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Mercy Since: Jan, 2001
Feb 2nd 2015 at 11:11:48 AM •••

Why change "Nazis" to "Germans"?

I notice that someone has recently made an edit changing references to "Nazis" in the introduction to "Germans"? The Indiana Jones movies, or at least Raiders of the Lost Ark and Last Crusade, have always been explicit about the German villains being "Nazis": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5sp3dIyNA2A

So, why the change? No edit reason was left, of course.

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SeptimusHeap MOD (Edited uphill both ways)
Feb 2nd 2015 at 11:50:38 AM •••

bluesno1fann did do the change. Ask 'em over PM - click on their name in the edit history.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
bluesno1fann Since: May, 2013
Feb 2nd 2015 at 8:45:31 PM •••

I made the change because they are Germans. That's the fact. Nazis are members of the political party that ruled over Germany from 1933 to 1945. The Germans in the game are referred to as Nazis because of the time period, and was (and is) a commonly used slang name to refer to all Germans of that time period. It's still not an accurate generalisation.

It would be akin to say, calling Americans Republicans or Democrats (depending on which party is in power), or Russians Communists (if pre-1991).

Mercy Since: Jan, 2001
Feb 3rd 2015 at 3:52:14 AM •••

Mmm... But it is how the movies refer to them, and how the game refers to them, and it is appropriate to the time period in which the game is set, as you point out, especially from the point of view of a hostile observer like Indiana Jones. So is it appropriate to change it? It seems like a form of Bowdlerisation to me.

bluesno1fann Since: May, 2013
Feb 5th 2015 at 6:50:02 PM •••

I'd be surprised if people would be opposed to using "German" instead. I don't see it as Bowdlerisation, as referring to them as Germans is ultimately more accurate.

Mercy Since: Jan, 2001
Feb 5th 2015 at 9:04:09 PM •••

I thought I'd made it clear that I was opposed? It feels tone-deaf to me, in that it ignores the atmosphere of all Indian Jones works in which German villains appear, and the historical context in which the works are placed. In "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" IJ does not say "Germans! I hate these guys!", he says "Nazis! I hate these guys!" Essentially, saying that a trope page on IJ works must not use a word that the works do not hesitate to use, strikes me as treating "Nazi" as a "naughty word", and snipping out naughty words is the essence of Bowdlerising.

More generally, is the idea that we should erase "Nazi" from every trope page where it is used to mean something other than *specifically* a member of the political party? And rename all the tropes that include the word? Presumably your argument would apply there too, but it would be a lot of work, and a policy change that should be discussed, not just slipped in unilaterally with no edit-reason.

Edited by Mercy
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