Der kleine rote Diktator

Der kleine rote Diktator

It's no big deal in Ann Arbor to cross the road when there's no cars in sight, but in Germany, one might be less tempted to cross any road in the maiden country of the BMW. But honestly, it's even more than that. If you try and cross the road around, just about anyone else, expect to be belittled, and then some, and then some. You will be looked down upon, and maybe even hear a couple of colorful insults to go with it. Second, you could be sending an impressionable child to their death as they attempt to copy your rather thoughtless actions without checking to cross the street. If there is a little red man telling you not to, then why bother thinking there are other options, until the tourist shows up and opens some doors in your life. Third problem? There are many more cyclists in Europe than are seen in the United States, especially since it's so expensive to drive a car in European cities, let alone get a license in the first place. You get clipped by a biker in NYC, and you've lost at least an arm. Last issue...Germany invented the BMW, and has the Autobahn, which leads me to believe that they have a word for lead foot. In fact, it's »Bleifuß«. When's the last time you looked down the road at an M3 and thought you could chance it. If the car is over 400 horsepower, the Hominids won't win. After all that, you can still cross the road, if you dare, but maybe it's better to wait an extra 15 seconds, take a deep breath, and enjoy one of the many under-appreciated European cultural nuggets: taking one's time.

I found the Illogical Logic article interesting- it is indeed illogical to me to use perfect logic as an end rather than as a means for a certain correctness in response, which in the example the article gave would be to help someone get the ticket they need. In a similar way I think it's somewhat nonsensical to speed up in a car to scare a pedestrian breaking a rule, when the rules exist to keep pedestrians safe. I do respect the level of accountability that exists, for example in the transportation system's honor code, and the expectation for honesty.

"Stay off the Bike Path!" was interesting. I did notice when I was in Frankfurt that there were often times that our guide would say watch before you cross the bike path when getting off the bus. Here having a bell seems to be strange but this article makes it seem wow, good thing they have to have a bell because when looking at the city structures and stuff I can see myself wandering into the way of bikers without realizing. In the "The Red Dictator" it was interesting that a person would actually speed up. Whenever I am driving in busy downtowns I'm always looking out for pedestrians, but maybe that is because over here people don't obey the red hand. This connected to the last reading about the biking because although you may be looking for cars, the bike path is between the sidewalk and the road and you just may not look for them which could result in a collision between you and a biker. Very intriguing to think about and connect it to how things are over here.
Illogical Logic itself is kinda confusing in thought. I am not sure I'd be aware of this and I'd end up being the person dolling out cash despite knowing this!
The train systems in Europe that I have traveled on are complex, there are colors and several levels and numbers, so you would think that they would be understanding. I found it interesting that the people blend themselves in with anyone else so that when boarding the train you really do not know if there is someone checking tickets or not. The honor system is to a point, because I'd be worried everytime to make sure I have a ticket.
It is quite humorous that one there are support groups for unorganized people, but also that the signs were switched. You would really have to know which way the road was going in order to not be mixed up.

On getting mowed down

Guten Abend!

In this week's kultur posts, it appears the opening sequence involves getting ran over one way or another. In "Two-Wheeled Teutons, they warn the reader to not stand in the bike path- you will get ran over by a cyclist in a hurry. While i'd like to imagine common sense would prevail and if you see a bike rushing towards you, you wouldn't stay in the middle of it's path, I guess this needed to be said...? (The same logic applied for me in "The Red Dictator". I know in Ann Arbor, the logic doesn't really apply much- pedestrians abuse right-of-way here - but I spend most of my summer's in New York, and there... the philosophy is much more in line with Germany's view. Lets look at it this way: in the event that a person collides with the car, two things will happen: (1)- The car will get dented. That is a few thousand dollars, some time, frustration, and repairs... generally this will want to be avoided. (2)- The person getting hit gets dented. That isn't quite as easy to fix, and in New York some drivers will take it upon themselves as a challenge (like in Germany) to see how close they can get going as fast as they can to scare the stupid pedestrian. (In summary, there was nothing groundbreaking in those first two articles for me, and indeed, it seems very reasonable to me.)

In illogical logic, I find myself torn between amusement and sympathy for any hapless tourist taking the mickey. On the one hand, it appears like it is a glorified game of "I will make this as literal as possible, can you be completely literal?" But on the other hand... I guess this is just a fundamental thought difference that won't make much sense to me. (Why not follow the logical train of thought a few steps further for why they would be purchasing the ticket? This article leaves me confused and not terribly satisfied about it...) On the other hand, Fare Dodgers Beware made perfect sense to me. I personally wish that America -could- run off an honor system, but I cannot see that working too well as values shift. For example, I had my biochemistry exam yesterday and the GSI who was proctoring exited the room. Immediately I caught myself debating checking the answers for the exam (In the end I didn't, as cheating doesn't sit well with me...) but if it even crosses my mind, thats probably not a good thing. I told a few of my friends of my thoughts during the exam and a few looked at me blankly asking why I didn't do it. Das ist nicht gut! In this regard, I find myself envious (if slightly incredulous) of an honor system that can actually work.

And on the other hand once again... the final article (Disorderly Germans) had me confused me than anything else. I eventually decided (after staring blankly at the article for a minute) that the goal was to poke fun at the Germany philosophy/emphasis on Order (capitalization intentional!). Even then, I don't really see what function this serves, but nevertheless... kind of like the article on Getting Naked with the Germans- But in that case, i'll just peg that to a societal difference and move on with my life.

Well, I guess that is it this week!

Tschuess!

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!

Willkommen!!

Welcome to our class blog!

We will be using this blog throughout the semester for two kinds of assignments:

1. Once per chapter, the homework plan will direct you to post a response to the culture readings for the chapter on the blog.

2. Roughly every other week, the homework plan will direct you to post here for your Abenteuer mit Deutsch (AMD) assignment. First you do a fun activity that involves German, then you post about it. You should spend an hour total on this (maybe 45-55 minutes doing something, 5-15 minutes posting about it). See Was ist ein AMD, AMD Ideen and Beispiele for ideas. This should get you excited about the kinds of things you can do!

Whenever you post something, please include your name and the name of the assignment (e.g. AMD2, Kultur5) as labels. See "Blog: How To" for more details!