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Well, the Eurozone speaks English most of the time, so it's Germany, anyway
I agree that Bundesrepublik is more formal, it is the word of choice on news programs etc. Patriots and nationalists would hardly use that word when greeting Hitler
it's worse than that, many anchormen on German tv refer to their country as "Germany" (like in "made in Germany" instead of "hergestellet in D") and speak a pretentious mix of English and German. But sometimes to give the impression that they still speak German, they use heavy, academic German, like "nichtdestotrotz" instead of simply"trotzdem".The German language ("Hochdeutsch") , which is beautiful, becomes ugly in their mouths, like in the times when it was misused by the "Funktionären"of the GDR (for instance the Iron Curtain was called "Antifaschisticher Schutzwall" and if you called it "die Schandmauer" you ended up in jail for months, or years.
A bunch of pretentious,half illiterate neo -German "opinionmakers" like Ilbrit Meiner and other talk show hosts, Spiegel and HuffPost editors..
I sometimes watch Tagesschau online, I have never heard anyone there say Germany instead of Bundesrepublik or Deutschland. Nor do they speak a mix of German and English. So what are you talking about?!
Made in XYZ is an international expression. It also says Made in China on Chinese products, not some Mandarin writing nobody understands.
Germany has gotten so politically correct and opposite-land, that some people don't even say "Deutschland". Even saying the word is too "patriotic". Some people just say "Der Bundesrepublik" which is another way of referencing the country. People didn't even show the flag until the 2006 WC.
There is some truth in this.
I remember when Germany got the World Cup in 2006 and many of the debates on TV whether it was appropriate for Germans to actively show too much support and patriotism towards their country. They even questioned having the german flag on your car or window. Now mind you this was at a time where, because of the world cup, one could see almost every flag of every participating country on some car or in some window.
But the Germans had to stop and consider if it was OK for them to do the same. As you rightly pointed out before that it was virtually unheard of or unseen for Germans to showcase their countries colours in public.
To this day in many cases Germans still have to be careful not to show too much passion for their country otherwise they will swiftly be reminded of the countries transgressions in the past.
Unfortunately (IMHO) this also has fostered some of the over the top PC culture in Germany.
That's the point!
Why should they have been modest about it.
Every other country who hosted the WC is/was allowed to be absolutely crazy about it and supportive of their host nation.
But in Germany it was partly considered ridiculous and in instance even inappropriate.
In 376 AD a group of Germanic peoples gathered on the borders of the Roman Empire and asked to be allowed to settle inside Roman territory. They were migrants seeking safety from the Huns, who had invaded their homeland. The Emperor Valens allowed them entry, hoping that they would become productive farmers and soldiers for the Empire. No one would have predicted that 100 years later in 476 AD, a Germanic general would depose the last Western Roman Emperor and plunge Europe into centuries of chaos.
The Germanic migrants comprised a very small percentage of the population in the Roman provinces they settled in (estimates put them at around 2% of the population of Gaul, for example), but the chaos that ensued was remarkable. No one can predict what will happen with hundreds of thousands of migrants allowed to move at will throughout the EU. Not to mention the cultural differences between the new arrivals and the host societies... I think it would be wise for European governments to proceed with caution...
Last edited by r_u_a_wizard; 09-18-2015 at 08:24 PM..
But the U.S. is an abbreviation for the United States.
You are a German speaker, correct? You don't think that people sometimes say the more neutral-sounding Bundesrepublik to avoid saying Deutschland? It's a longer term, not an abbreviation.
Well, there is no such thing as 'a Germany'. It is a republic.
I don't see how accept immigrants and refugees has anything to do with political correctness. Does not despising non-white equal political correctness? I am puzzled.
Regarding German's so-called "self-loathing" - I wish all European countries have more of that and less of patriotism/nationalism. Wars happened repeated precisely because of that. Germany is doing everything it can to prevent something like that from happening again, if it comes at the cost of some German pride, then I'd say it is totally worth it. Germany is one of the most responsible countries in the world nowadays.
The problem is the previous policy of openly accepting the refugees from Syria was a wrong policy. The problems in Syria include an Islamic terrorist organization. It is very possible and highly likely that members of this group will blend in with the refugees to travel to western Europe and set up shop (recruiting, training, and carrying out attacks). Being politically correct in this case means ignoring the possibility of terrorist hiding amongst the refugees. Its almost as if the German authorities are denying the existence of Islamic terrorist so as not to offend muslims. Its one thing to accept refugees who'll eventually blend in with the local culture, but these groups don't do such things. Their ultimate loyalty is to Islamic laws even if they run counter to the laws of the country they reside.
The problem is the previous policy of openly accepting the refugees from Syria was a wrong policy. The problems in Syria include an Islamic terrorist organization. It is very possible and highly likely that members of this group will blend in with the refugees to travel to western Europe and set up shop (recruiting, training, and carrying out attacks). Being politically correct in this case means ignoring the possibility of terrorist hiding amongst the refugees. Its almost as if the German authorities are denying the existence of Islamic terrorist so as not to offend muslims. Its one thing to accept refugees who'll eventually blend in with the local culture, but these groups don't do such things. Their ultimate loyalty is to Islamic laws even if they run counter to the laws of the country they reside. Everybody agrees that the fact that Islamic terrorists hide among Syrian and Irakian migrants is the elephant in the room. However, even if the migrants were Christians or Buddhists, how could decently an EU in the throngs of a severe economical and Financial crisis feed, house and provide work to these million of migrants? it's not the USA in the 19th century and Lesbos island is not Ellis island. Natural resources and space are becoming scantier to the day (and the EU doesn't produce oil), Europe's density is very high already , nothing in common with the vast nearly empty spaces of NA in the 19th century. But in spite of all these facts which woould make a 5 yo chikd understand that mass immigration is not possible anymore in Europe, the leftists, the showbisness, the churches and the official medias (the HuffPost for instance)are repeating 24h/24 that all EU countries(no exception allowed even for tiny Slowakia or Estonia) should grant asylum to these million people, to these teelmng masses. It's way over the top in terms of craziness!
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