioritising First Nations, at least one Chief as pointed out that with the history of experimenting on them that prioritisation could be taken in different ways
Both of Steve’s comments are spot on. Johnson and his gang can each inject 250 doses into their dicks. A bit tougher on Priti but life is just nasty some times.
It is not a surprise to see a return to the long-term trend. I know the Nazis loom big in our generations’ eyes, but it was 12 (admittedly rather memorable) years out of more than 2000 years of recorded history.
On a holiday visit to Wittenberg (where Luther nailed his theses to the church door, allegedly) two years ago, I came across a 700-year-old virulently anti-Semitic sculpture set in the wall of the town church, called a Judensau. I had to look it up, there’s a good article here. The street it’s on is named the Jüdenstraße.
Didn’t really think about this until you pointed it out but my first thought is 80 years after queuing for gas chambers they still patiently wait in a queue to get treated by a controversial German vaccine that they can’t sue for if it goes wrong.
Something in that statement makes me think.