Judaism and Whiteness in Wolfenstein
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- Опубликовано: 17 мар 2019
- Samuel Beckett once said, “Every word is like an unnecessary stain on silence and nothingness”...on the other hand, he SAID it.
-Art Spiegelman, 1992
Follow me at / yacobg42
Patreon: / jacobgeller
CW: Descriptions of both historical and contemporary Nazism and White Supremacy, depictions of extreme violence, some discussion and depiction of child abuse (in context of Wolfenstein), brief discussion of animal abuse (in context of Wolfenstein), significant discussion of anti-semitism and the holocaust.
Voice of Henry Ford and Madison Grant provided by Zac Frazier: / @zacfrazier
Visual Media used: Wolfenstein 3D, Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein: The New Colossus, live footage from SkyNews, News & Observer, VICE
Music used: Various tracks from Wolfenstein: The New Order, Wolfenstein: The New Colossus
----------------------------------------------
Script available for accessibility upon request
For written articles, podcasts, and more, visit caneandrinse.com/ 
Игры
Calling killing Nazis "ethical removal of fascism" is incredibly based
"Reads it in Brad Pitt's voice"
I came here to say the same thing
when I first saw this I misread "based" as "biased" and was just like "wtf is this comment doing on top on a JG video of all places??", but then I realized lol
Killing communists is also an ethical removal of fascism. Sadly the westerners don't understand that. There should definitely be a game where I can kill communists as ruthlessly as killing the nazis, so I could feel like revenge has been served for the people who raped and killed thousands of my people.
@@dejanjakobovic9803 No, it comes from rapper Lil B and is derived from basehead, as in someone who freebases drugs. 4chan just adopted it.
If I may add, Blaskowicz is not just a "mixed" jew, he is also slavic, thus making him part of another group considered inferior by the Nazis.
Not just Slavic, but specifically Polish. The country that suffered the most under the Nazis.
It's also ironic that his last name comes from his father, meaning father is at least partly or fully Slavic, so his racist sellout of the Nazis would actually be considered inferior by the Nazis and it heavily reflects on how in the US, it is pretty multicultural, something Hitler hated and so many of these neo Nazis would not only be deemed as inferior for being Slavic, but many many Caucasians are partly non white so a lot of these so called neo Nazis aren't even purely white.
@@toade1583 well who is when they can just pick and choose who's white?
@@duchessofmelon9967 Soviets suffered more?
@@roskcity don't make this an fing suffering contest, buth the soviets and the polish had a rough time who can say who had it worse really and why does it even matter?
"The war ain't over, look at all these Nazis running around" is one of my favourite lines in the series
The Cold War ain’t over, look at all these communists running around
@@hardatak It's hard to find another person who wants both communists and fascists gone, most people who want one gone are just from the other side
The Iron front is opposed all forms of oppression. No gods, no Masters, no monarchy
To this day the war still ain't over if we look at all the /pol/ MFs running around.
Unfathomably based
The intersting thing is that while BJ quite ironically fits the Aryan stereotype,he also fits into the Golem aka The Jewish Savior archetype as well which hits close to home considering BJ's origins.
right i always saw a bit of a similarity
@@VaultDwellerAlex yes in the star cinematics of the game
Jews are Aryans themselves. Compare Israeli soldiers and Americans soldiers. Americans look like subhumans in comparison. Fat, dumb, ugly, cowardly, whiny, women are boastful and bitchy, but not under the draft.
thats kinda the point
How’d you see the similarity?
I accidentally started this video while in the living room with my family and everyone just stared at me as "The Jews in Germany--" rang out at full volume.
Ha! Was that it?
So, naturally, you leaped at them, restrained them, and forced them to watch the whole video, right?
**Jazz music stops**
I hope they actually sat down and watched the video with you, that would of been great.
F
When your so mad you turn from a vegetable into a weapon
Turns out the only difference between meat and vegetable is *blood*
And don’t lose any muscle mass for not working out for 14 years
@@moredetonation3755 Best comment
You're*
@@hondaguy9153 Ok boom'er
“I can tell that you aren’t impure because you didn’t reach for the gun”
…
My sister in Christ, you reached for the gun.
Lmao
You deem her a sister in Christ after joining such a regime? Don’t y’a know what joining one by your will means?
@@Barakongirly pop that’s part of the joke
@@Cilibi yeah, my question is an expansionary retort.
@@BarakonI mean Nazis often used Christianity as a crutch, even though Nazi leadership especially Hitler also hated Christianity.
BJ reminds me a lot of captain America after this, Steve Rogers was a strong, confident soldier with blue eyes and blond hair, created by two Jewish comic creators who debuted by literally punching Hitler in the face during a period where Americans were pretty content to not join in open conflict against the Nazis. Just another fun case of taking their dream and literally using it to punch them in the face.
And now he‘s a braindead propaganda tool
In the end even if BJ is Aryan like he hates what they represent
@@MaticTheProto Against what, Matic? Propaganda against what?
@@limesandlemons1367 the middle east, against people who want change etc.
In addition, he had several medical issues and Nazis are advocating eugenics.
"Mein Fuhrer, I'm from Arizona"
Funniest shit in that scene
Mein*
@@brodyspears8290 mb, thanks
@@AnimatedAirlines la
)
@@lenny2hands580 what
RIP Ronald Reagan
The fact that these games feature literal Nazis and BJ's dad is by far the most repulsive character in the series says a lot about him.
Not really, it just shows that the Nazis are "generically evil" while your repeated interactions with BJ's Dad make him "specifically evil". We tend to despise people who are generically evil but have much more hatred for people whose actions we can actually put a finger on. This is why in "Harry Potter" for example, despite Voldemort (generically evil) being a mass-murderer who repeatedly kills and tortures people, most people hate Umbridge (specifically evil) because the actions she takes against the protagonists are specific and show the depth of her personal failures. Voldemort is certainly worse than Umbridge but Umbridge _feels_ worse because her actions are specific.
@@oremfrien huh. I never thought of it like that, thanks for giving a new perspective
@@sophiemason8444 wow. I have never seen people on the Internet talk this way before... good for you
He's a classic american
@@oremfrien interesting contrast but good note 📝 for say creating characters.
My dear good jewish brother.. as a muslim, I am deeply thankful for the entirety of this video. Not just because I love the Wolfenstein series, and not only because you write so fucking well. But also because of that genuinely thoughtful bit you added there at the end alongside the credits. What an incredible human being you sir are.
Same , hugely respect that from him
The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: “A believer is not a taunter, curser, obscene or indecent.”
He also said: “Beware of obscenity and swearing, because Allah (swt) does not like obscenity and vulgar speech.”
And he said: “Surely obscenity and vulgarity are not compatible with Islam.”
@@user-op8fg3ny3j The arab country was also siding with Hitler in the war. Wonder why?
@@beardedskyrim8652 yes, Iraq sided with the axis because they were being occupied by Britain but their independence was short lived as it was squashed just as the Allied power invaded Iran in WW2
@@user-op8fg3ny3j Hello, I'm Christian and have respect for Islam, and I'm curious about the meaning of the "()" after you say the Lord's name, especially since they were different each time?
The fact that B.J.
-Hates nazis
And
-Actively chooses to kill nazis
Are really admirable traits.
National Socialism and Communism are the worst cancers of the world
What about the communist
@@sheeit-co3co We'll ignore the Uyghur genocide, 60 million Mao killed, 4 million Ukrainians who dies from Stalin starving them and Pol Pot?
@@sheeit-co3coCry more nazi
@Nightwalk444 let's ignore the billions starving and slaving under capitalism right now and the fact that those numbers are a combination of exaggerated, straight up lies, and not even from communist countries.
One of my favorite moments in the new order was how BJ was literally roused from his comatose state by the scent of Nazi blood
I don't know much about the games, but from what I've gleamed from this video, it's some damn good political commentary and character depth with a fun amount of ultrapowerful supersoldier bullshit sprinkled in. Fucking love it.
@Lilliana Eve, got it in one.
The choice to fully embrace "video-gamey" nonsense like instantly healing bullet wounds by eating dog food while also adding a ton of extra depth & humanity to the world & characters makes both the modern Wolfenstein games an utter joy to play.
New Colossus has an early-game slump that's not helped by middle-chapter syndrome and a fairly bleak opening act, but it's still pretty damn fun.
I don't know if you've seen Nerbit's series where he plays through the Fallout games as Abe Lincoln (basically, he has to free all slaves and kill all the slavers)- but I like to imagine that BJ is like Honest Abe, but instead of being powered by slaver blood, he's powered by Nazi blood.
Coffee? What's that? I drink NAZI BLOOD!
@@fandomcringebucket Greetings, fellow Nerbit fan!
"They tried to kill us. We survived. Let's eat."
@stillness God Found the neo-Nazi.
@stillness God “There is no such thing as a nazi” I don’t know if you’re intellectually dishonest, taking the piss, or batshit crazy, but there is nothing wrong with you that Людми́ла Миха́йловна Павличе́нко couldn’t have fixed.
@stillness God and they labeled jews as lesser and cannon fodder, you want a medal for your history smarts you neo-nazi
@stillness God Okay mein freund we'll call you a Neo-Nationial Socialist or as we like to dub them: Goddamn Neo-Nazis
@stillness God Neo=New,used to describe a successor of something
"The war aint over, look at all these nazis walking around" holy based
Are they in the room with us right now?
@@dopaminedreams1122 Weird how quickly you rush to their defense
@@SubcribeMinecraftNOW Who’s they? Anyone to the right of Mao Zedong? Last I checked nazis stopped existing in the 40s
@@dopaminedreams1122 lol, even if you're of those that believe neofascism is not real, there are still people who proudly show the swastika, you're being willfully ignorant or you're trying to disimulate a personal bias.
@@dopaminedreams1122
There are no human traffickers in the room with us right now, either, or at least I don’t think so
The bit about BJ drawing on his heritage and specifically learning about it made me tear up and cry. I've recently figured out after years of looking into it that my family's Jewish. Specifically ones who ran from the 1918-1921 pogroms in Ukraine. It's something I've been questioning since I was a child and learned my family spoke Yiddish and also that they were running from something dangerous that was never specified. And I recently learned that a Jewish woman I knew as a child for several years believed very strongly I and my family were Jewish, which recontextualizes the nostalgic yearning I have for holidays like Passover and foods like latkes.
I don't know many things. I know more than several of my non-Jewish friends know, but what I know is still very little. But I feel a need to learn more because I mean my family survived. They had to hide the Jewishness to do it but they survived and I'd like to be able to help the Jewishness be reborn in the family. So I think seeing a character like BJ learning bits of Hebrew and such as a way of drawing on his heritage would just mean the world to me. But it's not the character he is. It's definitely the character I wish he was given my life history and my recent exploration into my heritage.
my great-grandparents on my grandma's side were also jewish refugees from Ukraine who ran around that time and hid their identity! my family recently found that out and me and my mom are trying to reconnect more so i totally feel you :)
@@vikarehaixer9574 How do you Urks feel about how Ukraine glorified and celebrate monsters like Stepan Bandera and many other Nationalists in Ukraine who committed many of the worst atrocities in human history. Ukrainian Nationalists during World War 2 were so heinously monstrous that even the Nazis themselves were horrified by the genocides of Poles, Jews, and other minorities in Ukraine.
As a Chinese-Indonesian, I relate to your comment a lot. In Suharto's era, he eradicated our culture in order to turn us more "Indonesian". We are not allowed to use Chinese names, open Chinese schools, celebrate our culture, and speak our languages. Back in May 1998, a riot which targeted many ethnic groups which included Chinese-Indonesians happened. This riot caused many Chinese-Indonesians to flee their homeland in order to find a safe place. Those Chinese-Indonesians were persecuted for the similar reasons why the Jews were persecuted in western countries. That is because they were more prosperous than the majority ethnicity at the time.
אתם תמיד מוזמנים בארץ הקודש 🤍💙
You should think about taking a birthright trip. If you are unfamiliar, it is for people with Jewish descent to get a trip to Israel paid for by their govt & other benefactors to help connect Jewish people to their heritage. Either ways cheers from a half Jew!
"The war ain't over, look at all these nazis walkin' around!" Is one of my all time favorite lines.
@stillness God The Germans are still here, bro. They dominate EU politics and their 13 year olds have basically monopolized the youtube PC tutorial market so their education system seems to be working alright, too. Fuck, IDK what I would do without those kids holding my hand and telling me how the hell windows powershell works.
@stillness God Might wanna check yaself bro, sounds like you fell down some alt-right pipeline and now blame Jewish people for everything, lmao. Cope harder bro.
@Pep
Nope. A lot of those guys would outright state that they killed Nazis and fought a war against them. And probably that the only good Nazi is a dead Nazi.
The right-wing currently would wring its hands at how inappropriate it is to punch Richard Spencer. That this is uncivil and a form of censorship.
It's a tiresome game that conservatives play, they've spent so long gaslighting us into believing that they don't play politics by recasting everybody else as too PC, unfun and far too into id pol. But they like to play the same game themselves and we shouldn't allow them carte blanche to recast themselves as punk rock rebels. They fight for the privilege to spew hateful speech, misinformation and incitements to violence. Claiming that this is protected speech. "The tolerant left" on the other hand, is also quite un-PC about what they think about it. (Or at least, they should be.) Politics is a game _everybody_ plays, unless you just lack a heartbeat and live under a rock.
Do you want to know what my opinion is? Sherman should've had three more years of war in the South. That way we wouldn't have to tolerate the ideological successors of the Confederacy. They needed war lashed into their collective trauma, so that maybe they wouldn't come to love militarism so much. So that all the people who want to LARP as feudal plantation lords and ladies are replaced by people with an actual conscience. So many self-described "libertarian" centrists are only fascist-sympathizers with a coat of paint. The political spectrum is not a horseshoe. It is a fishhook.
So clutch at your pearls harder, swine. Killing Nazis in video games is fun. Cry your fascist tears for me.
@@calebmcfarland8407 thoroughly debunked on this platform
@@afqwa423 you're a communist. Most GIs (especially from the south) would've put down their weapons if they would've known their kids would be going to school with blacks in 20 years.
So yes,they would be called nazis today.
I know this isn't a new video and this may seem like a nitpick, but it comes up a few times - Polish people were only considered marginally better than Jews by the Nazis. In the US it's a different story, but the Nazis killed millions of Polish too, because they were also "inferior". BJ isn't half what the Nazis hate - he's 100% everything the Nazis hate.
Anyway, this video is clearly amazing. Thank you.
My grandfather was Polish and one of the only reasons that he claimed saved him during his time in the work camps was that the guards treated him a slightly better than others there with him, because "he looked Aryan".
I think the point is that BJ is totally 100% not aryan yet looks so
Yeah, this sort of bugged me, too. Something I noticed about Nazis in the USA today is that they focus on the "white race". The original Nazis in Germany on the other hand were concerned with so-called Aryans which is way more exclusive. I would've liked if he had touched upon that but it might be nitpicky of me.
@@jackson7962 yeah that was staged by germans
The Nazis were fairly inconsistent in their ideology. You could be the most Polish Pole who ever Poled but, if you just _looked_ Aryan, you had enough "Germanic blood" and could be a citizen.
9:35 There's something about calling the worst monsters in human history something as petty as "losers" that just makes me giggle. If you had said "Fascism is a losing ideology" my face would have been straight as it was for the rest of the video. Unless that was intentional, it seems like an odd word choice.
He is purousefully ridiculling nazis. They don't have any serious arguments, no rationality, no logical arguments. Just look at Himler, at Hitler, at the "model heroes of the reich", they were absolutely pathetic idiots. Hitler was an illiterate imbecil, Himler was so pathetic his only future could come from oppressing others, and even Goebels' propaganda couldn't get the soldiers facing reality to believe in it's bullshit. Fascism isn't just wrong, it's a pathetic ideology that convinces insecure people that they're the best.
It's literal too though - they lost WW2
You dont find any justice in reducing them to something pathetic to laugh at? They didn't just lose, they embody the meaning of a "loser". To me, treating them with any kind of reverence is odd.
I think it's fitting. These people thrive off of seeing themselves as a force to be reckoned with. A boogeyman in the closet.
But really, they're fat and stupid. They're the dregs of people. They are, by all accounts, losers
They were definitely not the worst, ever heard of what Belgium did to the people of the Congo? Or the United States and its own genocide and fuckin chattel slavery? Or Churchill starving the people of the indian subcontinent while poaching their population? There have been many genocides throughout colonial history and all of them are unimaginably horrific, not just the ones that happened to people now considered white
I have never played this video game and probably never will, given I'm not a gamer. But I've come back and watched this essay at least four times now; it's one of my favourites on the internet. The phrase "fascism is a loser ideology" has been a serious comfort for the past year or so, and I greatly appreciate you sharing your perspective. Thank you for your great work, Jacob.
Thanks for this comment!
@sophiatalksmusic3588 if you haven't watched yet, I do strongly recommend to search for and watch a no commentary playthrough of Wolfenstein and Wolfenstein 2. The second one could be a Tarantino written cinema, it's genuinely great, all about of it. The writing and pacing is amazing and really well acted/animated and voice acted.
Define fascism.
@@wankerwackson6514A loser ideology
@@wankerwackson6514 Define why you haven't licked my ass yet.
I’ve never even played Wolfenstein but this video is incredible, thank you
What are you doing here
@@roundduck7005 strangest thing is nobody asked
Give it a try if you can, it's a pretty great game as well as its sequel. Youngblood is kinda meh though game play wise...
you know,if you were living in a timeline like that,you'd either never have been born because your grandparents would have been killed,or you'dbe living as a slave of the germans
bruh what
To think that these two games were controversial when they came out.
It was probably a knee-jerk reaction to the presence of the Nazi swastika, despite the entire point of the Wolfenstein franchise being to kill a whole lot of Nazis lmao
@@Reydriel It was more a reaction to "SJWs" shoving politics into games. Something you hear about a lot for some reason.
@@rabidrabids5348 Which is fucking baffling. A game about Nazis being political, oh the atrocity! >_> XD
@@Reydriel that's because people who cry out about them gotdamn essjay dubyas in their viddy games also strangely tend to be the same people who threw a real big hissy fit about good old Ricky Spencer getting his clock cleaned. interesting, that.
The first two games are held in very high regard, they are praised by almost everyone. The second game is a masterpiece is terms of storytelling, gameplay and visuals. It is probably the game of the decade for me.
The third game becomes more mainstream and easier for the casuals, some mechanics were simplified and other things seem streamlined probably to work fine on consoles, the game is also more cinematic and constrained. The game goes into your face to tell you the story instead of letting you play through it. That riled a lot of people up.
The fourth game (Wolftensten: Youngbloods) is okay for a co-op shooter, but it devolved a lot from the classical story about BJ. And people went berserk because of it, its ratings are terrible.
About the other stuff, you cannot "not have politics" in a game about Nazis. It's an oxymoron.
As a rabbi's kid who has a complicated time appreciating his own judaism just because of how weird and embarrassing it can feel sometimes, you're a real inspiration to me and I find this kind of thing really cool.
Super cool religion bro don’t feel embarrassed
@@albusdumbledore4416 worst abrahamic religion ngl
@@afatman3678 actually the first Abrahamic religion
@@afatman3678 nah...It's the best because it's true.
@@afatman3678 How is it the worst Abrahamic faith if you don't mind me asking? I'm curious
I am glad in the first game that he was able to connect with his Polish heritage as well, seeing him try to learn Polish was really heartwarming.
It would not be hard to have the protagonist repeat the prayer of his mother once or twice, and would make sense thematically and character wise.
I was going to say the same thing. Kids repeating prayers, or songs from their parents is very common in media, Idk why they didn't do it.
It wouldn't be hard to capitalize "white", considering that "Jew" and "Black" are capitalized in the video's transcript.
Why would Jacob do this... ?
@@Kani8122 Probably an oversight, those happens even after multiple revisions.
@@Kani8122
You should really be asking why he capitalized “black,” not lowercased “white.” “Jew” is referring to someons who is “Jewish,” which is a proper noun and capitalized
@@Kani8122 that's what you take out of this video? Really?
I just watched an half an hour video essay on wolfenstein.
Do i care about wolfenstein? No.
Have I ever played or even watched a playthrough of a wolfenstein game?
No.
Did I just spend half an hour watching someone break down the character of BJ?
Yes.
Did I enjoy it?
Hell yes.
Does anybody fucking care?
No.
The Wandering Dragon
Are you gay?
Yes
@@scumbag1731 fuck man, you got me.
@@nusretakdemir9141 Correction: I do
@@scumbag1731
"First they came for the communists, i did not speak out because i was not a communist,
then they came for the socialists, i did not speak out because i was not a socialist,
then they came for the trade unionists, i did not speak out because i was not a trade unoinist,
then they came for the Jews, i did not speak out because i was not a Jew,
then they came for me and there was no one left to speak out for me."
-Martin Niemoller
Womp womp
@@woahcoolio8830 i know you did not just womp womp that
@@tristanpesic4436man deadass just womp womped that
i never rlly liked this poem bc while it obviously does want u to speak out for other people it feels like it’s only leading u that way because ‘you may be next’ instead of like.. not wanting other people to get targeted
@@11omitthe people who don't want others targeted for no reason have a moral virtue, and that means they don't need a poem addressed to them.
I also enjoyed the piece in the prequel “The Old Blood” where BJ and a Jewish teenage girl who looks similar to Anne Frank were discussing Purim (Jewish Holiday commemorating the Jewish community surviving an attempted extinction by the hands of a ancient Persian viceroy). Wished the series would have BJ reflect more on his Jewish identity. Well Done video good Sir.
what do you mean yb jewish identity ?
@@marvin2678 I mean, I think the video talks about it but presumably it would be touching on the historical and cultural heritage they have.
Seems all Jewish holidays commemorate their genocide of other peoples.
"...these backwater americans who can't even say dankey shane correctly.... "
That is how I died. Tell my family.
Dankeschön,. es heißt DANKESCHÖN verdammtnochmal!
@@SebastianMcCrazy Volkswagen
Doamne ferește
Gorlami
Shizze
BJ's last name was an easter egg in the very first game for the series. The dev's thought it would add the best icing on the cake for players to realize BJ was of Jewish descent.
That’s actually a really interesting thing to have done, though I personally think it would’ve been cooler to have that established from the beginning
Wasn't his name based on a German General called Gen. d. Inf. Blaskowitz sho condemned the German actions against the Polish during the September Campaign 1939? That's at least what I heard.
@@Etzelsschizo cool!
Blaskowitz is a german name, nazi general even had it.
That's just untrue lol. He was never meant to be Jewish but they turned him Jewish but recently
As a biracial black American it is always a humbling and connective experience when I hear a Jewish person talk about their experience as an American. It always strikes me that being made to be other is always functionally the same process. Whether you're black Jewish lgbtq or otherwise just know that you're not going through it alone, and also that just surviving, making it, living is enough. There's space for you, keep looking and you'll find it.
Your solidarity is deeply appreciated, especially in these times I think it is more important than ever for different marginalized groups to come together in the fight against white supremacy and fascism. Viewing anti-semitism as an isolated issue, inherently separate from other forms of racial discrimination is why a fascist apparatus like Israel could come into existence in the first place. For Jews and all other marginalized groups to truly be free from hate and violence, we must join forces and fight as a unit against bigotry and systemic injustice.
I, an Israeli-Russian jew, can bond over and recognize the mistreatment of my biracial South African friend.
Yeah right. Poser.
Trans girl here, just wanna say fuck yeahhh, preach that solidarity!! Don't let the fascists of the world divide and conquer us ✊
@@iiiiitsmagreta1240 ew
Interesting fact-the guy who says "No Mein Fürher, I'm from Arizona!" is Ronald Reagan (although Reagan wasn't from Arizona IRL)
And Reagan never got a chance to meet his Idol IRL either. I'm sure they know each other well now down below.
I think you overlooked the fact that BJ at least has a rudimentary understanding of Hebrew and Jewish traditions. In the London Nautica level in the new order he correctly translates Hebrew characters to Anya via radio when he finds the artifacts and literature pertaining to da'at yichud
Back when I played the new order, I sorta managed to read something back on that level. I don't remember what it was though
Well. Even though Hebrew letters show up on the screen (they don’t actually spell daat yichud, they just used Hebrew letters that look like it), he kinda just says what the letters look like in English instead of the letter names. If anything it’s Anya who knew the Hebrew alphabet. Nonetheless you’re right that he does carry some Jewish tradition.
@stillness God I really hope you're just trying to rustle some jimmies
@stillness God Looks like you've been duped by the same anti-Semitic propaganda they've been spewing for years. If they've taken over the world, they've done a real poor job of y'know, exerting their interests and stopping their people from being routinely murdered. Crazy.
@stillness God Are you ok? You don’t seem ok considering the concerning amount of time you spend trying to demonise a random group of people. Maybe you should pick up an instrument or read something... anything other than this.
Interesting thing to note, is that Whiteness has changed a lot in the US. That at first only Anglo-saxon people were considered white. Germans were swarthy, Italians were backwards, Slavic folk were primitive, etc - It was only over time they realized if they didn't include them the idea of "whiteness" would only apply to a shrinking pool and would eventually die out.
I am german and don't even know the word swarthy haha could you pls tell me what it means
@@yummypopsicle8046 swarthy means dark-skinned
It's seriously the easiest rebuttal to white supremacy. We've even got all the documentation to track the changes. "White" meant land-owning Anglo-Saxon Protestants from the Mayflower crossing until they realized they were outnumbered, then piece by piece they took "different races," people they'd oppressed, people they'd _killed,_ and made them "white" to outnumber whoever they wanted to oppress this week--what changed? Nothing but the definition. It's almost like...it's all a scam... Whenever racism tries to align with reality it falls apart, you've got to cling to delusion to believe in racism--and people do. They'd rather be "white" by their definition than face the fact that they're no different from the people they're oppressing.
@@cam4636 You say that like white people are the only ones with racist ideologies.
@@cam4636 i think they just realized that europeans are mostly the same compared to people who eat eachother
SuperJew rouses from coma to the scent of Natzi scalps and decides to Rip and Tear til it's done
Fun fact: A Bethesda executive actually mentioned that the first actor Hitler shoots in the propaganda film audition is canonically that universe's Ronald Reagan.
Reagen wasn't from Arizona and would've been a child by 1961, but it's a fun thing to imagine.
Your point about how Nazi's took direct influence from America's social and racial hierarchy because of it's effectiveness was honestly a mind blowing epiphany on my end. Although I did connect the disenfranchisement of Jewish and other deemed inferior groups to the native american and African american peoples, I never thought thatas directly connected, but that it was just another cycle of hate. Thanks for this perspective.
Fun fact: they also planned to relegate the few surviving slavs to reservations based off of the ones used in the United States to control the surviving natives
If the Nazi was influence by American racism, why did Hitler liked Japanese people, when Americans were racist against them?
@@LarryWater It was the American system they modeled after, not necessarily the same details and context
@@jacobm6617 Also the labor camps were molded after the ones used in south Africa during the Boar wars.
@@LarryWater largely because the Japanese were also nationalists who were not thought to mix with or mess with Germany. Japan was vying for the "East", the Italian and German Fascists for the "West".
My one favourite thing about Wolfenstein: Youngblood is the resolution. There's a lot wrong in that game, but the way that the twins confront Blazko, who thinks he's gonna just open a portal to get into the "correct timeline" and tell him "no, we have to fix this world" is so fucking good. It was so obvious an easy for them to follow through with Set's alternate-universe travel, considering that the audience knows that the Nazis winning is the "wrong" outcome, but the writers actually thought about what message that would send, and they made it send the appropriate message instead
Nazis are here, it's our job to get rid of them.
@Terry A. Tiger
I didn't called you a Nazi nor an authoritarian.
Tiger dafuq u on?
@@KevIn-ns4jw Game is trash though, I just pretend the only Wolfenstien games that ever existed are the ones with BJ in it
@@kakroom3407 As Protagonist
"BJ! Fire up the ethical Nazi remover, too many Nazis in the comments!"
You surely hasn't read the comment section from "What would your life be like if Axis had won WW2".
This comment section is pretty tame compared to the one they got there.
As a German man deeply in love with a Jewish woman from Israel, this video, especially the A Powerful Identity chapter, touched me to tears.
How's your Judeo-Christian values are doing in Germany??
Literally read the Talmud. You’re dating a demon
I hope y'all are doing well
@@langerd6711"Yeah Imma demon now"- The Tamuld, probably
Germany the Muslim capital of Europe
"They tried to kill us, we survived, let's eat" I've heard this phrase several times before but the way you said it in the context of this video....it really got to me. And I've never realized just how few Jewish video game characters there are, even compared to other mediums where they're still pretty sparse. I hope that changes. It would mean the world to me, too. Thank you for making this.
gay
@@Bankable2790 Just be a better person, dude. Please.
@@Bankable2790
Happy, exuberant? It's kind you think so but language shifts to reflect broader society and that word hasn't been reclaimed sufficiently to compliment without context 😉
As soon as I read this comment he said it
fiona fiona homosexual
"Jews before the war weren't white, now *we* are."
*New character information earned*
They were accepted into the white ethnic category the same way Ethiopian Jews were at some point accepted as Jews too
@@hre2044 I think he means that Jacob is a Jew based on this sentence
Why did u bold “we” it’s not in tone, should’ve been the last word. Sorry 😛
I missed that part entirely. Huh.
@stillness God the fash call them inferior, non humans. And unlike them, the fash had the audacity to turn them into crematory fuel and more. It's xenophobia, almost every race, ethnicity, and culture has it to some degree, that doesn't mean they're objectively terrible, just because they have a word that connotates a bad outsider
God it's so nice hearing another jew talk about this shit. You talking about how little we are represented, from the potato pancakes to hebrew it made me wanna cry a lil bit.
little representation? are you for real? jeish people are very well know for being succesful and having positions of power
you mean on movies? or something else?
@@lotuscat3173 I dunno just in media I watch and play. I dunno how often u see jews, I just don't. Dunno why you felt the need to be so aggressive about It
@@lotuscat3173 Take a chill pill
Never once thought about how I was represented in something. It's fiction. By definition it's not me why would I want it to represent me?
Only I represent me. Games, movies, books etc are entertainment. Not representation.
Little representation? That’s fucking cap
Im a swed who is partially jewish (8%) but i cannot thank you enough for making this. My school is very antisemitic and seeing that people still hate nazi scum really makes me so damn happy. If i had the chance i would have this shown but alas, i cannot. But still, thank you so fucking much.
🇸🇪🇮🇱🇪🇺
I think it's quite interesting how Wolfenstein (at least, the new titles) sort of co-opt hypermasculine power trip games to tell the stories of the oppressed and disenfranchised that it's target audience likely never consciously *chooses* to hear.
Yep and that the main character is a vulnerable young man merely wanting to build a future for those he loves from people who'd kill them (he's as far removed from the "cigar chomping pun making cliche" as one can be but still be badass.
Hm, I didn’t really consciously think of that before, since I’m not really a member of that particular audience/group, but it’s interesting. I appreciate your comment, although it’s underrated. It’s actually a very wholesome and effective way to teach the people who wouldn’t normally be open to learning about that sort of thing, and the studio’s efforts in that regard have likely caused quite a few stubborn and insensitive dudes more about reality.
I work with people with disabilities and I was so happy when I saw the character Max Hass. I have never seen someone with a mental disability in a video game before.
Power fantasy is by definition about giving people who are powerless a taste of power. The idea that power fantasy is for audiences unfamiliar with oppression or disenfranchisement is totally backwards.
One of the issues I have with the video's breakdown of wolfenstien is in a similar vain. The characters are not a product of their time, or even the fictional universe, but are instead inserts for players to identify with. A grab bag of minorities totally disconnected from the world around them, spouting off talking points 50 years after their time. Its the essence of "
A Priest, A Rabbi, and a Minister Walk Into a Bar", but its not trying to be funny, its trying to be deep and failing miserably.
The very idea of masculinity as you describe it is a modern interpretation. And its great for a game examine old ideas through a modern lens. But it makes no sense for the characters to use that interpretation. Feminism went through many fazes before becoming what it is today. A feminist in the 1940s would not be arguing for total equality between the sexes. Because the very concept of feminism in order to exist must define female. And if male and female are the same, then they no longer mean anything, and the idea of feminism as a movement becomes meaningless. It was only recently when feminism became inter-sectional, that it evolved beyond simply promoting women's issues. Egalitarianism is not feminism, some mistakenly conflate it as proto-feminism, since many of the early supporters of feminism did so under the banner of equality. This is much the same with race. All these issues evolved separately. The race debate predates the very concept of race itself. When the constitution of the United States was first signed,slavery was a hot topic even then. But for the sake of keeping the peace in a time when the Union was very weak, the issue was dropped as a concession. But the debate continued on, until finally it caused a civil war. Modern interpretations try to explain these dialogs not by reading you the works of people of that time, but by recreating those events using character's from our own time. This does not do history justice. The issue of slavery had nothing to do with race. We applied that label after the fact because the two issues share alot in common. But the people of that period never had any use for that term.
The reality is that the enlightenment philosophy of egalitarianism predates the concept of race, and like all belief systems was not universally understood or shared. There were many different interpretations within every movement and time period, and only the leaders of these movements gave them their single voice.
In this same way, the nazi party was made of a coalition of different interested parties. There was not, nor is there now a single jewish identity. It is only a gross generalization used for the sake of brevity that we refer to jews as such, and only when it is applicable. Despite this, there were and are still jews who refer to themselves in this way. The nazis did not invent any of this, they simply capitalized on the already existing antisemitism rampant all over the world. The reason these clashes of culture occurred in the first place was because pockets of isolated groups, that prevously never made contact started to mix, as the world became more interconnected, and travel became available to more and more people. Much of this was not known then, and much of this is ignored by people who generalize about history today. Everything I've said thus far is a generalization of some sort or another. Its necessary to speak in general terms for the sake of time. My point being, is that this game has literally volumes of subject matter it could dive into, but instead glosses over everything, and is heralded by some as artistic genius simple for telling them what they want to hear.
This game touches on nothing, it completely ignores all of human history, with not even an attempt at explaining it's own lore, and instead focuses on a character drama that for all it's merits has nothing to do with the subject matter the game is most famous for. Its depiction of nazis is chartoonish, its depiction of jews, blacks, even the mentally disabled, all just caricatures. There is no nuance, no subtlety, and no realism to be seen for miles. Its total crap.
@@Fabrizio_Ruffo
well spoken. The old wolfenstein games had at least some atmosphere and historic inspiration, but the new ones are just anti white power fantasies.
Wolfenstien= positive masculinity
100%
:)
Positive👏masculinity👏is👏killing👏nazis👏
Fuzzy, who decides who is a nazi (nowdays)?
@@joaop4585 well if you study what fascism its easy to identify and then you just look for neo nazi iconography
As someone who is currently discovering and looking into their jewish heritage, your content in this topic means a lot to me. Im not jewish by "blood", i wasnt raised jewish, but my grandpa and his family are holocaust survivors. I keep bumping into little bits of jewish culture and connection everywhere. Hell, ive been to 3 hannukas before i even knew about my heritage! I wouldnt consider myself jewish, i dont think i have the right to identity with that, but its just so refreshing to get fammiliar with that side of the story, especially since its kind of been calling to me my whole life. And its especially nice to listen to you talk about it. I really enjoyed the Golem video, as well as this one (and of course your other content, the way you create is so fucking fascinating and captivating to watch).
So yeah. Idk where i was going with this, but thank you for what you do, and i hope you keep creating stuff like this, maybe related to the topic on the future too :)
w pfp
so you arent jewish ?!?!
@@marvin2678 Yes, i just said i dont identify with it. But i recognise my heritage and i want to understand what i got from it culturally
This makes me realize that B.J. Blazkowicz could've joined the nazis but he decided not to because of what he has been through and his morals. It makes me realize that he is written better than I thought
Something I’ve always appreciated from a character development standpoint is that in W2 they obviously show that BJ’s dad is a horrible person.. but they also show that one scene where he helps BJ look for the ‘monster’ in the basement.. it’s a strange look at just how humans are.. so evil but that small glimpse at the alternate.
The brief scene of compassion creates a sense of comfort before they rip that away and betray it, making you hate the father even more. If he was cruel 100% of the time, there would never have been any trust or surprise. BJ's mom wouldn't have married him.
Yes I always think about that, and I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Ngl after the other scenes, i honestly thought he was gonna trick BJ into shooting his mom. Thankfully that didn't happen
it's like a small scale version of Eichmann In Jerusalem, a book about the trial of Eichmann, the architect of the Holocaust, who showed zero remorse for anything he did, despite being verified by psychologists to be completely neurotypical, no psychopathic or sociopathic tendencies. sometimes human beings are just evil.
"A changing world is scary if you control the old one."
A small line but it hit pretty hard.
Edit: please just fuck off out of the replies out of this lmao
This is a typical leftist's response who does not understand conservative philosophy, or even how average people think. Everything is about power and control.
No, it's not. You can make an argument why a changing world is legitimately scary without making a single argument related to power and control, but, ironically, you have to be open minded about it, which this guy is lacking.
@@gallanonim3328 this video is literally about nazis
+B-atiful! That validates that how? Assuming you equate ‘conservative’ with ‘nazi’...
@@gallanonim3328 Shut the fuck up boomer.
@@gallanonim3328 ah yes conservative Philosophy, how could I forget, playing apologetics for cruelty, resorting to social-darwinism and holding onto the shadow of reality?
You wouldn't believe how much suffering this thinking caused and how little difference there is between conservatives and fascists.
first time I played New Order when J said "you were the nazis" i was like "bruuh" and when u said the nazis inpired by US system it blow my mind even more. it's all started with America anyway and if other countries does it the other countries are the enemies. Even their so called enemies changing through times, the Indian, the Mexican, their own people (still), the african american, the jews, the nazis, the communist, the muslims, the chinese etc... could they even stop picking up enemies ?
Whatever the nazis did to the jews, the USA has done the same or worse to blacks and native Americans. However, there's nobody coming to defeat America and liberate them like the jews were liberated
The Indians have oppressed indigenous people for Hundreds of years. The Mexicans have been k*lling there own people for who even knows how long. Africans Americans only exist because AFRICANS sold their own people. Let’s also not forget about the Rich Africans who paid BIG MONEY to have White Women kidnapped from Europe and turned into s*x slaves. Let’s not forget about the ARABS who kidnapped Both White Women and Men. The Arabs castrated the men and turned them into work slaves and then turned the women into (You Guessed It) S*x slaves. Jews have been taking advantage of different nations for (again) who even knows how long by using there own democratic system against them. The Nazis slaughtered millions of people in the name of “purity”. The communists have oppressed and pushed their beliefs on multiple nations (Eastern Europe) and yet their seen as absolute heros. NOBODY is free from criticism but you people use white supremacy to justify literally anything done by anyone else or colored people. Good day.
I mean American banks literally funded the nazis
Well tbh the communists were somewhat equivalent to the Nazis. Speaking as an Eastern European here. They would kill or at least toruture+imprison those who were against them. I mean, we all know of Stalin. But the story doesn't end there, cause the Eastern Bloc + Mao's China existed too.
why you ? hes part of it
Chad Jacob:
>makes a video about judaism and whiteness
>leave the comment section open.
Oof, the race and census usage reminds me of how my tribe didn't necessarily have last names. To categorize them the U.S. government just assigned names to them. We didn't fit in their criteria so they just made stuff up for us.
My mother told me the story of her grandfather, as just a kid at the time, and how he didn't make it to the registration of tribal members. The government associate asked where he was and a tribal member mentioned he lives over by the creek. Instead of going to ask for his last name he was given the last name Creek.
Not sure where I was going with this but I wanted to share a tidbit of my families history with the U.S government as a native.
@Carnivorus then change your last name to Creek
@Carnivorus That comment literally does not make any sense but if theres nothing wrong with forcing someone to change their identity, then you should have no problem with it happening to you.
@Carnivorusidk about the US. But what if i told you that from now on you belong to place x, because the gov said you're x. Meanwhile your family belong to place y because the gov said so. And you can't really change that because, i dunno? The threat is the fucking gun and the law? Doesn't sound very murderous to you?
@Carnivorus I bet you're one of those closet racists who says "All lives matter" right now. Dumbass
@Carnivorus that's the thing, doesn't make it okay
It's surprisingly unsurprisingly soothing to have the words "Fascism Is A Loser Ideology" printed in large friendly letters on the screen...
@//// Aah, proving me right big time, aren'tcha!?
Looks like this is gonna be my new laptop screensaver. Time to start reminding myself how badass being of Jewish blood really is.
@@Mutant_X98 those palestinians don't stand a chance!
@@Lthethird Yeah, bombing defenseless civilians with white phosphorus is so badass!
I would argue that Nazis is a loser ideology. I think that it’s hard to call Italians Nazis
Honestly though, that's the most logical and pragmatic response to "I'm from Arizona" I've ever seen
4 years late, and it’s unfortunately not at all surprising to see “Nazis are bad” criticized as “leftist propaganda”.
No to say that’s all there is to the video of course, but it’s not like the folks complaining have any media literacy to see further than that.
The hardest thing of the argument is. What exactly is their term of a Nazi.
@@E.V.A.N-COProductionsa White person
Right, everyone agrees the people in the vid are nazis. The problem is the boy who cried wolf, I'm gonna need the dude to actively mention hating jews, doing the salute, say they're superior to other races, etc. Since I never watched richard spencer, it took me a while to go ''Oh he's an ACTUAL LITERAL nazi not just natzee meanie word''
hmm there is some misinfromation here and a personal bias but yeah its sad to see the hate comments here
Honestly Jacob, I keep coming back to this one. It's just so good in every way. The writing, the editing, the relevance of it is almost timeless.
@stillness God you keep saying 'Germans' but from context it's clear you mean 'nazis'. And if you think they were the last free thinkers I can't help you.
@stillness God you do know you are talking to a descendant of a survivor of several nazi prison camps, right? You do know that Europeans know what WW2 was like firsthand? That I don't need a history book to know my father was named after a child killed by nazis? That not all germans were nazis, and that nazis certainly would have killed me because I'm disabled? This is not something the media made up, my grandparents barely survived it. But by all means keep lying, the engagement is good for Jacob's channel, and I live knowing this argument is spreading his work through the algorythm.
@stillness God keep going, nazi.
@stillness God nah not really I don't think debating fascists is worth anything. Turns out if you're committed to wiping out millions of people it's pretty easy to lie, argue in bad faith and manipulate people. But again, I do want to drag this out so Jacob gets more traffic.
@@TimdeVisser86 ayy bruz, just thought you should know he deleted all his comments lmao. I can gather some of what he was saying from yours, but could you try to summarise it if you remember it?
Risky click given RUclips's usual discourse, but great video. Subbed, keep it up
Not just that. The intro quote got me worried. That’s one of thouse quotes you can misinterprete. But nope this was worth the risk
@High Definition What do you mean by "one of these videos"?
@@LordVader1094 He propably means dumb sjw videos
@High Definition Same. All those labels seem to be dividing us, and people keep using them for whatever reason. Why can't we just say "human"?
@@JazukaiX You speak of unity, yet generalize and denounce millions of people you've never met. Interesting.
Just doing my masochistic ritual of coming to this video clicking newest on my comments. The horrors never dissapoint
you could literally make a 2 second video of yourself saying "nazis bad" and these people would be in the comments kicking and screaming
Oh hey, same here!
RUclips really is something
its like im reminding myself how much antisemitism exists these days; need all these people to actually listen to the content of this video and the accounts of jewish people fr
@@amysteriousstranger1221 I do it like once every 3 months lol
Bro you put an Art Spiegelman quote in your description. Respect man.
This is a really good video dude!
Just thought you would appreciate knowing I am about to cite this video in an academic setting, so thank you for doing such a fantastic job with the research and presentation. It has stuck with me for years since I first watched it.
I’d love to read it if it’s something that you’re happy to share!
@@danjordan3607 Same, please Sarah if youre reading this respond
@Sarah Grace I can understand not wanting to share an academic essay online, but at least tell us if you got a passing grade
Of course you are. Hope your fellow comrades enjoy
The absolute state of modern academics. You will never be a woman by the way
This is fantastic. I understand citing a bunch of history can feel boring on paper, but your writing and presentation Is amazing. I really appreciated the in depth thoughts on Jews in America.
@@TomYawns Show me the gene that makes a person a member of a specific race, then. Prove to me that all members of said race and only members of said race have said gene. Yes, we come in a range of shapes, sizes, and colorations, and some of our genetic predispositions to things like certain diseases are indirectly linked via ancestry to membership in an ethnic group. However, when we say "race is a social construct," what we mean isn't that it doesn't exist, but that the cultural associations (stereotypes, as you say) are arbitrary and don't actually meaningfully follow from the genes or, more precisely, the aggregate expression of many genes which collectively form the "[race]-passing" visage. The actually important things about race are social, and the social aspects are all in our heads, not our genomes. You'll never see me equating "in one's head" with "not real or meaningful," but the distinction needs to be drawn even though-in fact because- both sides of the line are worthy of examination.
@@hayden8491 I'm supposed to trust the scientific claims of someone who addresses me as "bruh"? Not that it's an inherently dumb word or anything, but context matters. In any case, if you can cite any sources for this that weren't funded by white supremacists I'd be surprised.
@@blarg2429 Isn't bruh a social label, like you said? Then you mock him. And why is everything against what people like you believe 'white' supremacy? Are you implying that there are not those that aren't 'white' that don't consider themselves superior? That is some hateful bias and ignorance.
@@blarg2429 It seems like he didn't read all of it... I'm not surprised.. it's probably more science than he's read in months.
@@KatarinaBohtana Life's like that sometimes.
The fucking cut to "Fascism is a Loser Ideology" had me cracking up like a jackass
insensitve tot he victims
@@marvin2678 Victims of facism? I'd say they probably wouldn't mind insulting facism
Jews seem to be doing well with it with the palatine stuff
Thank you Jacob for making people and especially gamers better humans
preach
I have had an entirely wrong perception of these games. I totally thought that they fell into that "American History X" trap of being anti-nazi in name and intent, but mostly adored by alt-right types who thought they made the nazis look cool. So glad I saw this and know better now.
hahaha if the comments on this video prove anything, boy do they *not* love this series.
@@JacobGeller I'll definitely be checking them out now. Thanks so much for the great job you did on this vid! 👍
@@GrrrlStyleNow but the Nazi designs DO be looking cool tho
@@spartanking9807 Try not to cut yourself on that edge there.
There's a scene of the nazis parading on the Texas level and it's been used by right wingers. It's up on bit chute, it's epic. The devs made the nazis look awesome aesthetically.
can’t believe wolfenstein of all franchises developed so much depth, it still saddens me that Bethesda basically flushed all that down the toilet in favour of producing a co-op live service to print money with
Bethesda flushed a lot down the toilet over the past five years or so. You hate to see it.
There will probably be another good wolfenstien, just wait
Im a 20 year old man from the Netherlands. I have never met a Jew in my life. The impact from WW2 is still felt today.
You're not looking hard enough
@@ohno6528 It’s totally reasonable.
According to Netherland’s 2015 census, only about 0.1% of the population are Jewish. About 75% of the Dutch Jewish population was killed during the Holocaust.
@@ohno6528 jews dont share usually because they arent religious anymore in europe
I love how Blazkowic's birthplace is in Mesquite, Texas. It's a cute homage to id Software's history, with the team originally being based in that city (they also created the character ofc) X3
I think the tragedy of him being disconnected from his heritage in NO and NC by way of the fact that yes, he is Jewish, but he doesn't express it because he sees himself as a weapon.
As a weapon he can rain hell upon the world that he sees as unjust. I think near the end of Young Blood it's revealed that he's picked up the language from Seth's notes, but even that is for the war effort.
He's a soldier in a world at war, and whatever kindness he is able to give is only in his quiet moments.
I posit that the Jewish person is able to grow into the heritage at rest, when identity is not supressed by priority.
They're trying to kill him, he will eat later.
Except in the older Wolfenstein games in which he eats while fighting nazis.
Except part of being jewish *is* being a fighter. It's fighting for your identity and fighting for your life when people try to snuff it out. Hannukha isn't some knockoff christmas, it's a story about resistence, about the few against the many and pushing back the dark even if it's just one candle flame at a time. "Every one is a small light, and all together we're a tremendous bonfire." It's the core of the holiday, part of the legend, part of the songs. It's something he would know about even in the kind of home he grew up in because passing on the stories is also a part of being jewish, those are his childhood bedtime stories. The stories many real life jewish partizans thought about when fighting the nazis in ww2.
But even aside from all of that, the resistance are fighting for their right to individuality, their right to be a person. Growing as a person, *being* a person, is the biggest fuck you he could give to the nazis and we see all of that. We see all the cast having those human moments. How come he has time to fall in love and develop a relationship but doesn't have time to learn about judaism? There are many bits and pieces of it he could ask about and learn about when there's spare time. He could learn the Shema in less than 10 minutes and that's if he has a bad ear for languages, since the short version of it is literally one sentence. Do you know how much of a fuck you it would be for him to charge nazis while calling the Shema like countless other jewish fighters before him?
A huge steaming pile of fuck you, and isn't that what he's all about?
Considering he didn’t grow up Jewish, he simply isn’t, he grew up as a Christian.
Little thing but I like how Hitler uses a very old ,possibly WWI pistol when killing Arizona guy
It was probably just an heirloom from his time in the trenches but it also encapsulates perfectly how nazism holds on to an old and decrepit mindset in effort to harken back to a supposed past glory ,even though the present can offer so much more and much better things
Fun fact: Arizona Guy is canonically Ronald Reagan
@@OfficialSuede I'm struggling not to laugh rn bc that's the most poetic fate for Reagan I can think of. Only way to make it better would be to take down Thatcher, too.
My good man the US has been using the same exact M2 .50 cal heavy machine gun since the first world war this is reaching of the highest order.
@@OfficialSuede Lol that's kinda funny
@@Ballin4Vengeance yeah and the luger (which i think is the pistol being used) was used by germany until the mid 50s irl, and in france until the mid 70s among police forces. so definitely a kinda mid reach. Honestly the luger is, to me almost symbolic of nazism. Every fictional nazi officer bears a luger etc.
Came here from a link in a comment I read over at The Alt-Right Playbook. Very pleased I did - this was an excellent video. Thank you.
Great series, more people should be watching it!
I bought and finished the new order recently. I started this video when i was about halfway through the game, and restarted and continued it through my playthrough of the new colossus. You are absolutely fucking phenomenal in the way that you speak about this. I am not Jewish, but I am a part of an Indigenous group in Canada that has historically always been “othered” - and it has absolutely shaped the way that I feel about and relate to BJ. Your sentiment at the end about how meaningful it would be if BJ truly embraced his Jewish heritage made me tear up, and I cannot put into words how exactly right you are about everything you talk about in this video. Absolutely outstanding. Jewish people are such a beautiful and diverse and kind group, thank you so much for teaching us all & voicing this to so many people.
Lmao Jews are NOT diverse at all.
I think that you are putting in what you can to fight fascism, racism, sexism, and homophobia. I think that your holistic approach to cultural concepts, especially your focus on video games (which are usually a fixed narrative, yet interactive) is very critical, especially with how things in the world have changed in the last twenty years. You might not be fighting a bloody fight, but you see the humanity in other religions, other races. I firmly believe you are teaching some people. You've definitely taught me how to express myself a little more clearly.
Your videos really touch my heart, and I am grateful for your contributions to antifascism and cultural change in the States. They tried to kill us. We survived. Let's eat.
Happy Lunar New Year. Fuck nazis.
Fuck Nazis
@@UltimateGamer-vg3nh is this sarcastic or are you actual an idiot or racist?
Thanks for this. We all deserve the best we can get. Every. Single. One. Of. Us. :)
@@UltimateGamer-vg3nh damn, well I apologise. Sarcasm is sometimes hard to detect online.
I would disagree, racism isn’t really thrown around loosely. Well, it is I suppose but this is often said by actual racists to convince others that’s it’s the SJW’s coming to cancel them or some bs. I would say some people are quick to call racism but there are also a lot of racists quick to deny their actual views.
:D
@@UltimateGamer-vg3nh I am aware who you jokingly called an SJW.
I don’t really care anymore nor do I think you’re racist or anything like that so on that note, have a good one (:
The take away I always got from BJ receiving the robot body in the second game was that he almost becomes a Golem-like being
the B in blastowitz stands for based
After watching the video "Does Call Of Duty Believe In Anything?", this Wolfenstein video popped up. I was completely enthralled with this video and stayed through the credits. Thank you!
Honestly, this has completely changed my impression on these games. I always thought they were just generic nazi shooters and I always prefered the Doom games, but WOW. Just.....WOW. This video had me glued to the screen. So fascinating. Nobody ever seems to talk about WWII in a more nuanced way then "nazis bad, lets kill the fuck out of em". Its good to see a more accurate discussion here.
Nazis are bad and we should kill the fuck out of them. There is no counter discussion.
BJ Blazkowicz agrees.
They are just generic Nazi shooters, they shoehorned all they backstory in during the last game.
If thats all you thought about em, did you actually play them?
@@andymontanez56 Most likely not
@@PANDA-vm3tt So they're not, then
The past is the past. Things can not be changed.. but we have control over the present, and most certainly the future.
Don’t stay quiet when you see antisemitism.
If you do, you are just as much a part of the problem as they are.
It’s really not that hard to be a decent human. It’s not hard to not be racist, hateful, abusive.. it’s not hard to be able to tell that murder is bad (although some find that one hard for some reason)
It’s your responsibility to speak up when you see wrong-doings. We have the power to act upon these despicable things and people.
I basically never comment on videos, but I really want to express that no matter the content of your videos, your unique perspectives and eloquent expressions are always enjoyable.
Please do keep the content coming! And I will keep watching 🤩
"They tried to kill us. We lived. Let's eat"
Beautiful
Purim, Passover, Hanukkah, and Yom Ha’Atzmaut are all like this
Most of the minor holidays are “They tried to kill us. We died. Let’s fast.”
@@dynawesome it's very sweet and how I wish to celebrate holidays in such spirit :)
@@dynawesome fasting makes the break-fast taste better
*Race is a really slippery concept*
As a Brazillian dude let me tell ya, It really fucking is.
I've met plenty of people who consider me white, I've met plenty of people who consider me black, I consider myself neither since I identify as pardo, goes to show that it is a social construct, and some of us even get to pick depending on the situation and the people we're dealing with.
Brasil porra aeeee kkk
eae mano não esperava um br
Brazil is a very multicultural in its roots but I understand given I've travelled there and all my friends from there.
Taxonomy is a social construct. Species is a social construct. Can the average person tell 2 subspecies of brown bear apart? No. Do zoologists still use subspecies when defining them? Yes. Same goes for race. You are mixed race.
@Jean Sanchez The difference phenotypically between 2 brown bears is less than the observable difference between any 2 races lol. There are biological differences, not just on the genotype level, but also our entire phenotype is different. Mixed race people can be classified as a new race as they look phenotypically distinct from other groups. I can tell someone is Hispanic by looking at them.
@Jean Sanchez Latino is just an ethnicity. I didn't use the term latino I used the term Hispanic. Hispanic is more of a racial term but it hasn't been adopted as such. When someone says they're Hispanic they typically will be a mestizo or Castizo looking person. I don't think black latinos identify as Hispanic. Hispanic has a more phenotypic standard that the term latino.
I remember my grandma used to tell me "No animal in this world can match the brutality of man"
D00D I am loving the Haüs of the Rising Sonne polka awesomeness playing after your intro quote.
Edit: aaaaaaand holy shit, the rest of the video, rules. Good on ya, brother. Preach it.
I'm usually very sceptical of media depicting fictionalized versions of the nazi regime because the subtext tends to be pretty sussy, but this video convinced me to check out the game.
The game is phenomenal. Wide cast of brilliant characters, fun action, and great story. Also, you get to kill Nazis! Fuck Nazis.
@@Kaipyro67ALT Getting to kill Nazis is always a huge plus. Doubly so when the game in question refutes Nazi ideology as hard as Wolfenstein does.
This video has been out for two years, but I keep coming back to it at least every two weeks, just to cry and the thought and care you've put into making this. Particularly, as a Muslim, your penultimate message on the similarities between Antisemitism and Islamophobia and even just the fact you delayed its release after the Christchurch massacre. Thank you so much, much love and Judeo-Islamic solidarity!
I mean, didn't the video make you stop and reflect a little bit about your own faith? How it also has treated people of other faiths abysmally, specially if they weren't monotheists. How it has served to further Arabic supremacy and erase local cultures. How the Islamic faith has apartheid systems built into it from the time of Muhammad, with Muslims always being given preferential treatment, and which led to the Armenian and Greek genocides by the Ottomans (which Turkey still won't recognize as a genocide today, even though Germany recognized the holocaust). And this is still happening throughout the Muslim world, with minority faiths being killed and denied their rights everyday. Isn't Quran 98:6 dehumanizing enough? How did you square all that with all that the video says?
@@charliewinkelmann9397 I'm catholic as well. However, we can make a feasible case that Christianity has nothing to do with the bad things committed by catholics (I don't count the crusades among them, by the way, because as a descendant of Iberians they're the reason why today I don't speak Arabic or venerate Muhammad and I'm thankful for that). But you can't make the same case for Islam. As I mentioned in my previous comment, the bad things of Islam are built into the religion. Muhammad was a warlord, unlike Jesus. The Apostles spread the gospel by preaching, Muhammad spread his message by conquest. Jesus didn't sexually abuse children, Muhammad married one. The things that terrorists do today aren't different from what Muhammad and his companions did. Let's stop pretending Christianity and Islam are on the same level, because the way to prevent Christians from doing bad things is to go back to Christianity's roots and the way to prevent Muslims from doing bad things is to forsake Islam's roots.
@@charliewinkelmann9397 by the way, I'd rather not go off on a self-righteous tangent about Christianity. I'm willing to bear the sins of other catholics if that brings greater glory to Jesus Christ who bore my sins on the cross despite being perfectly innocent and me being unworthy of salvation, so the point is moot. Much of the criticism against "whiteness" presented in this video applies perfectly well to Islam and we're still coddling Muslims with such a victim mentality that any direct criticism of Islam, no matter how fair or unfair, is regarded as prejudice towards people instead of a questioning of ideas. Without presupposing ignorance or disingenuity, however, I want to know how he squared the critique of the video with his own faith. It's that simple. Simply pointing out he doesn't necessarily support any of specific events I mentioned will not cut, it simply pushes the question a further level upwards, because then I'd want to know how he squares this rejection with his own faith.
@@MutohMech Thank you very much for your comments. Dominus Vobiscum.
@@joaovitor9673 et cum spiritu tuo 🤝
Having not played these games yet, one thing I will say about being mixed race in America in general is that getting in touch with roots as an adult that non mixed peoples are exposed to all their lives sometimes just doesn't happen or feels really weird to try. Still a shame they didn't have BJ try or struggle with it at all as you say
i think, from that same perspective, that it can be very refreshing to electively shed the concept of the labels humans made just to hurt each other all these years. i'm american, white with black. very pale so i was left out of a lot of black family habits out of it looking strange to my peers and strangers. and sometimes, after long enough, it can even just... feel better to say "yeah, youre right, fine... im not black. guess im not exactly white either, but i'll say whatever helps people sleep at night and stop saying something about it" ya know? lol
@@colorblockpoprocks6973Depends. Because that is also you accepting British-American culture as the superior culture.
The reason they didn't is because it it a shooter game. If the game had a segment of BJ reading the Torah or something, all the shooter-fanboys would just quit out of boredom.
People who play shooter games typically aren't fans of depth and nuance.
Watching this video for the third time since I found this channel earlier this year because it's so good. It's made me rethink on how I see marginalized groups and people, and especially jews. I really appreciate the work you do Jacob, gotta scrape together some fanart for you sometime :]
jewsih people arent marginalised they are regualr whites today
This is a very nice video essay that shows a different part of the war. I found it intresting how you made parallels between America and Germany. I like how you went in depth for a game many would consider a “Nazi Killing Similator” when it has more to offer. I would like to give you my thanks for educating me in this subject
My pleasure! Glad you enjoyed it.
But are these Nazi killing media just trying to distract us from the racism that exists in my country?
I could imagine a scene where he's presenting a huge Hannukah feast to the whole resistance, and while acknowledging that they are not also Jewish that what the holiday represents is something every single one of them can relate to. The struggle to survive against an enemy fueled only by hatred, and the hope to never fault innthe face of it. I think that could make for a beautiful moment that could also represent unity as well as showing BJ embracing Jewish heritage.
yeah because leftist propaganda is what you need in a universe with mecha hitler
@@Hsaelt How is this leftist propaganda? If your idea of the right that you follow says a scene where people celebrate a holiday together is "propaganda" you are part of the reason the right is viewed as prejudice, racist monsters, when I know for a fact most are not. Based on the story in the game this video is talking about a cutscene like this would fit in perfectly with the tone this game was going for. I just presented the idea from the point of view of a writer who thought it would be a touching scene.
why would he embrace a heritage that he has almost nothing to do with? Is it because he's a biological jew and therefore should represent broader jewish values regardless of if he personally cares about them or not? It just seems strange to me to complain about his character not being "jewish" enough. Am not saying a representation of these traits shouldn't occur in media but I don't get why complain that they didn't attribute them to BJ specifically. As if being a biological jew made it more inherent in his nature to have expressed these qualities. It just gives off those they didn't make this black character "black enough" vibes
@@moonie1825 remember when they made a polish character into a jewish one because of the left wing agenda in media?
Oh wait...
@@moonie1825 Thing is, nothing says where his religious beliefs lie. Unless a writer specifically says that he's jewish, christian, atheist, etc. that specific part of his character remains a blank slate. A writer could say that religiously he does beleive in judaism and it wouldn't conflict with any other part of his character thus far.
I got sent this video today and I have to say, your work here is fantastic. This was extremely informative and well-articulated; I feel like I learned a lot watching this video both to supplement my own preexisting historical knowledge on this subject and to better understand a group I’m always trying to be a better ally to. The way you used Wolfenstein lore as a tool to better educate your audience was also extremely cool and clever, and it enhanced the way you articulated things as well as enhancing my appreciation of the series with the additional context. Have a wonderful day!
Man wakes from a 16 year coma. First thing he does? Kills a Nazi. His first words? Nazi scum! My favourite character ever.
After watching this video again, I'm nearing tears. As someone who is an "other" in most respects, I really resonated with BJs character being a something that you know little about and struggle to be an anything at all.
too bad for you. You dont have the requisite to be normal. next time try not to be the" other "
a joke.
@John Sosa seeing all these nazis die while everything they hate beats them back tooth and nail brings tears (of joy) to my eyes
I only just now saw this, halfway across the world from my hometown and family in a place that doesn't know Jews, or Nazis, or the inhumanities. It's almost sundown, on Shabbat before Rosh Hashanah. And as an educator, part of my job is fighting ignorance and banishing fear and distrust. And this video just hit the nail on the head and what 2019 has handed us.
Jacob, you worked your ass off to make this, and you clearly care. And that passion and dedication came out and made this video so helpful.
You're amazing. Keep doing what you're doing.
A place that doesn't know Jews, damn... some day that will be every place.
@@blank4227 lol
@WW1 German Stormtrooper Israel only exists because of white guilt and christian folly. When those dry up, so will Israel's cash flow.
@WW1 German Stormtrooper Good then let's stop funding them then. We'll get to see how long they last! :)
@WW1 German Stormtrooper That "deal" you describe is literally a scam. And if the US wants out of a deal with some essentially powerless nation-state, then there's nothing to stop them. Except for, of course, corrupt politicians.
This was so well done, and I sincerely appreciate you creating and posting it. I'm only sorry that I didn't watch it sooner!
Same!
What's interesting to me about the thing you mentioned towards the end is the extent to which what you're saying is actually in (to varying extents) another '90s property that I can think of, that being Jake and Rachel Berensen in Animorphs. While it's not in every book, there are times (especially towards the end) where you can see Jake, Rachel, and even Tom holding on to that "They tried to kill us, it didn't work" aspect. And I would love to see more of that from BJ
"If you were not aryan, you would of went for the gun"
Me as a blue eyed blonde german: ...
@@Floral_Green the diffrence is, im "white" and no other religous or racial affiliation
i took the gun and shot her (which some know the gun is fake)
Im german too but with black hair and greyish-blue eyes with a typical german face. My voice ist dark but somehow a lot of people think im russian or polish (Well i got polish roots...)
I wonder how they would specify me
@Durst Löscher There were plenty of dark haired Germans even in the Third Reich. Vast majority of them in fact (outside of regions where it would obviously be more common like Brandenburg). You would’ve probably just been picked on. At worst you would’ve been categorized as Western European like the British or us Americans and the French.
@@durstloscher2362 Well if you have polish roots you would have been considered a half-breed
@@caesarvalorvmsheevpalpatin8755 Possibly but there were quite a few notable rather high ranking Nazis with Polish roots. One that comes to mind is Otto Skorzeny. I'm guessing they were willing to make exceptions. They also were keen on basically abducting "aryan looking children thought to have German heritage" from Eastern Europe and raising them as Germans despite the likelihood of those children having non-German roots being rather high.
I just periodically come back and rewatch this video because it is honestly excellent, and the phrase "ethical removal of fascism" always sticks with me every time. Thank you so much for making this!
thats how i feel as well!! every couple months i sit down and prepare myself for this video.
I love that the clip he says "ethical removal of fascism" is BJ punching a Nazi unconscious
@@irishdc9523 I mean that's how you ethically remove Nazis, with hyperviolence and no mercy.
@@greyking3792🤓
This is the type of language that creates genocides, by the way. The nazis said the exact same thing about jewish people.
i was so immersed in this video i thought it was Saturday for a moment when you said "Shabbat shalom". doubt you'll see this comment but this is an amazing video, i've watched a few of yours before and this one, despite being partially about a video game i've never heard of, made me subscribe
I’ve always been able to relate to BJ because my family on my dad’s side are German and Polish Jews but the Jews were discriminated so they chose to be Catholic or Protestant.
Everyone always told me while I was growing up that Me and my five siblings were the aryan ideal but didn’t know that we are Jewish or that my mom’s side of the family came straight off the reservation.
My brother looks like he’s ubermensch but he’s actually a Jewish-Native American halfbreed with Asperger’s Syndrome and so am I.
The most Jewish thing about us appearance wise is our height, we’re both 5ft 6in.
My dad looks the most typical German in the family and he always told me that “These supremacist types are stupid because it doesn’t actually matter to them if you’re aryan, it matters if you’re pretty. Their entire ideology is shallow.”
Fun fact: BJ is Commander Keen's grandpa, and Keen is the DOOM Slayer's father.
And all of them are polish.
You know what that means?
Yes.
WHEN THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVED,
COMING DOWN THE MOUNTAINSIDE!
Does that mean Slayer is also Jewish? (oh boy, i need to draw slayer with a hussar armor now)
I can't tell if this is a joke or canon
@@firetarrasque4667 its my headcanon now (both the jewish and hussar)
Nazis go to hell where Doom guy does what Doom guy does best
@@brown-eyedcheese5440 FULL CIRCLE TO FUCK NAZIS