Dr Josef Goebels, Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda in Gaza

At the time of writing this I cannot find the evidence but I know that there is evidence to suggest that Goebels, who was a regular reader of, the 3rd Reich's last "independent" newspaper,  "Die Frankfurter Zeitung", once said something to the effect that if the Amann press was all there was to read, he would be bored out of his wits. Of course, it would be folly to think that any real "independent" journalism was possible with papers such as "Die Frankfurter Zeitung". However, with thoroughly honed bottom up skills and an imaginative reading between the lines, some real news here and there might have been discerned. Moreover, the newspaper's style was such that it did contribute to the "bildungsbürgertum" continuing to cultivate the illusion that they lived in a civilised society. The last edition of the newspaper was to appear on the 31st of August 1943, by which time Dr Goebels hardly had any time for reading newspapers and no time to get bored.

On a number of occasions I have been told, "die Süddeutsche" ist eine gute Zeitung ("a good newspaper)." Now, at a time when there is unfettered access to all sorts of alternative news sites in the internet, no it is not a good newspaper and it is not even enough to stop you getting bored. Nevertheless, it could be that, even although my German is probably at proficiency level, the standard of prose and the variety of lexis mean that there is at least some cognitive challenge when I am reading the paper. Still, when it comes to getting real news, a just as intensive and creative reading between the lines is needed as with "Die Frankfurter Zeitung".

Anyway, yesterday's "Süddeutsche" had an article on the mysterious, ever elusive, Osama bin Laden, which reported that the U.S. Justice Minister, Eric Holden, does not think that Washington's public enemy number one will be caught alive. Oh, surprise, surprise, and our super Saudi is not going to have his day in court. Of course, we can go a step further and assume that unrecognisable remains of Osama will turn up when the time is ripe and we will read, "it's him, he's dead, his dentist from Jeddah has recognised his teeth. However, we cannot rest, Al Qaeda is still out there, still active, trying to kill all of us." Yes, Al Qaeda' won't be going away, they are the "world Jewish conspiracy," tthe "Bolsheviks", and the "Untermenschen" all rolled into one, and that brings me to an editorial in today's cognitively challenging, entertaining, cultured, "Süddeutsche Zeitung".

"Al-Qaida in Gaza", no translations needed there and apparently it wasn't 'Hamas' who fired a rocket into Israel, but an Al Qaeda offshoot. How convenient and over a thousand days after an illegal blockade was imposed on the people of Gaza and some fourteen months after the slaughter of 1,400 men, women and children, mad Islamic terrorists in the form of 'Al Qaeda' have arrived. Of course, this is something that cannot be tolerated by the international community and there is me, doing my "Bildungsbürgertum" on the "Süddeutsche" and all of a sudden the bookies have stopped taking bets for the next Israeli murder spree in Gaza.  Meanwhile, everyone has forgotten that the robbing, the stealing, the killing and the ethnic cleansing all started a long time before our "once upon a time" Al Qaeda, and, indeed, a long time before 'Hamas' but the evidence would seem to suggest that our bottom up reading skills, our ability to deduce through implying and our ability to read between the lines are not what they were and now we have "Al Qaeda in Gaza" and the next fishing boat to be blown out of the water will be ferrying arms to Al Qaeda, the next malnourished baby to have its head blown off will have been sleeping in the same house as an Al Qaeda terrorist, and the next farmer to be shot by an Israeli sniper will be an Al Qaeda operative and so we return to Dr Josef Goebels, who once said, “Man muss die Lügen oft genug wiederholen, dann glaubt am Ende jeder dran (you have to repeat the lie often enough, so that in the end everyone believes it).”