He says he is leaving Germany and shutting down his blog for a while - but check out what this blogger has written. It makes for interesting reading. His post on what he will not miss about Germany is particularly amusing.
His observation on the mountain of German taxpayer money going to support corrupt public television (that specializes in broadcasting anti-American programming and news...see our posts on ARD and ZDF) is a particularly apt one...
Excerpt:
"Channel One/Two. Yes, without any doubt....the two state-run TV channels are the most corrupt and incompetent channels that you can imagine. They pay tons of tax money for sports events, which have limited interest across the spectrum. They run anti-US news episodes on a daily basis. (...)
Anti-American behavior. It's rare that I ever ran into it. Over the past year, I've had a dozen people describe situations in Kaisersluatern, Landstuhl and Ramstein village where they ran into this attitude. Some were embarrassing for my associates. I've had two cases in fifteen years. There's nothing much you can say or do.....they want to let you know their feelings....even though you've never met the guy before in your life. You stand there....listen to their lecture for about 60 seconds, and then start smiling. They hate that for some reason.....I won't even speculate why. The more you smile....the less pleasure they get out of the experience.
The four classes of German society. It took me five years to realize there are four classes of people in Germany. First, there are the Hartz IV crowd.....at the bottom of the economic pile. Some are simply unlucky and deserve a better chance than what they've got. Then you have the middle-class guy whose worked hard....owns a house....goes to Italy once a year for a vacation....drinks beer (not wine).....and doesn't complain or whine about much. Then you have the intellectual crowd who own or operate the state-run TV networks or the political parties or the educational sector. The intellectuals pretend that they really are that smart, but you tend to realize the middle-class guy is typically loaded with common sense and a bit smarter. Finally, you've got the status crowd. The status folks can be fairly down on the economic pole or fairly up....doesn't matter. They have things to show off and make their status known. If you buy a new fancy car....and you've got a status guy next door.....expect him to buy a new car within a month or two....just to get one-up-on-you. The status crowd always ask how much you paid for a new item.
The rules. Frankly, there are about forty thousand rules to living your life in Germany. Don't wash your car on Sundays. Don't mow grass between 1400 and 1600. Walk your dog only in these locations. I could go on and on. I'm surprised the base doesn't have a 4-hour lecture on German rules to keep guys out of trouble as they arrive for the first time. I came to hate the massive list of rules. Some did make sense....the other fifty percent....didn't. I won't miss this kind of atmosphere"
By the way - Happy New Year to everyone who has read and supported our blog since 2003. David and I are increasingly busy with "real life" and simply cannot blog as much as we used to. Frankly - we have also said much of what we wanted to say over the years on this subject. That said - we will never forget our readers and the friends who supported us and our work. We miss our daily conversation and we wish you the best in this new decade.
To put things into perspective, in the part of Germany where this blogger spent his time the American military presence is the main economic factor. These dependencies have prevented necessary change and generated proxy conflicts. Unfortunately his blog does not reveal whether he listened to the advice of the daughter of the exiled DDR dissident and took the nuclear sharing with him.
Posted by: German In Name Only | January 13, 2010 at 05:28 PM
Hope your blog isn't completely going away. It's been an inspiration to me to know that Europeans are paying attention and recognize the crap when they see it. :-)
I lived in Brussels for several years and coming back to Texas was like taking off shackles, for so many reasons.. the days and hours of 'permitted' and 'forbidden' grass-cutting, the color of the trash bags, the weight of the trash in them, all of the tiny rules and regulations that wreck one's enthusiasm for 'sudden impulse' work, and thus leave so many tasks simply UNDONE...
Not to mention Brussels was the first euro city to try "car-free Sundays", actually shutting down all vehicle traffic in the city for a few Sundays to see if it would 'work'...
What it did, of course, was to stop any business being done at all, even though most shops weren't open on Sundays anyway.
"religion" has its uses in Europe... they use it to make holidays from work, to add to all the other holidays from work.
at any rate, while the city had its lovely spots and the Euro life was acceptable and even enjoyable, the FREEDOM of living in America never beckoned so much as when I was so far from it.
Thanks for all the great work, and please don't stop completely!
Dave in Dallas
Posted by: David Perkins | January 26, 2010 at 12:22 AM
Maybe it's time for Mr. Schnitzel to return to the US for a reality check? Some parts made me laugh, I, too don't miss the 'Stau'; other parts just make me shake my head. Rules? I'd suggest Mr. Schnitzel to visit his local DMV office and he may be in for a surprise.
Apart from that personal ranting of mine, what I often notice in blogs similar to Mr. Schnitzel's is the lack of intercultural competence and understanding. Americans who live in Europe often seem to get annoyed that Europe is not exactly like the US and can't understand why it's not just like the US.
So they rant about limited personal freedom, the lack of customer service, etc. etc. Well, that's the way it is. Europe has an entirely different background and some things just are different, whether you like it or not. Ranting won't change them either.
The same I see when Europeans rant about the US. Somehow many come to the US and expect it to be just like Europe. Somehow they forget that it's quite some time ago that Europeans have migrated to the New World and have by now developed their own culture. And when it comes to world politics they seem to ignore the fact that the US is a hegemony and therefore can tell others what to do and what not to do. That's hardly novel behaviour either, but much rather ordinary behaviour of the world's superpower. Nothing to get your knickers twisted about.
Posted by: Ninchursanga Ninchursanga | February 18, 2010 at 06:34 AM
Is it? What kind thereof? Any military hegemony is kept in check by the Taliban. Any political hegemony is kept in check by the Saudis. Any financial hegemony is kept in check by Bejing. The moral hegemony as is well-known is Europe´s job. So what kind of hegemony would that be? The pillow-into-your-face variety of all things? A surveillance hegemony? As in DMV?
Posted by: German In Name Only | February 25, 2010 at 04:20 PM
Well I have been living in the states for 2.5 years now. Me, as a German, having experienced both cultures now, can say that you need a reality check. There are a trillion rules here that don't make any sense to me. One example is car insurance, every state has different rules. When you travel with your car you always need to make sure you don't take your car to a state that requiers a higher coverage. On the other hand you have states that don't requiere any coverage at all... Why can I buy alcohol in Minnesota 24 hours a day but Sunday, but in Wisconsin only till 9pm and for that on everyday... Why does every city have its own parking rules and why is there a court day for almost every ticket in Chicago? Why do I need to wear a seat belt in a car but not a helmet when driving a motor cycle? Why can I not carry an open alcohole container around when I am 21 but can smoke in public almost everywhere... the states have tons of rules too.... you just need to learn them. That's part of moving to a different culture but it seems like you were never able to accept that people have a different life style... just so you know... every country is like that.
Posted by: Sebastian Koch | February 28, 2010 at 02:32 AM
Linked:
http://postingwillbelight.blogspot.com/2010/03/auf-wiedersehen-to-davids-medienkritik.html
Posted by: Sanity Inspector | March 18, 2010 at 08:05 PM
In both Germany and the US, I've found the "humour them or they'll get violent" approach to be the most effective. In the US, as Ninchursanga Ninchursanga, the DMV in some states could well be held up as a paragon of incompetence and bureaucratic bumbling. In Germany, I would award that prize to the GEZ.
To wit, the Rhode Island DMV refused issue me a driver's license (I already had a Massachusetts license) unless I presented a social security card. I was able to get past the East German border guard with a US passport, but do you think that would fly with the RI DMV? Nosiree Bob. It absolutely had to be an SS card. So I had to hoof it all the way down to the SS office in Newport to get a temporary card, then get back in line at the DMV.
In the German corner, we have the GEZ. The GEZ is what America's Public Broadcasting System would be if it were outsourced to the Mafia. If you claim you don't own a radio or TV, the GEZ has been known to send agents to your house or apartment to personally verify your disclaimer. I know people who have experienced such house calls; fortunately, I haven't -- yet.
I've found near parity of knuckle-headed, dysfuncional behavior in both venues. I firmly suspect that every human society has its own class of fools. Moving to another country to escape international idiocy is, well, a fool's errand. Think of it as the Hotel California: you can check out any time you want, but you can never leave. So you'll just have to learn to deal with it.
Posted by: Richard Bartholomew | May 28, 2010 at 10:30 AM
Don't wash your car on Sundays?? Where in Germany was this guy. You ONLY wash your car on a Sunday, after mowing the lawn and just before the sports come on.
Posted by: Duncan1 | August 06, 2010 at 12:04 AM