Algeria
November 12, 2012 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Heconomy, Helplessness, Hi-tech, Hypocrisy Tags: Arms Sales, Berlin, Exports, German, Germans, Germany, Pacifism, Satire, Weapons 5 Comments
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Observing Hermann 
A well-regulated militia? Yeah, that’s good. Of course, there’s nothing wrong, I guess, with adding a little German engineering. Das Tank.
H. Observer,
Hey, I was reading an old entry from Ich Werde Ein Berliner this morning in which the blogger, Wash Echte, interviews a German blogger (at Farorientalism) about the German perspective on Japan and came across this exchange that reminded me of your Fukushima posts:
Wash Echte: Every conversation with people here in Germany about the disaster in Japan seems to follow this exact script: German person: “Isn’t it horrible what happened in Japan?” Me: “It sure is, more than 12000 deaths caused by the Tsunami.” German person: “What? What are you talking about…I was referring to the radiation! Isn’t it just horrible?”
Farorientalism: Exactly. The catastrophe that really happened stopped being of interest to Germans since day two. By the way, this wasn’t the case in the BBC’s reporting. In Germany, the only two aspects that are still of interest are nuclear energy and exploration of the “Japanese national character”: Why the hell aren’t they panicking yet? I am not aware if anything like this has happened before – people responding with pure hysteria to a dangerous situation happening more than 9000 km away.
My bolding.
Thanks, Jeffrey. So true. So very true. That in itself would be bad enough, or laughable, if you prefer, but the really eery thing to me is this robotic quality it has to it. Brainwashed (to react hysterically in unison) isn’t really the right word. They have been conditioned perfectly, though – all of them (OK, 90 percent of them). You know, like Pavlov’s dog? And then when event X, Y or Z takes place, their minds shut down and they go under the spell. It is NOT normal or healthy behavior and nobody here even sees what the hell is going on. 10 percent of the population just isn’t enough. I saw this once in a science fiction movie (or twice) but this isn’t a movie. Oh. I’m hyperventilating again.
Yep. And here’s the chicken-or-the-egg question. Does German media create typical German hysteria and conformist responses or does it just reflect it? My gut tells me that German media, more often than not, reflects accurately German responses to life around them. Bild and SPON know their audiences. And Germans have always had a soft-spot for so-called “experts,” such as SPON’s Marc Pitzke on life and politics in America. Pitzke said that, so it must be true.
Americans, as attested by our recent presidential election, are divided on a lot of issues. There are serious political, social, and philosophical differences among the population. Among the left and right here, members of each group would like to have their views prevail and they see them as unassailable. In certain circles, if you admitted that you voted for George Bush, you might as well have said you also murdered babies in your free time. In other circles, announcing that you voted for Obama suggests that you’re a fool deluded by a cult of personality.
The difference is that in Germany there is only ONE possible response: vote for Obama, nuclear energy is bad, Greeks are lazy, and so on. As you say, the odd aspect to all of this is that typical German Gutmenschen don’t even see the lock-step conformity. To them, it’s just common sense. You don’t even have to think about it (and they don’t).
The vehicle has a gun.
Either the gun is of sufficient calibre that its bullets penetrate the armour of the same vehicle as bought by the other side – in which case you wouldn’t want to be riding in it – or the armour is impenetrable at this calibre, in which case the vehicle is iseless as an offensive weapon.
Either way, it’s a bad purchase decision 😉