The lingering bitter aftertaste of Saerejvo 1914

Wow, I haven't posted since the 17th. Sorry, guys.

Today I want to write to you about Germany. More specifically, the Germans.

This is because of this news item that I weas emailed by a friend (who is, yes, from Bavaria).

Germany's foreign minister has urged British people to change their out-of-date opinion of his country.
Joschka Fischer believes the negative view many Britons - especially young people - have of Germany is harming relations between the two nations.

Everyone has national stereotypes rattoling around in their head. I know I do. they're what you learn about a country or race or religion or whatever through cultural diffusion. They're what you have primarily when you don't have any actual experiences or concrete knowledge to go on, but they normally live on when you do. So what? So long as you keep them in a padded box marked "Stereotypes", there's no problem. In my personal book of reckonings, nationalism is like religion. It's a legitimate source of gently self-depreciating humour, but on no account slip into thinking that it's in any way true.

He said the media was largely to blame for continuing an image of Germany as the land of the "Prussian goosestep"

Do you want my stereotypes about people from Germany? There'll be phrases like "Industrious, intelligent, rich" and "the average word has twelve sylables" and just possibly "English people are Germans who's ancestors left home 40 generations ago (unless they're royalty)". My parents grew up in a world when the guards on the Berlin Wall were starting to finally chill out, and I was born and raised in a Europe where you could cross borders and only rarely be asked for a passport.

Yes, I know that Germany in my grandfather's time has become the classic case for arguments supporting the idea of Just War. Thing is though, it got like that as a result of factors that could have come in to play anywhere. I've the vauge idea that the fact that fascists seized control in Germany is the single biggest reason that fascists didn't end up in control of Britain. We were certainly headed that way in the thirties.

People in Germany are like people here, except that they're in Germany. I don't think I can put it any simpler than that.

Maybe it's just because I have no time for the whole "Sins of the fathers" thing. Pick a person at random. Odds are, they had an ancestor who did things that'd make you want to retch. I'm including you. I'm including myself. Does anyone think this is a good information to base relationships on?

What got me most about this article was the title.

Germany rejects 'goosestep' image

Keine sheisse, Sherlock.

Song in my head: "Honky Bach" by Elliot Smith