Kultur 4 - Germans on the Streets

The articles regarding the behavior of Germans on the streets shows that they share some common trends seen in Europe, but also some features that are purely German. I believe that seeing people on bicycles on the streets of the cities is something that we see more and more during the past few years and I don't think that Germany would be an exception. Because of the German organization and infrastructure I would expect that the country would take care of the bicycle riders and create special bicycle lanes. It is something I have seen in Central Park in New York City and recently in some neighborhoods of Athens (and let's face it, if something changes and measures to protect to environment have been taken from citizens in Athens it is probably because of the influence of other European countries and Germany is most likely to be on the top of that list). The environmentally friendly policy Germany follows is something we would expect to see from such a developed country.

The other article regarding not crossing the street when the "red man" is on even if no car passes at that time is quite surprising. It emphasizes the structure and organization and how Germans obey rules (and this is actually why they are the best at what they do). I find this action a bit exaggerating but I would not expect that Germans would be so strict for something that simple. But someone may say that, these small details are that make the difference, and piece by piece, this structured way of living is what makes Germans the leaders of Europe.

The article about the Germans' "Illogical Logic" shows how simplistic Germans can be. As we have analyzed the Germans' behavior and the fact that they can seem really cold and emotionless helps understanding that they don't care more about what they are being asked for and that they would not further explain themselves more than they should. From my point of view that does not make them unfriendly or mean, it is just part of the German behavior. Maybe explaining things more than they do now would cause this feeling of intervening in other people's lives. This could be translated by being helpful, which would be an improvement, but not from the Germans' side. They behave simplistic and do everything they have to one by one without getting into greater detail if they are not asked for.

The article concerning the system of transportation reminds me a lot about Greece because they same system is followed there. There are no turnstiles in Greece. Buying a ticket seems voluntary, but I have been thinking myself that it is not worth not buying one since if you get caught by an inspector, the fee may reach 70 euros. There have been times where I have forgotten to buy a ticket or because I know that the presence of inspectors inside the bus passing from my house is very rare, but it is not a great feeling and I hate it when I am in that position. The great majority of people buy tickets because they simply have to do so since it is the law. I suppose it is exactly the same situation in Germany, and people buy tickets because they simply obey the law and because it is not worth being given a fee of 40 or 50 euros for not buying a ticket for 1 or 1.5 euro.

I honestly found the last article funny because seeing two one-way signs is not something you would easily notice in a such well-organized country. But I believe that we could see something like this in any country in the world, even in the United States how many times have we seen situations like this one which are immediately uploaded on "Fail Blog"? I think it is quite common to see things like this anywhere around the globe, and it actually shows us that German people are also humans like the rest of the world and that they can also do something wrong!