Why do we still laugh at Germany?

[Kellanved]

An article in "The Scotsman", that I found interesting.
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/index.cfm?id=753902003

Why do we still laugh at Germany?

ALLAN HALL IN BERLIN


The image of Germans as a nation that spends all its time drinking beer and listening to oompah bands is as erroneous as the idea that they are all humourless and militaristic

THE ugly spectre of Europe’s biggest power engaged in a battle of words with its welterweight neighbour over suitable behaviour on the beaches and in the bars would be funny, possibly even to Germans, if the joke hadn’t worn so thin.

Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian prime minister, and his junior tourism minister, Stefano Stefani, tapped into a rich vein of post-war animosity this week: one that says it is tolerable to revile a generation that had nothing to do with the bombing of Rotterdam and the gas chambers of Treblinka.

First Mr Berlusconi compared a German MEP to a Nazi concentration camp guard, and then Mr Stefani spoke of the "blonde, stereotypical behaviour" and arrogance of German holidaymakers.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[Braden]

1. shortest work week, most vacation time/family time

trust me the Germans are the ones laughing.

[LeftCoast]

2. Anti-German bias drives me nuts

Some of my friends always go on about how 'guttural' German is. They wouldn't know German if they heard it. :)

[TheBigGuy]

3. well, yeah, here in the USA too..some stereotypes....

One big stereotype, the 'traditional one"...

Oompah bands, polka, beer, and lederhosen (also stubborn and thifty).

And there was dialect humor, too, like in this comic strip based on Max und Moritz...the Katzenjammer Kids..(real popular in the USA for many years):
http://www.dumboozle.com/katzies/katzdex.html


Later, after WWII, the other big stereotype was the Nazis and the Holocaust...Germans where a bunch of genocidal militarists.

A more recent stereotype has evolved as the Germans as these great engineers and technologists who aspire to technical perfection, as in cars like BMW and Mercedes.

[DrGonzoLives]

4. Berlusconi is the Nazi, not Schroeder

He must be desperate to project his fascist bullshit onto others.

[aneerkoinos]

5. Where to start the meme change?

Here at DU of course!

It is sadly rather common rhetoric device to make Rummy and other American fascists to speak language of Hollywood German to make them look like the fascists they are.

Spelling 'the' as 'ze' etc. to show generic naziness is indeed boorish, maybe we could give that up? Fascism was never language related, Italian and Spanish would be just as justified. Sure, there is the commonly recognized Hollywood imagery, but why stay captive to it, if you are a thinking person? It is not even funny.

[TheBigGuy]

6. Good point.

funny how that stereotypical way of thinking even permeates DU.

[LeftCoast]

7. As much as I hate the stereo-typing

there's plenty of things here that annoy me as much (a couple of the Avatars). I don't want to go around DU like some sort of thought police.

[NJCher]

8. good point, aneerkoinos

Thanks for raising my awareness.

Cher

[Terran]

9. DU's Copyright Rules

Kellanved,

Per DU's copyright rules, please limit excepts of copyrighted material to a maximum of four paragraphs. Thanks!

Dirk
Moderator, Editorials and Other Articles

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html#copyright

[Aristus]

10. Well, it's an easy trap to fall into. I was stationed in Germany

when I was in the Army, and I loved it there. I had taken years of German-language courses in school in the hope of going there someday, so I was well prepared. Knowing the language was really unnecessary, (the Germans speak better English than most Americans) but they appreciated the effort I made to open up to their culture. They were warm, friendly, hospitable and generous.
Despite my love for Germans and Germany, I still occasionally use German dialect to 'Nazify' something that the Chimp has said. And I've used the term 'reich-wing' to describe the Republicans. The only excuse I can offer for this is that the Nazis were monsters that transcend nation and culture, to become bogeymen to all people everywhere. Pretty lame excuse, I know. I wasn't aware until now that some people were put off by the Nazi comparisons of the B*sh Admin.

[Kellanved]

11. If you think somebody is a Nazi: call him that

The problem is (avery common problem): some British think, that every German is a Nazi and start acting offensive, not to mention silly, to make their point.

ALthough I have some issues with Nazi-comparisons and have problems to find "ze" speak in itself funny, you should use it whenever you like IMHO.

The word "Reich" is used in very much the same way in German.

Or as I have read somewhere:
German, it's basically like English. English, you know, spoken by a monster, underwater, into a walkie-talkie.


Great you liked the country - I hope that some bases will remain here.