German high school textbooks criticize the US?

[JustinCharge 2,397]

Interesting youtube short i found that claims they teach german high school kids that America is bad.  Also it blasts the idea of "American exceptionalism".  Germany blasts it.  You know, the nation that lost WW2 to America, was saved fom the USSR by America, that got the Berlin Airlift from America, that got rebuilt by America.  America does all of that for Germany.  In return, German condemns the notion of American Exceptionalism to its young minds.  Is this true?

 

 

[frank 2,152]

 

[listen2me 23 1,548]

Not sure.  But we teach young people here that America is bad.  So it wouldn't really be any sort of shock that any other nation would as well. 

[Hawkeye21 1,858]

I'm not sure how any other countries take the US serious anymore.  Just look at the clowns we elect to run our country.  It's embarrassing.

[fandandy 3,311]

25 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I'm not sure how any other countries take the US serious anymore.  Just look at the clowns we elect to run our country.  It's embarrassing.

But we are exceptional, right?  

This country is sh!t.  Maybe our grandparents did some selfless things wayyyy back in the day but since then we have seriously been fockering things up, royally.  We are governed by incompetent fools who are elected by incompetent fools.  This country is doomed.

[Hawkeye21 1,858]

5 minutes ago, fandandy said:

But we are exceptional, right?  

This country is sh!t.  Maybe our grandparents did some selfless things wayyyy back in the day but since then we have seriously been fockering things up, royally.  We are governed by incompetent fools who are elected by incompetent fools.  This country is doomed.

I don't think we're doomed at all.  I think things will correct themselves.  We're still the greatest country there is.

[Engorgeous George 1,201]

5 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I don't think we're doomed at all.  I think things will correct themselves.  We're still the greatest country there is.

Sadly I find myself in agcreement with Fandandy and not you.  We have been getting by on momentum and myths we have bought into.  Our education, innovation, and productivity decline markedly every decade.  Our sense of self-entitlement grows correspondingly.  China has rocketed past us as the new world reality.  Our strength is a stockpile of nukes, a stockpile put up by a previous generation now fading away.  Our infrastucture is collapsing.  Crime is rising. Polarization is ever increasing.  We are no longer primarily one country with a work ethic, but two countries with self entitlement as our prevailing ethos.  We have slid, now we are headed for a fall unless we change, and I do not see a capacity for change.  Still, maybe we surprise me.  I hope so.

[RLLD 3,455]

I get the sense that people who object to being proud of your nation look back at how populations were so easily manipulated by nationalism and cults of personality.

Most historians point directly at nationalism as the source of WW1 and WW2, hence the vilification of pride in ones nation.

I do not concur with the assessment.  Pride in ones nation is not the issue. Interference in nations by other nations is the issue, globalization is the issue. 

Germany is very sensitive to this entire thing. They were expansionistic and imperialistic to a poisonous extent for decades and major contributors to the first two wars.  They really work hard to gird themselves against past mistakes. 

[porkbutt 864]

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”

so true. were now in the second half of this quote.

[Hawkeye21 1,858]

21 minutes ago, porkbutt said:

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”

so true. were now in the second half of this quote.

It's cyclical.  Things will improve eventually.

[Engorgeous George 1,201]

11 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

It's cyclical.  Things will improve eventually.

I try to take heart from your positivity.  I hope the downcycles are of shorter duration than th eupcycles, though I tend to believe that may not be so.  They may last for many generations.  Still, that good men have hpe gives me some hpoe. 

[MDC 5,902]

Has there ever been a point in history when people didn’t think they were living in dark times?

[Hardcore troubadour 12,695]

57 minutes ago, porkbutt said:

“Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.”

so true. were now in the second half of this quote.

There are so many weak men now. Look a this place. Half of them still watch movies based on cartoon characters.  

[Herbivore 909]

42 minutes ago, MDC said:

Has there ever been a point in history when people didn’t think they were living in dark times?

35 years ago my hs girlfriend was yapping about how our generation is at the most important time in history and I said to her, every generartion thinks this.

[Herbivore 909]

to the op..they ain't wrong

[Hawkeye21 1,858]

3 minutes ago, Herbivore said:

35 years ago my hs girlfriend was yapping about how our generation is at the most important time in history and I said to her, every generartion thinks this.

Always a common theme.  The youngest generation is terrible and the root for everything bad happening.

[Hardcore troubadour 12,695]

11 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

Always a common theme.  The youngest generation is terrible and the root for everything bad happening.

Exactly this but opposite these days. Do you pay attention to anything? The prior generations weren’t tearing down statues of the ones that came before or blaming people for things that happened 200 years ago.  

[Hawkeye21 1,858]

3 minutes ago, Hardcore troubadour said:

Exactly this but opposite these days. Do you pay attention to anything? The prior generations weren’t tearing down statues of the ones that came before or blaming people for things that happened 200 years ago.  

I'm not a sky is falling kind of guy.  I think things will turn around.

[MDC 5,902]

28 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I'm not a sky is falling kind of guy.  

Lot of Chicken Little hysterics at the GC.

[Hardcore troubadour 12,695]

33 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I'm not a sky is falling kind of guy.  I think things will turn around.

So do I. But the need for a turnaround wasn’t necessary. Self inflicted wounds. Too many bystanders (centrists) that don’t call the obvious out.  

[MDC 5,902]

What’s really wrong with America is real wages have been stagnant for decades but the cost of housing, education and healthcare have skyrocketed. Our government allows businesses to dodge their tax burden and hire foreign labor who work for pennies on the dollar with little to not labor protections, then sell their product to the US market. 

Meanwhile, Americans spend their time debating “issues” like CRT and drag queen story hour. Washington, Wall Street and the media are on the same side and playing voters for fools.

[Hardcore troubadour 12,695]

I for one can speak about the decline of the middle class and propaganda being taught in schools. I guess some people can’t. 

[edjr 5,585]

Fair. They had Hitler, we have Trump.  it's a wash

[Herbivore 909]

1 hour ago, Hardcore troubadour said:

I for one can speak about the decline of the middle class and propaganda being taught in schools. I guess some people can’t. 

actually you can't

[Hardcore troubadour 12,695]

19 minutes ago, Herbivore said:

actually you can't

Why can’t I? I was taking about the middle class long before the nonsense in schools became a topic. You won’t talk about it, your crew is the one that wrecked it

[craftsman 1,045]

2 minutes ago, Hardcore troubadour said:

Why can’t I? I was taking about the middle class long before the nonsense in schools became a topic. You won’t talk about it, your crew is the one that wrecked it

Liberals wreck everything they touch.

[MDC 5,902]

You can always tell a phony Fox News “populist.” They blame every problem on China/Mexico and NAFTA and hate organized labor. Their heroes are career fraudsters and charlatans like Trump and Tucker. 

[Cloaca du jour 2,066]

My dad bombed the sh1t out of berlin during wwii.  He flew B-17s.  

[Hardcore troubadour 12,695]

2 hours ago, Cloaca du jour said:

My dad bombed the sh1t out of berlin during wwii.  He flew B-17s.  

My grandfather died at Treblinka. 

[Frozenbeernuts 1,652]

9 hours ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I'm not sure how any other countries take the US serious anymore.  Just look at the clowns we elect to run our country.  It's embarrassing.

We aren't the only g7 or g20 nation to do that.

[Cloaca du jour 2,066]

20 minutes ago, Hardcore troubadour said:

My grandfather died at Treblinka. 

Dang.  My dad lost 2 brothers at iwo jima

Could you imagine a war like that today...

[Hardcore troubadour 12,695]

10 minutes ago, Cloaca du jour said:

Dang.  My dad lost 2 brothers at iwo jima

Could you imagine a war like that today...

Yeah. He fell out of the guard tower. RIP 

[craftsman 1,045]

On 9/8/2022 at 8:05 AM, Hawkeye21 said:

I'm not sure how any other countries take the US serious anymore.  Just look at the clowns we elect to run our country.  It's embarrassing.

"We" didn't elect Biden.  You clueless liberals did. 

[Hawkeye21 1,858]

2 minutes ago, craftsman said:

"We" didn't elect Biden.  You clueless liberals did. 

The US didn't elect Biden?  That's odd.

[craftsman 1,045]

7 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

The US didn't elect Biden?  That's odd.

I think people in other countries who pay attention realize that there is a divide politically in this country and half the country hates this president and knows that he doesn't represent their values. You're the one who brought up embarrassing. I'm not embarrassed about voting for Trump. But if I voted for Biden, I would crawl in a hole and hide until this is all over. 

I would also call myself a centrist and say I didn't vote for him. 

[Hawkeye21 1,858]

Just now, craftsman said:

I think people in other countries who pay attention realize that there is a divide politically in this country and half the country hates this president and knows that he doesn't represent their values. You're the one who brought up embarrassing. I'm not embarrassed about voting for Trump. But if I voted for Biden, I would crawl in a hole and hide until this is all over. 

I didn't vote for Trump or Biden and they were both embarrassments representing our country.

[craftsman 1,045]

4 minutes ago, craftsman said:

I think people in other countries who pay attention realize that there is a divide politically in this country and half the country hates this president and knows that he doesn't represent their values. You're the one who brought up embarrassing. I'm not embarrassed about voting for Trump. But if I voted for Biden, I would crawl in a hole and hide until this is all over. 

I would also call myself a centrist and say I didn't vote for him. 

 

2 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I didn't vote for Trump or Biden and they were both embarrassments representing our country.

I added the last sentence just as you were replying. 

Right on queue. 

[Hawkeye21 1,858]

Just now, craftsman said:

 

I added the last sentence just as you were replying. 

Right on queue. 

Not sure why the truth bothers you so much.

You understand I'm talking about how outsiders look at our country and not US citizens, right?  Other countries laughed at Trump.

[MDC 5,902]

6 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said:

I didn't vote for Trump or Biden and they were both embarrassments representing our country.

#metoo

[craftsman 1,045]

Just now, Hawkeye21 said:

Not sure why the truth bothers you so much.

You understand I'm talking about how outsiders look at our country and not US citizens, right?  Other countries laughed at Trump.

Fine. You care about image, and I'll care about the US. About a positive economy, self reliance on energy, closed borders, strong foreign affairs, etc.

Plus I heard many people/reporters from the UK that respected Trump's policies and often said they wish they had the same there in many ways.

You are just making things up now.