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Originally Posted by Mentar
Fair enough. I'd like to extend an olive branch of my own. I do hope that the negotiations will be successfully concluded, and that Syriza will get 4 months to prove themselves. After all they HAVE won their election. Who knows, maybe something good will come out of it. If so, I'd like it.
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I am glad we can get back to normal discussion mode
As for the four months, the Greek left have to prove themselves, it's a fair deal, considering the circumstances. Should they succeed even a little into tackling the corruption and decelerating the humanitarian crisis, it would be not just more than what has happened over the past five years with the "troika" supervision, but even more than what those non-radical-left parties have done since democracy was restored.
I really hope they will succeed, so other parties in Europe will strengthen, and we can reverse this downward spiral that started in '92.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Mentar
About "problematic" opinions: Trust me, I do know where you're coming from. Look at it from my perspective: I was born 34 years after the end of WW2. Still, you're continuously living with the Nazi "taint" which unsurprisingly is laid on the table whenever someone else feels it to be politically beneficial. Nowadays, it's completely en vogue to blame even those problems which I consider to be 90% self-afflicted in nature on Germany or Europe. The specter of "Germany trying to rule the world" is being waved around in every corner, even though the German population couldn't care less about that. If there was a magic fairy at the corner who could make Greece, and the Ukraine, and whatever other problem pops up disappear to la la land, 95% would immediately ask for it. We don't see them as something we want to rule, we see them as nuisances and problems that should please go away and leave us alone. I can positively assure you that there is no secret illuminati cabal behind Merkel pulling her strings, and she has no interest in regional hegemony either. But having the same stereotypes repeated again and again and again has a comparable effect to "Greeks are...". I should know better, but my anger sometimes overcame the inhibition of reason. Sorry for that. I'll try harder.
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I have spend 6 years in Germany, both studying and working. I understand very well how the average German feels, as well as why. But that said, in a union-to-be, that is not enough, and while I see why you can get offended with specific wording, you should also understand that other cultures have similar issues. For example, the statements from Shauble and Jaeger were worded similarly to SS directives from the occupation era. Obviously that was not their objective, and most Greeks that have spend anytime there can understand this. But this is the same issue, when Greeks raise claims concerning the debts most non-occupying countries forgave to Germany after the war to let the people breathing room. Unfortunately, I can understand both and more, and that is why I face-palm at hardliners like Schauble and Varoufakis... and thankfully others have intervened to bridge the gap, so the Greeks can have a chance to build up some trust, while Germans gave them finally a chance to do so.
Now cultural experiences aside, Germany as the leading economy and the only beneficiary of the crisis is the government everyone looks at for leadership and direction. Should the government not reassess its circumstances and assume that role, falling back to internalising continental issues
is a problem. The war ended ~60 years ago, and it's about time Germans can look back at it critically and not with fear of French, Russian and English populist reactions. On a lesser extent, these spectres are what sustains neo-nazism there.
Finally, sorry for being very raw in my wording. It is somewhat difficult to put everything in a politically correct wording, while still exposing the full extent of an argument.
PS: I hope that I will be able get back to other points of your post soon. This is the quality I really want in a discussion, and I am glad we achieved it... now I looking forward to the rest of the posters in this otherwise thought-provoking thread to become a constructive discussion, independent of the conclusions each of us individually can reach
PS2: Thanks for the "Greeks are..." clarification. I really try to distinguish between stereotypes, average mindset, political party directives, and internal factional tactics within them... but obviously, I do not always succeed
