I seem to have far less time than I thought I would this summer, but at least I've had the chance to watch a lot of the World Cup. I was rooting for Germany and the US and now just Germany. My friends back in Freiburg tell me that the whole city goes crazy every time Germany wins, and based on what I saw last semester, I totally believe it. Whenever SC Freiburg or Bayern Munich played last semester, it seemed like every student in town was watching the game at one of the hundreds of bars broadcasting it. This wasn't unique to Germany, of course - I'm sure the fans are even more rabid in England, Italy, Spain, or any of the other traditional powerhouses.
One night last spring, I went with some friends to a local Italian place that sold spaghetti bolognese for 1.80 Euros between 6:00 and 7:30 pm. It was one of our favorite little cheap places to eat, but it would always be super crowded as everyone tried to take advantage of the spaghetti deal. That night we were there, I asked a man sitting alone at a table if we could sit with him (which is a totally normal social practice there). I asked in German and he responded in a strange combination of French and German. We were all a bit bewildered, but he was nodding enthusiastically so we sat down anyway. He then went on to explain, in the same mixture of French and German, that he was French but was in town for a while. We were struggling a bit with the muddled language, so he asked us what he spoke and informed us that he spoke French, some German, and some Spanish. We answered English and his eyes lit up before he started chattering away and asking us about "Arsenal." We had no idea what he was talking about, but as soon as we realized he was pointing to his FC Barcelona jersey, we understood that he thought we were British and was asking us if we supported Arsenal, a major team in the English Premier League. We all started laughing and explaining that we spoke English, but were actually just Americans studying abroad in Germany. He then laughed and asked us where we were from, and when I said California, he immediately began listing all the Californian cities he knew. When he got to San Diego, he said, "Mais San Diego ist wirklich in Mexiko, ja?" Big laughs all around as I, my three friends, and our new dinner pal enjoyed some delicious and cheap spaghetti.
The point I'm trying to make in this long-winded reminiscence is that football brings Europeans (and the world) together regardless of language. It would have been so easy for us to politely ignore our table-mate and speak only in English to each other so he couldn't understand us, but instead, we figured out where we were all from, what we were all doing in Freiburg, why we liked this restaurant (1.80 Euro spaghetti, of course) and which teams we supported in a strange mixture of French, German, English, "sign language", and even a word or two of Spanish. We all enjoyed our dinner and our talks, even if we sometimes didn't understand all of it. It sometimes only takes finding a little common ground to strike up a conversation, and in Europe, football seems to be a pretty good starting place.
I'm writing about football here not only because I want Germany to win the World Cup (I'm wearing a pair of shorts with German colors on them as we speak), but because it relates to some of the other themes I encountered while abroad. I had to interview my flatmates for a project for German class, and most of the questions were about patriotism, or "Patriotismus." When I asked two of them if and when they were proud of Germany, they both independently said "only during the World Cup." Most of my classmates got very similar answers from their flatmates, leading me to wonder why Germans are so hesitant to be patriotic. The short answer? Germany can't be patriotic with flags, glorious songs, and declarations of allegiance after Hitler and World War II. German nationalism is associated with too many horrific memories of the Third Reich, both for Germans and the rest of the world that witnessed that awful period of history. The long answer has more to do with the nature of patriotism in general, and I would never claim to be an expert on it, but my time in Freiburg really made me think about German patriotism, or the lack thereof, compared with American-style patriotism. I'm saving it for another post, but as long as everyone's waving their flags at the World Cup, I thought I'd put out a little introduction now. I'm sure our dinner friend is rooting for Spain, although maybe it was his homeland of France, or his neighbor Germany, or the object of his admiration, England...
Bis spaeter!
Monday, June 28, 2010
Saturday, June 19, 2010
One Month Later: The Things I Miss about Freiburg
The Least:
Dryers that never dried my clothes
Wearing clothes that didn't fit quite right after hang-drying all semester long
The badly designed laundry card system in my creepy-as-hell laundry room
No free water in restaurants
Paying for public restrooms
Germans' inability to form lines
Clothing stores that were generally too expensive
Customer service that was often very poor
Getting shot down while trying to speak German
Everything being closed on Sundays
The Most:
Being able to walk everywhere
Being able to bike EVERYWHERE
Great public transportation for lazy days
The eco-friendly lifestyle
The view of and proximity to the Schwarzwald
How beautiful the city was
Free entrance on students' nights at our favorite clubs
Bakeries on every street
Butterbrezeln
The national obsession with ice cream
The Münster and the Münstermarkt
Living the student life in a university town
Seepark
Paying with coins
Wurst for two euros
Fasnacht
The German language, both speaking it and getting utterly defeated by it
Historic architecture (even if it did have to be rebuilt after the war)
Rothaus beer
O'Kelly's Pub and Das Quiz
"Gehen wir in die Mensa?" "Ja, wir gehen immer in die Mensa!"
Proximity to France and Switzerland
My flatmates
My IES friends
Moments that started like this:
And ended like this:
Even a month later, I still can't believe it's over.
Dryers that never dried my clothes
Wearing clothes that didn't fit quite right after hang-drying all semester long
The badly designed laundry card system in my creepy-as-hell laundry room
No free water in restaurants
Paying for public restrooms
Germans' inability to form lines
Clothing stores that were generally too expensive
Customer service that was often very poor
Getting shot down while trying to speak German
Everything being closed on Sundays
The Most:
Being able to walk everywhere
Being able to bike EVERYWHERE
Great public transportation for lazy days
The eco-friendly lifestyle
The view of and proximity to the Schwarzwald
How beautiful the city was
Free entrance on students' nights at our favorite clubs
Bakeries on every street
Butterbrezeln
The national obsession with ice cream
The Münster and the Münstermarkt
Living the student life in a university town
Seepark
Paying with coins
Wurst for two euros
Fasnacht
The German language, both speaking it and getting utterly defeated by it
Historic architecture (even if it did have to be rebuilt after the war)
Rothaus beer
O'Kelly's Pub and Das Quiz
"Gehen wir in die Mensa?" "Ja, wir gehen immer in die Mensa!"
Proximity to France and Switzerland
My flatmates
My IES friends
Moments that started like this:
And ended like this:
Even a month later, I still can't believe it's over.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
"Freedom"
"Chomsky shows us how phrases like "free speech", the "free market", and the "free world" have little, if anything, to do with freedom. He shows us that, among the myriad freedoms claimed by the U.S. government are the freedom to murder, annihilate, and dominate other people. The freedom to finance and sponsor despots and dictators across the world. The freedom to train, arm, and shelter terrorists. The freedom to topple democratically elected governments. The freedom to amass and use weapons of mass destruction — chemical, biological, and nuclear. The freedom to go to war against any country whose government it disagrees with. And, most terrible of all, the freedom to commit these crimes against humanity in the name of "justice", in the name of "righteousness", in the name of "freedom"." - Arundhati Roy
I posted this quote because I've been thinking a lot about the word 'freedom' ever since Germany. I had a couple of good conversations with my flatmate about the way the government and media in the United States can use words with positive connotations, such as freedom, democracy, and justice, as justification for basically anything. I had never really thought in-depth about how ludicrous it is to use those types of words to describe acts of war. Over the past nine years, we've seen the "leader of the free world" engage in acts such as Operation Enduring Freedom (originally named Operation Infinite Justice) and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Where exactly does freedom come into these operations? One could argue, as the United States does, that the mission is to secure freedom and democracy where it doesn't exist, but it is freedom if a foreign power stages an invasion and asserts control, and if so, for whom? If we support the idea of a free market and Iraq just so happens to have oil, what kind of freedom are we actually seeking?
I think the term has become a deceptively nasty way to mask the horrors of war. When American citizens are constantly reminded to support the troops who are "fighting for your freedom," it becomes much easier to justify unilateral military action, invasions, civilian deaths, weapons of mass destruction, and the deaths of the poor soldiers themselves. First, the government convinces us that we want this vague ideal of freedom; then, it convinces us that the best way to achieve it is by waging war against our enemies abroad and against our civil liberties at home. It just astounds me how Americans can accept legislation like the PATRIOT Act or show support for racial profiling in the name of freedom, even though they both directly infringe upon our constitutional rights. The government's motive for using those kinds of terms is obvious, of course - it's so much easier to drum up support for ANY policy as long as the voting public believes it is just, free, and American. The part I can't believe is how incredibly detached we have become from the true meanings of the words we throw around. It is completely commonplace to see people protest gay marriage, abortion rights, and the idea of a Muslim president while simultaneously supporting the Iraq War, the use of corporate money in elections, and Arizona's draconian anti-immigrant laws, all in the name of freedom. That kind of "freedom" means nothing to me, and my conversations with my flatmate showed me how it often means nothing to the rest of the world either.
The mere fact that I can write this demonstrates some degree of real freedom, of course. My phone is probably not going to get wiretapped and I highly doubt I'll ever be brought in for questioning by the authorities. What's more likely, though, is that some people will accuse me of being "un-American" or that this blog will be used against me by an opponent if I ever run for office. Maybe that's the part that baffles me the most. If freedom is our country's ultimate ideal and the only thing I'm trying to do is promote REAL freedom, then why do people with similar views as me get vilified in the news or denounced as radicals? What's radical about protesting the government and media's misuse of a term that could mean so much, but has come to mean so little? I view dissent and debate as absolutely crucial in any effective civil society, and I think we come closer to true freedom when no one's views immediately get marked as anti-freedom or "anti-American." That phrase means even less to me than freedom does (although I suppose it means something to people like Rand Paul or Bill O'Reilly). There is nothing inherently American about the overarching concept of freedom, and I think the commonly accepted American version actually damages what the word is supposed to mean.
As a debater, I've encountered many cases about free speech and other civil liberties. One argument in particular often comes up, saying that no matter how vile, repulsive, or ridiculous a citizen's views might be, he or she should have a near-absolute legal right to express them. This allows people to march with the KKK or join the Westboro Baptist Church or believe that gay marriage is immoral. I agree with this argument completely, but not because I think the KKK has any worthy ideas. I agree because I think that dissent and debate will reveal and eventually eliminate the worst ideas and beliefs in society. Government doesn't need to intervene and it shouldn't have the right to do so. Blind acceptance of the word freedom or unfounded criticism of different political beliefs makes it easy to ridicule dissenters without actually thinking about what they have to say. This keeps bad ideas in circulation while preventing new ideas, whether good or bad, from entering the competition at all. That, I think, is dangerous for any society that gains its power from the people and their convictions.
All I want is for American citizens to truly think about the actions of our government without using the labels that have been pre-determined for us, making it possible to determine the validity of ideas, policies, and goals from a more neutral standpoint. This would, of course, be near-impossible with the strength of the mass media and our appetite for information. We certainly have to learn about policies somewhere, and nearly any source is going to have some degree of bias. I think we would at least be better off if we began to question the word freedom, which we hear so often without really hearing at all. Once we do that, I think we might come closer to recovering its true meaning, making it worthy of not only our respect, but the respect of the rest of the world.
I posted this quote because I've been thinking a lot about the word 'freedom' ever since Germany. I had a couple of good conversations with my flatmate about the way the government and media in the United States can use words with positive connotations, such as freedom, democracy, and justice, as justification for basically anything. I had never really thought in-depth about how ludicrous it is to use those types of words to describe acts of war. Over the past nine years, we've seen the "leader of the free world" engage in acts such as Operation Enduring Freedom (originally named Operation Infinite Justice) and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Where exactly does freedom come into these operations? One could argue, as the United States does, that the mission is to secure freedom and democracy where it doesn't exist, but it is freedom if a foreign power stages an invasion and asserts control, and if so, for whom? If we support the idea of a free market and Iraq just so happens to have oil, what kind of freedom are we actually seeking?
I think the term has become a deceptively nasty way to mask the horrors of war. When American citizens are constantly reminded to support the troops who are "fighting for your freedom," it becomes much easier to justify unilateral military action, invasions, civilian deaths, weapons of mass destruction, and the deaths of the poor soldiers themselves. First, the government convinces us that we want this vague ideal of freedom; then, it convinces us that the best way to achieve it is by waging war against our enemies abroad and against our civil liberties at home. It just astounds me how Americans can accept legislation like the PATRIOT Act or show support for racial profiling in the name of freedom, even though they both directly infringe upon our constitutional rights. The government's motive for using those kinds of terms is obvious, of course - it's so much easier to drum up support for ANY policy as long as the voting public believes it is just, free, and American. The part I can't believe is how incredibly detached we have become from the true meanings of the words we throw around. It is completely commonplace to see people protest gay marriage, abortion rights, and the idea of a Muslim president while simultaneously supporting the Iraq War, the use of corporate money in elections, and Arizona's draconian anti-immigrant laws, all in the name of freedom. That kind of "freedom" means nothing to me, and my conversations with my flatmate showed me how it often means nothing to the rest of the world either.
The mere fact that I can write this demonstrates some degree of real freedom, of course. My phone is probably not going to get wiretapped and I highly doubt I'll ever be brought in for questioning by the authorities. What's more likely, though, is that some people will accuse me of being "un-American" or that this blog will be used against me by an opponent if I ever run for office. Maybe that's the part that baffles me the most. If freedom is our country's ultimate ideal and the only thing I'm trying to do is promote REAL freedom, then why do people with similar views as me get vilified in the news or denounced as radicals? What's radical about protesting the government and media's misuse of a term that could mean so much, but has come to mean so little? I view dissent and debate as absolutely crucial in any effective civil society, and I think we come closer to true freedom when no one's views immediately get marked as anti-freedom or "anti-American." That phrase means even less to me than freedom does (although I suppose it means something to people like Rand Paul or Bill O'Reilly). There is nothing inherently American about the overarching concept of freedom, and I think the commonly accepted American version actually damages what the word is supposed to mean.
As a debater, I've encountered many cases about free speech and other civil liberties. One argument in particular often comes up, saying that no matter how vile, repulsive, or ridiculous a citizen's views might be, he or she should have a near-absolute legal right to express them. This allows people to march with the KKK or join the Westboro Baptist Church or believe that gay marriage is immoral. I agree with this argument completely, but not because I think the KKK has any worthy ideas. I agree because I think that dissent and debate will reveal and eventually eliminate the worst ideas and beliefs in society. Government doesn't need to intervene and it shouldn't have the right to do so. Blind acceptance of the word freedom or unfounded criticism of different political beliefs makes it easy to ridicule dissenters without actually thinking about what they have to say. This keeps bad ideas in circulation while preventing new ideas, whether good or bad, from entering the competition at all. That, I think, is dangerous for any society that gains its power from the people and their convictions.
All I want is for American citizens to truly think about the actions of our government without using the labels that have been pre-determined for us, making it possible to determine the validity of ideas, policies, and goals from a more neutral standpoint. This would, of course, be near-impossible with the strength of the mass media and our appetite for information. We certainly have to learn about policies somewhere, and nearly any source is going to have some degree of bias. I think we would at least be better off if we began to question the word freedom, which we hear so often without really hearing at all. Once we do that, I think we might come closer to recovering its true meaning, making it worthy of not only our respect, but the respect of the rest of the world.
Sunday, June 6, 2010
More to come...
Sorry for my long absence. I'm not sure if anyone is reading this blog anymore, but I still plan to post something about politics. It has just been busier than normal lately - I ended up making a trip to Boston and starting my internship right after. It's going great so far!
My semester in Germany really made me think about a lot of things, but surprisingly, it made me think about American politics more than I ever have in my life (even though I'm majoring in politics at school). I need to get my thoughts properly formulated before I can do justice to everything I've been mulling over - if you're still interested, just trust I will write it soon! I'm currently reading some books and articles that are helping me figure things out, but I'll try to write the post as soon as possible even if I don't finish reading right away.
For now, here's the link to my most recent photo album. It sums up the spring and the end of the semester in beautiful Freiburg.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=176752&id=599810215&l=bb68362a9c
Bis spaeter!
My semester in Germany really made me think about a lot of things, but surprisingly, it made me think about American politics more than I ever have in my life (even though I'm majoring in politics at school). I need to get my thoughts properly formulated before I can do justice to everything I've been mulling over - if you're still interested, just trust I will write it soon! I'm currently reading some books and articles that are helping me figure things out, but I'll try to write the post as soon as possible even if I don't finish reading right away.
For now, here's the link to my most recent photo album. It sums up the spring and the end of the semester in beautiful Freiburg.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=176752&id=599810215&l=bb68362a9c
Bis spaeter!
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