Explanation: In the GDR, also known as East Germany, a strict Soviet-style regime was run. The country’s secret police - the Stasi - were, in particular, renowned for just how thoroughly they monitored even ordinary citizens, bugging homes and gaslighting dissidents, employing both native Germans and Soviet KGB advisors.
This comic uses that, compared with the fact that Alexa (a modern voice-activated AI assistant for home use) and Alexei (a Russian masculine given-name) sound similar, to make a joke about asking the Stasi to play some music for them while they work.
Basically the plot of Das Leben Der Anderen
I’ve heard good things about that movie, I should probably get around to watching it at some point.
It’s very good.
Edit: if you ignore the Western propaganda it perpetuates. The Stasi were just some nice guys you know?
I have an anecdote regarding this that some might find interesting: Not too long after the fall of the Berlin wall, my dad was visiting Eastern Germany. He picked up a phone book from a public place and was looking through it to find something. A man approached him and said he couldn’t do that. My dad, not wanting to cause trouble, apologized and said he didn’t know he wasn’t supposed to. Other people in the area told the man that he didn’t get to tell people what to do any more, that they’d been doing that for forty years and they weren’t going to take it any more, that my dad could look through the phone book all day if he wanted. The man who originally confronted my dad slunk away, in true bully fashion.
I never thought I’d have to think this, but I hope Americans are able to do that one day. It also does not escape my notice that Eastern Germany is where the most support for extreme far-right politicians is in Germany now. People forget so easily.
What if the song isn’t on the State-Approved Music Choice List?
Straight to reeducation camp?
For what it’s worth, the music shown is Tchaikovsky’s 1812 Overture. According to Wikipedia , “The piece commemorates Russia’s successful defence against the French invasion of the nation in 1812.”
I believe they gaslight you for a year and then commit you to an insane asylum
Anybody recognize the sheet music? Apart from the fact that the first measure is missing a note
It’s the 1812 overture. Was surprised it was accurate.
I visited the Stasi museum in Leipzig the other day, it’s absurd to which lengths they went in order to spy on people and frustrate the lives of the people that were doing stuff they didn’t like.
They even collected smell samples in glad jars do that they could set dogs after specific people.
The Stasi leadership would have salivated if they knew about the possibilities for tracking people with modern accessories.
