Exchange "Berlin" here for "London", and your post exactly resembles the kind of rant you used to crank out every time you passed through London. So all that stuff about the special evil of Anglo-Saxon culture, the "anglosphere" etc. was a load of rubbish after all! I do think the drink-fuelled antisocial aggressiveness is something you encounter in most Northern European cultures. Not so much in Latin cultures. I live in Paris, and sure, you get the rudeness of shopkeepers and the authoritarianism of petty officials. But you don't get the binge-drinking. And there seems to be a general overlay of "civilisation" for want of a better word in relations between people.
Maybe because London and Berlin are in the beer belt and Paris is in the wine belt (Jonathan Meades talks about this in one of his series.. Possibly the one called Magnetic North...) http://www.youtube.com/user/MeadesShrine
I felt the exact same way on returning to America from Japan, with a slightly different context. The first thing that shocked me was the constant, bitter sarcasm of everyone. As in Berlin, people take pride in not caring about anything, and there seems to be a pervasive, collective sneer at reality. 'Red' Americans exhibit this as just plain dumb anti-intellectualism, anti-reason, anti-science. But the blue Americans have a similar attitude, (just different targets) even though they'd be loath to admit it.
The other thing that disturbs me about America is how mindlessly fixated people are about only a handful of things. You go to a party and get your ear chewed off about fixed-gear bicycles, or home-yogurt-making. They'll listen with polite curiosity if you'd like to describe any of your own fixations, but will stare blankly if you try to engage them in a conversation about culture, politics, current events, etc. People seem to have retreated from society into their own private sub-cultures, and their is no common ground anymore.
"You go into a shop, just back from Japan, and expect the local version of a cheerful irrashaimase! Instead you get a sort of scowl that seems to say "What the fuck do you want, you weird pirate-looking guy?" Even when you say "Guten Tag!" you may well get no response"
hmm.. wonderful post. I think it has all of the reasons listed in it as to why I personally left Berlin. It's a hard place to live without but it's also a really hard place to "survive" for long. Although..." it's white Germans who are the worst -- totally disinhibited, arrogantly lazy, proud of not fitting in, beer bottle in hand, ready to assail and insult strangers. "
I have to say I sort of miss that because now that I'm back in England I personally really dislike how subservient everyone is and how the system gets to do anything it pleases with people. There is a vicious freedom in Berlin, I think, which sure, on one hand means you suffer but on the other means that you're free too.
There is a kind of dignity in that sort of recklesness.
"I have to say I sort of miss that because now that I'm back in England I personally really dislike how subservient everyone is and how the system gets to do anything it pleases with people. There is a vicious freedom in Berlin, I think, which sure, on one hand means you suffer but on the other means that you're free too.
There is a kind of dignity in that sort of recklesness."
Change England above to Japan, and you're not far off regarding it, either...
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Where do you think the "Saxon" in Anglo-Saxon comes from?
But yes, Latin-Catholic cultures are different. They do handle alcohol slightly better.
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i been doing
poems?
situations
thoughts i been thinking
happy honey ca
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are fucking green
you fucking transparunt cuntoe
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and you can nae smoke at austwitch
all the fucks i know with kids and a job are a right pain
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The other thing that disturbs me about America is how mindlessly fixated people are about only a handful of things. You go to a party and get your ear chewed off about fixed-gear bicycles, or home-yogurt-making. They'll listen with polite curiosity if you'd like to describe any of your own fixations, but will stare blankly if you try to engage them in a conversation about culture, politics, current events, etc. People seem to have retreated from society into their own private sub-cultures, and their is no common ground anymore.
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hmm.. wonderful post. I think it has all of the reasons listed in it as to why I personally left Berlin.
It's a hard place to live without but it's also a really hard place to "survive" for long.
Although..." it's white Germans who are the worst -- totally disinhibited, arrogantly lazy, proud of not fitting in, beer bottle in hand, ready to assail and insult strangers. "
I have to say I sort of miss that because now that I'm back in England I personally really dislike how subservient everyone is and how the system gets to do anything it pleases with people.
There is a vicious freedom in Berlin, I think, which sure, on one hand means you suffer but on the other means that you're free too.
There is a kind of dignity in that sort of recklesness.
Reply
There is a vicious freedom in Berlin, I think, which sure, on one hand means you suffer but on the other means that you're free too.
There is a kind of dignity in that sort of recklesness."
Change England above to Japan, and you're not far off regarding it, either...
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