Forget it - I had an inflammatory message typed up, but it isn't worth it. It is sad to see that someone that I thought was a friend here would act that inflammatory to me after I was trying to explain why people who don't live in Germany would bring up Hitler. Just don't ask me anything ever again if you are going to act like a baby, okay?
Why don't you just say what you mean instead of sparing everyone the cliquish winky-wink nonsense - because I have no idea what you might be referring to.
You see, the thing is, you surely had a good intention, but if you word it by saying "why do they want to sweep it under the rug", then you are saying something incorrect and that's not very smart.
Touchy, touchy. I was wondering about how Hitler rated on the list as well. Everytime Germany is mentioned, the first person I think of isn't Nowitzki or Arnold, it's freakin' Hitler. My vote would go to the designers of BMW. Good work.
How can you be wondering if he is one of the 10 BEST Germans?? I mean, I understand that that might be one of the first or the first person you think of, but I would still find it surprising that just because you think of him first you would expect him to be rated on a list of the 10 best people the country had???
I think the point you are missing is that here in the USA, when you say Germany, Hitler is always the first German that comes to mind. Let's try this in reverse: Name the first American, best or otherwise, that comes to mind...
Thank you - that was exactly my point. Maybe I didn't do the best job of wording it, but I don't know how else to say it. Jackie - when today started, I was one of your many friends here as was Smeg as was R2K as was Behad (well scratch that ), but after this performance, you may not have many friends left. I'll try to come up with an analogy to fit this situation. I have lived in the South my whole life. I have seen people who still drive around with the Rebel Flag. I have met people who still call African-Americans the n word. I have met people who think that because I live in the South that I must be like the rednecks that were in "Deliverance". What point does it serve for me to get upset and yell and act like you did at these people? It serves nothing except for them to remark, "Wow, Manny is really sensitive about the rebel flag or the KKK or whatever..." Instead, you educate these people and try to impress them that not all Southerners fly rebel flags or are racists to African-Americans or are inbred, etc. You say something like "that was an unfortunate time in our history and although it is a part of my heritage as a Southerner, it is obviously something that I do not condone or believe in. But it is insulting to pretend that those things did not happen."
Let me explain something - as I have mentioned a few times here, I sometimes read another message board called Flyertalk. There is a forum for a German airline called Lufthansa. Many times when someone basically has a simple customer service complaint, they just go ballistic and say "they are all nazis and that is why I did not get an upgrade" etc. It is highly annoying when people create a connection where it does not exist. Here is an example where the most offensive post was actually deleted by the administrators. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum32/HTML/002447.html SmeggySmeg's first post was oozing of ignorance and contributing nothing to the thread, but perhaps I should have just ignored it as one cannot always expect people to have some sense and sensitivity. In fact, I did not really react much to the first one, but when he came back to make another inflammatory statement in a mocking fashion (funny how ignorance and mocking of others sometimes go hand in hand), it pissed me off.
"What point does it serve for me to get upset and yell and act like you did at these people?" Damn, no edit - the people I am referring to here are ones that are not from the South and think that all Southerners are racist, inbred, rebel flag waving idiots.
David Hasselhoff? Klaus Meiner (Scorpions)? Really, my vote is either Dr. Ferdinand Porsche (if you have to ask, duh!) , Willy Messerschmitt or perhaps Werner Von Braun (the father of NASA).
Guys, come on now. If you want to have a pissing match, at least step it up to D&D standards. I want to see: 1) More outright dismissals of opinions using condescending language 2) More words in ALL CAPS which emphasize finality of argument 3) People striving to achieve a much higher level of arrogance and pomposity You are capable of so much more.
For me, it is usually the current president. As I said, there is really no parallel in history to Hitler in other countries, definitely not in the US and probably not in any other country, at least not in that magnitude. That is probably why it might be hard for many to understand that people react sensitively when there are jokes about this. It is also understandable that that name first comes to mind when being asked to name a person from that country. But to suggest it as one of the 10 best people from the country is nothing but a purposely inflammatory remark.
1) Your analogy sucks, it doesn't have anything to do with what is being discussed here and one cannot even understand what the hell you are trying to say . 2) Why are you always so concerned with how many friends you have on the BBS...it is unfortunately a bit obvious that cuddling up to what you think is the majority seems so important to you that that's why you swing one way or another in a discussion.
I really do not see the purposely intent in his intital remark. The second one had nothing to do with Hitler, but more just poking a stick at you. As for the Best German contest, did you know that Mickey Mouse always gets a couple hundred write in votes every US presidential election? I doubt anyone expected Hitler to be in the top ten, but I'll be he got a few votes.
