Wann immer ich Klinsmann im Fernsehen sehe, was aus gegebenem Anlass zur Zeit häufiger vorkommt, muss ich zwangsläufig an seinen Auftritt damals bei Günther Jauch denken, im Debüt der neuen ARD Talkshow am 11. September 2011. Denn dort erklärte er uns „den Amerikaner“ und wie der so tickt:
Das der zwar immer nach vorne schaue, und nicht nach hinten, doch in ständiger Angst lebe, seinen Job zu verlieren. Und keine Zeit hätte, sich mit Politik und Nachrichten tiefer zu beschäftigen.
„Der Amerikaner ist ein Doppelverdiener, dessen Kinder in die Schule gehen und der am Wochenende sein Haus repariert. Wenn der Abends nach Hause kommt, dann schaut er einen von 300 Fernsehsendern in der Küche und ist deshalb schlecht informiert“
Was die Möglichkeit einer kritischen Auseinandersetzung mit dem Geschehen in der Welt deutlich einschränke. Ganz dem Klischee entsprechend:
„Viele Amerikaner können diese Zusammenhänge auch gar nicht nachempfinden – Irak, Afghanistan, die Lager, all diese Themen“
Beruhigend, dass die USA auf 7.700 Atomsprengköpfen sitz.
Und dann geht mir die Szene Vorstellung nicht mehr aus dem Kopf, wie Klinsmann dass den unschuldigen Zivilisten erklärt, die einen fehlgeschlagenen Drohnenangriff mit schwersten Verbrennungen überlebt haben (bei dem Angriff kamen drei Kinder und eine Schwangere ums Leben). Oder den Unschuldigen, die in Guantanamo seit Jahren einsitzen oder eingesessen haben…
Sven, Google Translate leaves me a bit confused but I think I get some of the points here. So I’ll share a few of my own observations about Americans…
1) American media is a multi-channel version of Pravda. In fact, it’s so pervasive that American comedians make fun of it. https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=conan+news+repeat
2) American public education is a 10000 hour indoctrination program designed to inject data without reasoning. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeEWPbTad_Q
(cf: https://archive.org/details/principlesofseco00ingliala)
3) Because of it’s size, both in population and geography, there is no sense of political efficacy in the American population. You can see this in Congressional approval ratings and voter turnouts. As the longest continual democracy in the world, Americans are implicitly aware that the actions of the US government have nothing whatsoever to do with the will of the population. Americans almost universally regard politicians as liars and crooks, but consider the presence of *some* liar and crook in the seat of power as inevitable (see point 2), therefore they only manage to oppose liars and crooks in certain color ties.
4) It is impossible to overstate the worship of the military service by the bulk of the US population. Since the end of conscription in the post-Vietnam era, the „volunteer military“ of the US government has been regarded as a sacred institution by almost every part of American culture. Criticism of „the troops“ is generally met with a disdain previously reserved for racial slurs and jokes about the mentally handicapped.
So if you’re thinking about a relationship between US governmental policy and the American population, your best model is to think about the relationship between a farmer and his herd of cows. Sure if the cows all realized that their children were being sold on an auction block, their milk was being siphoned off, and they were only going to end up in the slaughterhouse, they could stampede and trample down the barn. But as long as the farmer can maintain his livestock practices in a way to keep the cattle docile, he can reap enormous profits.
@Nathan: who benefit (most) from these profits? corporate america that is owned by foreign moneylenders?
I am not sure what is worse: being indoctrinated by economists or religion 😕
Politicians, bankers and corporate executives all reap the profits. There’s really very little difference between them in the US anymore. Political appointments are all drawn from corporate candidates (eg: head of FDA is former CEO of Monsanto) and political kickbacks are all washed through corporate stock prices and post-government executive positions.
By way of example, check out this story about Bill & Hillary Clinton’s daughter, who’s family is now such fascist royalty that she might as well be saying „Let them eat cake.“ http://nation.foxnews.com/2014/06/23/chelsea-clinton-10m-apartment-3m-wedding-600k-job-i-just-dont-care-about-money?cmpid=NL_fntop
Nathan, to explain my post (which was not about the USA, but about Klinsmann):
In a german talkshow there was a discussion about the war in Afghanistan, 9/11, etc. I don’t know why someone invited Klinsmann, but in this show he should give the german viewers some insights about the US citizens. His only „qualification“ for this job is that he lives near L.A. for more that 15 years.
And he just talked bullshit. But he was serious about it. It was disgusting.