Kultur 9 -- Lars Lopatka

I really enjoyed all these readings because I thought most of them shed light on important facets of German culture. Although I do enjoy reading the culture articles that aim for humor, I think these articles had a little more substance to them.

I thought it was interesting reading "Bureaucracy Gone Awry: The German Certificate Fetish" and its counterpart "Welcome to America. Take a Number." I enjoyed balancing the German perspective on our bureaucracy with the original article. The idea of a "German certificate fetish" does not surprise me at all, it fits perfectly into the cultural Ordnung that permeates all of German culture. The excessive documentation that is required for German schooling, job applications, and taxpaying sounds horrendous. Although Germans may prove notorious for this offense, I definitely understand the perspective of the German-written article. D.M.V's and vaccination reports are definitely irritating, having just had to renew my passport (which was much more complicated than it should have been) I feel his pain.

"Love Thy Neighbor: German Law Tells You How" reveals the standard stereotypical image of Germans that we have seen in many of the Kultur-Texte. Cold, emotionless neighbors prepared to bring you to court for having more than one barbecue a month fails to surprise me. I wonder how rigidly enforced their "Ruhezeit" is because that seems almost impossible to live by.

The article I found extremely interesting is "Germany's Patriotism Problem: Just Don't Fly the Flag". I have often wondered how Germans relate to a pastime that obviously evokes humiliation and disgust rather than any pride. Although not all German history can be defined by the Nazi era, it obviously takes center-stage in most peoples' minds. I actually web-searched this topic after reading the article because I found the subject interesting. I completely agree that Germans should study and understand the Nazi history so as to learn from the past. Understanding why that happened and how awful that section of their history is should be emphasized. However, I don't understand why that 20 year period has completely destroyed the entire idea of German patriotism. Today's German citizens had nothing to do with the holocaust and I do not think it is fair that they feel this shame of their national identity. Conversely, I think it is perfectly acceptable for a German politician or any German to say "I love Germany".