In many parts of eastern Germany, showing Nazi symbols is no longer seen as a provocation. Authorities are warning that more and more young people are becoming radicalized. DW explored the reasons in the city of Dessau.
The irony being a lot of Germans stick their head in sand and pretending homophobia and racism isn’t baked into German society because, “We’re not as bad as America.”
I’m a black American who’s lived in western Germany from 4ish years and the similarities between the two are GLARING.
Eastern Germany is exactly the same as Southern and Midwestern US. I look at places like Dresden and Dessau the EXACT same way I look at rural Mississippi and Alabama
Absolutely. Many people have never put thought into either and most do not intend to start now. To break that cycle longterm school curriculums would have to be improved to be more inclusive and for some reason we cannot have that either.
(Among other veritable measures, this is just the first that came to mind, as everything my school taught about homophobia/racism is that “No, it is bad” - no explanation, no highlighting why courage to stand up against it is important or highlighting lives of minorities which had an positive impact on the world [e.g. Turing]. History lessons in Germany focusses a lot on the damages done during WWII and yet barely anyone knows here that it wasnt just jews that were killed in concentration camps, and even less people know that the homosexuals were not freed after WWII came to an end. Even less people know about magnus Hirschfeld and his revolutionary work at that time. There is such a focus on the topic WWII and yet the schools fail to create a whole before/after picture of it - it honestly is a travesty.)
I really hate that “We are not as bad as X” mentality. That should not be the baseline. We have hundreds of countries worldwide, we can see what works for the people and what does not. We could look at every topic, be it equality, education, infrastructure, local governments or whatever and look for the ‘best’ country and then look what we can copy to make things better here. But no, that would be to easy and scientific and what about my profits/religion/bigotry.
The irony being a lot of Germans stick their head in sand and pretending homophobia and racism isn’t baked into German society because, “We’re not as bad as America.”
I’m a black American who’s lived in western Germany from 4ish years and the similarities between the two are GLARING.
Eastern Germany is exactly the same as Southern and Midwestern US. I look at places like Dresden and Dessau the EXACT same way I look at rural Mississippi and Alabama
Absolutely. Many people have never put thought into either and most do not intend to start now. To break that cycle longterm school curriculums would have to be improved to be more inclusive and for some reason we cannot have that either.
(Among other veritable measures, this is just the first that came to mind, as everything my school taught about homophobia/racism is that “No, it is bad” - no explanation, no highlighting why courage to stand up against it is important or highlighting lives of minorities which had an positive impact on the world [e.g. Turing]. History lessons in Germany focusses a lot on the damages done during WWII and yet barely anyone knows here that it wasnt just jews that were killed in concentration camps, and even less people know that the homosexuals were not freed after WWII came to an end. Even less people know about magnus Hirschfeld and his revolutionary work at that time. There is such a focus on the topic WWII and yet the schools fail to create a whole before/after picture of it - it honestly is a travesty.)
I really hate that “We are not as bad as X” mentality. That should not be the baseline. We have hundreds of countries worldwide, we can see what works for the people and what does not. We could look at every topic, be it equality, education, infrastructure, local governments or whatever and look for the ‘best’ country and then look what we can copy to make things better here. But no, that would be to easy and scientific and what about my profits/religion/bigotry.