Shiny Happy Germans, Hold Hands. Now!

"The German is friendly," says German Business and Technology Minister Michael Glos says, "he just has to show it."

Glos is worried about the upcoming 2006 soccer world championships. When the world comes to be "Germany's guest" will it leave thinking "golly, those Germans sure were nice," or "they have rods up their asses"? Glos (hardly renowned for cheerfulness himself) wants to use the world championship to dispel the image of the grumpy German. Which means Germans had better get pretty friggin' friendly, pretty friggin' fast.

Glos' comments provided another occasion for Germans to engage in their third-favorite hobby, navel-gazing speculation about What it Means to be German. The local public-radio call in show today hosted Heinz Gruene of the Rheingold Institute. Gruene (G) who doesn't look at all like a Nibelung, researches Germans' attitudes toward themselves, and provided expert input on the questions: Are we really that unfriendly? If so, why?

The callers were, as usual, well-spoken and thoughtful. They seemed to split about 50/50 on the question of whether Germans were really grumpy. Many returned from abroad only to be "slapped in the face" by rudeness when they returned to Germany. Others said it's all a relative thing; lots of the friendliness in other countries is fake and put-on (aufgesetzt), and Germans show friendliness by sincerity and politeness more than frothy good-cheer.

Gruene and others gave several interesting explanations for German unfriendliness:

1. Germans are thoughtful and reserved. They contemplate the "pros and cons" of situations before acting. This inhibits them from spontaneous shows of friendliness towards strangers.
2. The '68 generation viewed friendliness to customers as humiliating and oppressive; why should a human have to forcibly don an alternate, fake personality just to earn a living?
3. The essence of friendliness is trading superficial but reassuring expressions. This is foreign to Germans, who have an innate fear of seeming superficial.
4. Centuries of living in an society dominated by fixed, hierarchical social relationships destroyed the talent for friendliness. In such societies, you have to know how to be firm to those under you, and kiss up to those above you, but being friendly to those on an equal footing with you (if there are any) doesn't help you advance. In fact, it might do just the opposite.

Gruene noted something else of interest. His group interviewed a sample of Germans to determine why the notorious "Du bist Deutschland" public-service ad campaign was so roundly jeered by Germans.

Some background: recently, a few ad agencies got together and put together what they thought was a positive, cheerful, innocent ad campaign in which various nice-looking and very diverse people were featured under the motto "Du bist Deutschland!" ("You are Germany!"). The intent: to cheer Germans up a little.  The response from ordinary Germans was a tsumani of scorn and derision so intense it would take your breath away.

Like me, Gruene was interested in what caused such an intense, hateful reaction, and did some interviews. Most of the critics of the Du bist Deutschland campaign couldn't think of any reason to be happy about their life or proud of their country. When the Du bist Deutschland campaign came along, they felt insulted by the superficial feel-good cheerfulness of it.

But they also felt somehow powerless and ashamed, because the advertisements reminded them of their own inability to thnk of any genuine, meaningful reason for cheerfulness. This hidden insecurity, Gruene thinks, was one of the reasons for the intensity of the anti-Du bist Deutschland backlash.

Comments

[Norbert]

First lesson in communication: If you want someone to do or to be something particular never start with criticizing that he/she isn't or doesn't like that. That ever will cause contradiction and aggression. Rephrased: if you tell somebody "be happier" you coevally tell him "you're not happy enough." The natural reaction might be a kick in your nuts. A Jean Remy von Anything should know this, if not: very embarrassing. It's also embarrassing for the customers of this campaign that they didn't discern this major mistake and bought this disaster. This is a typical german "Schildbürgerstreich". Something that cheered up others, but not "the wounded german soul".

But who criticizes should also come up with an alternative suggestion. So here's mine: Just show Germans things they can be proud of. Things that Germans did very well but are overseen easily in the daily flood of disasters in media. I will give one example. And if every reader of this blog gives another, we'll have our campaign completed very soon.

My example: Germany is world's no. 1 in environment engineering, a steadily growing market of ascending importance.

Come on everybody: don't be shy.

[tom bach]

A further comment, I just went to the grociery and man do I always miss Germany after that. Here it is all promiscuous use of bags, staggerlingly slow customers paying and no decent and cheap bubbly water, beggarly beer selections and this horrid, horrid beef and pork, to say nothing of the paucity of sausage etc.

[Ligia]

One of the FIFA Worldcup 2006 slogans I´ve also seen was "Time to make friends", which is a silly childish way to point that the germans are not just grumpy, but also unfriedly. I could imagine this slogan for posters in kindergartens advertising "a visit to the zoo".

I do not think that this slogan will help people stop thinking that germans are "ausländerfeindlich". So the campaign is bad because germans can´t persuade foreigners around the world that they aren´t grumpy and xenophobic. Unfortunately many people still have just the worst to tell about germans, mostly due to their ignorance about the teutonic culture. I like german humor and I´ve never witnessed any unpleasant situation in germany toward foreigners...frankly... grumpy people are everywhere!

On the other hand,I think germany should think about improving their advertising skills and custumer services, because in these areas they still have to learn a lot with other people like americans...and brazilians :o)

[Koch]

One of the differences between Germany and numerous other Western countries - particularly English-speaking ones - is that the "fixed, hierarchical social relationships" persisted longer, and were more deeply entrenched through the state. Compare (Prussian) Germany in the Victorian Age, or even the Weimar period to the equivalent in England - even more regulated and divisive. As an example, visit a German cemetery with gravestones from that period. Next to the name, you'll often find the career and rank of the individual "Oberschullehrer" or "Zweite Postleitmann". Look at the "class / task / social" distinctions between civil servants, workers, professionals and students which remain visible and significant in Germany today. Andrew does make a good point here.

And I like the humour of the Germans as well. Dry, often self-deprecating, often quick-witted and dependent on a complicated context or a complex linguistic turn to make its point.

[Thorsten]

"Centuries of living in an society dominated by fixed, hierarchical social relationships destroyed the talent for friendliness."

I wonder which of those abroad countries, where people are so much more friendly than in Germany, did not have a fixed hierarchical society for centuries.

[Tom Bach]

I lived in Germany for some time, in the old East and Berlin, and found the "German," whatever that might mean or whoever that might be, to be very pleasant with plenty of ironical whimsy and whatnot. Compared, for example, to the English, where I have also lived for some time, the German, all caveats included, is much more pleasant. In addition, I would take German commerce over American, from where I come and by which I mean the false comradery (sp?)
Best,

[orange show]

If Germans are glumm and depressed they should do something constructive about it that will cheer them up immensely - like declaring war on France and kicking the shit out of that country - again! I say this because all of those war films I saw, always pictured the 'evil' Germans partying and drinking and having a grand old time when they were on top!