Anti German sentiment-its time to stop! - TravelPUNK Backpacker College Student Budget Travel Message Boards!

**expatben** · 08-24-2010, 07:24 PM

OK, bigotry and hatred towards anyone is wrong I think we can all agree on this but there has been something bothering me lately-the ammount of anti German bigotry there is. How is it that people are allowed to get away with this uncalled? If we were talking about Japan and I said "oh, I really don't like the Japanese y'know...the war" as if I had lived through it many people would frown at me but Germany? Its OK to hate them.
I think people need to keep in mind the following thing:
1)Behind every great nation is a great crime
2) It was an Austrian who applied an Italian school of thought on Germany-hate Germany, hate Italy and Austria too, its only fair.
3)Nowdays there are many countries with more far right members of their legislater as Germany have none. They don't even have any MEPs
4)Infact said Austrian never had a majority he was part of a coalition
5)Berlin is a beacon of liberalism
6)The Germans have given us great thinkers, poets and musicians througout the centuries.

In short, like Germany or not, lets leave the people alone

This is not to anyone here, just something I needed to get off my chest

**Dig** · 08-25-2010, 09:25 AM

I hear ya.

I get the "lets hate the Mexican" sentiment all the time in Texas. True they do cause problems, almost all associated with their poor economic status, but all of us here are IMMIGRANTS too

.

**simply_angelic** · 08-26-2010, 10:04 AM

Who the hell have you been hanging out with my friend? I have NEVER in my ENTIRE EXISTANCE heard of any anti-german opinions being brought up...unless they were by crazies (even then really I dont think so) or referring to them in the second world war, in which case,well, I think they may have had a point....

I suggest you branch out a bit friend-wise...

**expatben** · 08-26-2010, 10:31 AM

Its more a British thing but the other day I got a lift off a friend of a friend and we were talking about travelling-when I told her how much I like Germany an anti German sentiment was shown.

toddkaz · 08-26-2010, 11:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by expatben

OK, bigotry and hatred towards anyone is wrong I think we can all agree on this but there has been something bothering me lately-the ammount of anti German bigotry there is. How is it that people are allowed to get away with this uncalled? If we were talking about Japan and I said "oh, I really don't like the Japanese y'know...the war" as if I had lived through it many people would frown at me but Germany? Its OK to hate them.
I think people need to keep in mind the following thing:
1)Behind every great nation is a great crime
2) It was an Austrian who applied an Italian school of thought on Germany-hate Germany, hate Italy and Austria too, its only fair.
3)Nowdays there are many countries with more far right members of their legislater as Germany have none. They don't even have any MEPs
4)Infact said Austrian never had a majority he was part of a coalition
5)Berlin is a beacon of liberalism
6)The Germans have given us great thinkers, poets and musicians througout the centuries.

In short, like Germany or not, lets leave the people alone

This is not to anyone here, just something I needed to get off my chest

Where is that video of the guy grying about people picking on Brittnay Spears....first thing that came to mind when I read this!

In all seriousness I am travelling to German to live in Work but what do you expect. They destroyed Europe Gassed 6 million jews. I travelled through the Netherlands for a few weeks and they still hate Germans. Sorry but that Stigma will never go away.

**Canadian Bacon** · 08-26-2010, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by expatben

If we were talking about Japan and I said "oh, I really don't like the Japanese y'know...the war" as if I had lived through it many people would frown at me but Germany? Its OK to hate them.

Funny thing is in Asia you really do see EXACTLY the same thing in that Chinese and Korean people still hate Japanese people. I mean of course everyone watches Japanese anime, and wears Japanese styles, but the anger is always under the surface. (Like look at that annual bitching session over Japanese PM's visit to the war shrine)

It is a shame cuz I spent a week in Ibiza hanging out with Germans, and they are fucking cool people, but they have a stigma about how much people hate them... whenever they would talk to someone British they would just assume they are being hated on... which is sad.

Oh well, probably going to Oktoberfest this year so I'm definitely not one the haters!!

**mish99** · 08-26-2010, 12:41 PM

Im actually working with an elderly man who shot down a german plane in the war - the way he talks about it is actually quiet disgusting. I dislike all hatred towards anyone person, race, country etc... Its unecessary.

I get it ALOT about apartheid - yes it was more recent and absoloutly awful, but its over, lets move past and heal. Otherwise the next generations who actually have nothing to do with it will still hate each other. Its silly.

**juliagulia** · 08-26-2010, 01:56 PM

Maybe it's not too prevalent in Canada, but I've definitely seen people be anti-German here, both older people who were more likely to even be alive during WWII and younger people who definitely weren't--mostly in a covert, but perceptible manner. Making fun of Germans and making gross assumptions, sometimes without the anger or hate that people tend to associate with bigotry, but definitely actions and words that are narrow-minded... In fact, I've mostly noticed it in "humorous" situations (South Park comes to mind). The idea of making fun of Germans because "they deserve it" is definitely something I've noticed (more so than overt hate) and something that is still absolutely disgusting, whether you lived through the war or not.

uktrail · 08-26-2010, 02:55 PM

I write as an Englishman who grew up when the War was a recent memory. I am sure there were negative feelings towards Germans for a while, with shoot-em-up stories set in the war, and various caricatures about the German character. I did spend some time in Germany in the 1980s, and there may have been a slight negative feeling below the surface towards the older Germans.

But I have always been most impressed at how the young people of Germany have shown nothing whatsoever of those caricatures, and at how the country has shown no sign of commemorating or celebrating those days. Their young people are as sad as the rest of us at what happened during the war, but neither of us talk about it. I think any lasting pain is blamed not on 'The Germans' but on the Nazi regime -- it is in the past, and the next generation of Germans had no more part in it than those of us in Britain.

And I'm most impressed at what has happened in South Africa -- we never believed the transition could happen so smoothly. At least, it appears so from here -- I hope you are finding that people are now getting on together without hatred.

toddkaz · 08-27-2010, 06:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mish99

Im actually working with an elderly man who shot down a german plane in the war - the way he talks about it is actually quiet disgusting. I dislike all hatred towards anyone person, race, country etc... Its unecessary.

I get it ALOT about apartheid - yes it was more recent and absoloutly awful, but its over, lets move past and heal. Otherwise the next generations who actually have nothing to do with it will still hate each other. Its silly.

Thats rediculous. Telling people they have to move on and heal. How about someone murders your entire family while you hide in a closet then forgive them after being alone for the rest of your life.

Let's face in, it will never heal. Why would it. Things like that need to be remembered so they never happen again. Germany is a great country but all Germans care about is germans.

**mish99** · 08-27-2010, 07:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by toddkaz

Thats rediculous. Telling people they have to move on and heal. How about someone murders your entire family while you hide in a closet then forgive them after being alone for the rest of your life.

Let's face in, it will never heal. Why would it. Things like that need to be remembered so they never happen again. Germany is a great country but all Germans care about is germans.

Everyone needs to heal - its not that ridiculous a thought. We cant spend our entire lives hating a group of people for something that happened years ago. And im certainly not saying people should forget! I agree that it needs to be remembered, but how is anyone going to move past it all if we dont stop being so hateful towards others. We are just breeding more hateful people, more people against race, religion etc... and its more likely for it to happen again! - THAT is why we need to move past it!

In my country specifically, everyone talks about revoloution and blacks and whites being equal, yet in reality there are still majoy undercurrents of racial hatred. I know 100% that my country DOES need to heal, so that future generations dont have to deal with this rubbish that we are having to deal with now.

The part about Germans only care about Germans - that is a bit of a generalization.