Viewing posts tagged politics
As I think the previous entry apparently had a serious tl;dr issue, I'll try again, in German this time.
As a frequent traveler to the US, employee of an American corporation and by being active in the furry fandom I think I understand at least a small bit about the US culture, who things work over there and why things are the way they are. I'm also increasingly annoyed by popular opinion about the US of A here in Germany, which is quite often based on incomplete coverage by German media. The media, especially Der Spiegel, usually fails to do what is part of responsible journalism: put things into perspective by providing all necessary information. For example: The President refused to sign legislation that would, in a nutshell, finance health care for poor children with federal money. How heartless, isn't it? From a German point of view and without further information, it looks like that George W. Bush is refusing to give poor children important protection. However, the actual point of the debate is: who is supposed to finance health care for poor people? The states themselves or the federal government? Currently, state or local programs at least partially cover the costs. Not signing the law doesn't change the status quo. It is a very complicated topic, as the Wikipedia article shows. But reducing the current debate to "Bush refuses health care to poor children" isn't right.
The spokesperson for domestical security of the German social-democrat party, Dieter Wiefelspütz, proposed that the planned anti-terror files (which are very likely unconstitutional to begin with) should also contain data such as religious denomination or "sexual deviance", whatever that means. He also rejects public criticism of his proposals by saying that it is only the parliament's decision and nobody else's.
I have to admit I hate car parades enough already, but what really pisses me off is that it isn't about football, nor about partying. Granted, football is the founding myth of the Federal Republic of Germany, as much as the Boston Tea Party for the USA or the revoltion for the French.
Is it just me who thinks that pushing ones personal political agenda in the face of thousands of people who have lost their lives, their relatives or "just" everything they own incredibly cynical? The latest example currently spreading through blogs and chat rooms is an apparently outragious example of racism in the coverage of the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. But what is really going on here? If you take a closer look at both press agency notices you'll find that the one which is talking about "finding bread and soda" (which is, of course, unfortunate wording) is from AFP, while the other one, which is correctly describing it as "looting", is from AP -- two entirely different agencies, photographers and editors. This, per se, is hardly an example for racism, especially as AFP is a French agency and the caption probably was translated from French incorrectly.