Nymeria said:
I have a deep admiration for Germany and how its handled its history following the wars. May even a bit too much being so concerned with Dritte Reich imagery, but I know heart is in the right place. May not be perfect, but as you stated about US education system it is progress. Part of this view comes from American culture where locally we have festivals to celebrate local cultures of Mexican, Irish, Italian, and especially German culture. I wore a dirndl and drank beer from a glass boot which may be stereotypical and even offensive to you given I have no direct German heritage, but it was more of sharing and honoring each other to become closer. I do think intent and attitude matters, not just the imagery. The challenge with these issues is we are often arguing about end products and the divide comes from very different understanding of history. For example, if all someone knew about Germany was the second World War that vacuum of context would create a very distorted view of your people. I'm not sure how much progress or valid use of mental resources it is spending outrage on a symptom if we ignore the causes of such mindsets. It's not an easy issue to resolve given as a species we naturally want to take reductionist views of others. |
I think the fact that america has such a rich tradition of celebrating local heritage indiscriminately is great, actually. Everyone gets to get sloshed on St.Patricks day just as much as everyone gets to dress up for halloween and celebrate Oktoberfest. We need more of that, if you ask me. I think it's a great opportunity to educate a little as well, whenever possible.
I certainly don't take offense to anyone wearing a Dirndl, even if it's a bit reductive of German culture overall. As a notherner, I've never even worn a Dirndl (Dirndl and lederhosen are specifically Bavarian traditional dress and the Oktoberfest is a celebration for the Bavarian kings wedding if I remember correctly). Why we still celebrate it, I have no Idea but we have our own inner german mini culture appropiation going on, with Oktoberfest parties getting bigger in the north every year and more and more people dressing in Dirndls and Lederhosen.
For the most part bavarians seem to be very proud of their traditional clothes and their international popularity and tend to be really inclusive about it.
Like you said in the end it brings cultures closer toghether and I'd much rather be reduced to Lederhosen and Dirndls than to the atrocities comitted in WW2. Although I try to break it to people gently that for the most part, that is very much a bavarian thing and they should not expect to see them anywhere else outside of oktoberfest season.