What Germans Are Reading

Post by raverbashing » Wed, Aug 14, 2019, 9:01 AM UTC

C1sc0cat wrote: post #6

qwsxyh wrote: post #3

> Michael Winterhoff’s Deutschland Verdummt claims that German children today “have no tolerance for frustration, and they avoid all exertion.” By the time they graduate, half of them still “have the psyche of a small child.” The author of eight previous books on childhood development, Winterhoff’s primary concern is that children today have become “tyrants.” They don’t know proper boundaries; they have not been taug…

"not been taught how to submit" And a bet he wrote that unironically. I remember a documentary on Berlin and Berlinners have a slang term there that basically means "you have been controlled" when one of the many petty bureaucrats, pulls you up over some trivial infraction

Post by C1sc0cat » Wed, Aug 14, 2019, 9:11 AM UTC

raverbashing wrote: post #11

C1sc0cat wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"not been taught how to submit" And a bet he wrote that unironically. I remember a documentary on Berlin and Berlinners have a slang term there that basically means "you have been controlled" when one of the many petty bureaucrats, pulls you up over some trivial infraction

This phrase probably uses the verb kontrollieren, which means check/control/examine It's not about petty bureaucrats and trivial infractions, it usually is referring to someone getting checked on the subway for tickets - and sometimes not having the proper ticket (or maaaaaybe being asked for id due to anti-social behaviour)

Post by IfOnlyYouKnew » Wed, Aug 14, 2019, 9:17 AM UTC

DanielleMolloy wrote: post #12

As far as I know the Spiegel list, which has a lot of media and book shop presence does not count Amazon. The GfK in German has an exklusive deal with Amazon for data, and they do not deliver the Spiegel list data. The Spiegel list also uses an additional voting scheme among their journalists. I have found the Spiegel list a bit weird for years, it contains a lot of highly light reading or polemic stuff like that guy…

Post by orbifold » Wed, Aug 14, 2019, 9:21 AM UTC

maze-le wrote: post #4

qwsxyh wrote: post #3

> Michael Winterhoff’s Deutschland Verdummt claims that German children today “have no tolerance for frustration, and they avoid all exertion.” By the time they graduate, half of them still “have the psyche of a small child.” The author of eight previous books on childhood development, Winterhoff’s primary concern is that children today have become “tyrants.” They don’t know proper boundaries; they have not been taug…

This trope never gets old it seems... >> “The children now love luxury; they have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for elders and love chatter in place of exercise. Children are now tyrants, not the servants of their households. They no longer rise when elders enter the room. They contradict their parents, chatter before company, gobble up dainties at the table, cross their legs, and tyranniz…

Post by im3w1l » Wed, Aug 14, 2019, 9:28 AM UTC

sc11 wrote: post #14

WA wrote: post #5

There has been at least one book about how "Germany/Germans are getting dumber", "The Big Crash is Coming" or something similar on the Spiegel Bestseller list at all times. So far, the big crash didn't come yet. These books don't talk about a market correction or a financial crisis like in 2008, but a total economic crash, because "a finite world can't have unlimited growth", because "capitalism", because "climate ch…

These books also have in common that they cover topics that everyone has an opinion on, and that you can get really upset and angry over while not being in a position to really do anything about the "issues" they describe. As you say it's about how "something needs to change" but it's never the reader who has to change. > Add some fears about the before-mentioned topics and there's your new book every few months, sam…