This week in my "American National Government" class we talked about lobbyism in the political system of the U.S.m In the class I made quite a controversial statement. As I'm still convinced of its correctness, I wanted to repeat it and elaborate a little on it.
"Democracy is a bad form of government - but it's the best we can think of right at the moment!"
Looking back at all the different governmental systems that have passed over this earth, things seem to be quite clear: socialism failed, dictatorship is a horror to the people ruled by the dictator but also to anyone else, monarchy too often resulted in dictatorship-like conditions. Anarchy - you cannot even call it a governmental system and aristochracy, meaning a government ruled by an elite, again suppressed many of the respective citizens.
Therefore, wouldn't it be reasonable to have the people ruling over itself? That every citizen can influence what's going on in the nation, that everyone can make his or her voice heard?
Well, democracy, meaning "ruling of/ruled by the people", is really promising. Greece started off with this idea of direct democracy meaning that decisions are made by the citizens in debates, taking place now and then. Today's states with huge territories, millions of citizens, and complex problems no longer can be governed by making decisions after debates (Switzerland is one of the few countries that still stick to this kind of government). Therefore, the representative democracy was developed meaning that the citizens elect representatives whose profession is to be politicians and who are trained to cope with the several challenges a nation of today has to face. The citizens however can influence political decisions by influencing their particular representative.
So far so good ... or maybe not? The idea to influence political decisions via lobbyism is really strange if not to say corrupt. Simply because it means that who has the most money has the most influence. Therefore it is no longer that one person has one vote!
But even if it were correct and just - I doubt that there will be a better outcome the more people are influencing the decision. Is it not that the more people one has to satisfy the more wishy-washy and therefore unsatisfying will the decision be to anyone? And in the end, the nation as a whole will suffer!
I don't think that everybody has the knowledge to make correct decisions in today's issues. Just consider the economic crisis! I don't know how to solve it and I doubt that any "average" citizen has the knowledge or the skills to do so.
Yesterday, somebody told me that the Israelites weren't supposed to have a king because God wanted to be their leader. But they desperately wanted someone - and they ended up with Saul. Congratulations!
So, my suggestion is *tataaaa* an autocracy by a ruler who really wants the best for the people, who will never be corrupted, and who is wise enough to make the right decisions without acting for selfish ends.
Well, I guess that there will be nobody who is that generous. The only person I could think of is - Jesus, i.e. God himself. Therefore, we're back when God wanted and still wants to be our only leader. A great thing, right? :-)
I'm glad that we will be at this point one day ...
Friday, October 31, 2008
Friday, October 24, 2008
7. German vs. American Perspective on History
Today's blog topic goes close togehter with the title of my blog: The Frontier Experience.
Yesterday, I talked to some people about German history, namely the more recent one like the coming down of the Berlin Wall, but - inevitably - also about World War II and Nazi Germany. What I realized in some conversations over the last couple of weeks now came clearly to my mind: being in Germany, I always thought that the history of Nazi Germany doesn't really affect me, I don't have to be ashamed of it because I was born only in 1985 (ok, for some of you this might already seem old!) and even my parents were born only in the 1950s. I had nothing to do with the Nazi crimes and WW II and therefore, nobody can blame me.
However, being in the U.S., I was a little shocked how slackly people over here, especially professors, treat the topic of World War II and some of the the crimes committed by the Germans. For example, there are teachers who joke about concentration camps. I mean, not bad jokes, but something like comparing the institution of colleges and the arbitrariness colleges show sometimes to German concentration camps. When I heard things like that I really didn't know what to think or what to say; I was shocked and tongueless.
I mean we Germans still treat this topic very carefully. Showing a swastika will be sentenced and owning Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" is also prohibited. Even if you are a historian you have apply for an permission to access this book.
Just the other day, an Italian court sentenced the Federal Republic of Germany to pay almost 1 million Euro. Background is a massacre on 200 Italians committed by German soldiers during World War II as a retaliation for the murder of three soldiers.
Still, as I wrote above I really felt that I don't have to feel responsible for acts of folly of soldiers of German citizenship, about 64 years ago. But being confronted with the handling of U.S. Americans showed me that I still have the feeling of being sorry for what German people did. That surprised me a lot.
So, the question is: how do things of the past affect us, our lives, our behavior and our feelings? For sure, things happening in our lifetime will do so. But what about things happening 30 or 40 years before you were even born?
Actually, I would say that they may affect us, but that they shouldn't make us feel bad. The same counts for U.S. citizens like you, being born in the late 1980s - the racism that was to be found in the U.S. in the 1950s and 1960s wasn't your fault at all!
But still - the same as for me - when you are somewhere abroad and you are confronted with this topic, you might think, feel, react quite differently.
That's stange somehow ... is there something like sin of your forefathers that puts pressure on our conscience?
I really don't know.
Yesterday, I talked to some people about German history, namely the more recent one like the coming down of the Berlin Wall, but - inevitably - also about World War II and Nazi Germany. What I realized in some conversations over the last couple of weeks now came clearly to my mind: being in Germany, I always thought that the history of Nazi Germany doesn't really affect me, I don't have to be ashamed of it because I was born only in 1985 (ok, for some of you this might already seem old!) and even my parents were born only in the 1950s. I had nothing to do with the Nazi crimes and WW II and therefore, nobody can blame me.
However, being in the U.S., I was a little shocked how slackly people over here, especially professors, treat the topic of World War II and some of the the crimes committed by the Germans. For example, there are teachers who joke about concentration camps. I mean, not bad jokes, but something like comparing the institution of colleges and the arbitrariness colleges show sometimes to German concentration camps. When I heard things like that I really didn't know what to think or what to say; I was shocked and tongueless.
I mean we Germans still treat this topic very carefully. Showing a swastika will be sentenced and owning Hitler's book "Mein Kampf" is also prohibited. Even if you are a historian you have apply for an permission to access this book.
Just the other day, an Italian court sentenced the Federal Republic of Germany to pay almost 1 million Euro. Background is a massacre on 200 Italians committed by German soldiers during World War II as a retaliation for the murder of three soldiers.
Still, as I wrote above I really felt that I don't have to feel responsible for acts of folly of soldiers of German citizenship, about 64 years ago. But being confronted with the handling of U.S. Americans showed me that I still have the feeling of being sorry for what German people did. That surprised me a lot.
So, the question is: how do things of the past affect us, our lives, our behavior and our feelings? For sure, things happening in our lifetime will do so. But what about things happening 30 or 40 years before you were even born?
Actually, I would say that they may affect us, but that they shouldn't make us feel bad. The same counts for U.S. citizens like you, being born in the late 1980s - the racism that was to be found in the U.S. in the 1950s and 1960s wasn't your fault at all!
But still - the same as for me - when you are somewhere abroad and you are confronted with this topic, you might think, feel, react quite differently.
That's stange somehow ... is there something like sin of your forefathers that puts pressure on our conscience?
I really don't know.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
6. The Ancestors - the Legacy
Over fall break, I spent most of the time reading a book which I will use to do a book review on. So it wasn't nice literature, but a historical account. Its title "The Pennsylvania Dutch" and it's about German immigrants from my area at home, mainly the Rhenish Palatinate. Most of them came over to the U.S. between the 1710s and the 1750s and - who would have guessed - settled in Pennsylvania. Interestingly, you can still find people today who speak their dialect - and it is really close to my own!
I liked this fact so much that - once back in Germany - I'll maybe going to write my master thesis on this topic. Probably not on the dialect itself, but the role of the Pennsylvania Dutch in U.S. history. I don't know my special focus yet, but we'll see ...
However, what struck me when finishing this book was the fact that American citizens have so many different and numerous ancestors or ancestry. I am 100% German, both my parents are, all of my grandparents. Ok, maybe 10 generations ago there was somebody coming from somewhere - but the thing is that I wouldn't know that. And it's completely different with Americans. You would know if you're of German ancestry, of Scottish, or of Italian.
By the way, I looked it up: in the Census of 2000, more than 30 million persons stated to be of German ancestry and that's by far the largest number. The next group following are the Irish with almost 20 million people.
On the one hand, I really liked it that out of 280 million U.S. Americans almost 1/9 are of German ancestry - and it makes me a little proud ;-) Now I know why I feel so happy and at home over here!
On the other hand, I think this shows the many influences that shape our lives and our nation. Even though almost 1/9 are of German ancestry (and you have to take into account that this means probably people coming over to the U.S. 300 years ago!), there are something about 50 other ancestries as well. That's what I meant about the legacy of our ancestors - it shapes us, to the good and to the bad. But it depends on what you are doing about it ...
Well, this wouldn't be an English blog entry of Lukas if there was no hint at my faith (I'm sorry for some friends at home!). I think what helps us a lot in times of trouble is that we remember that we are children of God. Somebody said once that we are citizens of heaven and that we're only visiting this planet!
So, enjoy your trip over here and make the best out of it. And still, the most gigantic and awesome thing is still to come. Look forward to it :-)
I liked this fact so much that - once back in Germany - I'll maybe going to write my master thesis on this topic. Probably not on the dialect itself, but the role of the Pennsylvania Dutch in U.S. history. I don't know my special focus yet, but we'll see ...
However, what struck me when finishing this book was the fact that American citizens have so many different and numerous ancestors or ancestry. I am 100% German, both my parents are, all of my grandparents. Ok, maybe 10 generations ago there was somebody coming from somewhere - but the thing is that I wouldn't know that. And it's completely different with Americans. You would know if you're of German ancestry, of Scottish, or of Italian.
By the way, I looked it up: in the Census of 2000, more than 30 million persons stated to be of German ancestry and that's by far the largest number. The next group following are the Irish with almost 20 million people.
On the one hand, I really liked it that out of 280 million U.S. Americans almost 1/9 are of German ancestry - and it makes me a little proud ;-) Now I know why I feel so happy and at home over here!
On the other hand, I think this shows the many influences that shape our lives and our nation. Even though almost 1/9 are of German ancestry (and you have to take into account that this means probably people coming over to the U.S. 300 years ago!), there are something about 50 other ancestries as well. That's what I meant about the legacy of our ancestors - it shapes us, to the good and to the bad. But it depends on what you are doing about it ...
Well, this wouldn't be an English blog entry of Lukas if there was no hint at my faith (I'm sorry for some friends at home!). I think what helps us a lot in times of trouble is that we remember that we are children of God. Somebody said once that we are citizens of heaven and that we're only visiting this planet!
So, enjoy your trip over here and make the best out of it. And still, the most gigantic and awesome thing is still to come. Look forward to it :-)
Friday, October 10, 2008
5. The Power of Words
Did you ever realize which power your words have? Even the wise King Solomon wants to remember us of this power "There is one who speaks like the piercings of a sword, but the tongue of the wise promotes health." (Proverbs 12, 18)
But today I don't want to talk about the biblical view of the usage of words. Even among linguists, this power is well-known. Scientific articles like "My words are my world" want to emphasize the meaning of the words we use in order to explain the world around us. That means that our words shape our world and the other way round. But probably, the words are more significant in the shaping process because for things that are important for us we want to have words in order to name them. Respectively, things that are unimportant or of no meaning to us, we probably won't have names for them. Especially when comparing different languages, you will be able to find such peculiarities.
Another linguistic article (which however turned out to be a hoax!) treats the words for snow in the Eskimo language and it claims that they have about 400 words for snow depending on its consistency. All these findings hint at the idea that as snow is of enormous significance to the Inuit because it is there world and it's important if snow is dry or wet ... (I'm sorry for not being able to cite the work academically - I can't find it right at the moment!)
All these thoughts crossed my mind when I was reading "1984" by George Orwell. Orwell, who wrote this novel in 1949, writes about the future in 1984 when the world is divided in three huge dictatorial regimes. Winston Smith, the protagonist, lives in Oceania and they have a thought police in order to control all the citizens. Among other things they try to control them by forming a new language, Newspeak. This language is the only one in the world with a lexicon that gets smaller every year; words are destructed on purpose. One of the linguists who works with Newspeak, Syme, puts it like that: "Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it."
To be honest, I found it shocking and fascinating at the same time! Shocking because it shows how easy it is to control people, what they are thinking and therefore also what they are doing. Fascinating at the other hand because it shows how artificial languages are and how “easy” it is to influence them. That's what I like about linguistics, the scientific study of language – you suddenly realize what you are speaking and why you are speaking the way you do it! That's so exciting!
That brings me back to my starting remarks: what we are saying is of great significance – and what we are experiencing as well. We have to look for new words if there's a phenomenon we encounter and we aren't able to name it. But it also shows that we have to be careful with our words ...
But today I don't want to talk about the biblical view of the usage of words. Even among linguists, this power is well-known. Scientific articles like "My words are my world" want to emphasize the meaning of the words we use in order to explain the world around us. That means that our words shape our world and the other way round. But probably, the words are more significant in the shaping process because for things that are important for us we want to have words in order to name them. Respectively, things that are unimportant or of no meaning to us, we probably won't have names for them. Especially when comparing different languages, you will be able to find such peculiarities.
Another linguistic article (which however turned out to be a hoax!) treats the words for snow in the Eskimo language and it claims that they have about 400 words for snow depending on its consistency. All these findings hint at the idea that as snow is of enormous significance to the Inuit because it is there world and it's important if snow is dry or wet ... (I'm sorry for not being able to cite the work academically - I can't find it right at the moment!)
All these thoughts crossed my mind when I was reading "1984" by George Orwell. Orwell, who wrote this novel in 1949, writes about the future in 1984 when the world is divided in three huge dictatorial regimes. Winston Smith, the protagonist, lives in Oceania and they have a thought police in order to control all the citizens. Among other things they try to control them by forming a new language, Newspeak. This language is the only one in the world with a lexicon that gets smaller every year; words are destructed on purpose. One of the linguists who works with Newspeak, Syme, puts it like that: "Don't you see that the whole aim of Newspeak is to narrow the range of thought? In the end we shall make thoughtcrime literally impossible, because there will be no words in which to express it."
To be honest, I found it shocking and fascinating at the same time! Shocking because it shows how easy it is to control people, what they are thinking and therefore also what they are doing. Fascinating at the other hand because it shows how artificial languages are and how “easy” it is to influence them. That's what I like about linguistics, the scientific study of language – you suddenly realize what you are speaking and why you are speaking the way you do it! That's so exciting!
That brings me back to my starting remarks: what we are saying is of great significance – and what we are experiencing as well. We have to look for new words if there's a phenomenon we encounter and we aren't able to name it. But it also shows that we have to be careful with our words ...
Friday, October 3, 2008
4. And what about You - what's your aim in life?
The last couple of days I'm thinking about loads of things. I was even afraid that I would confuse all the people I was telling about my kind of philosophical questions! No matter what, I've to share one of them with you.
What's your aim in life? A question that's closely related, but still heads into a slightly different direction is: what's the reason of your living?
I was thinking about these questions because I realized that my "aims" or "reasons" are not satisfying at all! For example, I realized that my most important aim - and therefore somehow my aim in life right now - is to marry my girlfriend when I return to Germany (well, not immediately, but perhaps in one or two years). But then I had to ask myself: Lukas, can marrying be an aim in your life? What happens if you have married her - then everything, your life would be over as you have reached your aim! So, I didn't like that. Ok, what's next: Well. I would like to have some children (actually I prefer boys, but the only names me and my girlfriend can agree upon are female names!). But then again, what if we got two or three or four cute little children? First, they wouldn't stay small and cute - maybe they would even turn out like Dr. Randle's son who loves broccoli *argh* - and second, this cannot be THE aim in your life, can it?
But ... what is the aim in my life then? Why do I live?
Well, what came to my mind ultimately was that the reason why we human beings life is to glorify and honor God. But, how do you do that? To be honest, I've no real idea. Maybe it's obeying him and pointing at him with our lives and showing his love to the people around us by serving them. So, one person who came to my mind was Mother Teresa who devoted her life to poor people in Calcutta, India. Well, that's a "good" reason in life, isn't it? But does it work for me?
After having talked to some persons I think a great deal of, I realized that I'm searching for an ultimate aim in life, a project, a task, something that's dafinitive and palpable. These people told me however that there's probably nothing as definitive in your life. Do you know where you're gonna be in the next 20 years? Probably not! And by the way, what does your prospective partner think of YOUR aims???
So ... maybe the reason in life is being open to what God will show you and be ready to go where he wants you to go. Maybe it's about spreading his love and his Gospel at the very place where you are - you don't have to go to Calcutta to serve God, even though they probably need help ...
Still, it doesn't loose it's hold on me ... I'd really prefer to have a clear aim ...
However, even if we can't decide on boys' names, what my girlfriend and me did decide on was having one day a house that's open for people, children, youths who need a home and a family because they don't have a home where they are accepted and where they can feel happy.
At least, that's somehow a starting point, right? :-)
What's your aim in life? A question that's closely related, but still heads into a slightly different direction is: what's the reason of your living?
I was thinking about these questions because I realized that my "aims" or "reasons" are not satisfying at all! For example, I realized that my most important aim - and therefore somehow my aim in life right now - is to marry my girlfriend when I return to Germany (well, not immediately, but perhaps in one or two years). But then I had to ask myself: Lukas, can marrying be an aim in your life? What happens if you have married her - then everything, your life would be over as you have reached your aim! So, I didn't like that. Ok, what's next: Well. I would like to have some children (actually I prefer boys, but the only names me and my girlfriend can agree upon are female names!). But then again, what if we got two or three or four cute little children? First, they wouldn't stay small and cute - maybe they would even turn out like Dr. Randle's son who loves broccoli *argh* - and second, this cannot be THE aim in your life, can it?
But ... what is the aim in my life then? Why do I live?
Well, what came to my mind ultimately was that the reason why we human beings life is to glorify and honor God. But, how do you do that? To be honest, I've no real idea. Maybe it's obeying him and pointing at him with our lives and showing his love to the people around us by serving them. So, one person who came to my mind was Mother Teresa who devoted her life to poor people in Calcutta, India. Well, that's a "good" reason in life, isn't it? But does it work for me?
After having talked to some persons I think a great deal of, I realized that I'm searching for an ultimate aim in life, a project, a task, something that's dafinitive and palpable. These people told me however that there's probably nothing as definitive in your life. Do you know where you're gonna be in the next 20 years? Probably not! And by the way, what does your prospective partner think of YOUR aims???
So ... maybe the reason in life is being open to what God will show you and be ready to go where he wants you to go. Maybe it's about spreading his love and his Gospel at the very place where you are - you don't have to go to Calcutta to serve God, even though they probably need help ...
Still, it doesn't loose it's hold on me ... I'd really prefer to have a clear aim ...
However, even if we can't decide on boys' names, what my girlfriend and me did decide on was having one day a house that's open for people, children, youths who need a home and a family because they don't have a home where they are accepted and where they can feel happy.
At least, that's somehow a starting point, right? :-)
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