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In Germany, the car has become so much part of national identity An apostille Roger Boyes.
Since the days of the Old Testament, of Job and Noah, has there been so much talk of natural disasters Floods will soon sweep away cities; drought dried up lakes; ski holidays will be canceled in the old days badly behaved children would be threatened with ogres and monsters that drank blood on the skulls of infants Now they are scared by the monsters of climate change, but most people scared of all the men and women who make up the German government because the only real disaster that nobody wants to consider the possibility that the ordinary German motorist might have to change a small car or even walk to the supermarket any German government that asks such a sacrifice of its citizens is doomed German chancellors have survived much in the corruption scandals of the past, the removal of the brand Deutsche, divorce and deceit But no leader could persuade a German that his manhood works independently of the power of his car and any government that tried to challenge the limit of f FETISH speed Germans lose an election.
The German male, let it is love machine Listen, in the pub, to men discussing how they take their cars for repair; an engine failure, a broken windscreen wiper is described with as deep concern as the broken ankle of a daughter doctors women swap phone numbers and beauticians for German men †discuss the merits of their mechanical Only the best are very confident with their cars if a German had the choice he would be buried with his Audi, his faithful steed regarding the purchase of a new car, the ecstasy resembles that heard in a maternity clinic can imagine the midwife stage urges the unfortunate mother to push up more and more difficult, finally, it can announce the proud father “It s†s a†it is an s-Klasse ”.
German women have always been more pragmatic about cars There is a famous saying “For the women, the car is a means to an end For men, there is a purpose for which it is sometimes not enough means” Yet it is a little more than that for women, Bertha Benz from, cars have been a way to establish independence No feminist revolution in Europe was so linked with the car in Germany in the 1991 road movie Thelma & Louise showed American women how they could establish their own identity by driving a car and escape †traditional expectations and responsibilities But the German woman had discovered the possibilities of a car long before Hollywood Percy Adlon Bagdad Café held the first Marianne Saegebrecht role as a Bavarian woman who begins a new life out of the car her husband on an American road German man sees the car as an instrument of control over his life and his wife †where the hidden aggression of many words about women in “Frau am Steuer cars, das wird teuer”; or “Frau am Steuer ” †Ungeheuer.
Tensions between men and women about their relationship to cars exist, of course, in other countries, however, they seem to have a special quality, a particularly bitter edge, in Germany where the car has become so much a part national identity There is a central paradox in Germany on the surface it seems to be a country obsessed by the Autobahn; not only the absence of speed limits †but it never ceases to amaze me that tourists from China travel to Germany for the sole purpose of driving a Porsche at its maximum speed from one city to the other No, there has the high-speed trains, ICE, Transrapid the engineering industry everything is built around the principle of maximizing speed, rather than saving energy, and yet, and yet, it is society more still in Europe as Germany people prefer to be unemployed and remain in their village than move 100 kilometers to a new job the social system encourages blockages rental-laws not make profitable move the different school systems make it almost impossible to transfer children at a school in Berlin at a school in Bavaria and the absence of studies throughout the day makes it difficult for women to go to work German men preach benefits of an accelerated society but keep intact a system that has made Germany one of the slowest moving cultures in Europe.
The cars have not always been an object of worship in Germany From the beginning, there was deep skepticism Eugen Diesel, son of Rudolph recalls how Munich people lamented “Und a Automobil is a Wagn net der ” C ' was the car has become more sophisticated, more accessible and a symbol of competition between people, but perhaps the skepticism is about to come back not because cars are particularly dangerous in 1905 cars were stalled, explosion and fall of the road later, of course, the person †deaths from accidents are relatively modest in Germany thank you, perhaps, to the airbag †but because their environmental damage could hurt our children the first cars Mercedes †were designed to honor the daughters of inventors and engineers now, the propaganda of climate protection is so strong that politicians britanniq ues are cycling to work, although admittedly followed by a chauffeur driven car containing their documents and briefcases Soon, perhaps a generation, children will be mocked in Kindergarten because their father was a big car new technology means that business meetings can be held by video-conference, without the need to tear down autobahn and there's nothing glamorous congestion on the highway that mark the start of the school holidays in Germany.
If the era of big fat limousine may be about to pass even for the German How far it now his masculinity by the size of his bicycle pump with a gold Bahnkarte There are difficult times for future Germans behind the wheel.
Roger Boyes is Germany correspondent for the daily “The Times” London, he lived in Germany for 13 years and is the author of the column “My Berlin” in the Tagesspiegel In his dear “My Krauts” book he describes the peculiarities of everyday life in Germany with typical British humor.
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