What is it like to live in a country that was bad?

[Teelie]

We were having a conversation in German and two teenagers, who were sitting behind us, shouted: “Uh, Germans!” when they heard us. Then they got up and chose to sit as far away from us as possible.

This above the fact you were German might have been the insult to them. It's something I've noticed that many people take offense when people speak a foreign language around them in their home country. I see it a lot when people speak Spanish (or Mexican if you prefer since it is different enough) and it's almost a slap to the face of people around you.

The perception being you moved/are in another country and aren't taking the effort to assimilate to it or are saying something to purposely exclude those around you. Usually it's because those people feel you're talking about them whether you are or not.

Of course it's also possible they really didn't like the fact you were German either. I don't know what the British mentality to Germans is but I'm sure there's still some who hold lingering resentment from WWII.

Just look at any other country where there was a past oppression or conflict and you'll find people do not like to associate with the former enemy, no matter how many decades have past or whether they were even alive at the time. It's inherited from their parents and from their parents on back to whenever it originated. People bring up their children to distrust others based on nationality or ethnicity.

 

[Count Zero]

We were having a conversation in German and two teenagers, who were sitting behind us, shouted: “Uh, Germans!” when they heard us. Then they got up and chose to sit as far away from us as possible.

This above the fact you were German might have been the insult to them. It's something I've noticed that many people take offense when people speak a foreign language around them in their home country. I see it a lot when people speak Spanish (or Mexican if you prefer since it is different enough) and it's almost a slap to the face of people around you.

The perception being you moved/are in another country and aren't taking the effort to assimilate to it or are saying something to purposely exclude those around you. Usually it's because those people feel you're talking about them whether you are or not.

Uh, what? Because they were talking German on the bus, among themselves? They might just as well have been tourists. I've never seen anything like that happen on the busses and trains I travel on, even though plenty of people speak foreign languages and many of them do actually live here and are maybe not as willing to integrate.
I've heard similar stories by some friends of mine happening to them in the UK, so I'd put it down to prejudice.

 

[T'Baio]

I am glad I live in America where we are never presented as the bad guys in anything.

Now I am off to see this new movie called Avatar. I haven't heard too much about it, anybody know what it's about?

I know one thing...it's not about Americans being the bad guys.

 

[Teelie]

We were having a conversation in German and two teenagers, who were sitting behind us, shouted: “Uh, Germans!” when they heard us. Then they got up and chose to sit as far away from us as possible.

This above the fact you were German might have been the insult to them. It's something I've noticed that many people take offense when people speak a foreign language around them in their home country. I see it a lot when people speak Spanish (or Mexican if you prefer since it is different enough) and it's almost a slap to the face of people around you.

The perception being you moved/are in another country and aren't taking the effort to assimilate to it or are saying something to purposely exclude those around you. Usually it's because those people feel you're talking about them whether you are or not.

Uh, what? Because they were talking German on the bus, among themselves? They might just as well have been tourists. I've never seen anything like that happen on the busses and trains I travel on, even though plenty of people speak foreign languages and many of them do actually live here and are maybe not as willing to integrate.
I've heard similar stories by some friends of mine happening to them in the UK, so I'd put it down to prejudice.

That's my point. Some people are prejudice for different reasons. Either it was offense they were German or offense they were speaking in German and not the local language. It's a broad generalization and a possible explanation in addition to the just hating German posit. Yeah, maybe they hate Germans or maybe they just hate people speaking German in exclusion to them instead of being "local" in their language.

 

[Amaris]

I get the feeling that contemporary movies do not divide nations as strictly in “good guys” or “bad guys” as the old movies used to do that – unless the movie involves an Arabic country . The “bad guys” are a mirror for the events that concern a society at that moment. So naturally, there is a change, depending on the time the movie was made. Therefore, I’m used to the fact that there are many movies in which Germans end up as the bad guys and it doesn’t bother me much. That is just the way it is. However, I believe that today they focus more on being authentic in movies, which is a good thing because stereotypes are being avoided.

What I am having trouble with is when I’m treated “funny” because of my German nationality. For instance, I lived in Scotland for about 11 months after graduating from school and worked there in a school for children with special needs. I loved it, by the way. One evening I was going to the movies with another German co-worker and we were taking the bus. We were having a conversation in German and two teenagers, who were sitting behind us, shouted: “Uh, Germans!” when they heard us. Then they got up and chose to sit as far away from us as possible. Now, I understand that people are still bitter because of WWII (and probably even WW I, too) and they have every right to be. But I was born after the war and so were those teenagers. So sometimes, I find it hard that people, even young people, judge me for the things my grandparents did (and even they haven’t done it voluntarily). I guess what Count Zero posted is true: You really have to have a thick skin.

They were probably assholes.

 

[Teelie]

That's also a possiblity. Occam's Razor at work.

 

[Amaris]

That's also a possiblity. Occam's Razor at work.

I usually like to get to the simplest possible solution first.

 

[kevin1gamer]

"Good" and "evil" are relative terms, you know. The United States of America, for example, was the aggressor in the War of 1812. The world isn't as simple as you paint it.

We only declared war because the British (including British pirates) were illegally boarding civilian vessels and taking their cargo.

 

[kevin1gamer]

What must it be like to live in a country that was an enemy of freedom and democracy (United States of America) in a previous (or current) military conflict? What must it be like to see popular culture always depicting you as the bad guys (with the exception of Valkyrie, which was about the German resistance)? For instance what must it be like for Germans, Italians, and Japanese for World War II movies (Inglourious Basterds, Valkyrie, Saving Private Ryan, etc.)? Or for Vietnamese people to see Vietnam War movies (Apocalypse Now, The Deer Hunter, Tropic Thunder, etc.)? Well, the British are good now, but they used to be evil in the American Revolutionary War and War of 1812, so they are an exception to the rule, but still, they do have movies about them being bad (The Patriot, etc.). They are also depicted as bad in video games (Battlefield series, Call of Duty series, Company of Heroes, Medal of Honor series, Soldiers at War, and tons of other games), books, etc. If anyone here is a citizen of a country that was bad, what are your thoughts on your country and people always being depicted as the bad guys?

British are evil? How dare you sir? You gits rebelled removing a perfectly good colony from our empire because you didn't like our tea taxes. And you call us evil?

Tea had little to do with it, we just tell that to little kids because it sounds better than saying "we were privateers and didn't like the British military getting in the way of our illegal activities".

 

[kevin1gamer]

None of us are responsible for the actions of our ancesters, my own cultures deeds in central and south america was far less than sterling.

George Carlin: "... and what did the Germans do that as so bad? They wanted to rule the world. And so Winston Churchill stood up before Parliament and said, "Rule the world? That's our bloody job!"

And then the Germans killed 6,000,000 Jews!

 

[Teelie]

It's not as simple as that. You can't boil down anything of this historical significance to just "they were privateering and the British poo-poo'd on it." The British government had its own contributions beyond trying to stop privateering Americans, who were no doubt also supported at least initially by the British government. The revolutionary war is far too complex to sum up like that.

 

[selina]

They were probably assholes.

I never saw it from this point of view.

 

[Locutus of Bored]

Hoping that there is a core of honest inquiry in the OP (even if the wording of it makes me doubtful about it)

There's not, He's a sockpuppet that roams from forum to forum causing problems until he gets banned. He's been banned from here before as well.

Topic closed, because I don't want anyone getting in trouble responding to his loaded OP.