Another Territory Added to My Expanding Media Empire

WDR5, the public radio channel with which I have a 94% love/6% hate relationship, recently interviewed me for a feature about how foreigners see Germany. You can download the whole program here.

I haven't listened to it yet, because it's too cringeifying. But I thought it would be queer not to mention it on this blog, since that's the main reason they interviewed me.

If I sound a little drunk during the interview, that's because I was! Mmmmm, Hefe-Weizenbier...

Comments

[Andrew]

This reminds me of the long dorm-room disputes I witnessed in the 1990s when someone would say, e.g., "It was a black day for the home team", and a black person (sometimes even a white person) would dispute the use of "black" as a synonym for unlucky. The problem, if you want to call it that, is a thousand times worse in German, where "black" is used for anything that's fishy or illegal: "black riding" the subway, "black accounts", etc.

[Sebastian]

I am aware, that in english speaking countries where the term is not exclusively used for a special group but still has its original meaning this association isn't complete. But you are also writing to a German audience where the term can only be understood in this way.

Just like the Beatles song "Hey Jude," which by a German audience must inexorably be understood as an anti-semitic diatribe of the lowest order.

[Alex]

> I always respected you for your tolerance.
> But...
1. What a wounderful beginning for a letter or a comment:
"Ich bin ein sehr toleranter Mensch, aber ..." nowadays it is the very proverbial start of a very untolerant comment, used by every commedian.

Of course it has to be accompanied by a version of the "Faschismuskeule" to discourage any potentially critics:
> People like me were one of the first
> victims of fascism in Germany.

and of course it is not complete without examples of the very own discriminatory attitude:
> But you are from Düsseldorf which is a
> extremly backward place in this regard
> (not only in this)."

Thanks, dear Ferdinand, for that fine laugh!
This was such a typical, but clumsy example for a disproportionate and even unfair use rethoric instruments, that it made me chuckling.

[Ferdinand Kleist]

Dear Andrew,

I always respected you for your tolerance. But now you use the word queer in a context that tells me you would find it negative to do something that you would consider queer.

Like many people with a sexual orientation that differntiates from the mainstream (i am a hermaphrodite), I have come to associate myself with this english term in a positive way. I am aware, that in english speaking countries where the term is not exclusively used for a special group but still has its original meaning this association isn't complete. But you are also writing to a German audience where the term can only be understood in this way.

One of the many unfortunate aspects of German society and history is its ruthless prosecution of people with non-mainstream sexual orientation. People like me were one of the first victims of fascism in Germany. As somebody who lives in Cologne I have seen that this society can progress. But you are from Düsseldorf which is a extremly backward place in this regard (not only in this) . You could make a great contribution if you could bring your progressive American values to Düsseldorf. Therefore please be carefull how you use your words.

regards,

Ferdinand

[noribori]

The WDR 5 website certainly deserves 6% hate because of its usabilty.
Here's the direct link to the mp3.
You'll find "Andrew content" at [19:20], [28:25], [53:10] and [56:15].

[Heiko]

Dear Andrew,
I can't find any audio file there. Maybe ich sehe den wald vor lauter bäumen nicht ... Can you help, please?
H.