For the Win.


Then again, I'm from Canada, so anything that pokes fun at our noisy neighbours downstairs is a-ok by me.


Eh.

i was also puzzled when the posters were up at rosenthaler platz and torstrasse for a while in january/february. turned out that it was a project by evil knievel who was part of shows at kw and HAU around that time.
http://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/;art772,2460147
all the best,f.

Aha! It's about how there was re-education of the Germans in the postwar period -- they too could become Americans! And about how, now, the situation has changed. The legitimacy of the US is no longer ascendent worldwide; now there needs to be re-education of Americans

The legitimacy of the US is no longer ascendent worldwide; now there needs to be re-education of Americans

That's a sentiment I can get behind.

The posters themselves are rather toothless, though, if they're genuinely targeting Americans abroad.

The first poster calls to mind both Hollywood's love-letters to itself and classic cubscout/camper slogans about the proper treatment of campsites. Since they're tactfully short on specific suggestions, the average American reader is likely to nod along and claim to be doing just that.

The second poster strikes me as off; maybe it's just the circles I travel in, but leading off with, "I'm Bob and I'm an account manager at Wells Fargo" is exceedingly rare unless you're at a business meeting. Americans are very used to hearing their culture constructed as being less hierarchical than "stuffy Old Europe", so the artists need to be more direct if they want to pierce the veil of Amerikajinron and make a point about the importance of socioeconomic status in America. It's something that's genuinely invisible to many of the people who are privileged enough to travel to Europe.

The third poster I agree with completely. I think there's a segment of the US that in a twisted way looks down on bilingualism. Middle America's "English Only" sentiment is definitely something that needs to be educated away.

The 4th one, I promise, will get exactly this reaction: "What's this motivational poster doing here? It kinda reminds me of 'Everybody's Free (To Wear Sunscreen).' Remember that? Haha, and then Chris Rock did that parody where he was like 'Gemini: You're gonna die. TWICE.' That was awesome. Hey look, a headshop! You think they'll have like, totenkopf bongs?" -- And speaking of totenkopfs, I thought death was supposed to be the great equalizer. Is a "genuine smile" supposed to be the rictus of death? It's unaffected, I suppose.

The idea is similar to something Laurie Anderson talked about on "The Ugly One With The Jewels," where she travels to Israel in the 90s and is given advice on how to travel discreetly and disguise the fact that she's an American. "It's really something to hear your entire culture broken down into 6 give-away signs!"

Edited at 2008-05-12 01:36 pm (UTC)

How come European perception of American society was so positive before we desegregated our society, but isn't so good now? Are you Europeans racists against the blacks?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraq_War

This should explain a lot.

Xenophobic bullshit. Completely false in both my experience and the public record of the time, but keep stoking your crazy little nativist bonfires.

Desegregation happened some years before 2003, about the time that the goodwill started to run low.

It's premature to speak of re-educating Americans. We need to be educated first.

Looks like trouble to me.

wewillbecome.com

Coming Saturday, just around another corner of your house,
three americans will play in das kleine field recordings festival.

One from California, but living in Berlin now, one from New York City, who is on a visit, and one from Alaska, but on a nomadic trail for some time now.

I wonder what their stories will sound like.

that was me, sorry for anoning

Will Hutton insists that America's financial and cultural dominance is only beginning.

"Anybody who would prefer China's communists needs to see their doctor."

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/may/11/usa

"Anybody who would prefer China's communists needs to see their doctor."

If they can afford health insurance.

Oh fuck it. I'm tired of being a self hating American.

Strange, I think I can stand to be a self-hating Briton for much, much longer.

Yes. A little self-hate is good for the soul.

Americans have been getting by with the "we saved your ass in WWII" for too long. Nobody likes a favor counter.

Truth is, we have plenty of pre-Bush history to be ashamed of and even after Barak and Michelle boot George and Laura out the front door there will be plenty more.

So as you Brits might say - carry on, stiff upper lip, mus'nt grumble.

Maybe we could compare histories and see who scores for the worst.

No Fair. You guys had a head start.

Ah, well, not one said that it would be fair.

'No one', I mean. Nothing like fudging a quip.

Hello, Osamu Dazai icon! Feeling any more human these days?

Hello!

Well, recently I've almost finished my current work, No Longer Tapeworm, and I'm hoping to start soon on my next work, No Longer Virus.

I think that is an essentially British(and Irish) trait, we don't refer to it or even think of it as self-hating.
Criticising our political leaders, our government and our culture is part of what we are.
It's one laudable aspect of our culture, patriotism is such a dreary, witless little vice.

I think the reason it's not generally thought of as self-hating is because, by and large, it's not personal. I suppose if I thought I was entirely responsible, instead of only partially, for all the bad things in Britain, I'd begin to feel defensive and resentful. Or something. Of course, it goes without saying, that the not-being-personal thing should work in reverse, with attitudes towards other countries.

"It's one laudable aspect of our culture, patriotism is such a dreary, witless little vice."

Agreed... just know that there are many of us over here who find it just as dreary...

Oh I'm well aware of that K, no monopoly was being claimed.

Okaaaay. Isn't putting stickers up all over european countries just like treating those countries as if they're some kind of theme parks for Americans to see "exotic" people in their natural habitat? That's what these seem like to me.

It's when they stop coming you should be worried!

don't speak so loudly?

second

I love the fact it's almost impossible to say anything bad about America!

Ja.

maybe something to do with Kunst werte gesellschaft event? see:

http://www.liquidaciontotal.org/arte_valores_sociedad.htm
---looks like a good event, a few gallery/alterntive space people I know from here are going. if you go along, do us a write- up!

now that THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF OLIGARCHIC COLLECTIVISM has appeared, the end should not be long in coming:

http://www.amazon.com/Theory-Practice-Oligarchic-Collectivism-Goldstein/dp/1438212852/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1210700842&sr=1-1

m.

America's really a far stranger place than meets the eye. Why we link up on jobs and paths so often is that it's something that, while speaking of status, in a way, also gives someone an inkling of who you are. Something to talk about, can people relate when not tied together by religion or common cultural ancestry. Get drunk at an american bar and y'll find that everyone is nicer. Since i've been all over the place, i can attest to this- try chatting it up with someone random in vienna or paris and they'll shut you down right away. Meeting Americans is different, you start general, and run down to the specific quirks that make Americans some of the best people i have met.

There's a difference between the american norm and the american free. There's can be a hegemony in european cultural tyrrany.

And yes, i agree that the american ideal is changing, but we still have a generation that needs to grow. The ideal american image has changed in the past, and will change once again. America thrives on it when it needs to. Each decade has had a distinct cultural product, that develops somewhere in parallel to the rest of the World, for certain. I wonder when India and China will begin to face the same problems we are- it seems they are still back in our sixties, europe, will all of their integration, socially views those of darker skin even more nagatively than your average Southern-U.S. American.

California is still Germania's westen promised land, the way I've caught each and every Bavarian i've ever known dreamily talk about it.