Monday, April 21, 2008

Zu guter Letzt

German culture and the German people are some of the most misunderstood things in America. Having to fight two wars against them, and the subsequent negative media portrayals of Germans has taken its toll. Most Americans think all Germans are overbearing and violent, and have a harsh, ugly language. Of course the stereotypes have some basis: Germans are obsessed with “Ordnung,” and the Prussian military tradition is prominent. But most Americans don’t think of Schiller’s “An die Freude” when they think of Germany, and I find this tragic. There are so many things in German history that are beautiful and indispensable to Western man. German-speaking people have given us some of the greatest ideas and art of all: Goete, Beethoven, Hegel, Marx, Einstein, Hesse, Marcuse. It would be nice for Americans to recognize these things, and change their stereotypes about Germans.
The problem is that Americans are often block-headed. This is another thing I have learned from studying German culture. When Germans are prejudiced and bigoted, it is an out-right, in-your-face kind of thing (i.e., skinheads). There are relatively few Germans like this today. When Americans are prejudiced it is sly and hard to discern, an undercurrent that is extraordinarily pervasive. Rather than swastikas and sieg heils, this kind of prejudice comes in the form of looking away. We don’t burn books, we just don’t read them. This kind of prejudice might not be as ugly, but it’s a million times worse, because it is so much harder to change.

1 comment:

Stefanie said...

Jonathan,

I already talked to you about your post and that I think that you are right with most things you say in here. Prejudices is a topic that we could discuss for hours without finding a solution. Fact is that there are prejudices existing about Germans and Americans as well. I think what we shouldn't forget is that prejudices might be true in some cases but never for every person belonging to a group of people and therefore it is always worth to get to know someone before judging the person because of his/her cultural background.