Re: [Leica] Country of origin

["Alan Hull" <hull@telia.com>]

 Erwin Puts wrote about Portuguese workers.
> assume that these men mand women would be inferior to the mythical
German quality workers. And if fact: IT IS NOT TRUE!!!!!!
> Portuguese quality is as good, if not better than German quality.
- -------------------------
Don't be ridiculous Erwin.  Mythical?  Is it mythical that the German
army, using German built weapons and machinery, far superior to
anything else in Europe, sliced through the Dutch, British, and French
armies like a hot knife through butter not so long ago.  Is it mythical
that Mercedes, BMW, Porsche, are among the most sought after autos in
the world?  That the reputation of Linhof, Leica, Rollei, Contax, are a
myth?  Then of course expanding the comparison we have Schiller and
Goethe, Beethoven and Wagner, Von Bruan and Einstein.  The list is
almost endless.  When I buy Leica I buy a piece of THAT action.  I am
not interested in paying a premium price for a  precision tool made by
a population who go to work on a donkey.  That sounds like an insult to
the Portuguese but it is not meant to be.  They have fine qualities but
being superior engineers to the Germans is very definitely not one of
them.

It has also been said that because the Portuguese workers are trained
by Germans, the product they make is indistinguishable from the genuine
article.  That is a piece of politically correct BS.  To illustrate the
fallacy of this argument select eleven fit men at random.  Tell them
that they are about to become the worlds best soccer team.  Send them
away to Brazil for intensive training for many years.  Then play them
against any professional soccer team.  They will lose because there is
such a thing as natural born ability which no amount of training can
surpass.  Natural ability works at all levels, interlectual as well as
manual dexterity.  Its genetic.

If a country wants to win a gold medal at the high jump it must enter
one man who can jump ten feet.  To enter ten men who can jump one foot
each doesn't work.

BTW. I fully understand the argument that CoO does not affect the final
photograph.  But my point is that I am not buying photographs when I
buy a Leica.  I am buying a camera.

With all respect.
Alan