Mein Gott! America is the new Germany

The Times (U.K.) ^ | 06/21/03 | Matthew Parris

[wimpycat]

We certainly didn't get our optimistic outlook from the Germans, and optimism is what separates us from the Europeans.

[ffusco]

(Maybe Americans have only absorbed some of the best characteristics of all of our many cultures, while shedding the worst.)

Awesome Bro!

[Desron13]

If this guys a lib he's treading on thin ice with this whole racial memory, superior traits thing. This is the kind of stuff that the left typically ascribes to full-fledged goose-stepping, cross burning, swastika waving Neo-Nazis / Neo-Conservatives. Dangerous ground indeed for a liberal.

[Prodigal Son]

Well that is the song commonly referred to as the Horst Wessel Lied. I only ever bothered to learn the first stanza. It is called in German "Die Fahne Hoch" which would translate to "The Flag High" or perhaps "Hold the Flag High"

The lyrics, by my translation (you can probably get a better trans on the net) go:

The flag high!
The ranks are close (strack)
The SA march with a calm steady step
Comrades, who were shot by the Red Front and Opposition
March with us in spirit
March in our ranks with us

Keep in mind- my German is not translator quality- it is colloquial. I can communicate perfectly with Germans and understand in essence or in context what they are saying. As well, there are certain things I know how to say only in German because I never learned a direct translation to English (English speakers have different euphemisms or ways of saying things).

This song was taught to me in about five minutes time by my wife. I understood it immediately when I learned it and it makes sense when I sing it to myself (which is not often) but it is harder for me to translate in to English in a sense that would be poetic or rhyming. I have the same problem trying to translate Westernhagen's "Freiheit" (Freedom). The song is basically praising Hitler and his army (Horst Wessel Lied- not Freheit)

[conservatism_IS_compassion]

This calls to mind a thread of a few months ago questioning whether America had a culture of its own. It does--the culture of transcending differences and finding a modus vivendi. Ben Franklin's "We must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang seperately" . . .

Also, we respect all honest work; your money is just as good as mine whether my occupation has more status than yours, or vice versa. That's not something we got from Britain, as contemplation of Pride and Prejudice and that sort of thing would tell you. It comes from the availibility of fertile raw land and the need for work to turn it into productive farmland. Thus, the value of labor and the concommitant respect for the man with calouses on his hands . . .

[lizma]

German-Americans have been so ready to forsake a separate identity, assume a new one, and push on.

It's as though this guy has missed the boat. He really doesn't have a clue what the concept of a "melting pot" is. (Being a Euro, this is understandable)

"So ready"??? Huh? This happened a generation or two ago. Hubby and I have German ancestors. We think of ourselves as Americans and really don't care where great-grandpa and great grandma came from.

When we eat ethnic food it's usually Mexican, Chinese or Italian. We just drink German.

[Pelham]

This analyzing "neo-conservatives" "straussian" thing is getting out of control over there! I wonder if they realize it started from Pat Buchanan

So, when Irving Kristol wrote his book "Reflections of a Neoconservative" he was acting under the spell of PJB?

[arasina]

Is a really bad German knock knock joke a Knockwurst?

[skeeter]

Angst, aggressiveness, assertiveness, bullying, egotism, inferiority complex, sentimentality, capacity for excess, candour, a yearning for structure and direction, impatience with ambiguity, a weakness for approaching problems in a blindly, sometimes self-defeatingly, methodical way, and overconfidence.

Thats me. Its amazing.

[Prodigal Son]

Hey, cool. I found a link so you can hear it. It's a fairly small file. They sing it all out in German.

http://eri.ca/h43/diefahne.MP3

If you cut that and past it in a new window you'll hear the Horst Wessel Song.

[ffusco]

I agree. I can't eat pasta that frequently either, but keep in mind that tomato sauces and pasta are southern Italian ( as most who imigrated here were poor farmers) Northern Italian cooking has more meats, cream sauces and rice dishes -more like "French" cooking which was introduced to France from Italy by Catherine Di Medici in the 15th century.Even during the Dark Age there were cooking schools in Florence and Venice when most of Northern Europe was eating gruel. And don't forget ice cream! and later from the crusades- Coffee.

[meenie]

Achtung! The German-Americans are trying to take over the world, yah?

[Shermy]

So, when Irving Kristol wrote his book "Reflections of a Neoconservative" he was acting under the spell of PJB?

My meaning is the current usage of "neo-cons" on persons who aren't even neo-cons. It relates to the Iraq war and American "Empire" rather than the economic/social thought of persons in the 70's and early 80's who went from left to right.

Check out PJB's early 2003 articles on Iraq and the "lobby".

BTW, I like some of his other stuff.

[ffusco]

Danke, mien Freunde!

[Prodigal Son]

Kein Problem!

[gorush]

sehr gut! :{)

[ffusco]

Shhh. The Germans might hear you. Now just walk away - they smell fear! LOL

[habs4ever]

Parris has been extremely vocally opposed to US power since 9/11, and even though a Tory, he loathes the US being the sole superpower.Why he does,no one knows, but his obsession is a mania of sorts and when he's had all his predictions about Iraw blowup in his face, he shifts the goalposts.This screed is another in a long line of anti-America drivel.

[DoctorMichael]

"........it's true insofar that a large percentage of Americans can trace their ancestry back to Germany......."

I can tell from your statement that the arts of innuendo imputation and calumny are foreign to you.

[ffusco]

The what what?

I just meant they are pretty much as American as you could be. No offense meant. My family is only here about 40 years and well, they're pretty ethnic. I'm first gen.