The Synthetic Sound: A Sociogeographical Examination of Electro in Europe

Finally, I have returned to the blogverse with a unique research offering in collaboration with P. Diddy Kong and Elizabeth. Introducing our work on Europe's relationship to the "synthetic sound," or electronic music. Our research questions are not just about techno, however; we are much more interested in why electronic music has gained so much social acceptance on the European scene. In order to understand the popularity of electro, we will each be studying a region in depth. I will be looking at the climate in the United Kingdom, with specific focus on Bristol, where the genre of Trip Hop was born. Mr. P. Diddy Kong will be studying France, and Elizabeth will be focused on northern Europe (Denmark, Sweden, possibly Germany). The anthropological landscape, cultural identity, and history of each place will be taken into consideration as well as the countries' relationship to technology, music, and poltics--the elements that influence the art itself. We hope to come to a cultural understanding about why electro became such a phenomenon in Europe (at the very least).

Nazism Today

Nazism is by no means dead. Although fascism is no longer popular and is usually considered taboo, there are still people who adhere to its doctrine. These (usually young) radicals are known to us colloquially as "skinheads," although their formal name is the Neo-Nazi Party. The Neo-Nazis are not quite organized enough to constitute a political group, and because of anti-totalitarian laws in Germany, radical representatives cannot get elected anyways. However, they still operate in fairly large numbers spread out all over the globe.

The following videos are excerpts from a Japanese anime series called "Black Lagoon" about a group of pirates running a shipping business in the Pacific Ocean. Although such a series seems unrelated to the topic at hand, the following three episodes deal directly with Neo-Nazism, classic fascism, and the racism that still exists in our modern world. It's also interesting to take into consideration the Japanese perspective, especially since Japan was well-respected by Hitler and supported him in WWII. WARNING: The following contains graphic violence, strong language, and fanservice. If the videos don't work, let me know and I will link you to others. (Yeah, I'm a geek.)



Black Lagoon Episode 5

Too Much Talk About Hitler Makes Lolotte a Dull Girl (919-926)

In 1928, the struggling Weimar Republic finally went sour. An election was held that year which shifted the political poles from right to left, making it impossible for the Republic to drum up any more support. In addition to this loss of support, alienated voters, mostly of the peasantry, started backing "specialized interests" such as those of the Nazi party. The Nazis identified this electoral splintering as profitable, and with the stunning propaganda of Goebbels, their party led the way towards the inevitable splintering of the Weimar. They painted themselves as a young, hip contingent concerned with Germany's well-being, and even during the Depression they were well-funded enough to organize the rallies that won them 18.3 percent of the vote early on. The presence of the Nazi party in the Reichstag prevented other groups, such as the National Socialists, from becoming an overpowering majority; the Nazis only followed Hitler, and refused to partake in other areas of government. Hitler, however, could not win the majority required to become president electorally. Thus, after a Dutch anarchist and pyromaniac did his worst on the Reichstag, Hitler seized the opportunity to create "The Third Reich" under Nazi jurisdiction.

In 1933, Germany officially became a one-party Nazi state. The left was crushed by Hitler's regime, and all non-Nazi organizations were forced to assimilate. If the Nazi state was efficient, perhaps the autocracy would be justified, but the bureaucracy was so complicated that very little was accomplished. In fact, Hitler's biggest challenges came from within the Nazi party at the end of his first term; these internal difficulties led to the creation of the infamous Nazi secret police, the SS. Headed by Himmler, the most feared Nazi next to Hitler, the SS invented the Nazi concentration camp. Still, the regime enjoyed a certain amount of popular support that cut across class lines. Hitler admired and emulated Mussolini in this regard by attempting to infuse a universal nationalism into the German people and reaching out to the country's youth. The main staple of the party's politics was racism, and for this issue I recommend reading the two posts preceding this one.

Introducing the Reich

Unfortunately, Hitler's ideology did not stay confined to the incendiary pages of Mein Kampf. A series of Nuremberg Laws were drawn up in to enforce the "protection of German blood and German honor." The first law separates Jews from Germans and establishes harsh consequences for those who refuse to acknowledge legislative xenophobia. It's a perfect case of the "separate but equal" syndrome; the law prevents Germans from marrying Jews, Jews from employing Germans, and German-Jew extramarital sex. However, Jews can display their own flag if not the German one, which is apparently a protected "exercise of right." Thus, some pretense of legality is established, only to be further deconstructed by subsequent laws denying Jews as citizens of the Reich. The third Nuremberg measure replacing the German flag with the Nazi swastika fully incorporated xenophobia into the sociopolitical structure of Germany.

If You're Smart, Go Die Now

Dear Comrade Elizabeth,

Intellectuals have an odd habit of stating their opinion. (Trotsky is a good example of such brazen behavior. I doubt he ever imagined his outspokenness would merit an ice pick in his cranium.) The intellectuals who supported the USSR may have been highly influential, but they also lived the most dangerous lives of any of the comrades. When the Bolsheviks first identified the educated, wealthy class as a threat, they began to mobilize against them immediately. There were only two courses of action: either openly support communism or get the hell out of the country, and fast. (Fortunately, an escaping intellectual could use their incredible mental faculties to evade the policemen at the border.) Great-great grandfather on my mother's side was a professor at the University of St. Petersburg and the owner of the Ural Gold Mining Company in Tsarist Russia. Once the Bolsheviks began a series of non-proletariat killings, he realized the urgent need for smart people to flee the country. He split his family in two; my great-great grandmother escaped through Europe with her two eldest children, and he escaped through China with all the young ones, eventually making his way to the United States. Right after they left, there was an attack on St. Petersburg elite. Few survived to see the USSR, although those that did played a huge role in shaping it; in order to enforce the success of the communist state, there couldn't be enough intellectuals to constitute a dissenting class. (God forbid that there would be communist leaders other than Stalin gathering support in the USSR. *cough*Trotsky*cough*)

PS: Our family still doesn't know what came of the people that escaped into Europe. it is possible that we have relatives in France descended from the eldest son, the only member of the family to survive the ordeal.

Mein Kampf.

In Hitler's mind, there was only one type of people in the world: the Aryan race. The rest, well, they're not quite human, and therefore they are not protected by Hitler's fascism. (He also happened to admire the Japanese for their racial purity. In his mind, their island home and lack of genetic exposure to the outside world mad them superior to their fellows, although not equal to the Germanic greatness of the Aryans.) In his text Mein Kampf, he bluntly and clinically outlines the threatening inferiority of two specific races--the Slavs and the Jews. Fate, apparently, has sent Hitler a sign of Germany's future action through the Prussia's submission to Bolshevism, and this sign indicates the eminent fall of the Russian state. "For centuries Russia drew nourishment from this Germanic nucleus of its upper leading strata," Hitler says. He attributes the construction of the Russian state not to Slavic but Germanic leadership of "the inferior race." Once Germanic leadership let go of the Slav's hand, the Jew immediately snatched up a position of leadership and began to demolish all of the glorious work of the master race, thus leaving Russia "exterminated and extinguished." In fact, he goes as far as to label this process "Jewish world Bolshevization."

In these (extremely racist) statements, Hitler proves his knowledge of German history. As we examined during World War I, Tsar Nicholas and Kaiser Wilhelm III were first cousins; hence, Hitler claims that the Tsardom was, in fact, a position held by traditionally Germanic leaders. However, his connection between Bolshevism and Judaism is far from accurate. Fortunately, Hitler's aim in Mein Kampf was not political accuracy; the purpose of the text is to rationalize and construct xenophobia. Poland and Russia found Hitler's claims to be frightening and offensive, but to many German fascists who were still experiencing the shame of WWI, his arguments were inspirational. The idea of a misunderstood yet superior Germanic race was a glorious dream that negated the failure of the Weimar Republic, incredible debt, and loss of the Great War. Plus, this superiority was effortless--it came of Fate and lineage rather than merit. Hitler's seemingly rational presentation of his ideas only added to the appeal of Nazism for Germany. Hitler seemed like the kind of assertive leader a weakened and embittered Germany needed, and lo, they were stuck with him.

From the Weimar Republic to Today: Made in Germany

In the early 1920s, after the Great War, the German people overthrew the imperial government. After such an extended and horrible conflict, this political overhaul was relatively painless; however, the resulting Weimar Republic was too weak to support an unstable, losing Germany. During the decade-long attempt at a German democracy, hyperinflation plagued the economy as well as the $33 billion war debt. (The economy seemed to improve for a short period of time, then a state of financial crisis in 1930 caused the Weimar Republic to implode, unable to function because of severe debt.) The humiliation of having lost a war caused the German people to become embittered, blaming the failure of their armies on the plotting of minority groups such as the Jews and socialists. Thus, nationalism became militant.



Now, Germany is experiencing similar economic troubles. Thankfully, militant nationalism is not driving the country toward extremism as it once had; instead, stimulus packages are being distributed in an attempt to jump-start the economy. However, the economic hardship parallels that of the Great Depression in a rather disturbing way. This is the insider's view from Deutsche Welle's Made in Germany. (I would post a RAI Italia video about the present economy in Italy, but Silvio Berlusconi regrettably owns that TV station.)