Listen to Victor Davis Hanson and cohost Sami Winc as they discuss the latest revelations by DOGE, Trump’s Ukraine deal, Hamas in a pickle, German police raid homes of “hate speech” perpetrators, Keir Starmer promises troops, and Egypt’s bid to rebuild Gaza.
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As a former teacher of German, and as one who speaks, reads, and writes it, I have to say that German is NOT a difficult language. In many ways, it is easier to learn than English.
Yes, the two languages are related, and there are many words that are similar between them. That helps. But what really makes German easier is that its grammar is more consistent, with fewer exceptions than English’s. Its orthography, its spelling, is more consistent, than English’s.
The hard part in learning either language is in learning the idiomatic meanings of words and phrases, especially for American speakers learning German. Students will try to take an American phrase and translate it word for word into German. That doesn’t work.
Baron,
Is German an inflected language like Latin in which there are case endings?
Yes, it is. That’s another thing that makes it relatively easy to learn.
I would like to make two points regarding today’s podcast:
1) I hope president Trump can get the economy moving and lower inflation. This should be his highest priority. DOGE seems to be taking center stage at the moment, and I while all of the waste, fraud, and abuse that has been uncovered is shocking, the average American may agree with cuts in theory but object to them in practice. We’ve seen their reaction every time the government is shut down, and, more importantly, whom they ALWAYS blame.
At a campaign rally in the Bronx a few months ago Trump took the stage with Sam & Dave’s song Hold On, I’m Coming blaring in the background. It was an apropos choice given the circumstances. However, I doubt many in the audience had DOGE on their minds given the high inflation, energy prices and sluggish economy.
2) I couldn’t believe Margaret Brennan actually thought the Holocaust had been caused by “weaponizing free speech.” I guess she thinks that if Hitler had been censored he wouldn’t have been able to incite such horrible events like Kristallnacht. Maybe. But the real reason for the Holocaust was a weaponization of government. The Nazis shredded civil liberties and due process rights, so there was nothing standing in their way when they came after their enemies and created the Gestapo and places like Dachau. Britain’s recent record criminalizing free speech has been appalling.
None of these so called enlightened European progressives has learned anything from history.
As far as freedom of speech goes in Europe, even in the Enlightenment on the continent, there was never the full concept such as we developed, as Englishmen. And even our king practiced censorship. Frederick the Great in Prussia, Louis in France, Elisabeth and then Catherine in Russia, Maria Theresa, all censored the press, and publishing, to suppress opinion that they disagreed with. Then take all of the smaller states or less influential states-they did, too.
It’s necessary to understand this, when talking about Europe today, and the lack of protection for speech that we believe is a natural right. Even when Europeans stated it as a right, they do not believe as we do. Ultimately, you come up against our differing view of the relationship between the individual and the State. Our belief is that the individual is superior to the State; the State exists to serve the individual and protect his natural rights. It should be only big enough to do that. The Europeans are much more comfortable with a State that is superior to the individual, because they believe the State protects his rights, but those rights basically come from the State, not Nature.
So don’t be surprised that the Germans criminalize Internet speech. They are right in line with their neighbors.
Baron,
We are fortunate to have the First Amendment. It gives a near blanket protection to free speech and is absolutely necessary to a free society. Although the British parliamentary system is a more sensible way to govern compared to our paralytic system, we do have superior protections for civil liberties.
Britain used to be more tolerant of free speech than they are today. I can remember hearing all sorts of foul language and terrible racial abuse at British soccer games. Today, someone shouting that trash would be arrested. But freedom of speech has always been tenuous in Britain. For example, during the Queen’s Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977 punk band the Sex Pistols had their single God Save the Queen censored by the BBC which controlled a large chunk of the air waves. The police also arrested the Sex Pistols for playing the song live on a Thames river barge. What’s ironic is that suppressing the song just made it more popular than it have been had the government left the Sex Pistols alone.
“God save the Queen,
The fascist regime…
No future,
No future,
No future for you.”
I like to tell Brits, “You should have written it down like we did.”
Going into the election last year, I sought to better educate myself and took VDH’s American Citizenship and it’s Decline course with Hillsdale and sincerely benefited from the material. Since then, I have continued to educate myself with the help of VDH’s podcasts. I thoroughly enjoy them. Mr. Hanson is so likeable and witty, it’s entertaining to learn from him. I look forward to each new article and post. Thank you so very much for sharing your wisdom at a time when so many can benefit from your knowledge.
Congratulations Bridgette! Your re-commitment to America is inspiring! You have chosen well with Victor Davis Hanson as your mentor!
Regarding the cooperation, or lack thereof of continential European nations, a friend of mine — Welsh — seems to have described it best:
Definition of Hell:
Politicians – French
Police – German
Cooks – British