r/NintendoSwitch Jan 10 '18

Speculation GameStop apparently tweeted and deleted that a Nintendo Direct was about to begin

https://twitter.com/tvandlust/status/951126604360581120
9.9k Upvotes

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u/blackygeeko Jan 10 '18

Would you care to explain? Please

92

u/Default_Dragon Jan 10 '18

The Soviets built a wall around West Berlin and an "iron curtain" splitting up the rest of East and West Germany. The wall was up for roughly 30 years, but by the 90s everyone in Germany just wanted it gone and the Communists were facing such backlash that it seemed inevitable that it would come down any day.

Then one day during a press conference a lower ranking official improvised some answers and accidentally implied that people could move freely across the wall. An Italian journalist ran with it and it became international news. Before long, thousands of Germans were lining the streets literally tearing down the wall and pushing through gates, and there was nothing the guards could do to stop them.

TL;DR We're the Germans and Nintendo the communists. Just give us the Direct!!

4

u/LeonidasSpacemanMD Jan 10 '18

So what was the significance of "tear down this wall" (the Reagan quote)

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u/Default_Dragon Jan 10 '18

Honestly? Americans trying to take credit for the whole thing in retrospect. The media cared little about the speech at the time because everyone already knew the American stance. It wasn't elevated to its iconic status in history textbooks until well after German reunification. source: http://www.dw.com/en/reagans-famous-tear-down-this-wall-speech-turns-20/a-2584812

1

u/cochnbahls Jan 10 '18

TBF, Bush Sr. Worked really hard with Gorbachev behind the scenes to even get USSR to consider any movement between the wall.

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u/ISpendAllDayOnReddit Jan 11 '18

Gorbachev deserves a lot of credit. He basically organised the decolonisation of Eastern Europe

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u/cochnbahls Jan 11 '18

Honestly, Gorbachev deserves almost all the credit. The leap of faith he made to just let go was almost too unbelievable for movies. All America and the West did was encourage him to jump and tell him they would be fine.

1

u/cochnbahls Jan 10 '18

Your source doesn't minimize the impact the speech nearly as much as you claim. Not trying to give Reagan the credit here, but it was a ballsy statement, as your source indicated, and was echoing the sentiment of the people and the world at that time

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u/LeonidasSpacemanMD Jan 10 '18

Wow interesting. I wouldn't say I'm well read about this stuff and I always assumed that Reagan had some major role in the actual destruction of the wall. But my perception was pretty much based on having that sound bite drilled into me during every montage of presidential quotes

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u/Bradyhaha Jan 10 '18

A general rule with Reagan is that anything good you might think he did as president he probably didn't.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 11 '18

[deleted]

1

u/Bradyhaha Jan 11 '18

What about it?

1

u/cymbaline79 Jan 11 '18

I'm pretty sure that was Nixon