Reply #25: Neweurope

[blackhorse]

I was a bit tart in my reply. I think too often I've seen the whole issue of racism and cultural tolerance spoken of in dismissive terms (all over the world). The phrase "no need to worry" struck me as more of the same. Yes, you did say the Turks would be the first to bear the anger.

Germany as a non-immigration country. It is a bit late for the country to wish that. There are already millions of Turks in Germany. With the opening of the borders as part of the EU, there are going to be still more foreigners in Germany. Germany's desire to define itself as not being a land of immigrants seems to be a case of the barn door being closed long after the horse has wandered away.

The people I have heard unsavory sentiments from. No, they were not what one would think of as typical Rechtradikalen. More like "Stinknormale Europäers" -- honestly. It is not always blatantly said. Sometimes, it is only hinted at, but the meaning is clear. I don't understand what drives it -- in most other situations, these are reasonably normal people -- but the seed of the sickness is there. Perhaps some of it is street theater to see if they can be provocative.

I agree that Germany should be able to restrict immigration as it wishes. The reason alarms go off for me, is because of the political involvement of people like the fellow who runs the firm I mentioned. The act of restricting immigration for economic reasons can be perfectly neutral -- but, on the other hand, if these reasons are being used as smokescreen by fanatics of any kind, then it is worthy of note. One wonders which politicians are in favor of this, and what their motivations are, the apparent economic common-sense of the measure notwithstanding.

BTW, the firm in question is Häussler. And I'm sorry to note there is yet another firm, Viessmann, that may be playing the same game. Neither of these firms are small-time. In Viessmann's case, the firm's logo was changed in the 1950s or 1960s (by the son of the founder (again, heh) -- the son, whom the firm's home page only notes that during the war years, he saw service in the "Wehrmacht". Yes, the "Wehrmacht", not the "Heer", or "Luftwaffe", or "Marine" -- the "Wehrmacht" -- a term so generic that it makes one wonder what it might be concealing. You wouldn't happen to have access to a 1940s edition of the SS-Dienstalterlist, would you? Might be enlightening.) Viessmann had previously had a fairly typical company logo, but when it was changed, it was done in such a way that one "S" stands above the other "S" -- making the logo read like Vie-SS-Mann. I think the reason these firms get away with this is the sheer amount of visual clutter in the modern world -- advertising everywhere, etc. Even if one notices the logos, one has to have some understanding of symbology used by combatant nations during the Second World War in order to grasp the full import of the design.

Apologies if I have rambled.

Cheers

BH