Monday, January 14, 2008

The Eternal Ugly Face of The German Petty Bourgeois

The German nationwide weekly newspaper ZEIT is is highly respected for its quality journalism. With a circulation of roughly 490,000 copies and an estimated readership of slightly above 2 million, it is the most widely read German weekly. It is considered to be intellectually upmarket. Its political stance is described as centrist to liberal (in the European meaning of "social liberal"), but has shifted several times between slightly left-leaning and slightly right-leaning. It is known for its broadsheet size and its long and in-depth articles. Their most remarkable feature (but maybe that is just me) is their "personal" column, which is full of advertisements of those who consider themselves bright, beautiful and blameless seeking the likeminded, and of great entertainment value.

Now the German blog Politically Incorrect makes us aware of a video with the comment of Jens Jessen, editor-in-chief of the "feuilleton" (the part of a European newspaper devoted to fiction, reviews, general interest articles or showbiz and society matters) of the ZEIT, obviously taken at his workplace. (I can only recommend to watch the video even if you don't understand German because of the facial expression, body language and the ambience of the office.)

It is about the frighteningly increasing violence of youths with a "migration background" (read: almost always Muslims) against Germans and specifically against those Germans who are specifically helpless, the elderly. Jessen is refering here to an incident in the Munich subway, where a 76-year-old retired headmaster was beaten to a pulp by a Turkish and a Greek youth because he had asked them to stop smoking in a non-smoking car.

By the way, when it happened, the German media took some time until they released the ethnic background of the two youths and refered to them as "young smokers" at first.

Yeah! We have a smoker-problem in Germany!

Thanks to the transcript with the essential bits PI offers, and which I here translate, my English-speaking readers can share this amazing experience:
…One DOES ask oneself whether this pensioner, who refused to tolerate the smoking in the Munich subway and thus triggered off that without doubt unexcusable deed, must be seen within a chain of patronising, reproachs and silly chattings-up, which the foreigner, and namely the young one, has to suffer incessantly. And not just the foreigner. At the end of the day, the old German petty bourgeois*, to use such a negative word, shows his ugly face everywhere. (…)

That is the atmosphere of intolerance against which one has to judge such spontaneous violent acts. (…)

I would like to ask, on the other hand, whether there aren't too many know-it-all German pensioners who make life hell for the foreigners here. And for other Germans as well. To put it like that: I don't think that German society has a problem with criminal foreigners but with home-made intolerance.

Read the full article at Roncesvalles.

7 comments:

Pastorius said...

We do have a problem with smokers here in the Western world; pole-smokers like this guy, who bend over and take the Islamic pole down their throat at every opportunity.

The_Editrix said...

That one is worth than just a bend-over (I think).

Can you imagine how he treats his parents? How much hatred he emanates? Just imagine how an old man (or woman) might feel who is forced to share a crowded place with him.

Imagine the self-hatred. That man is just 14 years away from retirement.

I think that is frightening.

Anonymous said...

Having watched the video about half way through (no German knowledge) . . .I thought I heard him mention Steven King's name.
Combine Steven Kings imaginative method of twisting all logic into the most repellant menacing petrifying view of youthful energy vs. decrepit doddering enfeebled elderly - and you clearly get the picture.

Germans linked with Islam before . . . deja vu.

Anonymous said...

Of course that should read: That one is worSE than just a bend-over...

He didn't say anything about Stephen King, but the association is eerily apt.

Anon, if you're new here, search for 'Hitler' and 'Mufti' in this blog about the Arab-German connection.

Anonymous said...

More Eurocensorship:

"Jan 14, 2008, 11:59 GMT Vienna - Remarks by a right-wing politician denouncing Islam and accusing the Prophet Mohammed of having been a paedophile provoked widespread outrage in Austria on Monday, with authorities investigating whether they constituted hate speech."

From http://news.monstersandcritics.com/europe/news/article_1386513.php/Austrian_authorities_investigate_Islam-bashing_by_rightist_lawmaker

Anonymous said...

Editrix stated : "He didn't say anything about Stephen King,"

I'll take your word for it . . .but if you go back and listen to the video at marker 1:50 - 1:53 you'll hear why I thought that.

Yes, I'm familiar with Hitler and the Grand Mufti . . .thanks.

Anonymous said...

Yes, you are right. He DOES mention Stephen King. It was about a deadly assault by a Neo-Nazi gang on an asylum-seeker from Algeria in Guben a small town in Brandenburg near the Polish border. I overheard it because it isn't germane to the topic, just meant to show that he is 'well-read'. He says that when the attack happened (1999 I think) BILD (THE German tabloid and anathema to a 'serious' journalist like him) "...had called Guben, quoting Stephen King, an evil little town."

The implication is that, while eight years ago, when the foreigner was killed, the gutter media was somewhat sympathetic, eight years later they are picking now on those poor young foreigners who did nothing worse than beating a troublesome old German pensioner to a pulp. (His logic, not mine!)

You wouldn't have mentioned the Mufti if you weren't familiar with it and my intention wasn't to patronize you. However, the footage wasn't available so far and caused quite a bit of a stir when it was released, even among those who were already familiar with the Mufti.