(By Ray D.)
Another holier-than-thou German media "expert" has written an article on a special brand of hypocrisy: The American brand. The article begins with an explanation of the socially polite lie. The author, Peter Schneider, explains how his Washingtonian friends (Washington being representative of the rest of America of course) praised a friend's badly decorated new kitchen only to laugh out loud and exclaim it a disaster after leaving. Schneider goes on to explain that while no nation is free of hypocrisy, Americans enjoy a particular relationship with the word. He writes:
"An American editor will never seriously tell an author what he thinks of his text. It would be physically impossible for him to only indicate that the manuscript he sent in is unprintable or, yes, simply terrible."
Americans editors don't tell authors what they think? That must be news to most newspaper editors around the nation. But being the expert that he is, Mr. Schneider must really know what he is talking about. He must have already met all of the editors in America. Case closed.
Then comes the predictable twist into the world of politics. You guessed it: American history is replete with examples of hypocrisy. For example, Schneider claims:
"The ability to look away and to unequally distribute the proclaimed democratic rights has accompanied American history from the beginning."
Of course no nation is perfect. Every nation has its dark sides and its less than stellar moments. But one has to ask: Has Mr. Schneider ever heard of the American Civil War? Americans were apparently so uninterested in the unequal distribution of democratic rights that they engaged in a four-year blood bath that cost the lives of 600,000 Americans, the worst war in U.S. history. Let us make a suggestion: Mr. Schneider should take a one hour drive north from his comfortable Georgetown environs, where he is currently a "Distinguished Writer-in-Residence", to the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. He should tour the battlefield and visit the graves of the thousands of Americans who fell there and then lecture us about how Americans look the other way when it comes to standing up for democratic rights. He could also visit the Bull Run, Antietam and Balls Bluff battlefields, all within a short drive of his home, and report to us about how the Americans that fought and died there also chose to look away. Perhaps Mr. Schneider has already forgotten that as Americans were putting an end to slavery, German and Austrian monarchs were fighting to dominate one another. Perhaps he has forgotten that Americans had a democratic constitution well over a century before democracy saw the light of day in Germany.
After he completes his Civil War tour, Mr. Schneider can take a trip down south to visit the sites of marches and protests held during the Civil Rights movement. Of course he can begin his trip very close to home on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and several thousand other Americans failed to confront inequality. Right. Then he can reflect upon the fact that, at least until very recently, German newspapers continue to openly run Jim Crow-style ads for apartment rentals that indicate they are available "for Germans only." Again: Why can't the American hypocrites learn from the German friends. Let's not even get into how those pesky Auslaender are treated...
But that isn't all: What article worth its salt would be complete without a healthy dose of Bush bashing? That's right, Bush is hypocrite Numero Uno. That certainly never gets old. And Schneider further pleases readers by sarcastically wielding the phrase "God's own country" while cataloging America's many sins and idiosyncrasies. It doesn't matter that the German left has beaten that sad cliché to death a thousand times over. No sir. And, not surprisingly, twisting the truth to make others appear as twisters of truth is also not out of bounds. Schneider writes:
"For that reason the American hypocrite is tempted to lend his sins a legal form. Whether it is the American environmental sins, the circumvention of the Geneva Conventions or the mistaken abduction and torture of a suspected terrorist - he will declare that he has acted in accordance with law."
Let's talk about the Geneva Conventions. Since when did they apply to terrorists? Did Osama bin Laden sign and ratify the conventions? And which nation did he represent? Like so many other members of the Angry Left, Mr. Schneider twists reality to fit his arguments, something he ironically accuses Americans of doing. By the way: Torture and abuse are simply not tolerated in Germany. Never. Never. Never.
It is true: Americans are debating the boundaries and validity of torture as a tool in the war on terror. There is a debate over what consists torture and what is an "aggressive interrogation method." There is also a debate over the use of renditions and turning over prisoners to third-countries that are known to allow torture. Perhaps Mr. Schneider could have reported on and even contributed to that debate in a constructive manner. (For a real look at that debate, check this article versus this article.) Perhaps he could have gone into the very real question of civil liberties versus security in the struggle to confront terror. Of course that isn't what the readers want to buy.
Also keep in mind that the criticism is coming from someone from a nation that considers a slap in the face a form of torture. In Germany it is getting to the point that it is torture if you deny a terrorist killer his milk, cookies, night-light and teddy bear.
Schneider's piece ends with a cynical, hackneyed metaphor. America as sheriff. A comparison sure to fire the imaginations of the stereotype-plagued minds reading this sort of journalism back home:
"The American sheriff really does have a dangerous profession, and he is often right. But the erotic tenderness with which he celebrates the labial sound of the word law when confronting the traffic violator is somewhat disconcerting. Arguments against a perhaps unjust punishment only make the situation worse. The sinner can, in any case, win the favor of the sheriff by admitting his guilt without reservation and by thanking the sheriff for the punishment and by complimenting him for carrying out his difficult job."
Reading between the lines: America the world power doesn't want to hear or confront the truth. Americans take comfort in lies and niceties. They take comfort in hypocrisy. God's own country is a nation in denial. Forget the recent election. Forget the thousands of anti-Bush books and articles published in US media. Forget Michael Moore, Gore Vidal, Bob Woodward, The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Fiasco, Al Franken, Keith Olbermann, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert and Tim Robbins. None of those people, books, media or programs really exist in America.
No. The Americans are hypocrites. The Germans would have never assisted them in (or even tolerated for a moment) the use of renditions on German citizens. And the fact that members of the Schroeder administration are denying any knowledge of the el-Masri case is certainly no case of hypocrisy or twisting of facts. And then there is Gerhard Schroeder himself. Taking a job with Gazprom weeks after having signed a billion dollar pipeline deal as German Chancellor was in no way hypocritical or underhanded. That was all an act of selfless patriotism. Schroeder's continued insistence that Vladimir Putin is a "spotless democrat" is yet another example of German openness and honesty. German promotion of annual trade fairs in Khartoum with a government in the midst of a campaign of genocide is the finest form of humanism. Then there is German culture: Nobel-laureate Guenter Grass forthrightly admitted he was an SS man (after a slight sixty year delay.) And, on the military front, let's not forget Germany's profound bravery and leadership in Afghanistan. Why can't the American friends just learn from their German role models?
UPDATE: According to this report on charitable giving: "Americans per capita individually give about
three and a half times more money per year, than the French per capita.
… Seven times more than the Germans and 14 times more than the Italians."
Seven times more than the Germans?! Those damned American hypocrites...
Contact: If you would like to reach Mr. Schneider with your thoughts and comments, you can do so at: [email protected]. We ask that you please keep your comments civil, respectful and on topic. Let's not stoop to their level.
Endnote: A truly remarkable article in the Swiss media entitled "Iraq is not Vietnam." This type of dangerous thought is still largely verboten in German media. More on the piece here in German.
AND, most germans and austrians i meet (i've been living in austria for around 3 years) tend to believe that 1) the american media is of terrible quality and 2) it's totally right wing. To be sure, i've come into contact with few places with worse newspapers (as far as both quality of journalism and of writing) than austria, and furthermore there are few mainstream american papers that can match the propagandistic nature of those here.
and what to me is the most annoying: i hate defending bush. i hate it i hate it i hate it. i didn't vote for him. but i find myself defending him all the time because people who love to believe they are so well-informed about world events, and are often so mind-bogglingly ignorant it's frightening, seem to want to argue with me about things that are happening, such as the above topic. (emphasis ours)