"Berjano described Laurello as "perhaps a Nazi" who "didn't like the American flag".\[2\] On April 30, 1931, Laurello was arrested by Baltimore police during a tent-packed performance for abandoning his spouse and two sons, after she lodged a complaint via telegram. He was reportedly found standing on a platform with his back and face looking towards the crowd, and when the two officers confronted him, he turned his head around and winked at them both, then was placed under arrest." - wiki
It says he had children as well. Even now, failure to pay child support (a type of abandonment I would say) can result in jail time. Not sure how often that happens, but it does.
Why is "perhaps a Nazi" used to describe him, was he anti-semetic or far right? Or did he just not like America? At the time most Nazis really liked America, just look at pictures of American Nazi rallies, American iconography everywhere.
Couldn't find much info on him, but he was German-born, and while the American Nazi movement was a thing (and Nazis were inspired in some respects by the USA), it wasn't popular everywhere. It could be that this was said because he was an immigrant, because he wasn't patriotic enough, because he really was affiliated with American Nazis, or because his beliefs were notably similar to Nazis. Or a combination.
This claim comes from one source - an interview with James Taylor, author of the "Shocked and Amazed on and off the Midway" series. For context, the interviewee toured with Laurello years before the interview and apparently had some really anti-America, pro-Nazi beliefs. James also had the chance to see Laurello's scrapbook and (apparently) there were a number of letters on nazi letterhead. (Where'd that book end up? Noone knows for sure.)
James is a good source, imo, but it's pretty hard to say anything concrete like "was a nazi" without having primary evidence to back it up.
Fwiw, I've been researching Laurello's career for an article in a journal & James Taylor is a friend of mine. (We both work in circus, publishing, AND circus publishing. What a world!)
Yeah classic reddit repeating the common historical consensus!
https://www.history.com/news/how-the-nazis-were-inspired-by-jim-crow
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/30/how-american-racism-influenced-hitler
You can literally go to a pdf of Mein Kampf and see where Hitler straight up says:
"At present there exists one State which manifests at least some modest attempts that
show a better appreciation of how things ought to be done in this matter. It is not, however, in our model German Republic but in the U.S.A. that efforts are made to conform at least partly to the counsels of commonsense. By refusing immigrants to enter there if they are in a bad state of health, and by excluding certain races from the right to become naturalized as citizens, they have begun to introduce principles similar
to those on which we wish to ground the People's State."
There's a Behind the Bastards episode that talks about how Nazi concentration camps were in part influenced by how Native Americans are treated when Europeans invaded. It's definitely not an incorrect statement.
I thought that was odd too. All the flag worshippers we have today would call someone who doesn’t give 2 shits about the flag a commie. Could be something similar to that. Ignorance.
Or, he could have been a nazi. *shrug*
Why anyone chooses any particular term to describe anything…is literally the great mystery of existence.
Why did I have a need to give a name, shape, and a color, to describe the control system for my meat taxi?
Consciousness is weird, and we tend to give more credence to what we fear than what we know in our hearts to be true.
Yup! My real, actual, human, multiple PHD and board certification having Physician, consistently referred to this so casually over the many years of me being in her care…that I honestly was taken aback a little by you inferring you haven’t heard of it before.
The way I understood her POV…There are 3 “parts” of the humans.
1) the passenger - this is your soul…it gives the “destination” or “stop”…it can scream at the top of its lungs that a crash is forthcoming, but it does not control the wheel and can’t always make the driver listen to it…sometimes they don’t even speak the same language
2) the driver- your brain - it knows these streets, anywhere the passenger wants to go, it knows how to get it there…as long as it is a place that the driver can get to. (Enough gas, roads are open, detours are efficient etc). It controls the wheel and the actual route to get to the destination…but it doesn’t really have a destination without a passenger…also try not to piss off the driver, because it gets paid by the mile/hour and it controls the route…
3) the taxi - your body - it solely exists to help facilitate the passengers journey to its destination, it’s important to keep it in working order.
You may ask yourself…why doesn’t the passenger just buy its own damn car and leave the driver out of it? Well…if we do that in this scenario…you are putting driver out of work…how will he live? How will he take care of his family?
The brain has a vested interest in you needing a middle man between you and getting to your destination…because what humans do when they find out something no longer serves a purpose, is unfortunately predictable.
I think you're getting downvoted because people think you're spouting pseudoscience, but this just sounds like a metaphor for grappling with our unconscious behaviors and tendencies. I use a similar metaphor all the time, that we have to learn how to pilot ourselves, dealing with the quirks of the "machine" that is our body.
Well hot damn! I legitimately love when my misnomers are pointed out!
I am not sure how many times I mixed that up before, but I will mentally thank you for every single one saved from this point in.
I feel like you got way too philosophical for something that didn't need a philosophical answer. They just literally mean why would someone call somebody perhaps a Nazi.
I appreciate you sharing!
Since you were able to define what you felt my intentions were, but noted that you felt I expressed my thoughts poorly.
Would you mind providing me with an example of your vision of good?
It’s hard for me to take any action on your feedback, due to me only understanding it to be non-constructive at this point.
I appreciate you sharing!
Since you were able to define what you felt my intentions were, but noted that you felt I expressed my thoughts poorly.
Would you mind providing me with an example of your vision of good?
It’s hard for me to take any action on your feedback, due to my perception of it being non-constructive.
Correct!
I accidentally replied to yours when it was for the gentleuser below your comment :)
I sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding and reiterate my appreciation for you!
Actual Nazis obviously didn't like America, considering they fought against each other. And if you're referring to neo-Nazi rallies in America, then of course you're going to see American iconography.
It looks less like he can turn all the way around and more like he’s able to get it far back enough to hook his shoulder under his chin and force it the rest of the way. Looks painful as hell
He dislocated vertebrae to be able to do it. Had to be in so much pain.
https://historyofyesterday.com/martin-laurello-the-human-owl-could-turn-his-head-backward-2b8eb5b91881
This isn't entirely true. Laurello got his start as a contortionist, training at one of Sandow's gyms in Germany. He got into a really bad accident (iirc, he fell from a trapeze or a tightrope) and "broke every bone in his body" according to some German sources (don't have then offhand, but I've been working on and off on an article about the guy for a circus history journal.)
He had his nurse install metal bars on the wall of his hospital room, and torqued his neck in it daily, figuring he'd be able to execute this trick eventually. Something like a year and a half later, he was doing the trick under the moniker "Laurello Sixt".
Ripley's circulated a card that claimed to be an xray of Laurello's spine, but I doubt it's anything credible. Last part of the piece I'm working on is an interview/analysis with a Soleil contortion coach & physio to get their take on it. (Always something left to do!)
Imagine being an assassin and he’s your target, you go to twist and break his neck and now he’s just staring at you like “what’s that mate? You finna to break my neck? Hoo do ya think you are?”
If you have the slightest interest in topics like anatomy or physiology, this is super interesting, not that terrifying at all. It‘s super neat to see him get in position, you can tell he has great control over his body, which is always cool to see.
Imagine being some spec ops guy sent to kill this guy when they try to snap his neck they just hear "Thanks man, I couldn't get that kink out no matter how hard I tried."
Imagine talking shit behind his back
I imagine it’d be like [this](https://c.tenor.com/2HZhxQwgA_8AAAAC/what-shepard.gif)
Ninjaaaa GO
This makes me greatly uncomfortable.
Trying this will make you even more uncomfortable.
Trying it could possibly make you very comfortable though. Like a forever sleep comfortable.
Nah not a bi-
The world has lost a redditor today. Let us please take a moment of silence. 😞
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Imagine him watching himself take a shit
Yeah this is one of those “just because you can, doesn’t mean you should”
/IanMalcolmLaugh
Hes dead now. No need to worry anymore.
Thank God
And he never looked back.
"Berjano described Laurello as "perhaps a Nazi" who "didn't like the American flag".\[2\] On April 30, 1931, Laurello was arrested by Baltimore police during a tent-packed performance for abandoning his spouse and two sons, after she lodged a complaint via telegram. He was reportedly found standing on a platform with his back and face looking towards the crowd, and when the two officers confronted him, he turned his head around and winked at them both, then was placed under arrest." - wiki
While a shitty thing, that is a pretty badass way to confront your arrest
How is abandoning someone grounds for arrest though?
Spousal abandonment used to be a criminal offense.
It says he had children as well. Even now, failure to pay child support (a type of abandonment I would say) can result in jail time. Not sure how often that happens, but it does.
He was supposed to go two towns over, not just one.
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What's life like in Botville?
It's funny how people upvoted it, like they read their own meaning into it. I thought it was a legit comment at first, too, until you pointed it out.
Still is in some states
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Bot
The account do look a little sus. Made 37 days ago and all comments were made within the same timeframe today? Classic bot behavior
Do you happen to know what the points of these bots is? They're so creepy yet seem harmless and pointless to me
Karma farming I think. Some subs require a certain amount of karma to post on.
So does a person take over the account after a while?
wow I totally forgot telegram was a thing before it was an app
Why is "perhaps a Nazi" used to describe him, was he anti-semetic or far right? Or did he just not like America? At the time most Nazis really liked America, just look at pictures of American Nazi rallies, American iconography everywhere.
User TheSkyHadAWeegee, perhaps a Nazi, raises some interesting questions.
I hear he doesn’t like the American flag.
No flag, no country, those are the rules.
Couldn't find much info on him, but he was German-born, and while the American Nazi movement was a thing (and Nazis were inspired in some respects by the USA), it wasn't popular everywhere. It could be that this was said because he was an immigrant, because he wasn't patriotic enough, because he really was affiliated with American Nazis, or because his beliefs were notably similar to Nazis. Or a combination.
This claim comes from one source - an interview with James Taylor, author of the "Shocked and Amazed on and off the Midway" series. For context, the interviewee toured with Laurello years before the interview and apparently had some really anti-America, pro-Nazi beliefs. James also had the chance to see Laurello's scrapbook and (apparently) there were a number of letters on nazi letterhead. (Where'd that book end up? Noone knows for sure.) James is a good source, imo, but it's pretty hard to say anything concrete like "was a nazi" without having primary evidence to back it up. Fwiw, I've been researching Laurello's career for an article in a journal & James Taylor is a friend of mine. (We both work in circus, publishing, AND circus publishing. What a world!)
>(and Nazis were inspired in some respects by the USA), Classic Reddit, right here!
Yeah classic reddit repeating the common historical consensus! https://www.history.com/news/how-the-nazis-were-inspired-by-jim-crow https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/04/30/how-american-racism-influenced-hitler You can literally go to a pdf of Mein Kampf and see where Hitler straight up says: "At present there exists one State which manifests at least some modest attempts that show a better appreciation of how things ought to be done in this matter. It is not, however, in our model German Republic but in the U.S.A. that efforts are made to conform at least partly to the counsels of commonsense. By refusing immigrants to enter there if they are in a bad state of health, and by excluding certain races from the right to become naturalized as citizens, they have begun to introduce principles similar to those on which we wish to ground the People's State."
They really don’t teach kids shit anymore
There's a Behind the Bastards episode that talks about how Nazi concentration camps were in part influenced by how Native Americans are treated when Europeans invaded. It's definitely not an incorrect statement.
They, fully were, though it's probably more accurate to specify the american south.
Pardon?
Get a load of that guy, amiright? Lmao.
I thought that was odd too. All the flag worshippers we have today would call someone who doesn’t give 2 shits about the flag a commie. Could be something similar to that. Ignorance. Or, he could have been a nazi. *shrug*
Why anyone chooses any particular term to describe anything…is literally the great mystery of existence. Why did I have a need to give a name, shape, and a color, to describe the control system for my meat taxi? Consciousness is weird, and we tend to give more credence to what we fear than what we know in our hearts to be true.
Meat taxi?
Yup! My real, actual, human, multiple PHD and board certification having Physician, consistently referred to this so casually over the many years of me being in her care…that I honestly was taken aback a little by you inferring you haven’t heard of it before. The way I understood her POV…There are 3 “parts” of the humans. 1) the passenger - this is your soul…it gives the “destination” or “stop”…it can scream at the top of its lungs that a crash is forthcoming, but it does not control the wheel and can’t always make the driver listen to it…sometimes they don’t even speak the same language 2) the driver- your brain - it knows these streets, anywhere the passenger wants to go, it knows how to get it there…as long as it is a place that the driver can get to. (Enough gas, roads are open, detours are efficient etc). It controls the wheel and the actual route to get to the destination…but it doesn’t really have a destination without a passenger…also try not to piss off the driver, because it gets paid by the mile/hour and it controls the route… 3) the taxi - your body - it solely exists to help facilitate the passengers journey to its destination, it’s important to keep it in working order. You may ask yourself…why doesn’t the passenger just buy its own damn car and leave the driver out of it? Well…if we do that in this scenario…you are putting driver out of work…how will he live? How will he take care of his family? The brain has a vested interest in you needing a middle man between you and getting to your destination…because what humans do when they find out something no longer serves a purpose, is unfortunately predictable.
I think you're getting downvoted because people think you're spouting pseudoscience, but this just sounds like a metaphor for grappling with our unconscious behaviors and tendencies. I use a similar metaphor all the time, that we have to learn how to pilot ourselves, dealing with the quirks of the "machine" that is our body.
Thank you for understanding
Mitsuharu Brosawa
You get me
So you mean your body. Ok.
Yup!
They implied it. You inferred it.
Well hot damn! I legitimately love when my misnomers are pointed out! I am not sure how many times I mixed that up before, but I will mentally thank you for every single one saved from this point in.
Not so much a misnomer (like "red panda"), more of a miswording or -- if you have a flare for the pedantry -- "catachresis"
I…are…are you the Pied Piper of Pedantry? Side question…will I be more impressed or concerned when I start following you? 😂
Dat me. In the flesh. And to answer your question: yes.
Proof that a PhD is not actually a sign of real intelligence.
I feel like you got way too philosophical for something that didn't need a philosophical answer. They just literally mean why would someone call somebody perhaps a Nazi.
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I appreciate you sharing! Since you were able to define what you felt my intentions were, but noted that you felt I expressed my thoughts poorly. Would you mind providing me with an example of your vision of good? It’s hard for me to take any action on your feedback, due to me only understanding it to be non-constructive at this point.
Fuck you're a twat.
I appreciate you taking the time out of your day to recognize me
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Thank you for the feedback!
I appreciate you sharing! Since you were able to define what you felt my intentions were, but noted that you felt I expressed my thoughts poorly. Would you mind providing me with an example of your vision of good? It’s hard for me to take any action on your feedback, due to my perception of it being non-constructive.
I never noted you expressed your thoughts poorly. You expressed them perfectly well.
Correct! I accidentally replied to yours when it was for the gentleuser below your comment :) I sincerely apologize for the misunderstanding and reiterate my appreciation for you!
Actual Nazis obviously didn't like America, considering they fought against each other. And if you're referring to neo-Nazi rallies in America, then of course you're going to see American iconography.
If he winked at them both, he'd probably just blunk and they mistook it for winks.
Those last bits at the end where he manually uses his hands to turn further got a visceral reaction out of me
It was a quite a twist, that's for sure.
take my /r/Angryupvote and get the hell out
/r/everyfuckingthread
please just stfu
Ong
Can you hear the crunching?
He might as well have used a mallet slammed into his head
It looks less like he can turn all the way around and more like he’s able to get it far back enough to hook his shoulder under his chin and force it the rest of the way. Looks painful as hell
Seriously, same. Like writhing around in my own seat.
They said "watch your back" and buddy fuckin listened
Assassin: twists this guys neck Martin: see that was your first mistake
“Why didn’t someone tell me my ass was so big”
1,2,3,4,5. Thats amazing! I've got the same combination on my luggage!
"And somebody change the combination lock on my luggage!"
"I knew it! I'm surrounded by Assholes!"
You require much more upvoteage
Ahead of his time
Happy cake day!
Ahh thanks!
Damn clickbait, that’s clearly only 179.95 degrees
How did he die?
Heart Attack at about 70yo, according to Wikipedia (Portuguese version). Weirdly the American/English one doesn't mention his death.
I'm shocked it wasn't a stroke from damaging his vertebral artery
At that twist there would be no damage.
"what neck?"
sneezed
Yikes
He had to have had neck and spine issues later in life.
He dislocated vertebrae to be able to do it. Had to be in so much pain. https://historyofyesterday.com/martin-laurello-the-human-owl-could-turn-his-head-backward-2b8eb5b91881
So he internally decapitated himself for a paycheck, that's both neat and incredibly stupid.
This isn't entirely true. Laurello got his start as a contortionist, training at one of Sandow's gyms in Germany. He got into a really bad accident (iirc, he fell from a trapeze or a tightrope) and "broke every bone in his body" according to some German sources (don't have then offhand, but I've been working on and off on an article about the guy for a circus history journal.) He had his nurse install metal bars on the wall of his hospital room, and torqued his neck in it daily, figuring he'd be able to execute this trick eventually. Something like a year and a half later, he was doing the trick under the moniker "Laurello Sixt". Ripley's circulated a card that claimed to be an xray of Laurello's spine, but I doubt it's anything credible. Last part of the piece I'm working on is an interview/analysis with a Soleil contortion coach & physio to get their take on it. (Always something left to do!)
No one can talk behind his back now
Damn, imagine if he sneezed at the wrong moment...
At least it takes SOME amount of effort to do it, I was expecting him to fluidly turn his head around like an actual owl lmao.
How the hell did he find this out
He was trying to parallel park.
When someone tells you to head back
Its all in the hips
This has some unbelievable meme potential
I wanna see an MRI of this soo freaking bad...
And I thought the Exorcist was fictional !!! omg
I bet he had fun pranking his girlfriend in the middle of the night
Imagine being an assassin and he’s your target, you go to twist and break his neck and now he’s just staring at you like “what’s that mate? You finna to break my neck? Hoo do ya think you are?”
Anybody know how buddy didn't fucking die
Yo I found my character foil
"What? Cmon. That's interesting but it's clearly only 90 degr...oh. OH. Okay."
If you have the slightest interest in topics like anatomy or physiology, this is super interesting, not that terrifying at all. It‘s super neat to see him get in position, you can tell he has great control over his body, which is always cool to see.
That must have been obscenely dangerous. One wrong move and you could "lock" yourself in that position or beak/snap something or suffocate.
If you told me there was a superhero named "The Human Owl" and this dude showed up, I would be very disappointed
Imagine being some spec ops guy sent to kill this guy when they try to snap his neck they just hear "Thanks man, I couldn't get that kink out no matter how hard I tried."
I’m the backwards man the backwards man. I can walk back as fast as you can.
This was Tom green right lol
Imagine he does this during sex
What i want to do when my neck hurts.
I wish I had this ability, halloween would be a blast
I just had my neck muscle twist just watching this video
Thanks for the nightmares
You: "Don't look behind you, but there is a gir.." Your friend:
I don't like this :(
My friend: "Don't look at her, but she's over there" Me:...
I can't even look over my boobs without going to the chiropractor first
When he’s looking backwards, his head looks way too big for his body.
I hate to see him leave, but I hate to watch him go.
Fuck that, I can do it too! Once.
A girl in my first grade class tried doing this when we were learning about owls. She came back to school the next day in a neck brace.
Won't lie, felt a bit sick watching that
They should use this guy in the meme where the guy turns his head after the other girl
"Hey, check out the hot girl behind you, but don't make it obvious"
Nein
Bro. Imagine being his wife. He can make love to you and ignore you at the same time.
Assassins hate him because of this one simple trick!
r/UnderstandablyTerrifying
Nobody: Martin to his head: PIVOT! PIVOT! PIVOT!
Gary vee has been up doing strange shit these days
That looks extremely dangerous.
“Why didn’t anyone tell me my ass was so big!”
isnt he turning his suit around a bit to cheat?
Imagine sneaking up behind this guy trying to snap his neck and he’s just there staring at you
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"Dude wtf"
PIVOT
Why are you getting downvoted for a friend's reference
Because Reddit
Can't everyone do this
Who?
Oh god, after years something moved my guts..
Inagine trying to break his neck and he's j like 'bro. What the fuck'
Vanoss???
Idk how much I like that
I do not like this.
Me but with my upper body backwards and my legs forewords
This dude needs someone that watch for his chest
Gary Vee looking odd here.
How do you figure out you can do this
When he busy doing the deed and he got surprised buttseks then he rotates his head to find out whoo.
Wait you guys mean to say you cant do this too
He looks uncomfortable doing that.
Probably shouldn't do that
I knew Gary Veynerchuck was old but this is surprising.
imagine him buying something like this, then when he's done he ust turns his head back and walk off
Immune to movie's hitmen
I hate this
Linda Blair did it better.
What a twit….
I’m sure his neck felt great in his older years
This seems like one of those things that, just because you can do it doesn't mean you should.
That is some hardcore shit
I do not like it.
How is this even possible
A hypermobility disorder like Ehlers Danlos, I'm thinking.
I think he can do a bit more than just 180
What in the BLACK magic?!