Pretty hefty! Jody Rosen writes about her - dare I say obsessive? - investigation of the weekly Bulletin's knack for plagiarism. Apparently, the Texan newspaper has developed the incredible skill of 'borrowing' other people's writing, repackaging it and selling it off as their own - in almost every piece.
But although the article smells more like a witch hunt than anything else, Rosen makes an interesting point. Is what the Bulletin editor is doing so different from RSS-feed gurus The Huffington Post or Drudge Report?
If you get through the 100 linked examples of pure plagiarism in this piece, you may go and decide for yourself. Unfortunately, Rosen doesn't answer the question, which makes the article - I'm sorry to say it because it was a delightful read - somewhat lopsided.
All I know is that this might be one of the wildest examples of mass 'borrowing' I have heard of to date. It also makes me wonder why large publications are not protecting their writers with "plagiarism software." They'd probably be amazed at what they would find...
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Saturday, August 9, 2008
The Newest on Edwards. Or McCain? Or Obama?
In this Slate piece, Christopher Beam takes a stab at contextualizing the Edward's 'scandal' for the Presidential campaigns. A question he seems to me raising is whether or not this gives Obama a way in to swirl up McCains' past (given JMc's recent Paris Hilton stunt.)
But sadly, Beam seems too be taking this campaign's high-school-like repuation-jiu jitsu for granted. Shouldn't he be asking the question when campaigners, and the nation, will grow up to seperate private from public? I might have overlooked some vital statistic, but what exactly was the correlation between love life and leadership?
It's just too typical that the media would gobble up such petty details but should they really waste their time getting readers all juiced up for intrigues to come? I think not.
But sadly, Beam seems too be taking this campaign's high-school-like repuation-jiu jitsu for granted. Shouldn't he be asking the question when campaigners, and the nation, will grow up to seperate private from public? I might have overlooked some vital statistic, but what exactly was the correlation between love life and leadership?
It's just too typical that the media would gobble up such petty details but should they really waste their time getting readers all juiced up for intrigues to come? I think not.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
McCain, Obama and Paris Hilton
Not a combo I thought I’d see in this election. Then again, why am I not surprised?
I found two very different articles about McCain’s Obama, Hilton and Spears ad.
Although WCBSTV did a good job at taking a closer look at campaign ad “propaganda,” I will have to go with the Huffington Post coverage. Interestingly enough, they blamed the media. More power to media that discusses the media.
I found two very different articles about McCain’s Obama, Hilton and Spears ad.
Although WCBSTV did a good job at taking a closer look at campaign ad “propaganda,” I will have to go with the Huffington Post coverage. Interestingly enough, they blamed the media. More power to media that discusses the media.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
And it's getting better...
Olympic athletes are not only tested for drugs and steroids, but also for their gender. Who knew? Well, at least we now know that those are real women competing. Not very womanly men but very manly women...
But since when has sex been an either/or thing? Where do these people draw the line? There are hundreds of different "abnormalities" that can show up in genetic testing.
Only women who "look" suspicious are being asked to verify their gender during these games. Imagine the insult!
NYTimes Article, Published June 30, 2008
But since when has sex been an either/or thing? Where do these people draw the line? There are hundreds of different "abnormalities" that can show up in genetic testing.
Only women who "look" suspicious are being asked to verify their gender during these games. Imagine the insult!
NYTimes Article, Published June 30, 2008
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Monday, July 28, 2008
"Darling I have to tell you something"
A feature story about self-actualization, courage and latex fetish gear
Julie looks dashing in a black miniskirt, but she’ll wear anything you want if you give her at least an hours’ notice.
She is an empathetic listener, an adventurous lover and will never give you the feeling that you are just a paying customer. Julie knows what men want and is happiest when she can make their wildest dreams come true. In her free time, Julie loves to ride her motorcycles, watches Formula 1 races on television and every so often forgets to shave.
That is when Julie turns back into Jürgen, a straight, 40-year-old man from Berlin, who has been in a relationship with Jenny, a straight woman, for over six years.
As a transvestite prostitute, Jürgen Petersen has been challenging the borders almost every society has drawn. In heels and fishnets, he personifies a gender identity crossover and defies every “either/or” our culture prescribes – with gusto.
While most are caught in the war between self-actualization and societal pressure, Jürgen has been offered an olive branch in the shape of women’s clothes.
“Some people turn to alcohol, I chose this,” he explains.
Jürgen grew up as an only child in an upper-middle class family. After high school, he studied business and now owns a successful mail-delivery company. Only few people know about Julie, and he is careful to not let his two lives overlap.
But keeping Julie a secret has been harder than expected. “On my father’s birthday a couple of years ago, he came up to me and told me he was worried about what he heard, that I run around dressed like a woman. And I just asked him what exactly he was worried about. I have four cars, a couple of motorcycles, I own a business, I can pay rent, and I don’t skip one day of work because I am doing something else. So what exactly are you worried about now? He couldn’t really think of anything.” Jürgen and his father don’t speak very often.
In his worn-out leather motorcycle vest and loose blue jeans, he is every bit a mans’ man – unshaven, strong-featured and muscular. Only his carefully manicured fingers could hint at a double-life. He orders a beer and lights his first cigarette. This is clearly not the first time he has analyzed the horrors of his “pre-trans” years.
“There were times when by 10 in the morning I received my 23rd phone call. I have always been the go-to person for everybody. I am a strong man and I carry a lot of responsibility not just for myself, but for my girlfriend and the people who work for me too. There were times when Jenny and I went out dancing and I realized that I was jealous. Jealous of the way people treated her, of the way she could dance so freely. And I was caught in my head. These were things I just could not do but wanted to so badly.”
It didn’t take long until Jürgen knew what was missing in his life. Still, he remembers that telling Jenny his secret was one of the most difficult things he ever had to do.
“She was just sitting there all happy and free on the back of my motorcycle, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. She was holding on to me and was giggling and laughing and I suddenly knew I had to tell her that day.” Later that evening, when she was just about to fall asleep, he just blurted it out.
“Darling, I have to tell you something,” he started, and he explained to her how closed in he felt, how unhappy he was and what he thought needed to change.
“She just nodded and I was so relieved!”
A few minutes later, however, when Jürgen was already online ordering extra-large pumps and dresses, Jenny stormed in furiously. “You want to do what?!”
Jenny, herself a former prostitute, soon became accustomed to the idea and after a while, Jürgen had his first “outing.” “We spent hours getting me ready. With wig and heels and all. And then we went dancing.”
Then Jürgen gives a shy smile, revealing a charming tooth gap, “Do you know what it felt like to be able to dance as a woman for the first time? It was the most beautiful feeling in the world!”
After his first outing, Jürgen was euphoric. He started neglecting Jenny and some of the issues that were jeopardizing their relationship. One major factor was Jürgen’s inability to cope with his girlfriend’s past as a prostitute.
“Every time I thought about the stories she told me I would get sick. I tried everything: talking about it, not talking about it, ignoring it. Everything. But the things she had told me kept coming up like a movie in my head. It was destroying us.” The couple eventually broke up. The split, Jürgen realizes in hindsight, was crucial for his exploration of “Julie’s” true purpose.
Not an easy undertaking. There is little statistical data or conclusive literature about transvestism. Although it is not a new phenomenon – there are records of cross-dressing mythical figures to medieval saints – it is widely understudied. There are few clear-cut estimates as to the number of cross-dressers in the population, not least because few experts agree on what transvestism actually is.
The American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual defines transvestism as recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors involving cross-dressing. This should not be confused with transsexualism, which is marked by a discrepancy between felt and actual gender.
Jürgen then, as a transvestite, enjoys being a man and is not planning on changing his biological identity. However, he receives gratification, sexual or other, from playing a female persona.
Soon Jürgen started plunging into the complexity of his alter ego Julie.
One night, a man at a club started hitting on Julie quite aggressively, “I had never been in a situation like that before. This man was being so rude I thought, well, I could punch him right out. But then I remembered that I was a woman. So I did what I thought a real woman would do, and I gave the bartender a helpless look. He kicked the guy out right away.”
Jürgen’s voice cracks. He leans in and says, “That was the first time I had been protected by somebody. For the first time in my life, I felt safe. I was the helpless one. I was taken care of. I think that is a huge part of why I cross-dress.”
The more Jürgen went out as Julie, the more serious his hobby became. While he was separated from Jenny, he also made the transition from mere cross-dressing to working professionally as an escort. And this shift saved his relationship.
“I was hanging out at a club one night. A customer came up to me and I realized he thought I worked there [as a prostitute]. Then my head started racing. On the one hand, I was kind of excited by the idea, although I had never considered it. On the other hand, I just had this ‘aha-moment’ and I thought, maybe this is the way to come to terms with Jenny’s past. So I did it. I took the man upstairs and it was almost like a meditation. Every time I recalled what Jenny had told me, it hurt less and less. I had found a way to deal with her past by doing it myself.”
Now Jenny and Jürgen are back together and Julie is a fairly steady source of extra income. “Not that I need it,” Jürgen jokes. Sometimes, when a customer is not what he expected, Jürgen just pictures what features his new motorcycle will have.
His motivation for continually taking money for sex is complex. Playing the submissive female prostitute just happens to give him what he lacks as a man, he says.
Julie receives about 10 to 15 calls a week with requests ranging from harmless escort services to hard-core fetish acts. Although Jürgen could never get involved with a man as a man, when he turns into Julie he comes to life in the role of a woman.
“I would never do anything as Julie that any other woman could not do. Meaning, I am always passive. Ironically, I am not even turned on by men. I just like being treated like a woman and to give like a woman.”
During over 70 “jobs” in the last two years, Jürgen has received a fair share of wacko customers. He remembers being booked by a wealthy businessman, who first only wanted to talk about his profession and life, “then he took his clothes off and under his business suit he was wearing full-on latex fetish gear with fishnets. Even I was shocked.”
With most costumers, Jürgen feels that he is filling a niche of sexual preference that more men fall into than he had expected.
“Some find transvestites more feminine and they like that. Others have some form of latent homosexuality, but they can’t bring themselves to get it on with a real man. And then there are some who are actually straight but think another man will be better at certain things than a woman.” Jürgen always asks his customers why they come to him. It is part of making his job a healing experience.
Coming out and throwing himself into his first pair of high heels was by far Jürgen’s most challenging experience. And although he catapulted himself into the margins of society, by splitting in two, he finally feels like a complete human being.
“The only tricky moments,” he concludes, giving a faintly suggestive eye-roll, “are when I enter the woman’s restroom and realize I am a man, today.”
Julie looks dashing in a black miniskirt, but she’ll wear anything you want if you give her at least an hours’ notice.
She is an empathetic listener, an adventurous lover and will never give you the feeling that you are just a paying customer. Julie knows what men want and is happiest when she can make their wildest dreams come true. In her free time, Julie loves to ride her motorcycles, watches Formula 1 races on television and every so often forgets to shave.
That is when Julie turns back into Jürgen, a straight, 40-year-old man from Berlin, who has been in a relationship with Jenny, a straight woman, for over six years.
As a transvestite prostitute, Jürgen Petersen has been challenging the borders almost every society has drawn. In heels and fishnets, he personifies a gender identity crossover and defies every “either/or” our culture prescribes – with gusto.
While most are caught in the war between self-actualization and societal pressure, Jürgen has been offered an olive branch in the shape of women’s clothes.
“Some people turn to alcohol, I chose this,” he explains.
Jürgen grew up as an only child in an upper-middle class family. After high school, he studied business and now owns a successful mail-delivery company. Only few people know about Julie, and he is careful to not let his two lives overlap.
But keeping Julie a secret has been harder than expected. “On my father’s birthday a couple of years ago, he came up to me and told me he was worried about what he heard, that I run around dressed like a woman. And I just asked him what exactly he was worried about. I have four cars, a couple of motorcycles, I own a business, I can pay rent, and I don’t skip one day of work because I am doing something else. So what exactly are you worried about now? He couldn’t really think of anything.” Jürgen and his father don’t speak very often.
In his worn-out leather motorcycle vest and loose blue jeans, he is every bit a mans’ man – unshaven, strong-featured and muscular. Only his carefully manicured fingers could hint at a double-life. He orders a beer and lights his first cigarette. This is clearly not the first time he has analyzed the horrors of his “pre-trans” years.
“There were times when by 10 in the morning I received my 23rd phone call. I have always been the go-to person for everybody. I am a strong man and I carry a lot of responsibility not just for myself, but for my girlfriend and the people who work for me too. There were times when Jenny and I went out dancing and I realized that I was jealous. Jealous of the way people treated her, of the way she could dance so freely. And I was caught in my head. These were things I just could not do but wanted to so badly.”
It didn’t take long until Jürgen knew what was missing in his life. Still, he remembers that telling Jenny his secret was one of the most difficult things he ever had to do.
“She was just sitting there all happy and free on the back of my motorcycle, and I couldn’t stand it anymore. She was holding on to me and was giggling and laughing and I suddenly knew I had to tell her that day.” Later that evening, when she was just about to fall asleep, he just blurted it out.
“Darling, I have to tell you something,” he started, and he explained to her how closed in he felt, how unhappy he was and what he thought needed to change.
“She just nodded and I was so relieved!”
A few minutes later, however, when Jürgen was already online ordering extra-large pumps and dresses, Jenny stormed in furiously. “You want to do what?!”
Jenny, herself a former prostitute, soon became accustomed to the idea and after a while, Jürgen had his first “outing.” “We spent hours getting me ready. With wig and heels and all. And then we went dancing.”
Then Jürgen gives a shy smile, revealing a charming tooth gap, “Do you know what it felt like to be able to dance as a woman for the first time? It was the most beautiful feeling in the world!”
After his first outing, Jürgen was euphoric. He started neglecting Jenny and some of the issues that were jeopardizing their relationship. One major factor was Jürgen’s inability to cope with his girlfriend’s past as a prostitute.
“Every time I thought about the stories she told me I would get sick. I tried everything: talking about it, not talking about it, ignoring it. Everything. But the things she had told me kept coming up like a movie in my head. It was destroying us.” The couple eventually broke up. The split, Jürgen realizes in hindsight, was crucial for his exploration of “Julie’s” true purpose.
Not an easy undertaking. There is little statistical data or conclusive literature about transvestism. Although it is not a new phenomenon – there are records of cross-dressing mythical figures to medieval saints – it is widely understudied. There are few clear-cut estimates as to the number of cross-dressers in the population, not least because few experts agree on what transvestism actually is.
The American Psychological Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual defines transvestism as recurrent, intense sexually arousing fantasies, sexual urges, or behaviors involving cross-dressing. This should not be confused with transsexualism, which is marked by a discrepancy between felt and actual gender.
Jürgen then, as a transvestite, enjoys being a man and is not planning on changing his biological identity. However, he receives gratification, sexual or other, from playing a female persona.
Soon Jürgen started plunging into the complexity of his alter ego Julie.
One night, a man at a club started hitting on Julie quite aggressively, “I had never been in a situation like that before. This man was being so rude I thought, well, I could punch him right out. But then I remembered that I was a woman. So I did what I thought a real woman would do, and I gave the bartender a helpless look. He kicked the guy out right away.”
Jürgen’s voice cracks. He leans in and says, “That was the first time I had been protected by somebody. For the first time in my life, I felt safe. I was the helpless one. I was taken care of. I think that is a huge part of why I cross-dress.”
The more Jürgen went out as Julie, the more serious his hobby became. While he was separated from Jenny, he also made the transition from mere cross-dressing to working professionally as an escort. And this shift saved his relationship.
“I was hanging out at a club one night. A customer came up to me and I realized he thought I worked there [as a prostitute]. Then my head started racing. On the one hand, I was kind of excited by the idea, although I had never considered it. On the other hand, I just had this ‘aha-moment’ and I thought, maybe this is the way to come to terms with Jenny’s past. So I did it. I took the man upstairs and it was almost like a meditation. Every time I recalled what Jenny had told me, it hurt less and less. I had found a way to deal with her past by doing it myself.”
Now Jenny and Jürgen are back together and Julie is a fairly steady source of extra income. “Not that I need it,” Jürgen jokes. Sometimes, when a customer is not what he expected, Jürgen just pictures what features his new motorcycle will have.
His motivation for continually taking money for sex is complex. Playing the submissive female prostitute just happens to give him what he lacks as a man, he says.
Julie receives about 10 to 15 calls a week with requests ranging from harmless escort services to hard-core fetish acts. Although Jürgen could never get involved with a man as a man, when he turns into Julie he comes to life in the role of a woman.
“I would never do anything as Julie that any other woman could not do. Meaning, I am always passive. Ironically, I am not even turned on by men. I just like being treated like a woman and to give like a woman.”
During over 70 “jobs” in the last two years, Jürgen has received a fair share of wacko customers. He remembers being booked by a wealthy businessman, who first only wanted to talk about his profession and life, “then he took his clothes off and under his business suit he was wearing full-on latex fetish gear with fishnets. Even I was shocked.”
With most costumers, Jürgen feels that he is filling a niche of sexual preference that more men fall into than he had expected.
“Some find transvestites more feminine and they like that. Others have some form of latent homosexuality, but they can’t bring themselves to get it on with a real man. And then there are some who are actually straight but think another man will be better at certain things than a woman.” Jürgen always asks his customers why they come to him. It is part of making his job a healing experience.
Coming out and throwing himself into his first pair of high heels was by far Jürgen’s most challenging experience. And although he catapulted himself into the margins of society, by splitting in two, he finally feels like a complete human being.
“The only tricky moments,” he concludes, giving a faintly suggestive eye-roll, “are when I enter the woman’s restroom and realize I am a man, today.”
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Super interesting, somewhat far fetched and yet acutely plausible
Feature article from Intelligent Life. Published November 7, 2007:
Did Hitler's flatulence cause WWII?
Did Hitler's flatulence cause WWII?
Friday, July 25, 2008
Saddam vs. Janet
The last time I remember being appalled by imagery in the news (read abysmally shocked here) was when footage of Saddam Hussein’s execution was publicly aired on US television. Curiosity definitely killed this cat - I watched the whole video and felt dirty for days.
Stop. Rewind. Super Bowl Sunday 2004. Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson and Janet’s right breast. No, wait, did I really just see her breast? Was there nipple?
These two images are so different I can hardly find similarities. But what struck me the most was that one was fallowed by a lawsuit while the other was officially translated by CNN for everybody to understand. We all know it wasn’t the boob.
So Americans are verklempt. Old news. But how come people are screaming ‘therapy’ over a breast while their children are watching a man being executed on television?
The public’s lust for gory images aside, the media has a responsibility to keep these people sane. It doesn’t matter if Bush was able to cross Saddam off his list, these are not the Middle Ages and executions should no longer be public spectacles. It doesn’t matter if Janet’s faux pas was a ‘wardrobe malfunction,’ being exposed to a normal part of female anatomy should not be considered traumatizing. Call me crazy, but I think Freud would agree.
In comparison, German news loves the infamous ‘white-sheet over dead body’ image. Every car crash shows the bloodstain on glass littered pavement. Death is implied. People are living on. Some of the most horrific and therefore most powerful pictures in journalism history have, in fact, said more than 1000 words. Think Vietnam Napalm by Nick Ut or Richard Drew’s Falling Man. Their power lies in what they imply rather than their gruesome detail.
Interestingly enough, a group of researchers found that viewing gory pictures actually causes temporary blindness. Meaning, you won’t be paying a lot of attention to what you are reading if the whole bloody mess is shown right next to it. If horrific pictures are exploited to sell a story, I say get better writers.
Other than that, it is the medias’ reaction that loads an image. Chances are, your child’s therapy sessions will be more about our cultures’ confusing prissiness than a pop-singer’s exposed mammary gland.
Stop. Rewind. Super Bowl Sunday 2004. Justin Timberlake, Janet Jackson and Janet’s right breast. No, wait, did I really just see her breast? Was there nipple?
These two images are so different I can hardly find similarities. But what struck me the most was that one was fallowed by a lawsuit while the other was officially translated by CNN for everybody to understand. We all know it wasn’t the boob.
So Americans are verklempt. Old news. But how come people are screaming ‘therapy’ over a breast while their children are watching a man being executed on television?
The public’s lust for gory images aside, the media has a responsibility to keep these people sane. It doesn’t matter if Bush was able to cross Saddam off his list, these are not the Middle Ages and executions should no longer be public spectacles. It doesn’t matter if Janet’s faux pas was a ‘wardrobe malfunction,’ being exposed to a normal part of female anatomy should not be considered traumatizing. Call me crazy, but I think Freud would agree.
In comparison, German news loves the infamous ‘white-sheet over dead body’ image. Every car crash shows the bloodstain on glass littered pavement. Death is implied. People are living on. Some of the most horrific and therefore most powerful pictures in journalism history have, in fact, said more than 1000 words. Think Vietnam Napalm by Nick Ut or Richard Drew’s Falling Man. Their power lies in what they imply rather than their gruesome detail.
Interestingly enough, a group of researchers found that viewing gory pictures actually causes temporary blindness. Meaning, you won’t be paying a lot of attention to what you are reading if the whole bloody mess is shown right next to it. If horrific pictures are exploited to sell a story, I say get better writers.
Other than that, it is the medias’ reaction that loads an image. Chances are, your child’s therapy sessions will be more about our cultures’ confusing prissiness than a pop-singer’s exposed mammary gland.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Insulted by a chimp...
Search Google for ‘German sense of humor’ and you’ll find a few things about what it is not. “Funny” is one of them, “existent” is another. So of course, as a German, I didn’t laugh about this great article from Intelligent Life, I posted it out of journalistic inquisitiveness only. This is a great example of how recent research can be turned into a good read. Apparently, I can learn a thing or two from chimps . . .
Monday, July 14, 2008
Where Love and Loathing Meet – a Fourth of July celebration in Berlin
If you have never seen a Bavarian dressed in a full cowboy getup, or shared some ribs with a 60-year-old Berlin bus driver wearing red, white, and blue leggings, then you haven’t been to an America Street Fest in Berlin. A day after George H.W. Bush Sr. spoke at the reopening of the über-modern U.S. embassy on Independence Day, these and like-minded German citizens officially celebrated Fourth of July at the Brandenburg Gate – the symbol of unity in the heart of the German republic.
But as bizarre as Berlin behavior might be sometimes, few would expect America’s most patriotic holiday to turn into a love fest in Germany. Data collected by the PEW Research Center shows that roughly half of the population believes that America’s main goal is to dominate the world, 65 percent question the sincerity of the U.S. war on terrorism, and over three quarters are against spreading American ideas and customs. Why then was Kurt the Krautmeister serving American-style Hot Dogs instead of Bratwurst this past weekend?
Don Jordan, retired Germany correspondent to CBS News and The Guardian, pinpointed the complex gap between flagrant German anti-Americanism and the historical reality: “Germans would be against celebrating George W. Bush’s birthday, but they do have to thank the U.S. for their existence.”
And Bush Sr. didn’t hesitate to remind people of America’s impact on Germany. On July 3, he received the Henry A. Kissinger Prize from the American Academy in Berlin for his role in Germany’s unification. He warmly remembered the negotiations with French president François Mitterrand, who apparently loved Germany so much he wanted two of them, and recalled numerous 6,000-calorie dinners with portly former chancellor Helmut Kohl, his German counterpart in 1989.
"My underlying policy was that Germany should determine what it wanted to be," he said, summing up America’s highly effective strategy during unification. "Germany had earned its place in Europe, free and whole." Few Germans would question that the U.S. played a crucial role in ending the division of Europe.
All things considered, these Fourth of July festivities in Berlin fell into the gray area between German resentment and thankfulness, and the lasso-swinging Berliners and barbecue guzzling Bavarians are the symptom of a conflicted German mind.
“I understand that Bush should be here for the opening of the embassy,” said one Berlin woman attending the event. “But we don’t need to start adopting U.S. holidays now, not every year.”
On the other hand, most agreed with the legginged bus-driver. “He is Berlins’ daddy. Germany should be thankful to the U.S. for all that they have done for them. Bush belongs to Berlin.”
America’s foreign policy, its refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol, or its continued implementation of the death penalty are fighting up against Germany’s deep-seated memory of the Berlin Airlift, reunification negotiations, and the vast impact U.S. technology and innovation has had. This clash of ancestral tenderness for America and dire disillusionment lies at the heart of Germany’s relationship to the U.S., which may relativize the pessimistic poll data much to America’s favor.
As long as German sentiments remain in the vacuum between grudge and gratitude, it seems that everything is not lost in terms of respect and support for the US. While America will have to work at reestablishing its reputation, its impact has not been forgotten and with a bit of luck and a new president, a positive attitude may someday not be limited to past glory.
But as bizarre as Berlin behavior might be sometimes, few would expect America’s most patriotic holiday to turn into a love fest in Germany. Data collected by the PEW Research Center shows that roughly half of the population believes that America’s main goal is to dominate the world, 65 percent question the sincerity of the U.S. war on terrorism, and over three quarters are against spreading American ideas and customs. Why then was Kurt the Krautmeister serving American-style Hot Dogs instead of Bratwurst this past weekend?
Don Jordan, retired Germany correspondent to CBS News and The Guardian, pinpointed the complex gap between flagrant German anti-Americanism and the historical reality: “Germans would be against celebrating George W. Bush’s birthday, but they do have to thank the U.S. for their existence.”
And Bush Sr. didn’t hesitate to remind people of America’s impact on Germany. On July 3, he received the Henry A. Kissinger Prize from the American Academy in Berlin for his role in Germany’s unification. He warmly remembered the negotiations with French president François Mitterrand, who apparently loved Germany so much he wanted two of them, and recalled numerous 6,000-calorie dinners with portly former chancellor Helmut Kohl, his German counterpart in 1989.
"My underlying policy was that Germany should determine what it wanted to be," he said, summing up America’s highly effective strategy during unification. "Germany had earned its place in Europe, free and whole." Few Germans would question that the U.S. played a crucial role in ending the division of Europe.
All things considered, these Fourth of July festivities in Berlin fell into the gray area between German resentment and thankfulness, and the lasso-swinging Berliners and barbecue guzzling Bavarians are the symptom of a conflicted German mind.
“I understand that Bush should be here for the opening of the embassy,” said one Berlin woman attending the event. “But we don’t need to start adopting U.S. holidays now, not every year.”
On the other hand, most agreed with the legginged bus-driver. “He is Berlins’ daddy. Germany should be thankful to the U.S. for all that they have done for them. Bush belongs to Berlin.”
America’s foreign policy, its refusal to sign the Kyoto Protocol, or its continued implementation of the death penalty are fighting up against Germany’s deep-seated memory of the Berlin Airlift, reunification negotiations, and the vast impact U.S. technology and innovation has had. This clash of ancestral tenderness for America and dire disillusionment lies at the heart of Germany’s relationship to the U.S., which may relativize the pessimistic poll data much to America’s favor.
As long as German sentiments remain in the vacuum between grudge and gratitude, it seems that everything is not lost in terms of respect and support for the US. While America will have to work at reestablishing its reputation, its impact has not been forgotten and with a bit of luck and a new president, a positive attitude may someday not be limited to past glory.
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