Opinion
Wagner should be banned
Giulio Meotti
Published: 26.07.11, 17:50
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1. Wagner should be banned
Sergey ,   Miami, Florida   (07.26.11)
Gulio Meotti is my Hero. His is absolutely wright ,jewish musicians must be ashaimed BY PERFORMING WAGNER MUSIC
2. I disagree totaly
Spears   (07.26.11)
with that ban. The nazis wore shirts and trousers. Should we therefore ban the use of trousers and shirts ? We are talking here about music, about art, not about politic.Beside the fact that approximatively all European intellectual figures of the XIX century were antisemitic, You can appreciate the sound of without shaaring the opinion of the artist who create it. Sometime the attitude of my fellow jewish brothers seems so childish !
3. toothpaste was invented in Dresden and surely Hitler loved
Neo ,   EU   (07.26.11)
to use it, so now israelis should ban toothpaste fast too? Wagner ist just wonderfull classical music..so everybody should listen who likes it..
4. @2 u r correct we r talking about music...
Tsarina ,   Israel   (07.26.11)
long operas with boring librettos and bad music.... I think it should be banned. Just sayin!
5. It's about REAL PHYSICAL PAIN
Rehavam ,   Israel   (07.26.11)
it can be any kind of music. if one being tortured while plaing music result is when victim hear this music again one is in PAIN!
6. Ban his works
Waleed ,   Toronto   (07.26.11)
His name should be erased from history, regardless of the beauty of his creations.
7. Wagner can't be banned because of anti-boycott law
Knesset   (07.26.11)
as it would harm Israeli performers that play Wagner.
8. Wagner was a "half-jew"...
Hansje   (07.26.11)
His real father's name was Geyer. Later on his mother remaried with a certain Wagner. Young Wagner discovered his real roots and became a self hating jew. Btw. Chopin awas also a notorious anti-semite, should we ban him...?
9. There is nothing wrong with Götterdämmerung
Ypip ,   Canada   (07.26.11)
But I'd suggest you read.
10. I believe Wagner is not banned because he was an anti-Semite
Dan the Jafa ,   Jafaland, Aotearoa   (07.26.11)
...but rather out of respect for those who had to listen to his music while being marched to the gas chambers. If you no longer remember and respect the martyrs of the Holocaust you might as well start performing Wagner...
11. "addendum" to 8
Hansje   (07.27.11)
This mr.Geyer was a jewish musician...
12. Ridiculous
Roman ,   IL   (07.27.11)
Playing music or not - it should be a personal choice not a country's political ruling. Supreme court made a decision (in my view a correct one) to allow Wagner's music to be performed. If someone does not like - that is his/her choice. Same goes to Ford automobile because Henry Ford was Anti-Semite or Beyer Aspirin because of Beyer's famous deeds during WWII. This article and suggestion to ban a piece of music is simply ridiculous in a democratic world.
13. Wagner
Charles Zeigler ,   Florence, U.S.A.   (07.27.11)
I say let the Israeli orchestra play Wagner,play it from the mountain tops so all the world can see and hear that G-D is with the Jewish people and they shall overcome those who plot Israels demise.Do you think Wagner or Hitler would have ever thought that a Jewish orchestra ,the people the Nazis tried to exterminate, would be around to play Wagner music. Who has the last laugh about overcoming. L'Chaim Israel.
14. Let's say Wagner made films on a par with Spielberg
Devorah   (07.27.11)
But his antisemitism was well known. Would we pay to watch his films?
15. Ban Pink Floyd as well
k ,   US   (07.27.11)
seeing as Roger Waters wants to bring back the days when Jews were weak and could be killed at will
16. Nothin would infuriate Wagner more than . . .
Doug ,   Vancouver, Canada   (07.27.11)
I can't think of anything more infuriating to Wagner's memory, than to know that Jews, from the New Israel, and yes . . . from it's capital of Jerusalem, were playing HIS music!!! As Robert Duval said in Appocolypse Now, "It kind of smells like . . . VICTORY!"
17. Henry Ford was an anti-semite
BH ,   Iowa   (07.27.11)
He was dead and planted before I was born. I have never bought an Ford, I will never buy a Ford. No product or music is worth supporting evil.
18. Good article.
Nick Sporek ,   Jerusalem, Israel   (07.27.11)
19. Hansje , 100 % WRONG
Charles ,   Petach Tiklva   (07.27.11)
Carl Friedrich Wagner , Richard's father , died when Richard was 6 months old . Then , this Geyer , came to live with the family Wagner . That Geyer was the biological father of Richard is NOT proven , but possible . The only source telling that Geyer was Jewish was Nietsche . So to tell that Richard was half Jewish is based on suppositions .
20. Playing Wagner in Bayreuth is a Jewish VICTORY
Charles ,   Petach Tikva   (07.27.11)
An Israeli orchestra playing in Bayreuth is proving that the nazis did'nt succeed . The concert began with the Hatikva , then music by Mendelsohn and Mahler , both Jewish [ or Jewish descent ] banned by the nazis and at the end a piece by wagner . That wagner's music reminds many of our tragic past is sure , but i think that playing his music there is a VICTORY for the Jewish people : We are ALIVE , and well ALIVE
21. Wagner
Hannah ,   Eilat Israel   (07.27.11)
It was Wagner's daughter in law, Winifred who transformed Waner's home and Festival Bayreuth into a Nazi propaganda machine. This woman was Hitler's girlfriend during the Vienna Putch, and provided Hitler with the materials he needed to write Mein Kampf, whilst incarcerated. The greater criminal was Winifred, who ought to have been indited for war crimes, and crimes against humanity, and sent to prison for at least 20 years for aiding and abetting Hitler in his propaganda mission. In my opinion, Winifred Wagner ought to have been hanged, so instrumental was her importance in the Third Reich.
22. #14 I wouldn't pay to watch a Spielberg movie period.
marc   (07.27.11)
23. #22 Marc - Oh.
Devorah   (07.27.11)
24. #20: 100% correct!
David ,   Karmiel, Israel   (07.27.11)
Jews doing anything in Germany is a victory against the Nazis!
25. Wagner
Hannah ,   Eilat Israel   (07.27.11)
Adendum, Geyer was an actor. Ah, Actors!! Small wonder, Wagner's psyche became so twisted, having an actor for a role model.
26. What about Volkswagen ?
Stan ,   Israel   (07.27.11)
Hitler was the "father" of the VW which was developed at his command by Dr. Porsche. "Volks Wagen" " The peoples car" and thats what it was, and was even the most popular car in Israel for some years. I am sure that there are Jews who are preventing me from listening to Wagner's stunning music while they drive VW cars, and if they don't, how come they dont object to having to see them every day on the roads ? There are survivors who heard Wagner's music in the camps and I understand their not wanting to hear it again. Whom do they think they are punishing by using their special status to prevent others from hearing this music in Israel ? The problem is not the survivors of the camps, its theis children and grandchildren who will continue this illegal ban for generations. Roman #12, Charles #13 and Charles #20 have given an appropriate answer.
27. Ban them all
Motzart ,   Israel   (07.27.11)
Ban all the goys art. Lets become like the Taliban, but Jewish, and ban everything. TV, movies, women singers and anything with a bass as its tempo, which rabbis ruled recently as un-kosher. Lets ban Roman history from our school as well as all those Greek philosophers. Since Spinoza is in the tradition of Greek and Western philosophers who hated monotheism lets ban him too just in case. Whilst we're at we should ban anyone with non-Jewish sounding names from publishing in Israel so I guess that would include our friend Giulio Meotti. Sorry but we're banning anything remotely anti-Semitic or connected with putting us Jews down, including Woody Allen.
28. Better get busy with the music art and not the person !
Balthazar Cole ,   EU   (07.27.11)
You guys just sound paranoid 65 years after the nazis fall..
29. #27 Thanks Motzart - for great irony and a good laugh!
berlonski ,   berlin   (07.27.11)
30. Do we start burning books?
Dennis ,   Canada   (07.27.11)
It is wrong to ban music as music is art. As in music so it is in life. I saw Lohengrin live in concert and for the love of it I did not hear anything anti-Semite. It is time to embrace the Holocaust and rise beyond the perpetrators. I see the word "nazi" and my spine shivers. All of my family fought them and many died. My Father once said to me "I only knew that there was a 1/4 of steel between me and the ocean.. we won and they lost" Why are we still talking about them while the 10s of millions who fought them and so many died destroying them are forgotten. Let the music play to remind us of our victory, in tune with the survivors and victims, of the Holocaust. We are better and brighter than that gang of thugs.
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