beats me wrote:
This is really sad. It could be argued that Germany was the most hyper-fucked up in WWII, but the Japanese delivered their fair share of atrocities and they seem to have gotten over it just fine and are well respected and industrious in the global picture. And more importantly to this thread they've got the most creative and perverted humor on the planet.
I think it's fair to say that Germany imposes more guilt on itself than the rest of the world does on Germany. The only other group of people that has a longer history of self imposed guilt is the Jews. Oh the irony.
Absolutely wrong, it is not 1stWW or second or napoleonic war. Germany simply never had this kind of culture so it is all in early development.The only connection with WW II is that Germany destroyed(killed or force to migrate) their Jews who till then were dominating the culture and entertainment (for example till 1937 80% of the members of German composers association were Jewish).
One of my greatest difficulties , when I started to tour Germany in 90s and later became Frankfurt`s resident was the absence of sense of humour in everyday life. You just cant joke, try to lighten tensions, stress with humour- stage announcements, dealing with technicians, roadies, managers because 1. they dont get it, 2. get it wrong = big trouble.
It is the hundred of years tradition to be uber serious build into subconscious. If there is no humour in everyday life, you cant expect much from staged one.
The absence of good humour (in life and show biz) is probably what I miss most in Germany, visiting UK is the best therapy for that.
P.S. I believe Germans handled the whole Nazi guilt rather well (Laws, education etc). Japanese? They never had any guilt, till today didnt apologize to Chinese, Korean etc and feel themselves to be victims.
P.P.S. Sulaiman Masomi! that was good, never seen him before. That fits my above theory, like Jews before WW II , now other Auslanders take over German show biz.
