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Hitler and Sex!

2012-07-17 · explainer · John · 3:31 · watch on YouTube

Topic: History & curiosities (also: Internet & YouTube) · mode: Personal essay · tags: heavy topic, song or performance

John parodies a sensational cable 'Hitler and sex' show, then argues that the real story is boring and sad: Hitler was a common domestic abuser, and sensationalizing him lets us feel fundamentally unlike people who commit genocide.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — A cable producer who loves Crash Course says a TV show must cover things like Hitler and sex, so John makes a 'pilot'

  • ★★ John says a producer from an unnamed cable channel loved Crash Course and suggested a TV show, but said television must cover things people enjoy, like Hitler and sex. — 00:00:00 · Crash Course

00:00:15 — Hitler and sex dolls for Nazi troops in occupied France

  • ★★ John says syphilis was a big problem among Nazi troops in occupied France and Hitler's solution was to send small, foldable blow-up sex dolls to the army; the idea was abandoned. (playful) — 00:00:18

00:00:41 — Rumors about Hitler's sex life; The Pink Swastika's 'secretly gay' claim refuted

  • ★★ John says the many rumors about Hitler's sex life were mainly thought up by Allied propaganda to discredit him and are probably not true, but he will repeat them anyway. (hedged) — 00:00:41
  • ★★★ John rejects The Pink Swastika's case that Hitler was secretly gay and Nazism a homosexual agenda: 100,000 were arrested for being gay, many killed in camps, and prominent gay Nazis executed. — 00:00:52

00:01:22 — Hitler as a vanilla heterosexual; the one-testicle rumor; 'monorchid' and famous monorchids

  • ★★ John says by most accounts Hitler was a pretty vanilla heterosexual, and wonders why male heterosexual historians would want to paint him as different. — 00:01:24
  • ★★ John says Hitler probably had two testicles, at least according to his personal physician. (hedged) — 00:01:41

  • ★★ John shares a favorite word, 'monorchid', a person with one testicle, and lists prominent monorchids: Mao Zedong, Lance Armstrong, Hermann Göring and the drummer from Green Day. (playful) — 00:01:45 · monorchid

    “monorchid, which means an individual with only one testicle.”

00:01:56 — Hitler as an abusive boyfriend; the fates of the six women he most likely had sex with

  • ★★★ John says Hitler was controlling, possessive and domineering, with all the hallmarks of an abusive relationship; four of the six women he most likely had sex with killed themselves, including Eva Braun, married 40 hours before. — 00:01:59
  • ★★ John says of the other two likely lovers, Maria Reiter attempted suicide during her break-up with Hitler, and Erna Hanfstaengl tried to kill or overthrow him in 1943. — 00:02:22

00:02:35 — His half-niece; domestic abuse is common; sensationalizing Hitler comforts us that we are unlike perpetrators; truth resists simplicity; sign-off

  • ★★★ John says Hitler's half-niece lived with him for two years while he grew possessive; he forced her to cut off her friends and she eventually committed suicide. — 00:02:37
  • ★★★ John wishes the half-niece's story were unique, but says domestic abuse is disgustingly common, making Hitler tragically un-extraordinary. — 00:02:49
  • ★★★ John says an accurate TV show about Hitler and sex would be boring and sad: his sex life was boring and his awful treatment of the women he loved was not unique or even rare. — 00:02:57
  • ★★★ John argues that essentializing and sensationalizing these stories is designed to make us comfortable, to feel fundamentally different from people who participate in genocide; that is not the truth. — 00:03:09 · sensationalism
  • ★★★ John says the truth resists simplicity, whether TV executives want to accept it or not. — 00:03:23 · sensationalism, the truth resists simplicity
  • ★★ After the producer's TV offer, John says he thinks he'll stick with YouTube. (hedged) — 00:03:27 · YouTube

Humor (significant)

  • John turns the producer's suggestion into a cable pilot with its own dramatic jingle — 00:00:15

    “(tan-tan-tan-tantam) Hitler and SEX!”

  • Hitler's foldable sex-doll plan for the troops is abandoned because the troops said: — 00:00:33

    “"Actually, we just prefer Syphilis."”

  • Asking whether Hitler was secretly gay, John mimics TV cliffhanger pacing — 00:01:15

    “Let's watch 2 minutes of commercial before I say no.”

  • After defining 'monorchid', John lists famous monorchids from Mao to Göring and ends with — 00:01:51

    “and the drummer from Green Day.”

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: Adolf Hitler · domestic violence · ethical dualism · sensationalism

Also: People: Erna Hanfstaengl · Eva Braun · Geli Raubal · Hermann Göring · Lance Armstrong · Mao Zedong · Maria Reiter · Renate Müller · Tré Cool · Unity Mitford

Projects: Crash Course

Works: The Pink Swastika

Organizations: YouTube

Groups: Green Day

Terms: monorchid

Concepts: syphilis

Places: France · Nazi Germany

Events: Persecution of homosexuals in Nazi Germany

Also centred on Adolf Hitler: Questions Answered! · Literally Hitler

Also centred on ethical dualism: Special Friday Video! (On Saturday) · Understanding the Central African Republic

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