so, I got this video from a colleague friend today. I knew it was supposed to be funny… yet it certainly depends on how you look at it… or how you watch it… me… I’m doing home office today… watching the game :)
so, I had my speakers up and started listening… ok… I have never seen this movie so far… I knew it’s there, yet it’s no easy meal for the brain. Especially if you’ve grown up in Germany. They teach you well… make sure you know and remember. This is not something to joke about… it’s not PC (politicly correct) nor ethical a topic to talk about it w/o the required respect!
It’s a heritage that is put on each generation that followed the war. It’s ok… it’s good that there’s somebody make sure to remember… yet… that also implies the responsebility to never let such things happen again…
we struggled… and for a lot of young germans I know it was hard to proudly say “I am German and proud of it!”
In one way, our “summer miracle” came true in 2006… where everyone was proud… anr rightly so… about being German. The world as friends at home….” Sure, Germany was the place to be in summer 2006…
Anyway… yet, I did not see that the first time I watched the video with speakers on. Around the 45 second mark I heard my name… in a very bad context… in a time of history… well, not my best moment….
However…. and now coming to the good side of things.
I watched the video again, with speakers off. And I LOLed….
… which showed me, that it is all good. We can even see it with some humour now … and that’s a good thing afterall.
Germany for the win…
PS: And I’m not even German, but Austrian… oh well :)
PPS: This one is for you grandpa…
A time to mourn a time to rejoice….
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Sascha Kiefer, Matthias Steiner. Matthias Steiner said: Highest height/deepest low – Germany 2.0 : http://www.inscope.net/post/361 [...]
Hi Matthias,
since you asked for feedback :-)
I can only comment it from the view of a non-contemporary witness:
I think nowadays, one can make fun about it as long as one does not specifically insult any groups or persons (but decency demands that anyway).
From my perspective it’s totally OK (which by the way is proven by some movies during the past years as well). And personally, I was rolling on the floor laughing…
My generation was “taught to live in guilt” which I don’t like anyway. Don’t get me wrong, I totally agree that things happened should never be forgotten. And we should do everything humanly possible to avoid such things again (not only in Germany but everywhere in the world).
But I also refuse to live in constant guilt just because of the country I was born in. I am proud to be German and I mean that in a non-we-are-the-best-culture-in-the-world-way. But why should it be wrong that I love my country, that I love our culture, that I love the way we are and that I don’t want to be anywhere else in the world at the moment. Does that make me closed-minded? Does that make me a racist? Do I automatically do not appreciate other cultures? I don’t think so (and I hope the ones knowing me don’t think that either).
I think it’s only fair, that we claim the same rights like others in the world. For other countries it’s absolutely OK to be proud of themselves. Why shouldn’t it be OK for me?
And to be fair: Till now, I never was judged yet, just because of my country and it’s history. I think todays generations are a bit moor relaxed (without taking it to easy)
(Tough thoughts for a Friday Night)
Thanks Sascha. I appreciate your answer and your thoughts. Yes, not the topic I would have chosen for a friday either. :)
Yet, it just hit me… and even though its a sensitive topic I wanted to comment on it. Like I feel it would be bad if we would skip sensitive/important topics just to be on the safe side… I see this more in the heritage of movies such as “The Great Dictator” by the man himself – Charlie Chaplin
Would love for more feedback/comments…
I may be crazy, but i don’t think of Hitler as German (and im not even the newest generation no more :-( As a European, Germany is one of those countries i am proud of and anything else sounds absurd to me. Yet im not German and i dont think in terms of nations, so it may easy for me to say.
I think i take this humour anywhere…except in the country that still celebrates Stalin.There it would just piss me off, yet for all the opposite reasons than the obvious.
I do like the part where he says ”we all know im a reasonable man” :D
I totally agree about the sound, and the sound is much different in The Great Dictator too.
I think you may like this one better http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuA_OUL91og i sure do :-)
Here’s the feedback you aksed for:
When I first saw the video I felt very uncomfortable. I was thinking about all the victims of the war and tried to imagine how they’d feel if they saw that clip. Even with jokes, there’s got to be some boundaries right ? But then again how do you define that boundary and who gets to decide about it? After all there are some episodes of Stromberg concerning the third reich that I think are very funny. And if you reject jokes about WW2 in general, which other jokes are also inappropriate? Is there any joke at all which can be considered 100% PC? I’m still not sure what to think….
Anyway, Woody Allen once said: “I think that the tendency for most people is to fall back on a comic interpretation of things — because things are so sad, so terrible. If you didn’t laugh you’d kill yourself. But the truth of the matter is that existence in general is very very tragic, very very sad, very brutal and very unhappy. ”
But I still don’t get how you draw a connection between the judegement of the video and the ability to be proud of germany. In my opinion they are two very diffrent animals.
PS: By the way, you should really see that movie Matthias!!