{"id":225467,"date":"2025-01-27T17:22:16","date_gmt":"2025-01-27T17:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/27\/musk-says-germany-has-too-much-of-a-focus-on-past-guilt\/"},"modified":"2025-01-27T17:22:16","modified_gmt":"2025-01-27T17:22:16","slug":"musk-says-germany-has-too-much-of-a-focus-on-past-guilt","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/27\/musk-says-germany-has-too-much-of-a-focus-on-past-guilt\/","title":{"rendered":"Musk Says Germany Has \u2018Too Much of a Focus on Past Guilt\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/27\/multimedia\/27Germany-Musk-zmfp\/27Germany-Musk-zmfp-facebookJumbo.jpg?ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Musk Says Germany Has \u2018Too Much of a Focus on Past Guilt\u2019\" title=\"Musk Says Germany Has \u2018Too Much of a Focus on Past Guilt\u2019\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-0\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Elon Musk told a gathering of the hard-right Alternative for Germany party this weekend that the country has \u201ctoo much of a focus on past guilt,\u201d an apparent effort to wipe away the long shadow of the Nazis that has influenced generations of Germans to quarantine extreme political parties from public life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt\u2019s good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything\u201d Mr. Musk said in a short video that was broadcast to thousands of party members in the eastern city of Halle.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cWe don\u2019t want everything to be the same everywhere where it\u2019s just one big sort of soup,\u201d Mr. Musk said. \u201cYou know, we want to have something where it\u2019s, you go to different countries and you experience a different culture and it is unique and special and good and \u2014 that the German government takes actions to protect its citizens and makes sure that it seeks the health and well-being of the German people.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-1\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Musk\u2019s comments came on Saturday, two days before <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/27\/world\/europe\/auschwitz-liberation-80th-anniversary.html\" title=\"\">official ceremonies<\/a> in Poland commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, one of the most significant days of memorial on the German calendar. His critics in Germany sharply criticized his words and his timing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-2\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe enthusiasm of the native South African Elon Musk for German right-wing radicals, for German pride, German people and German hand signals is remarkable,\u201d the journalist Mathieu von Rohr wrote sarcastically in Spiegel, one of Germany\u2019s most important newsmagazines.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Musk himself recently stirred controversy in Germany and elsewhere by giving what was <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/24\/world\/europe\/elon-musk-roman-salute-nazi.html\" title=\"\">widely interpreted as a Nazi salute<\/a> to a rally of supporters after Mr. Trump\u2019s inauguration.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The billionaire, an adviser to President Trump, endorsed the so-called AfD party in a post on his social media platform X late last year, later citing its stance on migration, energy policy and other issues. He has ramped up his support since, while <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/09\/world\/europe\/germany-elon-musk-afd.html\" title=\"\">attempting to portray the party and its leadership<\/a> as reasonable.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In doing so, he has brushed aside years of flirtations with Naziism and other actions by AfD members that have led Germany\u2019s mainstream political parties to unite in opposition to working with the organization.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-3\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">German intelligence agencies have formally classified parts of the AfD as extremists. A party leader was convicted last year of using banned Nazi language. Members of the party, including a former member of the federal parliament, have been implicated in several plots to overthrow the German government.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Musk, though, has praised the AfD repeatedly. He hosted its candidate for chancellor, Alice Weidel, for a friendly interview this month on X. He addressed a party conference over the weekend by video link, saying the party had the support of the \u201cTrump administration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He went on to invoke Germany\u2019s history dating back to the Roman Empire, citing Julius Caesar\u2019s praise for the Germanic warriors he encountered in battle. He called the AfD\u2019s proposals \u201ccommon sense\u201d and accused the current German government of oppressing free speech and dissent. He said the world needed less centralized governance, including that from the European Union in Brussels, and stronger governance from individual countries.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe fate of the world, I think rests upon this election in Germany,\u201d Mr. Musk said. \u201cIt\u2019s extremely fundamental.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Despite Mr. Musk\u2019s endorsement, the AfD has not gained much ground in opinion polls ahead of the Feb. 23 parliamentary election. Since Mr. Musk backed the party in a December post, the percentage of voters who say they will vote for the party has only increased by one point, to 21 percent.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div data-testid=\"companionColumn-4\">\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, the AfD currently sits in second place, behind the main opposition party, the Christian Democrats, but ahead of Chancellor Olaf Scholz\u2019s Social Democrats.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Late in 2023, before the hard-right party was shook by a number of scandals, including the legal convictions of a regional leader for using banned Nazi phrases, the party was polling at 23 percent.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">All other parties in parliament have vowed not to include the AfD in the formation of a new government after the election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\"><a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/yougov.de\/politics\/articles\/51443-deutsche-und-briten-weisen-die-jungsten-ausserungen-von-elon-musk-zur-deutschen-und-britischen-politik-zuruck\" title=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" target=\"_blank\">Recent polling<\/a> shows that three-quarters of Germans see Mr. Musk\u2019s attempts to influence German elections as \u201cunacceptable.\u201d The same poll found that 63 percent of respondents thought Mr. Musk did not have a good understanding of German politics.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2025\/01\/27\/world\/europe\/musk-germany-afd-auschwitz.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Elon Musk told a gathering of the hard-right Alternative for Germany party this weekend that the country has \u201ctoo much of a focus on past guilt,\u201d an apparent effort to wipe away the long shadow of the Nazis that has influenced generations of Germans to quarantine extreme political parties from public life. \u201cIt\u2019s good to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":225468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2025\/01\/27\/multimedia\/27Germany-Musk-zmfp\/27Germany-Musk-zmfp-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[53112,163424,169018,163575,67,2534,84371,5711,4791,86442,119879,6039,176990,137131,169471,98976,176989,52,128437,167002],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225467"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225467"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225467\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225469,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225467\/revisions\/225469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/225468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225467"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225467"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225467"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}