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Looking for article about the Berlin Wall

post #1 of 22
11/20/09 at 11:43am
Thread Starter 
I read an article about the Berlin Wall recently where they presented a recent study that shows that a vast number of Americans believe that the Berlin Wall was built by Nazi Germany.

Has anyone else read this article? Link? (can't seem to find it)

And, what's SF's take on this?

It's quite worrying if true seeing as the wall was built 16 years AFTER the war ended. You'd might think that schools would educate people, and especially in the US (being a major player in WW2 and all) but apparently this has failed?

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post #2 of 22
11/20/09 at 11:46am
You seem to have an unhealthy fixation with "Americans." Seek help.

That said, most 'Muricans under 40 think Nixon got the US into Viet Nam.
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post #3 of 22
11/20/09 at 1:06pm
I'm not sure why they believe this. Why do a quarter of Canadians think they can get HIV through a mosquito bite? Why do 63 percent of them believe the US government had prior knowledge of the 9-11 attacks but failed to act? For that matter, why do about 25 percent of Germans think the US government actually engineered the 9-11 attacks? Why do most French believe Charlamagne was French, when he was actually Germanic? Why do most Italians think the Etruscans invented pasta, when in fact what we now know as pasta probably came from the Far East?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Piobaire View Post
You seem to have an unhealthy fixation with "Americans." Seek help.

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post #4 of 22
11/20/09 at 1:12pm
I agree that this is very troubling and sad; however, the average random person can be pretty stupid on things like this. I also agree with Pio's post, wtf? This isn't at all U.S. exclusive or something, you should hear some of the crazy crap Europeans think about U.S. history/world conflicts. What is it about some people that they have to dig for and be so interested in anything negative about the U.S.? It makes me feel so sad for the people of France whenever I watch their news....


Jared,
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post #5 of 22
11/20/09 at 1:33pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by Piobaire View Post
You seem to have an unhealthy fixation with "Americans." Seek help.

That said, most 'Muricans under 40 think Nixon got the US into Viet Nam.
Haha I guess that's a fair statement given the latest threads about Americans, however I can tell you that this is just a coincidence. For some reason my latest questions/thoughts have been about Americans, don't really know why though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CaesarSTL View Post
I agree that this is very troubling and sad; however, the average random person can be pretty stupid on things like this. I also agree with Pio's post, wtf? This isn't at all U.S. exclusive or something, you should hear some of the crazy crap Europeans think about U.S. history/world conflicts. What is it about some people that they have to dig for and be so interested in anything negative about the U.S.? It makes me feel so sad for the people of France whenever I watch their news....


Jared,
If you're referring to me as "one of those who think negative of the US" I can assure you that that's not the case. You would find that I'm probably the most pro-US person in my circle of friends. I do, however, like to self-educate myself in general which causes me to post these type of questions.
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post #6 of 22
11/20/09 at 2:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Patrician View Post
If you're referring to me as "one of those who think negative of the US" I can assure you that that's not the case. You would find that I'm probably the most pro-US person in my circle of friends. I do, however, like to self-educate myself in general which causes me to post these type of questions.


No problem, and not trying to assume since I don't know you, especially in a post commenting on other people's ignorance I just have a lot of French/English/Dutch friends, who even do love America too, who just always have some crazy weird negative fact/thing they heard about the U.S., that I never even heard of, that they want to ask me about. If you've heard of the Tonight Show, the past host Jay Leno used to do a segment called jaywalking where he would go around asking random people questions....some people think George Washington freed the slaves.... O well, btw your quote is funny and I hope it was a joke because it sounds like something someone from North America would say....

Jared,
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post #7 of 22
11/20/09 at 2:48pm
What is the Belin Wall?
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post #8 of 22
11/20/09 at 2:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher View Post
I'm not sure why they believe this. Why do a quarter of Canadians think they can get HIV through a mosquito bite? Why do 63 percent of them believe the US government had prior knowledge of the 9-11 attacks but failed to act? For that matter, why do about 25 percent of Germans think the US government actually engineered the 9-11 attacks? Why do most French believe Charlamagne was French, when he was actually Germanic? Why do most Italians think the Etruscans invented pasta, when in fact what we now know as pasta probably came from the Far East?




That's also untrue, "Germanic tribes" were present all over Europe so Charlemagne is pre-french/german more than anything else.
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post #9 of 22
11/20/09 at 3:44pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuuma View Post
That's also untrue, "Germanic tribes" were present all over Europe so Charlemagne is pre-french/german more than anything else.

Oh, look at you trying! That doesn't change the fact that he was, in fact and indesputably, Germanic (probably a Frank).
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post #10 of 22
11/20/09 at 3:53pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher View Post
Oh, look at you trying! That doesn't change the fact that he was, in fact and indesputably, Germanic (probably a Frank).
"Germanic" does not have the same meaning as you want to restrain it to. I mean they were in Spain, Belgium and France too... In fact if you want to use your line of reasoning you'd be wiser to say that Belgians ruled and created France. It is also much more insulting .
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post #11 of 22
11/20/09 at 3:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuuma View Post
"Germanic" does not have the same meaning as you want to restrain it to. I mean they were in Spain, Belgium and France too...

I know perfectly what "Germanic" means, so please don't condescend to me. I am not using it in a geographic sense, but rather in a sociolinguistic sense. Since you immediately assumed I meant it geographically, I'm going to go ahead and guess I've completed a lot more study on the Germanics than you have. And just to add to your list, peoples we refer to as Germanic were in Scandinavia, the Balkans, all over Eastern Europe, and (sporadically) in southern Europe. They were still sociolinguistically Germanic, not Gaulic/Brethonic, Slavic, Italic, Finnic, etc.
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post #12 of 22
11/20/09 at 4:02pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher View Post
I know perfectly what "Germanic" means, so please don't condescend to me. I am not using it in a geographic sense, but rather in a sociolinguistic sense. Since you immediately assumed I meant it geographically, I'm going to go ahead and guess I've completed a lot more study on the Germanics than you have. And just to add to your list, peoples we refer to as Germanic were in Scandinavia, the Balkans, all over Eastern Europe, and (sporadically) in southern Europe. They were still sociolinguistically Germanic, not Gaulic/Brethonic, Slavic, Italic, Finnic, etc.

No they weren't. (Sorry, could not resist.)

Actually Teacher gets a +1. Is history your academic specialty??
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post #13 of 22
11/20/09 at 4:12pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by forsbergacct2000 View Post
No they weren't. (Sorry, could not resist.)

Actually Teacher gets a +1. Is history your academic specialty??

Sideline, really. I specialized in both American lit and linguistics; now I work in academic administration, so to speak.
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post #14 of 22
11/20/09 at 4:14pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Teacher View Post
I know perfectly what "Germanic" means, so please don't condescend to me. I am not using it in a geographic sense, but rather in a sociolinguistic sense. Since you immediately assumed I meant it geographically, I'm going to go ahead and guess I've completed a lot more study on the Germanics than you have. And just to add to your list, peoples we refer to as Germanic were in Scandinavia, the Balkans, all over Eastern Europe, and (sporadically) in southern Europe. They were still sociolinguistically Germanic, not Gaulic/Brethonic, Slavic, Italic, Finnic, etc.

Ok, sorry, I am familiar with the topic and must say I assumed you were full of shit. In this sense, yes, Charlemagne was "germanic" but I don't see this as particularly special or ironic (for the record Clovis was also Germanic, a salic Frank). It's not like some random guy, say a Mongol, arrived alone and kickstarted France. His tribe/confederation of tribes occupied part of the current day territory, provided some traditions and even words used today and is very much a part of the fabric of history of the region. France didn't "exist" before +-1200 anyway...
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post #15 of 22
11/20/09 at 4:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fuuma View Post
Ok, sorry, I am familiar with the topic and must say I assumed you were full of shit. In this sense, yes, Charlemagne was "germanic" but I don't see this as particularly special or ironic (for the record Clovis was also Germanic, a salic Frank). It's not like some random guy, say a Mongol, arrived alone and kickstarted France. His tribe/confederation of tribes occupied part of the current day territory, provided some traditions and even words used today and is very much a part of the fabric of history of the region. France didn't "exist" before +-1200 anyway...

Yes, that's actually my original point, that people all over the world make all kinds of assumptions about their own histories and the histories of others (among other things).
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