Posted on 06/21/2005 4:19:47 AM PDT by gr8eman
Back in the days of the Hapsburg Empire, there was a town in Bohemia called Budweis. The people in that town were called Budweisers and the town had a brewery which produced beer with the same name -- but different from the American Budweiser.
Like many communities in Bohemia during that era, Budweis had people of both Czech and German ancestries, speaking different languages, though many were also bilingual. They got along pretty well and most people there thought of themselves as Budweisers, rather than as Czechs or Germans. But that would later change -- for the worse -- not only in Budweis, but throughout Bohemia.
The mayor of Budweis spoke both Czech and German but refused to be classified as a member of either group. His point was that we are all Budweisers.
As with virtually all groups in virtually all countries and in virtually all eras, there were differences between the Germans and the Czechs. Germans were more educated, more prosperous, and more prominent in business and the professions.
The German language at that point had a much wider and richer literature, the Slavic languages having acquired written versions centuries later than the languages of Western Europe. Educated people of whatever ethnicity were educated in German.
Those Czechs who wished to rise into the upper echelons, whether in business, the military, or the professions, had to master the German language and culture, in order to fit in with those already at the higher levels.
People on both sides learned to live with this situation and Czechs were welcomed into the German cultural enclaves when they mastered that culture. In Budweis, they could all be Budweisers.
As in so many other countries and in so many other times, the rise of a newly educated intellectual class in the 19th century polarized the society with ethnic identity politics. All over Bohemia, the new Czech intelligentsia urged Czechs to think of themselves as Czechs, not Bohemians or Budweisers or anything else that would transcend their ethnic identity.
Demands were made that street signs in Prague, which had been in both Czech and German before, now be exclusively in Czech. Quotas were demanded for a certain percentage of Czech music to be played by the Budweiser orchestra.
If such demands seem petty, their consequences were not small. People of German ancestry resisted ethnic classifications but the Czech intelligentsia insisted and Czech politicians went along with the trend on many issues, large and small.
Eventually, Germans as well began in self-defense to think of themselves as Germans, rather than as Bohemians or Budweisers, and to defend their interests as Germans. This ethnic polarization in the 19th century was a fateful step whose full consequences have not yet ended completely, even in the 21st century.
A crucial turning point was the creation of the new nation of Czechoslovakia when the Hapsburg Empire was broken up after the First World War. Czech leaders declared the new nation's mission to include a correction of "social injustice" so as to "put right the historic wrongs of the seventeenth century."
What were those wrongs? Czech nobles who revolted against the Hapsburg Empire back in the 17th century were defeated and had their lands confiscated and turned over to Germans. Presumably no one from the 17th century was still alive when Czechoslovakia was created in the 20th century, but Czech nationalists kept the grievance alive -- as ethnic identity ideologues have done in countries around the world.
Government policies designed to undo history with preferential treatment for Czechs polarized the existing generation of Germans and Czechs. Bitter German reactions led eventually to demands that the part of the country where they lived be united with neighboring Germany. From this came the Munich crisis of 1938 that dismembered Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II.
When the Nazis conquered the whole country, the Germans now lorded it over the Czechs. After the war, the Czech reaction led to mass expulsions of Germans under brutal conditions that cost many lives. Today refugees in Germany are still demanding restitution.
If only the grievances of past centuries had been left in the past! If only they had all remained Budweisers or Bohemians.
The point is that this puerto-rican, irish or italian stuff can be carried too far, and with deadly consequences. Assimilation into American society is the best route for all. But no, those who trumpet the "old country" for whatever motives are often with us and Sowell's point here is that they are destructive of something that is good in the human spirit.
More great insight from Dr. Sowell, and it ain't got S**t to do with beer.
Eine koenig unter den bieren......
The good news is they have changed the name of the beer to get around this obstacle. If you have a large beer store nearby, you might try looking for a beer called "Czechvar."
For those who like language trivia, the Czech word for beer is "pivo". Here is the link for the company which produces the original. There are some nice links (the the corporate area) to how they make the beer, and some details of the court case which kept them out of the States: Czechvar
-Crolis
I went last year around Easter. I had a great time. The Budvar product is still a bad beer by local comparison. When your sitting on a mountain of Urquell why bother. I did try it though, and everything else I could get my hands on.
That's what gets me. Obviously, ALL immigrants left the country of their birth to come to America because there was something wrong with their native country. If there wasn't, they wouldn't have left in the first place. Why would anyone, who leaves an inferior situation want to make their new situation the same as the one they left???
They came to America because it is the best nation in all aspects of opportunity, freedom, and standard of living, bar none, on the face of the earth. LEAVE IT THAT WAY AND CONFORM!!!! ya winey pukes.
I tend to agree, Toll. I've tried the Czech Budweiser (sold as Budvar here) a few times. And it's... okay. Better than mass-market American beers, but not a lot of character. If someone told me I had to stick with one brand, Pilsner Urquell might be my choice.
That's also the Serbo-Croatian word (one of the essentials we learned in advance of our trip to Zagreb a few years back!)
Same word in Russian, too.
I recently watched an episode of Thirsty Traveler were they toured the Urquell brewery. I made it about halfway through before I had to get up and go to the store.
Yes I realize the thread is about much more than this but he did mention beer.
Sure...tell the Bavarians that the Moravians make better beer than they do and see what happens!
Thanks for proving my point that there are deep psychological, cultural, and historics points to be made here. :-)
I love Czech beer (and Prague...what a beautiful city, perhaps the most romantic city in Europe). Belgian beer is delicious. English beer, why yes, if there's no Irish beer i'll take it.
And of all US principles, the 'I am an American now, what can I do for US?' has always appealed the most to me. But I suppose in the beginning, when your english is accented and you are still an outsider to the culture around you, most people will treat you as a foreigner and you will get used to only feel at home with your group of outcasts of two societies.
You can buy it in America under the substitute name - Czechvar.
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