Some levity – The Jeffersons alla Der Führer

Biretta tip to The Anchores for this….

Seriously, don’t take a drink of anything while this video starts up.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCJTR3XeiAc]

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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60 Comments

  1. Joseph says:

    IMHO not funny at all.

  2. Chironomo says:

    There are funnier video remixes on their site… the Peanuts cartoon characters used for the scene from “Goodfellows” is particularly well done…

  3. Thanks for the laugh, Fr. Z. I needed it.

  4. Thomas says:

    Haha! The devil can’t stand to be laughed at.

  5. Geoffrey says:

    I had no idea what it was going to be about. Hilarious! Now I’ve got that song stuck in my head…

  6. RosieC says:

    So I wonder how the expression “moving on up” would translate to German…

  7. Melody says:

    Umm… remember the “THINK before posting”? Practice what you preach Father.

  8. walter says:

    Joseph,

    As an African American i find your comments just plain stupid. Are you really claiming some offense because they used The Jefferson’s theme song and how that shows white Catholics “want their church back”? Are you nutty or what?

    Oh, by the way, i go to the Extraordinary Form Mass quite ofteen and am by far not the only person of color, black or ortherwise. Its usually quite evenly distributed among all races of Catholics.

  9. Guy Power says:

    Ausgezeichnet! A previously unknown, purged, phrase from Leni Riefenstahl’s Triumph des Willens was discovered at the bottom of the same box from which came the “Jeffersons” footage:

    “Heute Deutschland, morgen eine deluxe Wohnung im Himmel.”

    Pfüat di’ Gott,
    –Guy

  10. Joseph says:

    Walter,

    I do not know where you live, but I have not seen many blacks at all at these masses, which are in mixed neighborhoods, many times. So, while not exactly empirical, (and we don’t need to go there) I just see a dearth of black participation. It was not very long ago when, in this country (USA) in the South, blacks were required to be seated in the back pews at Catholic Churches and receive communion last, and black priest have related how some communicants would change lines as not to receive from the black priest, and no need for a litany here, except to say this stuff is from the fifties or perhaps sixties, and not the eighteen fifties, and not by government decree.

    I brought up the coffee incident to depict a certain style and mindset that is attracted to this brand of Catholicism, and should be guarded against. It is not that the CC is out and out racist, no, but who here would play this video for black guests at a your home or at a party?? Puleeze!!

  11. Jenny Z says:

    Joseph,
    Methinks you thought about this a wee bit too hard. But I guess some people can find racism or bigotry in anything.

  12. Rachel says:

    I thought the video was hilarious. It would have been equally hilarious had Hitler sung a rousing song by a white pop star. The race had nothing to do with it. It’s stupid that I even needed to say that, but some people who wish to be very free of the taint of racism make another error– that of unjustly judging others.

  13. RBrown says:

    The whole point of the mix is that it makes fun of Hitler and his Nazi followers, not Black people.

  14. Tim Ferguson says:

    I see the logic Joseph:

    A. I don’t see many African Americans at the TLM, and one of the TLM folks I know is rude to his Filipina wife.
    B. My experience is normative.
    C. Therefore, the TLM crowd is rife with racist bigots who “want their white church back.”

    Applying that to my own situation,
    A. Over 99% of the worshippers at the TLM Mass I attend are from the Metro Detroit area (yes, including a good cross sections of ethnic backgrounds, though no one really seems to be bothered by that, since we look at each other as individuals in need of God’s redemptive love, not categories on a census sheet).
    B. My experience is normative.
    C. Therefore, only a few people interested in the TLM are from outside of the Detroit area.

    Taking a big cue from Mel Brooks, I think the best way to deal with Hitler is to make him into the laughing stock he truly should have been. In ’01 he said, “If you stand on a soapbox and trade rhetoric with a dictator you never win,” says Brooks, 75. “That’s what they do so well; they seduce people. But if you ridicule them, bring them down with laughter–they can’t win. You show how crazy they are.”

  15. gabriel says:

    As Germans, we were not allowed to laugh about Nazi jokes for nearly 60 years. Not politically correct. To some point understandable, I must say.

    I’m sorry, but looking at this little, lunatic man makes me laugh, instantly.
    Sound on/off, the Jefferson’s theme song on top/the Brady bunch theme song on top.. whatever.

    As a German born well after the war, I ask myself the usual question:
    WHAT A NUTCASE!!!! WHAT THE HELL WAS WRONG WITH PEOPLE!!
    apart from the usually mentioned reasons of depression/unempoyment/fury, I can’t think of anything at all..
    (of course, nobody will ever know, since we’ve been trying to analyze this for more than 60 years, and we still don’t know, and we never will)

    Anyway!! Funny stuff!!

  16. Phillip says:

    Father, have you seen the video Lil Hitler on youtube. I suggest you check it out.

  17. Vernon says:

    Father Z,

    You have a problem with the anti-spam word for comments on the article about the TLM in Winchester. Can you sort it out please?

    Vernon

  18. Joseph says:

    Gee Tim,

    Thanks for the back handed complement.

    Your sacrasm is screamingly funny as the video.

    I admitted to the anecdotal/experiential basis for my assertion, but this is coupled with some pretty profound statistics, like perhaps 300 black priests in the US out of 40,000. IOW, less than 1% if my math is OK here. And I travel quite a bit and go to quite a few churches as a church musician for more than 25 years. I also have lived in a couple of inner city rectories and have had multiple conversations with clergy in this regard, so my take is not baseless, nor illogical, though I won’t claim thoroughly scientific either.

    None has answered the question – Would you play this video for your black house/party guests, or maybe your Jewish party guests, with this and/or a Jewish song so juxtaposed?

    First of all, I think that almost nothing about Hitler is funny, nothing. He is the symbol of the greatest evil of one of the most evil and cruel centuries, and his evil was all about racist/ethnic superiority, ending in the extermination of millions for that reason alone. Funny stuff. Hello? So, again, how is this funny, in the first place, and why a black song, a song about black people moving up in a white world, (“We finally got a piece of the pie” –which pie?) black people whom he despised as much as Jews. I don’t get this.

    People that need this kind of infusion of “levity” maybe need to get out more, I don’t know.

    How do you feel, as a black person or person of color, when in a Catholic Church with all the symbols of holiness (or virtually all) white? Usually not semitic (as was Jesus, Mary, et al) but white.

    Of course I don’t think TLM is a white exclusivist movement, not at
    all, in my church it is at least half minority, but notably absent are of African Americans, maybe 1%. Yes, this is just one church, but please don’t insult my intelligence by playing this up as my claim on a scientific assesment. It is not meant as such, but if one looks around, we can see that our church has some problems in this area, that is all, and the fact that some think this Hitler stuff is funny, for me, cements this idea. If for you it is harmless fun, play this at your mixed party, then let’s talk.

  19. Pater hilarius says:

    1) To Joseph: I appreciate your opinion and the fact that you didn’t like the video. You are entitled to your opinion and I am not going to get into a debate with you over the merit or lack thereof of the video. Personally, I found it very funny. I think perhaps your intensity of opinion may ve one of the reasons priests are reluctant to train and offer the EF. Just a thought. Peace to one and all!

  20. Geoffrey says:

    Melody said: “Umm… remember the “THINK before posting”? Practice what you preach Father.”

    But this is Fr Z’s house…

  21. Maureen says:

    Somewhere, Jesse Owens is laughing his butt off about this. And probably so is Mel Brooks.

    The humor value of this is, primarily, that Hitler used gestures in his speeches similar to those a Gospel singer might use. Hitler hated black people, and was a man and not a woman. Therefore, it’s funny to have his hysterical, nasty, unbeautiful voice replaced with that of a proud and beautiful black woman, singing of pride in her personal and familial accomplishments and success.

    There is also an edgier motif — that the theme song to The Jeffersons spoke of finding elbow room through hard work and honesty, whereas Hitler whipped up his audience to find lebensraum through hatred, banditry, and conquest. But it’s perfectly clear that her pride is justified pride, and his merely a mask for deep feelings of inferiority and a lack of true accomplishments.

    The creepy German audience members are also pretty funny to mock.

  22. Peg says:

    I work in a religious gift shop. Every statue or picture we have of St.Martin de Porres, Ven. Pierre Tousant and Bl. Josephine Bakhita is black, because they were black. Every statue or picture we have of St. Andrew Kim and St. Paul Chong is oriental for the same reason.
    Joseph, we need always to remember that as Catholics we are all semitic since we have the Body and Blood of Jesus in us at Holy Communion.

  23. Jason says:

    Great video Father!

    This reminds me of a time I spoke with my great-grandmother about the humor at Hitler’s expense that was used during the War. There was a song called Der Fuhrer’s Face which made fun of him and his Nazi war machine. Most egoists like Hitler can’t stand being made fun of.

    IMHO humor (at times), is like beauty: one more way to combat evil.

  24. Jayna says:

    I thought it was hilarious. Sometimes, though, I wonder if the people who make these videos might have a wee bit too much time on their hands. Still, gave me a laugh so I don’t really mind them not having a life.

  25. Joseph says:

    To the “interesting” responses.

    First off, no one address the “play the video at your next mixed party, then we can talk,” aspect. Cause you know you won’t. So the ad hominem’s begin. Weak.

    P hilarius, I’ve not heard as besmirched a comment on the internet, re: why prelates avoid the TLM. Just a wild association, and you have got to be joking here, right?

    Black statues are nice, wow, we have one whole black saint (St.M d P – and he’s half white anyway [let’s not bring up obscure ones, I already know about them, please give me a break,] )to represent 2000 years of Christendom.

    Angels are white, 99% of saints are white, Jesus is Scandinavian white as is His Mother, etc., (except when she’s Mexican) that is what an archeologist will certainly ascertain 1000 years from now as the ruins of our churches from the 2020 nuclear holocaust are dug up.

    Great message to black children.

    Lastly, the video, in itself, in no way heaps scorn on Hitler, just has “fun” with his image. The imaginative leap to seeing in this anything approaching ridicule is truly unbelievable. Show it to a child, and see if that is their impression. Just completely reading what one wants to see, not an honest take at all.

    We talk about people in this society who are desensitized by over exposure to something, like sex or violence or disrespect. This approaches that for me. I mean, Jeremaih Wright to me is a nut case, but his is that of a philosopher king compared to some of the rationalizing I detect here. Before you, again, accuse me of being irrational, or irascible, or “over the top” or some other character or mental deficiency, just answer the “party” question above. Then (based on an honest response) we’ll talk.

  26. RBrown says:

    Joseph, you seem not to understand satire. And so I doubt that you would have any rapport with Jews, who love it.

  27. Farther V. says:

    Don’t worry Joseph, I will show this video after the Mass and get their opinion, My parishioners are 30% black, 30% Filipinos and 40% caucasians.

  28. david andrew says:

    I laughed, I cried, I wet myself. . . I even looked for and found the Peanuts/Goodfellas overdub, which I thought was even more brilliant than the Hitler parodies.

    Then I read some of the reactions.

    I’m reminded of the heated exchange between Giorgi the old blind monk and the monk/narrator from Umberto Eco’s “Name of the Rose,” as the books of the old library, and the library itself were burning. Giorgi gave voice to objections to any laughter, to the point of poisoning himself by eating the toxic pages of the Third Book of Poetics by Aristotle, in order to prevent it, and the references it contained regarding humor and laughter that mocked things worthy of mockery, from coming to light, from becoming known. Giorgi felt that laughing at what he considered “blasphemous things” was a great evil.

    I make no claim to being a theologian, but it seems to me that laughter, as we learn from the psalms, is particularly healthy, especially when laughing at evil. The psalms tell us that God himself laughed evil to scorn. Isn’t that what we might do in the case of these videos?

  29. AnnaTrad says:

    Joseph,

    I think your problem is with the TLM and not the video at all, it just gave you a soap box to stand on to vent your frustration over traditionalist and the TLM. What ever made you put the two together in the first place. Father has many articles about many things not just the TLM, such as the reform of the reform. Could there be a connection there to?

  30. Joseph says:

    To see Hitler put on display on a RC site dedicated to bringing seriousness back to the Catholic Religion via the TLM — to have it be slapstick to the point of really no humour at all, no connection to the song, lyrics etc., just a silly roust, to put Adolph Hitler on display in any way except as the devil possessed person that he was, is just terribly incongruous and genuinely disheartening. The track record for the Catholic Church and US blacks is not a very good one, and the numbers and statistics bear this out and the reponses here show (me, at least) why. One of you, only one, took my “challenge” seriously, (and I await with interest that result and response) but I have lost a lot of respect for so many here tonight, and this I am truly sad to say. Aside from the aforementioned, the rest of the responses have been wrought with patronizing remarks and psuedo psych BS, and reflect a shallowness of thought about truly impactful issues.

    BTW, just for the record, there is on the thread more than one Joseph, the other echoing a similar take as my own.

    Good evening, and God bless.

  31. jon says:

    way to totally hijack the post, you two bedwetting josephs.

  32. Corboy says:

    Very clever! I loved it.

  33. Warren Anderson says:

    O.K., settle down, everybody. I didn’t for a moment take the video personally or think to distort the intent of Fr. Z. Yes, there is a dark side to it because hey, it’s Hitler, stupid. Mel Brooks had the right idea. Laugh at the guy, laugh because of the absolute absurdity of what he represents – and more importantly, laugh at ourselves if we are tempted to think we are any less susceptible – in our new enlightened century – to following a madman or some malevolent philosophy (pro-choice = countless millions dead). The Nazis hated “black music” (ever see “Swing Kids”?). Don’t cha get it? Hitler with the voice of Ja’net Du Bois (who co-wrote and sang the song) – is just plain silly, absurd in fact. Black humour = the juxtaposition of morbid and farcical elements to give a disturbing effect. Look past the lack of seriousness to see a moment of absurdity and disturbing levity. BTW Fr. Z., about those bird photos – where are the crows? Do you have something against black birds, and/or blackbirds? P.S. – I am of mixed racial heritage – black, Coast Salish (i.e., Indian, native American, whatever…) and various shades of white. My parents raised me with a sense of humour.

  34. Phil says:

    Joseph,

    Please give us a break. The political correctness that transpires from your messages is almost a caricature. You are so obsessed with the percentage of blacks as compared to whites, blue eyes as compared to [what?] and white statues as compared to [black ones I suppose?] that you appear to be the most race-obsessed around here. You just hate the TLM crowd, we heard you, and that is fine with me, it is you right and I am not even going to argue with you about the matter. But on the other hand, please stop your senseless liberal whining — we already hear plenty of it, from all over the place.

    By the way, Hitler, even though most certainly inspired by Satan, was /not/ the worst evil of the evil 20th Century. Stalin and Mao rank, respectively, second and first. But this is not taught on U.S. campuses — even though it is the simple, plain historical truth.

    Phil

  35. Chironomo says:

    An excellent observation Phil….

    One of the most troubling aspects of the 60’s and 70’s radical movements was seing students on AMERICAN campuses carrying around the “little Red Book” and singing the praises of Mao…the number of deaths he is responsible for is unknown even now, and his legacy of oppression, hatred and racism lives on ven today.

    Joseph… I watched this video and the fact that the song was from a black sitcom didn’t even occur to me until you mentioned it… I was grabbed by the theme of “movin on up” as it relates to Hitler. Thanks for pointing out what I should have been able to figure out on my own were I as race obsessed as some.

  36. Paul says:

    Joseph’s comments were just plain bizarre….

    Were they supposed to be satirical??

  37. RBrown says:

    Joseph,

    Actually, it’s not slapstick (or more more properly, slapshtick), which is very physical, sometimes violent, comedy. Good examples are The Three Stooges, Charlie Chaplin, and Laurel and Hardy.

  38. Quite apart from the question of whether the video is funny or not, one of the Josephs raises the question about prejudice against Blacks by white American Catholics, specifically among those who support the TLM.

    The numbers brought forward do not support the contention. There are relatively few Black Catholics in America, so there is no surprise that there are relatively few Black Catholic priests. The percentage of priests does lag behind the percentage of the population as a whole, but I suspect that may be cultural; the same is true for Hispanics, while the East Asian population is “over-represented” in the U.S.

    Black Catholic Population
    The African American population is today 12% of the total United States population, and it is and always has been overwhelmingly Protestant. Blacks are about 3% of the total Catholic population.

    Less than 1% of all Catholic Priests (300 Black priests out of 46,341 total priests) and less than one half of 1% of all Catholic sisters (300 Black sisters out of 82,593 total sisters) [CARA 1999]
    4% of diaconate candidates; of the 11,868 permanent deacons in the United States in 1996, approximately 3.2% or 380, are Black. [The Secretariat for the Diaconate 1999]
    1.2% of lay parish ministers, and 3% of students in lay ministry formation [Murnion and DeLambo 1999]
    Without actual statistics, there is the unofficial count of about six hundred or more African priests. There is approximately the same number, if not larger, of African sisters. Many African priests are political refugees; others are students who also do parochial work; some are missionaries particularly in black parishes, like the Missionaries of St. Paul from Nigeria. Many bishops are recruiting African seminarians to work in the States – as was the case of Irish recruits of yesteryear.

    from The National Black Catholic Congress

    These numbers show a slight “over-representation” statistically of Blacks in the diaconate and in those preparing for diaconal ministry and lay ministry. It also demonstrates that there are a large number of African priests in the U.S., almost double the native American Black priests, so that affects percentages too. Interestingly, there is a small convent of nuns (mostly Lithuanian in heritage) near my house, whose chaplain is one of these African priests (an Ethiopian Coptic priest. The sisters and the lay folk who attend Mass at the convent are only grateful for the ministry of this priest, who also attends to a Coptic congregation in Boston. Of course, that, too, is only anecdotal.

  39. Sissy says:

    I was thinking, which could prove dangerous sometimes, but I connect the Jeffersons with Archie Bunker, who was a real idiot. When the Jeffersons lived next door to the Bunkers, they had a lot more class than the Bunkers did. Ok, so the Bunkers were white and the Jeffersons were black, but it never even crossed my mind when I watched this, that someone could be putting down “whitie”? It is a comedy show for peat sake! No one that I know of made a big deal out of this because it is comedy!

    So Joseph, do you have a problem with Bunker being made to look like a total idiot? Or Edith for that matter. She certainly was a dingbat.

    I thought the Hitler clip was totally funny, especially the way the gestures and mouth moved to the song. It never crossed my mind while I was watching this to tie ANYTHING black, white, yellow, green or otherwise to it. Lighten up! As St. Terese of Avila said, “God deliver us from sour-faced saints!” The clip was like someone sticking their tongue out at Hitler and his ilk. Again let me quote St. Teresa when she was approached by one of her nuns, who was being attacked by the devil. “Stick your tongue out at the devil. He is so proud he cannot handle it and he will flee.” That may not be the exact quote word for word but you get the idea here.

  40. Thomas says:

    Joseph (both of you, I suppose),
    Thank you for the amusement. I take seriously your points, but, as Steve Cavanaugh said, there are very few black Catholics to begin with. That isn’t to say that there haven’t been a good number of bigoted Catholics through the years, but I hardly see it, partly because there is little chance to see it. Indeed, the few black Catholics at my parish in Montgomery, AL are some of the most supportive of tradition and are well loved. As an aside (sort of), an year before Rosa Parks, a Catholic high school student in Montgomery made a stand (or as sit) on one of the public buses, but she just accepted the fine. We honored her at a breakfast not too long ago and a plaque in her honor hangs outside our chapel. Her school however, has very few Catholics left because of the demographics of the city.

    Indeed, let us laugh at Satan and his minions!

  41. Adam says:

    I’m confused at the outrage. It’s a video mocking an evil man. The US government did it with Bugs Bunny throughout World War II.

    Reserve your outrage for the real evils out there, drama queens. Otherwise you just look like someone who has no sense of humor.

  42. berenike says:

    I was thinking how utterly utterly out of his mind with fury Hitler would have been at this! Ha ha! Absolutely livid. Nae joy, Adolf!

  43. Folks, the racism thing is now a rabbit hole. Going down that path with this video is ridiculous. Feel free to badger the question on your own blogs, however.

  44. boredoftheworld says:

    I know funny, and this ain’t it

    Yes it is, it is an example of one of the pillars of humor. It’s basically a fart joke so yes, it’s imbecilic. But imbecility sells tickets.

    I showed this to my 5, 7 and 8 year old children. I asked them “who is this?” and they yelled “it’s hitler!” I then asked them what they thought was going to happen and they said he would be making a speech telling people all the mean things they were going to do. Then I ran the clip. The five year old immediately laughed reflexively because what was expected didn’t happen… that’s the bottom line of most humor, we laugh because of an anxiety reflex.

    The older children yelled “ewww! he’s singing!” When asked what they thought was going on the 7 year old immediately answered “they’re making fun of him because he’s stupid.”

    We had a short discussion about “The Jeffersons” and watched the actual intro on youtube. When asked “now what do you think?” the first response was from the five year old (boy): “Can we watch a Star Wars show now?”

    So while, yes, the video IS childish humor, it’s lost on children. Nevertheless it does meet the requirements of being funny… because most people LAUGH at it. Think of the Springtime for Hitler” number in both versions of “The Producers”, or even the Spanish Inquisition bit in “History of the World: Part One”

    In fact, the “Heil, Myself” part of The Producers remake maybe the funniest thing I’ve ever seen.

  45. Tommy says:

    !!ROLFLMBO!!

    Although I laughed a little this morning when I watched it for the first time,….after reading all the comments this afternoon I watched it again,…..tears ran down my face I was laughing so hard at that guy!

    One of the funniest things was that look he gave at the end,….as if to say to himself; “Heh,..that was pretty good, if I must say so myself.”

  46. An American Mother says:

    “The proud spirit [the devil] cannot endure to be mocked. . . ”

    – St. Thomas More

    “The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn.”

    – Martin Luther

    Looks to me like this video is carrying on the great tradition of Spike Jones (“Der Fuehrer’s Face”) who had a good time making fun of Hitler and the rest of the Nazis and no doubt infuriated them.

  47. Richard says:

    I still like the “Endless Love” song sang by Bush and Blair.

  48. Joseph says:

    Just talked to Ja’net Dubois office. They are quite disturbed by this. As one might expect, this use of the Jefferson’s theme song composed by Ms. DuBois was totally unauthorized. Most artists don’t have full time legal staffs to catch all of this abuse, and they are following up on this.

    Something in my spirit just did not like this from the beginning, and here, at least is some more affirmation that this thing is stinky.

  49. boredoftheworld says:

    It’s a parody, you may not think it’s a good one, but that doesn’t change the fact that it is a parody.

    It’s also hysterically funny! The more I watch it the funnier it is. Now I want to see Stalin singing “It’s Raining Men” and Castro singing “There’s No Business Like Show Business” (as Ethel Merman).

  50. Joseph says:

    How about Hillary singing “Stand By Your Man” alla Tammy Wynette.

  51. boredoftheworld says:

    How about Hillary singing “Stand By Your Man” alla Tammy Wynette.

    I think it’s been done actually. It doesn’t strike me as having great comedy potential though because that’s what she did, whereas I don’t think hitler got a deluxe apartment in the sky.

  52. Joseph says:

    Only Brought up Tammy because Hillary was declared shoe would not act like the woman in the TW song, well before Monica and the rest of the revelations. Anyway, was not serious about it,

    Parody, is not the thing, whole cloth, but a revision. This song is here whole cloth, unauthorized by the artist, with an unauthorized coupling as well, and parody or not or just close to, parody is not a license to steal or even “borrow.” The author must issue permission and/or receive compensation. Just because one can now MORE EASILY steal (digitally) does not then make it more acceptable, except to thieves. This is a violation of US Copyright law and other well established and internationally respected dicta concerning intellectual property, and this needs to come down, period.

    I would respectfully ask that, respecting the wished of the DuBois office, that this be taken down (yes I know it is a link, but effectively it is as if it is ON this site, there is no practical difference, and this is aiding and abetting). I have notified Fr. Z on this, and do expect him to act responsibly here.

  53. Jordanes says:

    Joseph said: Something in my spirit just did not like this from the beginning, and here, at least is some more affirmation that this thing is stinky.

    One does not determine whether or not a joke is funny by asking a lawyer whether or not it violates copyright. In fact, copyright or no, lawyers aren’t usually who one consults to determine if a joke is funny. And if one needs to ask if a joke is funny, then it means humor is lacking in the joke or a sense of humor is lacking in the one asking.

  54. Joseph says:

    And what does one indicate by overstating the obvious.

    Sometimes humor just doesn’t work because it is morally off base, like raunchy sex jokes for Christians; while everyone in the room is howling, somehow, you are not.

    This thing did not work for me on multiple levels, and for some others as well, humor wise and just the plain gratuitousness. I did not like the title before seeing it, I felt vexed somehow; call it intuition, the Holy Spirit, experience, something.

    I don’t like the easy joke, the trite, the too obvious, and as one person posting above called this, “fart” jokes, though he does. I do go for corny sometimes. I kind of like the Simpson’s, but don’t really like South Park. So whatever floats one’s boat. If you don’t appreciate my take, fine, let’s not hang out on a Saturday night, but jeesh, don’t get bent. These sort of “chijuajua at the heal” nips and swipes at someone who dares call anything into question are really tiring. Seriously.

    As a songwriter myself, I would not my song used this way, and DuBois does not. That should be the end of it, for Christians, at least, but once again, I am surprised and miffed.

  55. Jordanes says:

    You know, Joseph, I doubt anybody is holding a gun to your head and instructing you to visit this weblog. On the subject of “overstating the obvious,” you’ve already said, over and over and over again, that you don’t think it’s funny. Not content with expressing your opinion that the video is unfunny, now you want to morally browbeat people into submission by changing the subject to copyright law. The only one “getting bent” here seems to be you — so upset that (so you say) you called up the person who wrote/sang the song to let them know somebody had violated copyright and, even worse, committed an act of humor that you deem unfunny. Really, there are many, many, many more edifying things to do with your time. Why don’t you just accept the fact that most people here disagree with you, and move on with your life? Or do you have a need to have the last word?

  56. Joseph says:

    Well Jordanes,

    You seem to want to do your own brand of policing. I made my initial statements here based on one basic premise when I first looked at the title: Which black artist is going to want their stuff associated with A Hitler? [Would say the same if it was a Jewish artist]. Not many that I know (And I know a lot). [If you bring up Mel Brooks again, people, I will puke. It is apples and oranges. He controlled that product form start to finish – not the same AT ALL]. It SMELLED funny and it was. The fact that only I and a couple of others picked up on this made me think their is a cultural and/or information gap when it comes to such issues. It would seem that I am on target here. In advocating for such I may have thrown in the kitchen sink and diverted along the way, and sometimes just to answer p.a. commentary. But basically I am an artist sticking up for and looking out for another artist. The DuBois people wore extremely grateful for the heads up, and note that it is YouTube and goes far beyond Fr. Z’s one link to here. Does this bother you? Now, whatever business you are in, I hope you look out for you own, and believe me, I will not come after you with this kind of petty BS for doing the same. When you come after me with little petty insults, under the guise of something profound, I will react and maybe give you something of your own brand of medicine, and here you come back again. I will quit with this: as an artist, (or actually, anyone with a knowlege of the history and value to society of IP rights protection) copyright infringement is no joke, and neither is unwarranted use, unauthorized use, of one’s intellectual property.

    The fact that this brand of abridgement of another’s rights has become push button easy and one can do so without getting out of his pajamas makes it no less a violation, and as “Christians” I would think we would, without question or need for discussion, advocate for the working person’s right to the fruits of their labor and the artist’s right not to have their stuff used in ways they did not intend. Of course, in a “Christian” country, one would think abortion beyond the pale as well, but you already know about that.

  57. boredoftheworld says:

    If you bring up Mel Brooks again, people, I will puke.

    Oh, well in THAT case…

    Mel Brooks.

  58. Joseph says:

    For anyone still interested (everyone has gone home)

    I would like to apologize for some of the vitriol created. I over reacted to some aspects of this thing, not being able to squarely put my finger on the right target, I was shotgunning. I am sorry. Please forgive me.

    None of the things I said are (at least from my perpective) wrong (as in, inaccurate) per se, but the context was confused at best. The TLM is the answer, I believe to a lot of today’s problem’s, racism is just one, and I certainly do not want to make this so big it is not real. If the Catholic Church is to be THE church, it must be the Church for all people, and sometimes we can miss the mark here, but again, this is a moving target and one hard to say exactly who is and who isn’t part of the problem. Once again, to the extent that I have become part of the problem — please forgive me.

    The song is great, and it brings a good feeling by and in itself, and attached to anything it does the same. So Hitler benefits here, not loses, so that is really my only problem aside from the use of someone’s labor for not the purpose they would want. If Fr. Z’s podcazt were ever associated with some questionable material, you all would feel bad about it. This is all.

    That and the fact that I am still a recovering troll.

    God Bless

  59. Katherine Therese says:

    I thought it was funny, in a sort of “Truly Tasteless Jokes” sort of way. But I’d hesitate to show it to my Jewish boyfriend.

    *waves to Marty*

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