There has been a growing amount of racism in Germany over the last few years (although not terribly widespread or limited to Germany). It's one thing when it's morons on the street, it's a whole other thing when it's in the military!

This is viral because the Germans have a clever marketing campain to promote racism?

I'm just shocked, SHOCKED I tell you that someone trained to kill people with high powered weaponry for a living could be so insensitive! I mean really now! It's just plain impolite! AHHHHHHHHHHHHH WHAT THE FUCK!!!!!!!!!!!??? why is the whole world so insane!?!?!??? Sorry, went a bit off the deep end there for a bit. I'm ok now, really.

Sorry, I left out the Irony. I added a few thoughts about the clip to the original description.

Americans are calling for an apology


"The German government obviously has work to do to correct something that is insidious," he said. ". . . Clearly, these folks don't know anything about African-Americans or The Bronx."

Thanks for the above added info, fedquip. It gives the clip more context.

It's a different sort of racism, I think, than the type that exists in the US, a more naive kind. Probably the closest most of these soldiers have been to an African-American resident of the Bronx is their local cinema. Furthermore, the number of black people in Germany is vastly smaller than the U.S., so most Germans probably won't meet one on an average day.

I'm not defending their ignorance, but I think the following is worth considering: if all they know of the aforementioned demographic is how they're portrayed in movies, is it any wonder that their perceptions are a bit skewed? It's all very well for the US to say they know better, but isn't it their responsibility to qualify the popular media they broadcast to different communities with the knowledge of how it should be interpreted? Or rather the people who create it?

How is this any different than the villainizing/dehumanizing that goes on during any war. The soviets were godless communists, Charlie was barbarian guerrilla fighter, the krauts were heartless fascist oaths. This is part of a much bigger problem. I know there is the whole psychological aspect, were it's easier for a soldier to kill another man if he is dehumanized, but if there is a war that deserves to be fought i don't think the people training the soldiers should need to invoke this into them.

Just a side note, how old is this footage? Its blurry, but it looks like the gun is an MG42, and the officer or w/e seems to be wearing a pretty out of date uniform. But it could just as well be a cellphone video , who knows.


EDIT: Nvm, its actually one of these suckers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rheinmetall_MG3 , looks a hell of a lot like an MG42 though, article says the german army is replacing them with the an H&K version (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckler_%26_Koch_MG4) but they could still be using the older model in training.

Ok, where to start..

1) There´s a lot of racism in the german military. Fact.
2) What Spiff says is very true. Maybe hard to imagine for Americans, but there really are very few colored people (hope that doesn´t sound racist, it´s the translation of the polite german expression) in Germany compared to what i believe is the situation in America. At my school back in the days: only whites. I don´t remeber seeing any colored person in my home town (a few thousand inhabitants) ever. The first time i saw some colored persons on a regular basis was at university, of 3,000-3,500 students there were no more than a dozen.

Furthermore what´s a shame to see is the situation in the town where i´m living now (~1mio): If you are of very dark skin you WILL be checked by the police. I´ve seen that so many times. People tend to think that if you came from Africa to Germany you most certainly are a drug dealer. That´s a shame but seems to be quite normal over here. Makes me sick every time i see it.

The other thing Spiff says is also true in my eyes: The first impression youths in Germany get of African-american people does most probably not come from reality but from rap music videos. Gangster rap is VERY popular in Germany.

Which leads me to my next point: As i´ve stated before, it is VERY unlikely that you as a German will EVER encounter a gun in your life execpt of the military. We have very strict laws, prohibiting gun posession for private persons nearly completely. Though there´s a huge movement to copy US gangster rap in Germany, more and more german artists (especially the label "Aggro Berlin") glorify their so-called Ghetto life, where you could be shot every day (which is total BS in Germany), drug dealing etc.. There´s this 'ideal' of Ghetto, Gangster Life etc. They very much glorify that lifestyle and through that there´s a strange picture of colored people established. Some of the German (white!!!) rappers even call each other by the n-word and use that a lot in their lyrics (take artist King Kool Savas for example who is part German part Turkish).

As a part of that the term "Bronx" has become commonly used. I´ve encountered the use of that term in my time in the military, too. In 99% it doesn´t refer to the NY district but to any 'ghettoish' place. Doesn´t make it right, just to explain..

The German ignorance of the topic goes on: It is very common along the younger generation to speak of "Texaner" (german for Inhabitants of the US state Texas) when refering to people of most probable south american / mexican heritage.

I could continue forever.. I don´t want to defend anything here, I just thought you guys might find some of this interesting. As always I´m open for opinions, suggestions, critcs, questions and whatever :-)

3) I don´t know why that´s of relevance but: Krumzy, you´re right. It´s a MG3. That´s not the standard weapon but the "bigger" version of standard G3. The G3 (7,62x51) is more and more replaced by G36 (5,56x45) which hasn´t a bigger brother anymore but comes with a seperate mount for MG-use.

Oh and very important: I don´t think Germans are any more racist than other people, it´s just a little bunch of idiots that make it into the news. Just like the KKK etc. Remember Football World Cup 2006? ;-) [that´s soccer for you American guys...]

i was just trying to put a date on the video. it could have been several years old, so it wouldn't be very compelling evidence against the military if the video was from the 60's or 70's

the video is just a few days old. it´s all over the news over here...

What racism? Hogan's Heroes had a black guy in it.

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