Homesick for a dictatorship
 

"Glorification of the GDR has reached the centre of society."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/...634122,00.html

:o It can be explained, to some degree. But neither in full, nor can the transfiguring lies be explained.

What can reason or education acchieve here? Nothing.

Frustrating.

Mhm.. if they pay back the money they recieved, sure.. why not. :nope:

I remember the reunification, it was a happy time that turned sour pretty quick with the economic recession of the early -90's. The recessions always tend to make people long for the times when they weren't just little toy boats on the waves of the huge market economy - ocean.

You are correct. It went sour pretty fast. Recession in the 90's may have been one contributing factor, but not the biggest one, IMO.

Alot of people in the western part got disillusioned pretty quick when everybody heard what it will cost and who is going to pay for it.

Welcome to the democratic republic of Slovenia, where the Party rules everything and you are forbidden to express your "negative" opinion of the Government in public or be remove from it. Forbidden to work or to express one self, the Party has total control over the media and the intellectual and academic circle with few allowed to express their true opinions. If you want a People's Republic, look no further, everything you need is in Slovenia. Come and send them to us, the Party will gladly accept them to strengthen their illusions of a democratic country.

I miss feudalism...

Buddahaid

It's things like this that make me believe that this golden age of European stability and peacefulness will be relatively short lived.

It would be interesting to see the age demographics of the poll. Birger, 30, is probably too young to make a good assesment of how things actually were before the fall. Most folks have fond memories of how things were at age 10.

Could be, but that doesn't mean that things actually were that bad for, say, 10 year old's in GDR. Everything that had to do with the states responsibility over the people was taken care of and there was plenty of youth clubs etc. Less drugs, less gangs, less crime, etc. So it isn't as simple as 'time gilds memories'.

It seems that the Americans are very interested to have things their way in far away places but once they have gotten their wish they kind of walk away. Case in point, Afghanistan.

That is my point. For a 10 yo nothing is bad. It isn't until one matures into a tax payer that the role of government becomes clear.

When one works hard and has nothing to show for it because of gov't intervention, it makes folks angry.

I'm not touching that one, but be ready for the big American cream pie heading your way.

Buddahaid

Maybe we should remind them that they would have to drive cars again that were build like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mIAYxWCXF8A

And wait 14 years to get one btw.

Go ahead and remind "them", you make the former East-Germans sound like aliens or something. I'm beginning to understand why they don't like to live subjugated to the west.

A lot of the architecture that was hastily built in the unified Berlin isn't really for the ages, a bunch of glass, metal and other boring stuff. I'm not saying that the socialist system was working out, it had come to the end of it's road. However, I did expect quite a bit more from the 'winners' or 'conquerors'.

Subjugated? Subjugation was the intent of Moscow for Finland as I recall. Seems Finland fought pretty hard to avoid that. The alien sounding "west" tries to let people help themselves once given the opportunity, and it can be very uneven. But if it did more, the cries would truly be subjugation or a welfare state.

Buddahaid

The way I look at it is from the point of view of simple geography. Certain ways of thinking, political ideologies, work in some places and conditions and don't really work elsewhere. Socialism kind of worked in many places in the former USSR and other places. For someone to say it doesn't work IMO should at least give something that works better in that particular place instead.

Granted. The good old US has many places where a form of socialism is endemic. There are people who use the system of welfare permanently, with no intention of ever working to support themselves, and this has been handed down for a generation or two. The safety net for hard times is being gamed to the detriment of all and sticks in the craws of many who have worked hard all their lives. The claim of social inequities is growing thinner, as a basic education is guaranteed by the state, and many of these lifers will not even try, while many others just as poorly off , will gladly work to better their lives and their children's lives. The state is hard put to correct this as there is a moral obligation to help the poor, and some are simply unemployable. How do you tell from a bureaucratic point of view who is who.

Buddahaid

Thought about buying a Trabi, but the shipping and freight would be way to much.

There are even some Germans who miss feudalism too....

;)

Yea ok. In modern day Russia there are more billionaires then there are in any other country in the world, or there was awhile ago. So clearly some people are very well off. But a lot of people are also at the bottom of the barrel, kids living on the street, elderly people many of whom went through WW2 as young kids etc. struggling for a pension. Alcoholism not even being seen as something that should be treated is culling the numbers of Russians and the birth/death rate of Russians is declining.

So there is free reign for a certain type of capitalism, and the majority has to suffer. It's kind of like the Czarist rule, few at the top and a lot in positions like serfs etc. It's a volatile situation from the start but as long as Russia is where the west wants it to be nobody seems to be interested in making Russia a more humane country.

Nice find! :har: