Bias? What Bias?

The anti-American bias so prevalent in the German media is often particularly venomous among regional newspapers.

Our friend DL from Heidelberg has forwarded this comment from Rhein-Neckar Zeitung to us:

Dear David and Ray,

Your recent posting exposing Spiegel's myopic understanding of unemployment in the U.S. is symptomatic of German media today.  Not only does Spiegel show a lack of knowledge about the United States, it displays a propoganda-driven agenda desperate for evidence that Germany is "right" and America is "wrong."  (If they compared themselves to the French they'd have much less work and much more good news to report.) On its best day the relationship is love-hate as the below translation will illustrate. 

 

Heidelberg's propaganda organ is the Rhein-Neckar Zeitung. It runs a daily satire on the bottom right corner of the front page known, appropriately enough, as "The Corner." It is unavailable on its web site in the hope that anyone looking for it will be foolish enough to pay for a subscription. I'll save you the trouble. Today's Corner is in reference to the the U.S. cartoon campaign that uses an energy pig to remind Americans to save energy.

Quite Piggish

Americans don't always have a sense of the big picture; like understanding they're not the only ones on the planet. Or that the world's oil reserves don't belong to them. But they're ahead of us when it comes to directly expressing themselves. They've just learned from their President that they can turn the lights out when they leave the room!  And that a car doesn't always have to be driven. They're learning that they're environmental pigs. A group of cartoon pigs has told them so.  As well as we know the Americans we can expect they will surprise us shortly with the sensational invention of cars that that only need thirty liters. (Note: A saracstic reference to the fuel effeciency of U.S. cars expressed as the number of liters it takes to drive one hundred kilometers.)  And when they're convinced, their eagerness cannot be stopped.  We could make them an attractive offer - we'll give them Juergen Tritten with his deposit on beverage cans and his environmental taxes.

Rhein-Neckar Zeitung

6 October 2005

E-mail address of Rhein-Neckar Zeitung (forward to "Redaktion Politik")

Comments

[TM Lutas]

In the US, we have enough children that we must teach a new group of them each year the little life lessons that all children must learn. We also have immigrants from all over the world that we actually make an effort to integrate into our society. All sorts of educational cartoons and other tools are used in these efforts. They are meant to be entertaining and simple so even the simplest of persons gets the point. Obviously they'll have to do a little work to make them even simpler for the writers of Rhein-Neckar Zeitung so they can understand them as well.

[Assistant Village Idiot]

The frequent comment that Americans don't listen, or don't care about what others think, or think they are the only people in the world has always struck me as the wail of the rejected lover, or the child who is jealous of classmates.

Fact: My Romanian friend who runs an orphanage and medical clinic tried to get people from all over Europe to come and volunteer in the early 90's. He got one group from Scotland to come for two years, and one group from England for four. "I don't even bother to go speak in Europe anymore. None but Americans come." Go all over Eastern Europe, and indeed the world, and you will see the same thing. Drop in on Habitat For Humanity projects, or rural farming projects, or those who work with street children. See any Germans?

The accusation would be the inverse of the truth, if it were not in fact coming true. We don't listen to Germans and other Western Europeans so much anymore, except perhaps the UK. Wonder why?

[PacRim Jim]

The Germans are still pissed at the Romanians for their behavior at Stalingrad.

[LouMinatti]

Well, if it's any consolation to our German friends at the Rhein-Neckar Zeitung, the biggest gas hogs on American roads are all products of German companies. Don't believe me? Look here.

http://www.bankrate.com/brm/news/auto/car-guide-2005/Gas-guzzlers1.asp

VW, Mercedes, BMW, Audi and Daimler-Chrysler are all on top of the "gas pigs" list.

Be proud, Germany!

[LouMinatti]

By the way, just to summarize. 8 of the top 10 gas-guzzling cars on US roads are products of German companies. The top 2 gas-guzzling SUV/truck gas pigs are also products of German companies.

Seems to me that if Germans really cared about the environment they wouldn't be selling these vehicles. Yet they are.

Anyone else detecting the stench of hypocrisy?

[Deist]

You did notice that this was a "comment" in a corner that is known to bring "satire" dont you ? ;-)

[flux]

@LouMinatti

You left out the second chart which listed the top ten gas guzzling trucks. The Dogdge Ram is No. 1 in that category. Now, the Phaeton sold 1433 times in the US in 2004 (http://wardsauto.com/ar/auto_vw_overestimated_brand/). The Dodge Ram is the No. 3 highest selling car of 2003 (http://www.edmunds.com/reviews/list/top10/101528/article.html) with 449,371 units sold. The gas guzzling cars are mostly luxury cars, I doubt they sell a lot, the real problem are the trucks. I mean, it's fine when you actually need them, but there seems to be something wrong with 16 year old girls driving their GMC Savanas to school in California, say.

Here's a gas guzzler list not split up by car/truck:
http://www.car.com/content/research/top10/index.cfm/action/guzzler/vehicleclass/all/listtype/6

[fuchur]

OT: typepad is pain in the &$%/&. One minute it works, the next it doesn´t...
I guess the recent drop in comments is a result of this. Are there others who experience these problems? (oh, right, if you´re experiencing these problems, you probably can´t comment...)

[greatsage]

This is called 'poking fun.'
New concept for the humor-impaired... Laugh and the world laughs with you - complain and you die alone!'
Why take this satirical stuff so seriously? JEEZ! Lighten up!

[beimami]

@greatsage

That looks like poking fun to you? It looks like angry sarcasm to me. One could certainly ignore one item like that, but it isn't just one item. The entire German media relentlessly produces negative stories and comments about the U.S. The point of the post is that this behavior extends beyond the major German media to local sources of news. If anything, it is often shriller in the local newspapers. Lord knows, I have even seen death announcements just dripping with hatred of America.

[LouMinatti]

"You did notice that this was a "comment" in a corner that is known to bring "satire" dont you ?"

At who's expense was the "satire" aimed? Moreover, based on the content the German media has been producing the past few years, it doesn't look like satire.

[joe]

flux,

Actually there is nothing wrong with the 16 year old driving to school. It is a choice. It is the choice her parents made. Her parents decided this was OK. Now this might upset the euros and the enviros but none the less it does not make it wrong.

It might not be your choice but then I am sure there are those who would be crticial of some of your choices too.

[Toby]

Fuchur "OT: typepad is pain in the &$%/&. One minute it works, the next it doesn´t...
I guess the recent drop in comments is a result of this. Are there others who experience these problems? (oh, right, if you´re experiencing these problems, you probably can´t comment...)

Yeah, I experienced some typepad troubles, too. Try to hit the refresh button a couple of times when you don't get signed in. Worked for me.

[James W.]

@flux

I don't think the hypocrisy is in the number of vehicles being sold. It's more that they're being sold at all from a German manufacturer. Oh, I know, it's just business. Well then, they should just shut their trap.

There's more hypocrisy. What about the German autobahns and their high speed limits. Most cars have their best mileage at around 55-65 mph (ca. 90-110 kph). I don't care what kind of economy car you drive at 140+ kph, you're not doing much, if at all, better than a "gasguzzler" at normal speeds.

[Pamela]

Hey Toby, thanks for the hint! I've been foreced into a state of muteness for something like 2 weeks.
Yech.

Um, actually hubby and I both drive Mercedes and the mileage we get is quite good.
>>As well as we know the Americans we can expect they will surprise us shortly with the sensational invention of cars that that only need thirty liters

Yep. They're called hybrids. One more thing the Americans did something about and you guys didn't.

[Don]

"Yep. They're called hybrids. One more thing the Americans did something about and you guys didn't."

Scuse, Pamela, but it seems to me that Toyota and Honda have the big hybrids in the US right now, though the domestics are gearing up.

[americanbychoice]

@Don,
Us manufactured hybrids are all over the road already, including SUV's.
By 2008, Ford will have five hybrids on the road, including the Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner, Ford Fusion, Mercury Milan and Mazda Tribute. By 2010, Ford says more than half its lineup will have hybrid capability. current production rate is 24000. By 2008 250 000.
Hybrid Bus Transit Now Available in Charlotte
GM delivers hybrid power for buses added to CATS transit fleet
Hybrid Bus Transit Now Available in Shreveport
YOSEMITE (April 25, 2005) – The National Park Service demonstrated its ongoing commitment to preserving the natural beauty and environment of its national parks today by celebrating the delivery of a new fleet of 18 Gillig shuttle buses to Yosemite National Park that are powered by GM’s advanced hybrid technology. This is the first fleet of hybrid buses to operate in a U.S. National Park.

GM Hybrid Vehicles Join City of Fort Wayne Fleet

The City of Fort Wayne added four new GM hybrid pickup trucks to its fleet.

While the EU and Germany debates the peasibilty of their use? :)

[americanbychoice]

sorry, that should be feasibility. Fat fingers.

[Toby]

good to have you back, Pam. the place just was not the same without you.

[Pamela]

Here's the wikipedia entry on the history of hybrid technology. Godfather of the hybrid? Victor Wouk. American.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hybrid_car#History

Thanks Toby. I still can't get in on a consistent basis. Ray, Dave, Typeface does suck. I managed to find their 'problem report' page and submitted a description of the problem. Have I heard from them?
Nooooo.

[Toby]

@JamesW:

good point. it does suck to go 55 on an interstate, though. got myself another ticket today... that's the one good thing about germany: the autobahns, with no speed limit.

gotta run, it's saturday night.

[Assistant Village Idiot]

Satire has a different meaning than sarcasm.

If someone were being humorous in a frivolous way, or in a teasing way, then to take offense would be socially inept, touchy. That wasn't the intent with The Corner. I had heard the stereotype that Germans have no sense of humor (In heaven the cooks are all French, the lovers are all Italian,... In hell, the cooks are all English, etc). If this passes for funny, maybe there is more to it than I thought.

[Deist]

@Lou:
"At who's expense was the "satire" aimed? Moreover, based on the content the German media has been producing the past few years, it doesn't look like satire."

At whos expense ? Of course at the expense of those addressd. Thats normal.
You dont watch Adam Carrolla, Jay Leno and others do you ?
Concerning the second sentence of yours i think its dangerous to say that. Because you start to generalize now in a way that renders the difference between america-bashers and non-bashers with a certain type of "humour" to "zero".

[neocon]

call me crazy, but there's something annoying me
yesterday, on RTL, there was some show going on (germany's best albums)
on the guest list: claudia roth (from the "greens")
i think this is bias. you don't invite just one from one side. this is not the first time i see her take part in such shows, but no one from, let's say, liberals. it doesn't have to be "one from spd, one from cdu" in the same show, this is not a political talk-show, but i don't recall having seen someone from cdu or liberals invited.
what do you think?

[greatsage]

I still don't get it? The GERMANS don't have a sense of humor? Hello! Saccharine sweet humor is based on cuteness and precocious attitude. Aside from that - all humor is based on cruelty. Some one gets a face full of pie - we laugh! All humor is at someone else's expense - real bellylaugh humor is vicious!

And guys on this page are cranking on about German CARS! HA HA HA hahahahahahahah... Why not wear a T-shirt with a target saying: 'Poke fun at me - I'm a loser!'

[Tomaž Štih]

I put together some quite piggish "then and now" posters, they are available on my blog http://libertarec.blogspot.com. The article (unfortunately in Slovenian, I'm still seeking for a volunteer to start publishing in English) describes evolution of anti-americanism, anti-capitalism and anti-semitism through three different systems - feudalism, nazism and socialism - here are the translated comments from pictures:

http://libertarec.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/kulturterror-795034.jpg
"The mother of all stereotypes from 1944 (left) vs. 2004 (right)"

http://libertarec.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/kapitalisti-745415.gif
"Then and now: Successful people are exploiters and monsters"

http://libertarec.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/soviet-769555.jpg
"How Soviets were taught to see American freedom - apparently some people never realized that this was Soviet propaganda"

http://libertarec.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/prasicji_narod-799534.gif
"The myth of a pig nation vs. the myth of a pig class"

http://libertarec.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/aussauger-705796.gif
"Ah, but you know this one..."

http://libertarec.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/moc_kapitala-757479.gif
"Creating a link between jews and capital was essential to merge of anti-semitism and anti-capitalism into national socialism"

http://libertarec.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/zunanja_krivda-787299.gif
"Finding a scapegoat for all worlds' problems is not a modern invention"

http://libertarec.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/osvoboditev1-719624.gif
"Discrediting the liberation of Iraq in nothing new. Similar propaganda technique was used to discredit liberation of Italy was seen in 1943"

http://libertarec.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/osvoboditev2-763720.gif
"...and Germany in 1945"

http://libertarec.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/jewish_god-782478.gif
"Investors are asocial worshipers of money? Not news to those who know history..."

http://libertarec.blogspot.com/uploaded_images/ex_children-733242.gif
"Just because you agree with the message, does it make them any less innocent and naive?"

Regards,
Tomaž

[FranzisM]

@neocon: This is probably because Mrs Roth, unlike her colleagues, was a rock band manager before she became a politician.

[Doug]

We've already got container deposits in many states. In my own state of New York, we've had them for 25 years or so.

@Assistant Village Idiot -
The frequent comment that Americans don't listen...

I think you'll find that "don't listen" is a poor translation which should be rendered as "don't do precisely as instructed"

[Assistant Village Idiot]

@Doug

That translation is certainly true for the psychiatric patients I work with. "No one is listening to me" always means "no one is agreeing with me."

Not all humor is based on cruelty -- though I like a good slapstick. I think we have identified the problem.

[neocon]

@FranzisM:
thanks, i didn't know that