German intellectual thought has the ideal of “Bildung”. Anna Wierzbicka tells me that “Bildung” is a particularly German construct. According to it you learn about different view points and then you develop a sophisticated opinion. Not having a sophisticated opinion is low class. In liberal social circles in the US a person who agrees with what the Democratic party does at every point in time would have a respectable political opinion. In German intellectual life that person would be seen as a credulous low status idiot you fails to develop a sophisticated opinion.
I’ve actually been told, by someone with more social skills than myself, to stop articulating complex political opinions because it makes me seem indecisive and weak.
If we were just talking modern politics rather than philosophy, then, well, apologies for being tactless, but I would suspect that the difference is that in Germany, showing too much loyalty to a political party is a reminder of Nazism. The US hasn’t had similar authoritarianism, so there isn’t the aversion to excessive party loyalty. Moreover, if German culture has always rewarded more balanced, sophisticated political views, then I am surprised that fascism did take hold in Germany.
Moreover, if German culture has always rewarded more balanced, sophisticated political views, then I am surprised that fascism did take hold in Germany.
I haven’t said “balanced”. You pattern match against an existing context when I talk about a pattern that doesn’t exist in English in the same way.
Apart from that it’s true that Nazism was anti-intellectual while Bildung is a value of the intellectual class.
Nazism also didn’t win in the 30′s in a two sided conflict. The political sphere at that time wasn’t one-dimensional.
I’ve actually been told, by someone with more social skills than myself, to stop articulating complex political opinions because it makes me seem indecisive and weak.
If we were just talking modern politics rather than philosophy, then, well, apologies for being tactless, but I would suspect that the difference is that in Germany, showing too much loyalty to a political party is a reminder of Nazism. The US hasn’t had similar authoritarianism, so there isn’t the aversion to excessive party loyalty. Moreover, if German culture has always rewarded more balanced, sophisticated political views, then I am surprised that fascism did take hold in Germany.
I haven’t said “balanced”. You pattern match against an existing context when I talk about a pattern that doesn’t exist in English in the same way.
Apart from that it’s true that Nazism was anti-intellectual while Bildung is a value of the intellectual class. Nazism also didn’t win in the 30′s in a two sided conflict. The political sphere at that time wasn’t one-dimensional.