{"id":917,"date":"2009-04-16T17:53:12","date_gmt":"2009-04-16T15:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/?p=917"},"modified":"2015-04-09T18:00:54","modified_gmt":"2015-04-09T16:00:54","slug":"send-over-haribo-and-heidi-klum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/send-over-haribo-and-heidi-klum\/","title":{"rendered":"Send over Haribo and Heidi Klum!"},"content":{"rendered":"

This year represents a personal milestone<\/span>: I have lived as long in Germany as in the United States (not counting my years as a baby). Inside, I’m now half American, half German, and I feel a strong attachment<\/span> to, and appreciation<\/span> of, both countries.<\/p>\n

I thought about this last weekend when two friends \u2014 one American, one German \u2014 sent me the same article<\/a> from The New York Times<\/i>. Its author compares Germans respecting the rules at a swimming pool to Germany being cautious<\/span> in its response<\/span> to the current financial crisis.<\/p>\n

My American friend commented that certain attitudes haven’t changed since she was a student in Germany in 1990. My American side could see the logic in that. But the part of me that’s been living in Germany so long found the article \u2014 and the accompanying<\/span> illustration \u2014 a little condescending<\/span>. It’s implied that the American approach is categorically the right one, and that the Germans should stop being “stubborn<\/span>” and “resisting<\/span>“.<\/p>\n

Much of the German media, of course, applies<\/span> its own bias<\/span> toward America \u2014 a lot of things in the US appear bizarre, overblown<\/span>, underregulated and wrongheaded<\/span> from a European perspective. But in my opinion, the stereotypes of Germany are less fair, and potentially more dangerous, because they’re a little out of date.<\/p>\n

American reporters still tend to sit in Berlin and write about things like opera, King Ludwig II and Oktoberfest. Newsworthy<\/span> Germans outside the world of politics and finance \u2014 particularly as covered<\/span> by The New York Times<\/i> \u2014 tend to be Nazis (skinheads or former concentration camp guards), ex-Nazis (the pope<\/span> included), spies (Stasi informers) or criminals (usually small-town bank robbers doing something bizarre).<\/p>\n

Some Americans believe in these stereotypes. In 2003, author Michael Moore told an auditorium full of 20-year-olds in Munich that they held a collective responsibility for what their grandparents had done during the Third Reich.<\/p>\n

Most Americans, however, don’t feel this way. It’s because Germany’s cultural ambassadors<\/span> have done such a good job.<\/p>\n

Armin Mueller-Stahl<\/b> is well known for his talent in a variety of film roles. Magicians<\/span> Siegfried and Roy<\/b> entertained visitors to Las Vegas for 30 years. Heidi Klum<\/b>, Claudia Schiffer<\/b> and Elke Sommer<\/b> project elegance, grace<\/span> and good nature<\/span>. Werner Herzog<\/strong> and Roland Emmerich<\/b> are opposites in the world of film, but the work of both is broadly appreciated.<\/p>\n

German engineering has always been legendary; but even Volkswagen<\/b>, which had its origins in the Third Reich, proved in this 2006 American ad campaign that Germans are cool and have a sense of humor<\/span>.<\/p>\n