Stay on your guard

Written by Semirask in Uncategorized

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One of my Sunday morning rituals is to review important conversations of the week with 'free-floating attentiveness'.

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If a good radio program also helps, my bliss is complete ☺️

Some of the lines of conversations I kept having with clients talking in the context of culture change and its dialogic challenges:

•  How do we deal with increasing polarization in society and the workplace?
•  What are the red lines in behavior where I need to intervene as an employee, manager, or HR manager?

 Yes, I can understand that many people often feel patronized and restricted by accusations of discriminatory language from activists.

 Nevertheless, it is necessary to remain attentive and mindful of where our language is already distorted by forms of thought that until recently rightly(!) belonged to the no longer sayable after the Second World War.

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My listening recommendation today on the DLF radio program is:

Essay and Discourse Victor Klemperer: LTI Is “Never Again” Really Now?

by Janett Haid:

The rise of right-wing populism is provoking protest. To understand the mechanisms by which anti-democratic thinking seeps into everyday life, it is important to re-read Victor Klemperer's reflections on the language of National Socialism. “Never again is now!” - like hardly any other slogan, these words characterize the rebellion against a burgeoning anti-Semitism and the strengthening of right-wing ideas. At the same time, “Never again!” refers directly to the Nazi era, the Holocaust, and the lessons that can be learned from it for a humane, democratic society. The Romance scholar Victor Klemperer, who in 1947 presented a sensational study of the language of National Socialism entitled “LTI” - Lingua Tertii Imperii - was concerned with such lessons. His material covered newspapers and magazines, speeches and books, and everyday communication in the Third Reich. He formulated his aim drastically: “Many words of Nazi language usage should be laid in the mass grave for a long time, and some forever.” But is “Never again!” really “now”? Can similar or comparable mechanisms also be discovered in our time and language? Are the right-wing populists changing our language and thus our way of looking at the world and society? The aim is to re-read Victor Klemperer's “LTI” against contemporary forms of language

Janett Haid, born in 1985, studies political language at the Center for Linguistic Social Research at Otto von Guericke University in Magdeburg. Her academic focus is on analyzing forms of political communication and examining language strategies in political speech. Her most recent publication is the book “Die sprachliche Dimension des Sozialismus” (2023).”

Time to (re-)read Victor Klemperer's book ...

And for the German speaking among you, you may want to listen to the new podcast starting end of July "Die Geschichte geht weiter - Victor Klemperers Tagebücher 1918-1959". Here is a trailer!

Enjoy your Sunday!