The ugly history of the term "Homeland"....

[marmar]

Thom Hartmann today is ending his show with a discussion about the Nazi use of the term "Homeland" to create a white Aryan Christian identity fervor in Germany. And you know what, I cannot honestly remember when I heard the United States referred to as the "homeland" until after 9/11 and the creation of the Dept. of HOMELAND Security. Then I ran across this old Seattle Post-Intelligencer article:

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- The name of the Department of Homeland Security is meant to evoke images of safety -- even family, hearth, comfort. It gives some people a knot in the stomach.

An uncommon word to begin with, "homeland" became an everyday word after the Sept. 11 attacks and was institutionalized when President Bush created the Office of Homeland Security.

Jeff Neberman, who teaches European history at Boise State University, says it's "right out of Nazi Germany." The German word "heimat" means "homeland" and was used by the Nazis. Others dispute a direct Nazi link and note various cultures have used the word, too.

"Homeland" has "obviously grated on quite a number of people," said Todd Gitlin, who teaches culture and sociology at Columbia University. "It feels like an import even if you're not aware that its origins are German."

Leslie Savan, who wrote a book about advertising and popular culture, said "homeland" makes her think not only of Germany, but also of Russia and South Africa's former apartheid government.

"It's been one of those words that's supposed to sound cozy and warm," she said. "But because it sounds cozy and warm it has been used by totalitarian governments."

Bush wants Congress to turn the Homeland Security office into a full-fledged Cabinet agency called the Department of Homeland Security, a matter the Senate took up this week. The House has passed its version of Bush's plan to merge all or parts of 22 agencies into a 170,000-employee department focused on preventing terrorism.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/85806_name06.shtml


Now perhaps I'm reading too much into this, but consider the crew that's running the country right now. The parallels between this government and the Third Reich are rather disturbing.

[LSparkle]

1. And, unlike Germany and other countries, we are a nation of immigrants

The only ones who can claim this is their ancestral "homeland" are Native Americans. It's just odd that a country that prides itself on being a "melting pot" would choose such a term to describe itself. WTF not just call it "Dept. of National Security"??????

[liberal N proud]

2. From the first time I head the bu$h regime use Homeland I thought of Nazis

I cringed at the very sound of that word when they introduced it post 9/11. To me it signaled exactly what these people were, NeoNazis.

[mantis49]

30. My first thought, also, was of Nazi Germany.

Too chilling!

[woodsprite]

3. It's like * was paying tribute to his grandpappy Prescott. n/t

[Ganja Ninja]

4. I won't miss it if they do away with it.

I always thought it sounded like some xenophobic BS.

[Skidmore]

5. When they started talking about forming DHS, I was on the phone

with all my Congress people and let them know how I felt about the use of this word and the idea of deifying the concept of the state and the path that could lead us down. They didn't listen and I was right.

[SnoopDog]

6. Do you know that Thom was reading at the end of his show?

Was it a chapter from a book? or newspaper?

It was describing exactly what is going on today...

[marmar]

13. I'm not sure exactly what he was reading from...

He could have been just accessing the files in his head. That man is a walking, talking historical museum.

[uppityperson]

7. Reminds me of S.Africa and arpartheid

send those uppity natives off to their Homeland.

[marmar]

15. Yep. Before BushCo's coopting of the term, my last memory of that term...

were the "homelands" of S. Africa.

[elocs]

8. I never liked the term "Homeland".

It seemed like such a piece of propaganda and reminded me so much of the Motherland and the Fatherland.

[The Deacon]

9. First Thing I Thought Of Was Himmler, Goebbels And The

"Cult of Soil." The second thing I thought of was Aryan Nations and their call for a "White Homeland." So I guess it runs through the whole of Nazi ideology, from the most heinous criminals ever on this planet to the pathetic little partial people who glorify them today.

[AspenRose]

10. Isn't the literal translation from Russian of "KGB"

"Department of Homeland Security" as well? :scared:

[The Deacon]

11. "Committee for State Security" I Think

[FoxOnTheRun]

34. I don't think so, but General Yevgeni Primakov works for it

http://www.dissidentvoice.org/Jan05/Whitney0121.htm

[originalpckelly]

12. They changed the National to Homeland...

on the committees in Congress. Why? What was so wrong with calling it the Department of National Security? It sounds more American.

[young_at_heart]

14. "Right out of Nazi Germany.....why did Congress go along with this ?

They are letting them get away with whatever they want....WHY?

[indepat]

16. Any wonder why was the term homeland was chosen

[Bluebear]

17. It's a vulgar term and they know it damn well.

And they use it anyhow.

[marmar]

18. I agree...

There's subtext in their use of the term.

[earth mom]

19. Chilled to the bone when I first heard "Homeland" used by * & his cabal

Their intention is clear...they aren't hiding anything. :puke:

[TahitiNut]

20. Jingosim and nationalism on steroids. Fascism is hyper-nationalistic.

It's no accident that the Nazi's pounded away on "Die Heimat" rhetoric - nationalism is inherently part of the divisive ideologies of "us" vs. "them" and the myth that "here" is special and it's OK to murder people by the thousands and destroy civilian infrastructure "there."

[Odin2005]

42. Nationalism is a disgusting form of collective self-worship.

Nationalism is the modern, secularized form of tribes worshiping a certain deity as a personification of the tribe.

[mnhtnbb]

21. It used to be when you entered the country, your passport was stamped

with U.S. Immigration. Now it's stamped "Department of Homeland Security"

It feels like it's right out of Nazi Germany.

[marmar]

22. I haven't paid attention to my passport stamps lately...That is creepy.

I'm still bummed that with the creation of the E.U., it's hard to get an individual country's stamp when flying through Europe now.

[treestar]

23. I thought it was creepy from the beginning

Totalitarian states always use "motherland" or "fatherland" or the like. It seemed part and parcel of the Patriot Act and at the time it was rare to question any 911 reaction as hysteria then. You'd think people could learn from history.

The word "security" is even worse, though. That you can immediately associate with the Gestapo and the KGB - State Security Police, not security of the people, but security of the STATE. That's what the average American just does not get.

[CrispyQ]

24. One of my fave bumper stickers:

I don't live in the homeland.
I live in America.




I love the post 1776 mindset sticker!! Thanks, impeachdubya! ;)

[kilgore65]

31. Love that one. Where can one be had?

[CrispyQ]

43. ...

Got the Homeland/America sticker at www.irregulartimes.com I don't know if they still have it.

Another great one I got there: Real Patriots Don't Need an Act.

It is rare my back window is not sporting that sticker!

[marmar]

44. Cool. Thanks for the link!

:hi:

[SeattleGirl]

25. I have thought of Germany and the Nazi's ever since DHS

was formed. I hate the word "homeland" because of the horrors associated with it, not only in the past, but here and now, in our own country.

[Usrename]

26. Agreed, it has very obvious Nazi roots.

I remember terms such as domestic security or domestic intelligence being politically correct before this Cabal came into power.

[glitch]

27. THANK YOU! Creeping me out for 5 years now. So glad other Americans get it

K & R

[marmar]

32. You're not alone...

Never could stand that term.

[Daphne08]

28. I detested the word Homeland when I first heard it in relation

to our United States of America!

The word still gives me the chills.

[The Straight Story]

29. Clinton at one time wanted to the use the term

it was suggested but he felt it too creepy.

[FoxOnTheRun]

35. Is this Bill Clinton?

http://www-dateline.ucdavis.edu/112202/dl_clintospeech.html

Next point I want to make about homeland security is that a lot of it has nothing to with the federal government. A lot of it has to do with local efforts of prevention and response. At airports, at water systems, ports, tunnels. In setting up the healthcare networks necessary should there be an anthrax outbreak, things of that kind. And there’s still been a remarkable reluctance, I think, in Washington to fund this sort of infrastructure. Because if something were to ever happen, God forbid, around here, you wouldn’t pick up the phone and call Washington D.C. You would want to know where the local clinic was. Who was going to deal with an anthrax outbreak, how are we going to keep everybody alive?

So we should have homeland security. What should our goal be? Our goal should be to stop big, bad things from happening.

[rhiannon55]

33. I find the word "homeland" creepy

Also creepy is how it wasn't in common usage until a very few years ago and then suddenly it was.

As if it had always been part of the language. :scared:

[Bill McBlueState]

37. Well, we've always been at war with Eurasia.

/1984

[rhiannon55]

39. Yup

You got my point. :)

[Bill McBlueState]

36. What should we call it instead?

I prefer National Security.

Anyone have other ideas?

[FoxOnTheRun]

38. Heimatschutzministerium

[LibDemAlways]

40. The term "homeland" creeps me out. I never use it.

Government officials used to use the word "domestic" to refer to the U.S. which sounds a hell of a lot less ominous.


What I've been shocked and appalled by is how easily Americans adapted to the word "homeland" and how few have questioned it. Very slippery slope.

[Hobarticus]

41. Fatherland, Motherland....now Homeland. Ugh...

It's too creepy, I hope the damn name gets changed.

[Chiyo-chichi]

45. Use of the word "Homeland" in commerce:

The neocons should have trademarked the phrase. They'd be making a fortune. Now we can visit Homeland Books (www.homelandbooks.com) for all our NASCAR book needs and Homeland Kids (http://www.homelandkids.com/biblesongs4kids.htm) for all our children's Bible song on CD needs. I see frequent TV ads for both of those. The Homeland Kids homepage doesn't work, though. If you go to www.homelandkids.com, you'll get a message that implies that it's your fault that there's no content rather than being redirected to the page where you can buy "Bible Songs 4 Kids."

Those are the big two that I see all the time, but there are more companies that jumped on the "homeland" bandwagon. I don't imagine that anyone would be surprised to learn that many of them are either:
*affiliated with religious organization
*located in a very "red" state
*or otherwise cater to the "backwash."

www.homeland.org redirects to Disciples Home Missions, "an enabling and coordinating division of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the area of congregational program and mission in North America. The third millennium is a challenging and exciting time to be the church, and the staff of DHM strives to look to the future and serve the imminent needs of congregations."

I wonder if the Homeland grocery store chain in Oklahoma (www.homelandstores.com) had a different name before 2001. I never heard of it when I lived there. "Welcome to your new Homeland" their web site says. THAT's a scary turn of phrase.

At www.homelandfundraising.com, your organization can order magnetic car ribbons, crosses, and other religious symbols to sell as a fund raiser. I wonder if they'll print "Support Our Troops - Bring Them Home" ribbons?

Any North Carolinians know the history of Homeland Creamery? http://www.homelandcreamery.com/

Anyone know the history of the Homeland Security Safe Company? http://www.homelandsafes.com/ The offer gun safes, home safes, and vault doors.

http://www.homelandone.com/ offers first responder training. They're a division of Trinity Workplace Learning, which is a division of Trinity Learning. All those Trinities make me wonder if there's a fundie CEO.

I don't know quite what is up with www.homeland.com. A few months ago, it nothing much but a very lousy web search protal. Today it's "1000 Pet Stores.com," a "global pet portal bringing the public to animal breeders, petshops, and pet industry suppliers." They make the following boast: "We are proud to announce that since January 3, 2001, 1000PetStores.com has had over 14,400,000 visitors!" Yeah, well, with a URL like homeland.com, I'm not surprised. But what does it have to do with pets?