Brazil 7-1 Loss Prompts Tasteless Comparisons To Hitler’s Nazi Reign On Twitter
Brazil’s 7-1 loss to Germany was the most talked about Twitter event, ever, but people were not only talking about what happened on the field. Everyone knows that yesterday’s semifinal was a historic event for the 2014 World Cup host, but most would be shocked to find out that some users were comparing the match to Hitler’s Nazi regime of terror.
It is inevitable that Germany’s involvement in World War II will come up in connection with certain current events and when the football team crushed Brazil 7-1, in the first semifinal of the World Cup, memories of those tragic days were once again revisited by some. However, for the families of the millions killed in the Holocaust, at the hands of the infamous Hitler, it’s less than funny.
Not surprisingly — some people using Twitter seem to lose their filters — the word Nazi, started trending after Germany managed to score five goals in less than 20 minutes. Those using Nazi, Hitler, and Holocaust as related to the Brazil 7-1 loss made heads turn and many paid attention.
According to a report on Boston.com, the social media analytics company Crimson Hexagon looked into how many times Hitler’s terror regime was used during the most tweeted event in the history of social media. The outlet determined that 4,660 tweets using the words “World Cup” and “Nazi” were posted on Tuesday.
However, those specifically watching Twitter during Germany’s pummeling of Brazil in the semifinal, concluded that the 7-1 loss was a direct reason users compared the match to the Third Reich. Those using the word “Nazi” were not talking about the game in their tweets.
As an example, the tweet below was posted by Malaysian member of Parliament, Bung Moktar Radin with this gem:
WELL DONE..BRAVO…LONG LIVE HITLER…
— Bung Moktar Radin (@MyKinabatangan) July 8, 2014
Believe it or not, the Asian politician seemed to relish on the attention he received after the tasteless tweet and replied to several users who used less than kind words to express their thoughts. If you care to take a look at all the replies that tweet received, here is the link.
According to Boston.com the contrast in use of the word Nazi between July 7 — the day before the Brazil vs. Germany semifinal — and July 8 is startling:
“On July 7, the day before Brazil faced off against Germany, there were 14,108 tweets containing either the word “Nazi,” “Nazis,” or “Nazi’s.” On July 8, the day of the match, the number of tweets containing “Nazi” references skyrocketed to 95,669. (Clearly, some of the 95,000 tweets were from Twitter users admonishing others for derogatory tweets.)”
“The term “Nazi” wasn’t the only reference that saw a surge in mentions as a result of the game. On July 7, tweets mentioning “Blitzkrieg” or “Hitler” numbered 16,219. On game day, that number shot up to 94,892.”
If you are interested to see for yourself how many tasteless comparisons to Hitler’s regime were made (and continue to be made) on Twitter, in the context of Brazil’s 7-1 loss to Germany, take a look at this timeline:
[Image via Twitter]
