Allianz Stadium? Simon Wiesenthal would not approve

I'd be driven into a spasm of chortles, and Mrs. Butterworth would be pissed.

 

That's my point.

For the last time: I'm not agreeing with this company sponsoring the stadium. At all. My only point is wondering why this is a bigger deal than Mercedes or, hell, Bayer.

If I'm wrong for that, fine. I've admitted I'm wrong many times on here. The way the first post was made, it read to me like this was the first time oop had ever heard of a Nazi-affiliated company trying to get its name out there.

 

The Bayer aspirin trademark in the US and elsewhere was confiscated after WW1 and acquired by US-based Sterling. Bayer reacquired the aspirin brand from Sterling in 1994.

 

Thank you, and I mean that. I knew a bit about Volkswagon, but I did not know that part of Bayer's history. If the Giants and Jets try to turn the new stadium into the Bayer Bowl, I would be equally offended.

IJAG, then you read the first post differently than I meant it. I simply had a problem with this specific instance. I wasn't saying that it was the only time ever this has happened.

 

At what point does history become history? The actions weren't by the company itself, but by the people running/founding the company, same with VW.

If those people are still in charge, then it makes total sense to boycott them. If there are still ties to Neo-Nazi groups or the line, it also makes total sense.

But if there are no personnel ties to the organization of the past, then it's essentially a different group. It's like newspapers - the papers actively run by William Randolph Hearst aren't really tied, personnel wise, to the current Hearst Communications papers today, and decisions Hearst did or did not make don't reflect on the current group of publishers and editors and whatever.

Should American Japanese people boycott insurance companies that sponsored the internment camps? Should African-Americans refuse to work for/support companies that existed and provided support to the institutions of slavery, Jim Crow laws or other forms of discrimination? Or what about things that happened further back - American Indians not purchasing firearms by the makers that provided them to the government during the 1800s?

There's a point where what happened in the past, which it needs to be remembered and acknowledged and studied, also needs to remain in the past.

 

Mitsubishi manufactured the Zeros used on 12/7/41.

It was also said to have made use of slave labor from Allied POWs and the Japanese captured territories, like Korea and China.

What's Simon's take on them?

 

Smash, I understand that point of view. And I think that time is going to come on its own in another generation or so. Hell, even with my strong reaction to reading such stories, I didn't even know Bayer's history.

But companies have tradition, and in some cases were built or survived by feeding off the suffering of others. This is a stadium in a metropolitan area with a very large Jewish population. The stadium is going to be be a source of huge profits for both franchises. As I and others have pointed out, they certainly should have no problem finding another company to buy the naming rights for the stadium. To me, it just doesn't make sense for them to align themselves with a company with that kind of history just so they can squeeze a few extra bucks out of the deal.

 

"And that's it, ladies and gentlemen, the Giants over the Redskins by a score of 42 - 27. As you leave the stadium today, please drive carefully. And on your way to the car, be sure to sign up to for discount life, health, auto or homeowners' insurance at any of our kiosks throughout Allianz Stadium. And remember, you can't spell Allianz without N-A-Z-I!"

 

Smash, with the passage of enough time, you're right. But I think it's definitely unrealistic to expect that for events that happened in the lifetimes of people still alive, probably unrealistic for their children's lifetimes, and possibly even for grandchildren and beyond, depending on the magnitude of the event.

Specifically, from a Jewish perspective, I know plenty of people who would never travel to Germany. I don't know anyone who wouldn't set foot in Spain because of the Inquisition. So, give it time ...

 

Well, I won't travel to Hollywood because of Gigli.

 

the only way this would be worse would be if allianz wanted to sponsor a stadium in tel aviv or jerusalem.

 

A man of taste and discernment.