Glorification
A glorification ( Latin: glorificare = to boast, praise, glorify) is understood to be the inappropriately glossing over of certain facts. The general aim of glorification is to suppress negative aspects from the past and present as well as the possible negative consequences of future actions from people's minds.
Examples
Glorification means belittling. Although glorification is often used specifically for manipulation, each individual case must be considered separately:
"Good old times"
The good old days are glorified with statements like “In the past everything was better than today” , whereby it is often misunderstood that technical and medical advances have made for a considerable improvement in general living conditions. Glorification is therefore also a very common phenomenon. For example, it is not uncommon to have conversations where memories from the army or earlier professional life come up, in which particularly pleasant things are then taken as a yardstick for reflection . The average reality of the respective situation , which has by no means always been as pleasant as the impressions described, is not reflected on.
The phenomenon of right-wing radicalism and neo-Nazism that flares up again and again can be cited here as a further example: In times that are perceived by those affected as difficult and stressful, they reflect on the “good old values” from a time “when still There was discipline and order ”. However, it is not recognized that the framework conditions, which at first glance seem positive, are associated with considerable negative side effects. These are hidden from view so that the remaining aspects of a bygone era can be glorified all the more easily.
"Hurray mentality"
At the beginning of the First World War , many soldiers were filled with the August experience and went to war with enthusiasm. This can be explained from the perspective of the time when militarism and soldierhood were glorified. This was a hallmark of Wilhelminism .
Death in the “field of honor” for the emperor, the people and the fatherland (later for the leader, the people and the fatherland) was portrayed as a worth striving for, in the literal sense of the word glorificare (gloriam facere) “making honor”. The associated suffering of the bereaved was ignored.
A phenomenon that at first glance shows certain similarities with the Wilhelmine hurray mentality is loyalty until death, for example. B. with warriors in Japanese culture. z. B. the kamikaze aviators willingly went to their deaths for their tenno . However, this behavior is not due to a deliberate glorification of the "heroic death", but arises from a millennia-old system of values in which individual life has a significantly lower status than in the western world .
Ideological leaders
A characteristic of many ideologies (as opposed to the value-free idea) is that a limited group of people, in many cases even just a single person, appears as infallible and above all doubt. In order to prevent these idol figures from being perceived as completely normal people, a glorifying personality cult is used very specifically . This is especially visible in absolutist and dictatorial systems of rule, which are often perceived very differently from the outside than from the inside.
In addition to the leader principle in fascist states and during the time of National Socialism and the glorification of Stalin in the Soviet Union , particular mention should be made of North Korea , where Kim Il-sung, who died in 1994, has been venerated as "eternal president" since 1998. As a result, the office of president has not been filled since then, but this did not prevent Kim Il-sung's successor, his son Kim Jong-il , from building a cult around himself that is much more bizarre by Western standards .
Most dictators are said to adorn their way to power with glorifying elements. So has z. For example, in 1937 the aforementioned Kim Il-sung carried out an attack with 180 partisans on a border station manned by 30 Japanese police officers. With gross disregard of the actual balance of power, this attack was hyped up to be the "Battle of Pochonbo".
Even Saddam Hussein presented himself in his official biography as a successful and brilliant generals and strategists, although his performances have kept in this area is limited.
Historiography
The principle applies that history is always written by the winners. As a result, the deeds that led to victory are regularly glorified , that is, glossed over and cleared of unpleasant side effects. Glorification is part of the politics of history .
Glorification and, closely related to it, romanticization are ways of looking at history, whereby this is either perceived and depicted reduced to a few characteristics or that certain people involved in actions try to play down their role or even give it a positive connotation or make it uncomfortable by others to clean up appearing side effects. Events such as battles are also regularly glorified from the victor's point of view. This is often no coincidence, but part of a history policy . With glorification accompanied often go Geschichtsklitterung or falsification of history . A well-known example is the “ stab in the back” legend : according to Erich Ludendorff , the collapse of the German Empire's army did not happen at the front; rather, the army was "stabbed" in the back. Ludendorff tried to divert attention from the guilt of the Supreme Army Command and to transfer the guilt to other groups of people.
Frequently, individuals are also highlighted ( Napoleon , Barbarossa , Helmut Kohl ) who are attributed particular historical work ( historical personality ). That millions of individuals were involved in the execution of their plans; that groups of people or individuals who do not belong to any social elite and who did not become prominent can make history (e.g. 68ers , workers' movement , population of the GDR at the time of the fall of the wall) is sometimes overlooked in historiography.
Related phenomena
Closely related to glorification is romanticization , in which certain life circumstances are only shown reduced to a few positive elements. Examples: romanticizing life in the Middle Ages (which, contrary to the romanticized image that is often perceived today, consisted not only of minstrels and noble tournaments ), romanticization of the cowboy profession (which does not only consist of campfire romance). Historical films or Western movies have contributed to glorifying or romanticizing.
Glorification in art and architecture
The glorification we find in the literature, some literary critics throw it about the novel of Ernst Jünger : Storm of Steel 1920 before. Preoccupied for the glorification are notions of chivalry and knighthood of the Middle Ages in Thomas Malory and Cervantes (there satirical and humorous) as well as in the painting of romanticism and neo-romanticism among others, Moritz von Schwind .
The construction of triumphal arches also served to glorify rulers for victorious battles . A common feature is their monumentality .
Web links
Footnotes
- ↑ Glorie - Duden ; accessed on March 28, 2016
- ↑ Glorification - Duden ; accessed on March 28, 2016
- ↑ glorify - Duden ; accessed on March 28, 2016
- ↑ Glorification - Duden ; accessed on March 28, 2016
- ↑ Sven Oliver Müller: German soldiers and their enemies. Nationalism on the front and home front in World War II ; S. Fischer Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-10-050707-5 .