Thanks to Nate's blog for an interesting article, which led to this interesting article, about the sudden normalcy of seeing German flags in -- gasp! -- Germany.
I am especially intrigued by the teenager's haste in assuring the interviewer that her patriotic skirt isn't patriotic. Since the World Cup, the younger generation appears to have discovered a viable avenue for expressing some national pride, after all -- but only as long as it's fashionable and hip, and avoids any hint of politicism by a wide margin. This seems to confirm that this new phenomenon of attempting to redefine a country's image and sense of self-esteem is quite self-conscious. Somehow I imagine a homeowner looking over both shoulders as he raises his flag for the World Cup; then putting his fingers in his ears in expectation of the coming apocalypse as he makes the decision not to remove it immediately afterwards. Nothing happens... it waves prettily and harmlessly... and remains there, catastophe-free, for a whole year. Imagine that!
Sure, the movement is young, and largely based (for now) more on soccerfield pride than on some fervent belief in a nationally-recognized set of values -- as, for example, American or Swiss pride tends to be. However, the mere mention of that kind of patriotism still makes Germans recoil in horror. So for now, light and fluffy, sports-oriented "Go Krauts!" t-shirts are already a big step. Whatever it is, it's a good sign. Maybe there can be a "new" Germany, after all, defined by its future instead of only its past.
2 comments:
Dare we hope?
History moves pretty slow when watched in the rear-view mirror, yet somehow seems to vanish when we go around the next corner. Most people can tell you very little about the Crusades or Vlad, or the Germanic Wars... but then... they were just stories written by Homer or that Bible guy weren't they? Sometimes ignorance can be a tad bliss.
Love you!!
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