Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2008/09/17
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Marc, Just because a statement is insulting and a stupid remark does not make it less true. I remember what my wifes father called me after I married his daughter and before he disinherited her. The words were insulting,, stupid and true! Jerry Marc James Small wrote: > At 05:33 PM 9/17/2008, Tarek Charara wrote: > >Wow. That's a) insulting and b) a very stupid remark > > > > > >Le 17 sept. 08 ? 23:26, EPL a ?crit : > > > >> Germany = Racism R Us. > > Hmm. Germans are particularists to a fault -- those in Pomerania look > down on those from Bavaria, and all Germans seem to sneer at "those > crazy Swabians", the Newfies of the Fatherland. But trying to assign > to the Germans a special state of disfavor for "racism" is just > silly. The French are equally silly on such points as are the > Russians and the British seem to viscerally believe that "wogs begin > at Calais". > > I agree that Lee has probably had a shitload of culture shock to > accommodate -- US management has trouble getting past the serving of > beer in lunchrooms. And I suspect some of his subordinates probably > do have a bias against him because of his origin but, I suspect, this > might perhaps be more due to his USian roots than his Oriental genetic > background. The Germans and Chinese had an extremely close > relationship in the Interwar period, after all, and many German firms, > from Mauser to Leitz to Zeiss Ikon, marketed there extensively. To be > fair, it did take Zeiss more than twenty years to find an Oriental > capable of serving as a final inspector in the "Round-Eye Room" at the > Contax SLR lensworks in Kyoto, and he was a Chinese national from Hong > Kong. > > The accusation that the Germans are racist is neither stupid nor dumb > but it is a meaningless statement as it ignores the reality that most > of us are racists and most of us live in racist nations. So what? > Don't wait for others to do it but think for yourself. Shucks, I will > admit to having some German friends (though I rarely repeat this in > polite company) and, on several occasions, contrary to my Highland > roots, I've even had actual ENGLISHMEN and ENGLISHWOMEN -- folks from > the southern part of Britain, mind you, REAL Anglo-Saxons -- SLEEP > UNDER MY ROOF! If I can rise to this, surely an occasional German can > rise above particularism and, perhaps, there will come a day when a > Parisian acknowledges that France includes Languedoc. > > For that matter, to most of those who live in the Western Hemisphere, > we in the US and Canada are either "Nordamericanos" or "Anglos". Go > figure. > > Marc > >