Germany and An Existential Threat

           

  Some years ago some friends of ours who were homeschoolers and in the military, were sent to serve in Germany. They weren't able to homeschool there, even as Americans on the base, and they wound up sending their kids to a local German school. Our friends commented at the time that large amounts of the German school day were devoted to the study of "Ethics".

                  This week, I was reading an article written by a German citizen in which they cited that "Americans hate too much" and that we could use a lesson from our German friends. The author cited that through a concerted educational effort, the Germans were able to end their collective "hate for the Jews" and become a shining example to the world of openness and tolerance.   This was interesting for a number of reasons. In school we were always taught that the German people did not know of the actions of the Nazis and therefore were blameless for it.  The article I read this week said that some did, and that the grandmother of the author of the article said that "The Jews had it coming". The gist of the article is that human beings cannot learn not to hate without an organized academic effort.

                  I disagree.  The bulk of Americans actually take each person they meet as they come.  They know that we all need one another. Many of us have different faiths, creeds and colors in our own families.  There have been great changes in the US since the nineteen-sixties and it actually didn't take hours of ethics classes to attain this.  Yes, there are a few crazies who pedal hate, but you will find that in England, France and Germany as well.

                 My concern about including formal classes which preach total acceptance for other colors, creeds, and races, no matter what their practices are as follows.  Just now, Germany faces an existential threat.  Large numbers of Muslim refugees from a number of places in the Middle East have poured into Germany. To their credit, Germany has been very generous in aiding them and helping them to get educations, jobs and housing.  In part, this is due to the German educational system.  However, I am concerned that with all the programming provided by German schools that the German people might not recognize an existential threat. When faced with some Muslims who might advocate the ritual genital mutilation of their young daughters, the murder of their own daughters who may have shamed them in some way, and gang rape of infidels, will the Germans have enough of an ability to express dismay and reject such practices or will they simply see these practices as "another flavor of the rainbow"?     I don't have a problem with refugees. I do have a problem with those who attempt to take over towns as Muslim enclaves, and enact their own brand of Sharia Law. I do have a problem with Muslims who hold themselves above the laws of the nation in which they now live. I have a problem with refugees who attempt to convert their neighbors to their own faith, and when this doesn't work out for them, beheads them.  Let's hope Germany has enough independent thinking left to restrict, jail and/or deport those who would attempt to take advantage of their decent nature.


  This is the article that spurred this commentary:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2017/01/01/take-it-from-a-german-americans-are-too-timid-in-confronting-hate