Der Spiegel has an English-language article on trends toward nationalistic fashion among German youth. The implications are decidedly not cool.
Der Spiegel has an English-language article on trends toward nationalistic fashion among German youth. The implications are decidedly not cool.
The trend is disturbing but many of the underlying problems behind it are quite real. If they are not addressed, I fear that we’ll see this sort of reaction growing exponentially all over Europe (even more than now). And just demonizing right-wing extremism (as politically correct minded people often do) won’t do as an answer.
I don’t know if it’s a backlash against “political correctness” (but that’s because I reject the myth of “political correctness”), but it definitely seems like a disturbing social trend. It seems like a backlash by rebelling kids who don’t understand the enormity of National Socialism in its prime. Like usually happens in any fairly open society, people embrace ideals that are appealing only because of their general taboo-ness rather than their actual ideas. Then again, any acceptance of a such horrible ideology deserves some examination.
“I don’t know if it’s a backlash against “political correctness” (but that’s because I reject the myth of “political correctness”), but it definitely seems like a disturbing social trend.”
I agree that it is a disturbing social trend. My point is that it’s not so much a backlash against political correctness (altough that is probably part of the equation), as a reaction against social ills that are real. These include deep problems with the integration of immigrants, security concerns and the crippling and socially destructive effects of European welfare states and public education.
In this context, and given the lack of consistent political and philosophical alternatives, it doesn’t surprise me that we see more and more young people following this route in Europe.
I don’t have a final answer on how to deal with this but I’m pretty sure banning concerts, outlawing political parties (as was the case recently in Belgium) and generally demonizing right-wing extremism (while accepting into the system the several left-wing varieties) is not going to work.
I think AAA is correct. Prohibitions simply create forbidden fruit. Nazi books and paraphernalia have been illegal in Germany since the war (or shortly thereafter).
German schools teach German war guilt. I have talked with a German friend who was raised with this and seemed to think it effective, but he grew up in a time of more economic growth. I would suppose that in the face of underlying problems — e.g. cultural clashes and economic stagnation — it has limited effectiveness.
I’d think that Europe (and the rest of us) need at least two things: 1) a consistent theory of individual rights and widespread appreciation of it, and 2) better economic policy.
I doubt European social democracy can provide either of these.
I do not think that the post-war generations were tought anything like collective guilt.
a) However they were tought that they -and only they- were responsible for their future and that is why it was important to understand the past, including: who started what, when and why. This is what mainly the US and British liberation forces managed to implement (1945-1949).
b) Postwar education in terms of democracy focused on one clear message: There is no room for antisemitism, totalitarianism and racism in the Federal Republic of Germany. These notions are if anything first of all anti-German. Germans don’t want them, Germans don’t need them. Period.
The question is whether one should tolerate anything in the name of Freedom of expression.
Re: social and economic problems causing antisemitism and racism among young generations: Here it is precisely not the case. East Germany is a different issue. (unlike a, b)
In the western part of Germany we also have cases of children belonging to the middle and upper-middle class and they certainly do not live in slums. Are these kids just “playing” with a taboo in order to shock their parents?
Either the authors are mistaking and we really have issues with a failed denazifinaction here, or they are right and I wonder where the parental responsibility re: their upbring is (see a). In any case we have a problem and we need a solution.
NV
Oy.
I was living in Germany (Bremen, Hamburg, and Berlin) when the wall fell. I certainly saw the racial pressures “caused” by the Turks living there. I was actually beaten up once by a bunch of drunk teens for defending some auslaenders they were baiting.
That said, I think this article is a of a type. Germans love to wring their hands. One one hand, it is annoying, but on another, it is an extremely important aspect of the current culture. Speaking of which,
“I do not think that the post-war generations were tought anything like collective guilt.”
If you think that, then you’ve never lived there. The attitude is somewhat more nuanced, to be sure, but it is very, very real.
Oh, one other thing I intended to mention but didn’t [never comment in public before the first cup of coffee, snit] is that I do agree that the speech restrictions and political suppression should stop now; indeed, it should have stopped some time ago.
It was appropriate coming out of WWII. If you disagree, then you must also disagree with much of the political suppression the US currently does now with Iraq. More generally, community is much, much stronger in Germany than in the US; if there hadn’t been an official saction on certain attitudes, a clean break, those attitudes would have carried over much more strongly than they did.
That said, continuing suppression only allows people to feel persecuted. As any intelligent person knows, persecution complexes form communities, which strive to perpetuate themselves. Germany should let the air out of the bubble – let the radicals speak. Public condemnation will be the best antisceptic now. The restrictions were good, at the time. They no longer are, and are, indeed, counterproductive.
OK, I’ll shut up now.
“Denazifinaction”, “upbring”… dyslexia meets Dr. Freud!
I have a new idol: Anurag Kashyap.
“If you think that, then you have never lived there”.
It is BECAUSE I live here that I know that there is a difference between what is tought and what is -sometimes- understood.
NV
“It is BECAUSE I live here that I know that there is a difference between what is tought and what is -sometimes- understood.”
Well, what do you expect? People are, on the average, below expectations for moral reasoning. [insert humor here, perhaps a contrast with Lake Wobegone.]
I’m talking about social norms, which are quite strong, and self-reenforcing; cf. my earlier references to reasons to air the dirty laundry.
I’m just throwing this out there but is there any sort of a link between a vast welfare system and racism? Since whenever I hear about racism going on in a particular country the reasons that are cited most often are something along the lines of “they’re sucking dry our tax money” in regards to welfare. This is definately the case in England and even in the United States. Does anyone know more about this?
Well, the argument isn’t there for countries that don’t have welfare. A similar case could be made for plastic toys.
I think there is an economic argument to be made about the differential economies involved: certainly, Mexicans come north to harvest tomatoes* in the south US. This does enrage certain morons. I tend to think that this is a good thing(tm), but others may disagree.
* and cotton, and tobacco, and… I spent two years harvesting them. I actually started smoking, to build up a defence against the tobacco barns – they’re dangerous. If you don’t like that, try puking from nicotine poisoning when you’re seventy feet up in a barn, balancing on a pole. I preferred merely watering tomatoes all day. Then, all I had to worry about was ticks. (Cotton sucked too, but for other reasons.)
Average wage: variable, about $20/day.
I’m not sure if anyone else has seen this, or if it has made it to the U.S. yet, but while I was in Hong Kong and Mainland China you could find many many clothes with Mao screenprinted on them. The clothes were obviously attempting to be hip in some sort of way. Not understanding the nuances of chinese culture, I was left wondering if it was hip because it was ironic, or for some other reason completely. I sometimes wear clothes for ironic reasons, but I would never feel comfortable wearing a shirt with Mao on it.