AIBU be absolutely horrified that this product is widely sold in Egypt?

[notamum3210]

Backstory: I'm half Egyptian and was recently there with family. We needed to buy some pesticide and this product was recommended by a local shop.
My fiance is certainly horrified. He posted this to reddit last night www.reddit.com/r/WTF/comments/3r96k8/my_fianc%C3%A9_went_to_egypt_and_went_to_buy_some_bug/

Warning: there's a lot of awful commenting.

I know that casual anti-semitism is rife across the Arab world and even, shamefully, my extended family but even this shocked me. According to the shopowner, it's one of their topselling products and sold across the country. He also seemed to find it hilarious.

Pretty horrific spelling of Hitler, that's for sure.

That's a rather Euro centric comment ? I have no idea how Egyptian script (coptic ?) works. It seems there is a word in another script below the name. I wonder if "Hetlar" is a phonetic transposition of that ? Bearing in mind there's no direct GermanEnglish orthography (what with the eszett and all that).

The script below 'Hetlar' is Arabic. It's pretty close to how it would be pronounced.

If nothing else, the entire episode is a goodly reminder that there is a world outside the EU-US axis, and they see things completely differently. Mainly because their engagement with history is very different to ours.

The reality is that anti-semitism against Jews is now very widespread in the Middle East.

"By the 1980s, according to Bernard Lewis, the volume of antisemitic literature published in the Arab world, and the authority of its sponsors, seemed to suggest that classical antisemitism had become an essential part of Arab intellectual life, considerably more than in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century France, and to a degree that has been compared to Nazi Germany."

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemitism_in_the_Arab_world

Fucking hell, that's vile. And not remotely funny.

And it doesn't even need the anti-semitic context to make it vile, though the shopkeeper's "finishing them off" comment makes it all the worse.

Do some people on this thread not know that Zyklon-B, used in the gas chambers, was originally a pesticide?

So using this image and wording on a pesticide is a direct reference to the Nazi gas chambers.

Change the picture to Osborne and subject matter to the disabled.

Zyklon B. It was originally developed for fumigation - so, killing cockroaches and lice, etc.

But it could kill humans at much lower concentration than required to kill a cockroach. Nice and efficient...

PausingFlatly

I doubt the manufacturers gave it that much thought ...

Sorry, unclear post. I mean it doesn't even need knowledge of a current anti-semitic context in Egypt to make it vile - it would be shit here, too.

But on top of that, from what you're reporting, there clearly is a current anti-semitic context where that's sold...

I come back to, Fucking Hell.

Really, LurkingHusband?

What thought was it that led them to use a picture of Hitler?

Even for those that - for some incomprehensible reason - seem to have missed every single day of WW2 history at school, it has a goddamn picture of Hitler on it and 'Germany formula' in bright yellow. It is clearly a VERY deliberate comparison of the holocaust to the death of 'insects' in a domestic setting (minimising and agreeing with the holocaust in this way is worse than denying it!!)

That packaging is utterly, completely inexcusable. It is, in every possible way, offensive.

Given that Hitler failed to exterminate all the Jews, (and his other opponents), it's a rubbish comparison.

What thought was it that led them to use a picture of Hitler?

We could always ask them ?

For myself, it's cock-up over conspiracy every time. Yes, this product is questionably packaged. Yes, the shopkeepers comments were . But this isn't England. It's not even Europe. It's a different continent, with a different culture. Hashtag justsayin'

That packaging is utterly, completely inexcusable. It is, in every possible way, offensive.

To you clearly. But maybe not to an Egyptian homemaker.

hashtag GETINTHESEA

hashtag IamgenuinelytemptedtoputsomeoftheserepliesonTwitter

#what's with all the hashtags?

Thank you, Lurking, I think we get the "different culture" bit.

It's what that culture is that we're worried about.

I also find myself able to be concerned about racist and anti-X-religion cultures in Rwanda, India, Pakistan, Russia, and many more, before you start on any whataboutery.

Hmm, I seem to remember Viz having pictures of Hitler with amusing quotes underneath. You could buy some of them as T-Shirts.

Pretty sure some of the Red Top papers have used pictures of Hitler out of WW2 context too.

Theres a site for Cats that look like Hitler.

I don't see anything wrong with portraying him as a figure of ridicule personally...

Yes, that came to mind for me as well, babybarrister.

It's not portraying him as a figure of ridicule. If anything, it allies the consumer to him. It's saying that, by buying this product, you are participating in the same kind of project of extermination of 'insects'.

"...this isn't England. It's not even Europe. It's a different continent, with a different culture"

Yeah, because the holocaust stops being the holocaust once you get to Africa and becomes an all-singing all-dancing festival of human affirmation.

I'll assume it's not intentional that you're missing the point, IKnow.

It's not the mere existence of a picture of Hitler.

It's what this picture of Hitler is being used for, together with the words "Germany formula". Viz, to promote a pesticide for killing cockroaches.

It's not portraying him as a figure of ridicule.

Of course it is.

Do you honestly think a whole generations of "untermensch" only knowing him for his insect killing powers was his goal? D'you think he'd be happy with that if still alive or would he be powering up the war machine & putting his Factor 50 on?

It may not be to your taste, but it's still faintly amusing...