I am not really sure what you are trying to prove here. We should all be thankful for the well known German inventors who invented many things that help people have better life. I don't have any disrespectful attempt against them nor deny their achievements. What I meant by "popular culture" should be clear enough though. If not please ask me to elaborate more. I will do my best. But don't do any irrelevant sarcasm. It's not cool.
I am not maybe in a position to talk for all the nations you mentioned, except for Turks obviously. But to me, they are pretty different, in terms of many things, "worldview" included. And don't have so much in common, except, maybe, Greeks and the Turks from the aegan cost. My understainding of the term "world view" as you used, is knowing and being respectful of different cultures in the world, and being more of a world citizen, being interested in world politics, history etc. Having said that, I don't think Germans are any better than the nations you listed here. The German people seem to be pretty self interested and closed society. At least to me. But for some of other West Europeans, like Britons, things are different.
You seem to be enjoying the term "Closed society". Don't you? Though I didn't mean its full definition. So don't take it too literally. And please, don't be so defensive. I respect Germany and the German people.
Sure. I love it always that we are called a criminal nation frio teh United natiodsn (they say it in a more polite way - nevertheless that's the message) because lots of Turks in the second and even third generation don't like to learn the german language so they are able to start to find out what a part of the german culture could be and what no part of the german culture coud be.
Wow. Your reasoning is just so twisted!. Nobody has a right to call a nation "Criminal". D*mn the UN If they ever implied that. You shouldn't make an argument based on this bllsh*t. As for the Turks in Germany. I didn't even mean them when I spoke about the Turks. What I meant is the Turks in Turkey. Nevertheless, I will make a comment about the issue you're worried. I am quite convinced that the both parties have serious problems. As Germany is one of the last countries to immigrate because of the strict racial and cultural codes of the natives, the Turks, especially uneducated Turks of inner Anatolia who tend to be Islamists, might probably be among the worst immigrants a country should fear of. So the result is an inevitable tragedy.
Oh yes, Blue Jeans and Hamburgers are German ... somehow Naw, these are American inventions, they may have been made by Germans or inspired by Germans, which is still good. Even Hollywood is coming from Germans, like Blue Jeans these were Jewish Germans, but Germans nonetheless.
The French Dome, the Sony Center from the well-known Japanese company Sony and the dome of the Reichstag designed by the British architecture office of Norman Foster, these are the examples of Berlin buildings you showed. This rather shows the international influence to Berlin, which is a good thing in a modern world.
Ok, these were the eightees, German music was actually fresh and popular back then. Many people actually did sing in German back then and they have been successful with it. She is a bit strange, but not stupid. Ok, Berlin is not Milano or Paris, but there is a German influence in fashion, I agree to this.
Provincial and arrogant, if it isn't important in these few acres called Belgium, it isn't important ... Turkish music is very popular in Germany, it may not be so popular among a small group of gay racists somewhere in "oh, Muslims will come and get us" Flanders, but who cares? Now I understand the thread about the bigotry exception Electronic music is Techno? What is German about it? Just like UFO's landing in Roswell? They like women, too.
Though I don't think techno&trance or any recent electronic genre belongs to any specific culture, the very idea of electronic music belongs to the German musicians of the late 60's and early 70's. After the use of synthesizer in the psychedelic rock scene, many German hippies wanted to achieve the sound of future, and they created what is now known electronic music. So, to Caesar what is Caesar's. I have always enjoyed listening to Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze. But again their achievements are not well presented in the popular culture. So my point still stands.
@Volker Sorry but I will not indulge in your homophobic rants anymore. I gave you an other chance, after your lastest tirades and waves of personal attacks and insults -- but you just keep on falling in the same pattern.
As I said, the synth sound was already being used in the rock scene. Yeah, especially by the psyche rockers of Britain. The difference is, Pink Floyd used synthethic arpeggios along with the tape delayed guitars, to make their sound more hypnotic, the German musicians took the synth sound to go even further, eventually make something completely new, as they really intented it. I really recommend the BBC 4 documentary called Krautrock: The Rebirth of Germany for further details. They interviewed many of the German musicians of the era, and many of them say that they didn't want to make German folk music, as many of them were critical about Germany's national identity, a post WWII phenomenon amongst Germans, they didn't want to imitate the Anglo American rock music either, so they ended up with new sounds with the newly instrument synthesizer. Though it sounds terribly funny to call all the dance tunes played in the world "German music", the German musicians of the 70's were amazingly brilliant and deserved a mention.
It probably sounded more like mocking. In his infamous xenophobic book Sarrazin had decried that the day would come when there'd be nobody left in Germany who knows this poem by Goethe. Whereupon in a TV-discussion show on the book the joke was that not only was none of the notable intellectual guests able to quote it, but also none of the pupils or teachers of a "Goethe-Schule". And Sarrazin himself stumbled a bit when trying to quote it.
Gee, apart from dismissing Classical music as a 'niche' you also don't seem to be aware that Techno (and most electronic elements in modern pop-music) was heavily influenced by German musicians. .... And of course also by others. Which brings me to the sense or nonsense of threads like these: nationality gets less and less important in the culture of a globalized world. For example one of my favourite bands is from Canada and works with a German label. Interesting things happen when various individuals with various cultural influences mix, mingle and create new exciting things. And a Heavy-metal-fan from the UK has probably more in common with a Heavy-metal-fan from France than with a classical cellist from the UK.
Ehem, I agree that very many young people regard Berlin as one of the hippest cities of this world these days. But I don't think they're too interested in the architecture of the new Reichstag. Most of them will want to go partying for days on end in one of its famous clubs: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V16wKQjgu4A&feature=player_detailpage"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V16wKQjgu4A&feature=player_detailpage[/ame] [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDK5FxIYrf8&feature=player_detailpage"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDK5FxIYrf8&feature=player_detailpage[/ame]
Berghain doesn't allow camera's, and I wanted to post a picture of the Watergate, but I didn't want to look superficial and I can party at home -- Antwerp or Ghent -- as much and as good as I want. The location of the club, Germany or Belgium, doesn't really matter -- during "all my travels" the best night life I've encountered is the Belgian one.
Modern World? Your are calling a dome building "modern world"? If it would be on the ground of a sea where fishes could take a look how homi sapiens sapiens are walking then it could be an interesting piece of architecture for fishes. http://youtu.be/KLi_M1Uezyc
Absolutely true. In the modern world, influences are drawn from all over the place and mixed in all kinds of ways, and that's a good thing. That's not to say that celebrating historical national cultures and so on is a bad thing, of course - both things can be enjoyed alongside each other. Nothing wrong with enjoying cultural elements in various ways from all over the world, and there's also nothing wrong with making sure that more traditional cultural elements are preserved and encouraged - that all just adds to the variety of things that are there for everyone to enjoy. That is also true to an extent. The reality is that as a heavy metal fan from the UK I would have something in common with a cellist from the UK, and with a heavy metal fan in France (or anywhere else) - I'd certainly have something of common interest to talk about with either of them. I also have things in common with my neighbours and other Welsh people, of course. I also have things in common with people from the USA, Germany, Belgium, etc. who have an interest in politics, obviously! The same is true for any area of interest. That is the nature of modern 'society'. 'Society' itself has changed in the modern era of global communication, rapid transport and so on. Where 'community' once meant more or less 'local people who live together', it can now be applied to all kinds of groups which could be local, national, international or global. This forum, for example is a 'community', and instead of people belong only to a 'community' of local people, they now belong to many separate 'communities', depending on their interests, work and so on. All of those communities share common interests and common bonds, and people are influenced by (and have an influence on) all of them. That's the modern world, and I for one think it's great. Of course, in this kind of context it probably means it's harder to pin down all of the precise cultural links and influences (and their original origins), but that certainly doesn't mean that those links and influences don't exist.
I hate your (*)(*)(*)(*)ed prussian view on the world really a lot. Belgium has serious problems - and if it falls then we have maybe to accept that the european idea was in general a wrong idea. And you are speaking about this problems like you would be a three years old child what is eating the first time in life a bandana. http://youtu.be/JjD4eWEUgMM
