Kultur2 - Kevin Hirn

I enjoyed the Kultur2 articles about German attitudes and culture. Although they're clearly overstated generalizations, they do provide some insight about German culture.  I am intrigued by the possibilities presented by the blunt honesty of Germans: Being honest about invitations, expecting debate over different opinions without anger or resentment, and being blunt in response to questions all seem like virtues that are clearly disencouraged in America. Perhaps subtlety for the sake of niceness is simply irritating to those of us who would prefer bluntness to manners (and all the attendant passive-aggressiveness).

Some of the articles surprised me. Particularly, I was somewhat surprised that there was a culture in Germany of calling the police on strangers (my grandmother, who is a Jew whose family fled from Germany before she was born, would have called this "snitching", an epithet she reserves only for the most evil of actions and people). However, the cultural part about staring seemed more in line with my expectations of Germany: along with being blunt and honest, people are willing to confront you about what they perceive as missteps of cultural taboos. This also seems like an improvement over American culture.