IN DEFENSE OF NEWSPAPER -- RESPONSE FROM GERMANY

IN DEFENSE OF NEWSPAPERS – RESPONSE FROM GERMANY

James R. Fisher, Jr., Ph.D.
© August 31, 2010

REFERENCE:

This is a response to the writer who posed some questions regarding the original missive on this subject (See In Defense of Newspapers -- Another Response, August 30, 2010).

* * *

A READER WRITES FROM GERMANY:

Jim,

For whatever it may be worth, here are a few comments to your recent exchange:

From my point of view of someone who has worked extensively in the United States, as have my children, but from the perspective of German citizen, the size of an economy is not a decisive factor for an economy.

In fact perhaps a larger economy has even the advantage not to be as fickle as smaller ones, because they have more resistance to drastic changes.

As you rightfully mentioned, it is more a question of attitude, that is, the commitment to accomplish a real good job. But prosperity makes one complacent and driven by other things than the job.

Discrimination (i.e. for color etc.) is often taken as an excuse for other deficiencies. The political system denies that there are natural differences in strengths and weaknesses as there are as well in cultures.

For instance, why do blacks generally not care to read Shelby Steele, an African American, or other books critical of their race, books designed to give them insight into their problems, and alternatives to extrapolating them from such problems?

In the beginning of industrialization, there was a huge need for workers to do simple routines, now machines replace them.

Higher intelligence is now required for getting a professional occupation. It is not only a question of opportunity. It is also a question to have the passion to perform.

Coming back to the first question of your responder, Germany as have other European countries has a far smaller economy than the U.S. That said we have amazingly similar problems. For example, we have a much higher percentage of immigrants from Islamic countries. Unfortunately, our politicians like those in your United States don't have the wisdom to find the right answers.

Be always well

M

* * *

DR. FISHER RESPONDS:

M,

You have crystallized the problem in succinct terms. It is not an American or German problem. It is a problem of Western democracies, a problem brought on by shortsightedness.

After World War Two you may recall, Germany exploded in growth. It was called an economic miracle (Wirtschaftswunder). German Chancellor Konrad Adenauer was anointed a hero here in the United States, the “father of the German economic miracle” along with his Minister of Economics, Ludwig Erhard.

Devastated by war with a large component of the male population sacrificed to that war effort, you may recall a policy of bringing into Germany indentured workers from Turkey was established. Now, as you point out, that Islamic component is a significant part of the German population, and has no intentions of returning to its Turkey homeland.

I saw the same thing in South Africa when I was there in the 1960s. Indentured workers from India were brought into the country to work the sugar plantations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, and stayed and multiplied in the Natal Province. As a matter of fact, Mahatma Gandhi launched his drive for India’s independence in South Africa after WWI.

The reason for mentioning this is that the consequences of the actions of politicians often are not realized for generations.

That said, as I am a fan of DW-TV, I know that most people of Turkish or Islamic descent, while remaining essentially in their own community, have continued to contribute. There is a radical fringe that creates problems, people who refuse to learn German or assimilate into the German culture.

You are right, however, I don’t think most Americans know how significant this problem is for Germany, especially in these trying times. We make such a big thing of undocumented workers, which pales in comparison to what Germany must deal with on a national basis.

* * *

Comedian Bill Cosby, a man who has a doctorate in education, has been severely criticized by his own people when he has lectured them on getting off their duffs and welfare rolls and doing something.

Again, as I’ve said many times in other missives, we have programmed dependence into African Americans after using them for more than one hundred years as slaves. We have an African American President, but we will never get beyond the guilt of that subjugation. It is part of our national heritage.

I was an angry young man. Now I am a crotchety old man. I’ve often wondered what I would have been had I been born black instead of white with the same temperament. To put it another way, I can identify with Bill Cosby.

Thank you for your precise analysis. It is wonderful to have this media of exchange. I feel honored to have you as friend and feel lucky to have had the opportunity to work with you.

Be always well,

Jim