British idiots / Alle Seiten blamieren sich

This week, Focus Online had an article headed Briten Blamieren Sich. It referred to an article in The Times about the Hesse would-be-citizen questions. The Times article is available online only in part – it had a graphics page which is the main cause for concern, shown in the Focus article.

Focus:

bq. Die britische „Times“ versucht sich am hessischen Einbürgerungstest und macht peinliche Fehler.
Die Diskussion um einen deutschen Einbürgerungstest können sich die britischen Medien nicht entgehen lassen. Für die „Times“ ist es eine fabelhafte Gelegenheit, endlich wieder einmal ein Foto von Hitler zu drucken, mit hochgerecktem Arm und in Uniform.

bq. The London Times tries the Hessen naturalization test and makes embarrassing mistakes.
The British media could not bring themselves to pass up the opportunity to discuss a German citizenship test. This is a wonderful opportunity for The Times at long last to print another picture of Hitler, with his arm raised and in uniform.

The errors are 1) the flag shown is the Belgian flag (I wonder if the Belgian press have picked this one up?) and 2) the reference to the German national anthem as Deutschland über Alles.

I sometimes get very angry about this kind of nationality-bashing, which is a mistake, because it’s just a way to sell newspapers. In this case, however, quickly passing over the flag error, I don’t think it’s part of British general knowledge that the text of the German national anthem has been edited. Nevertheless Focus goes on about it for three paragraphs.

Another thing: when such a ridiculous set of questions is to be taken seriously, it’s fair game for any newspaper.

I wonder if there were any other mistakes in the Times article? Focus had an easy time here, because it published only after the Times Letters Page printed readers’ corrections on the very two points Focus builds its article on. That’s a good tip for online journalists: watch out for the readers’ letters the following day, and then sell the story abroad.

I do think the picture of Hitler might have been smaller. After all, British football fans travelling to Germany have been told by the Home Secretary particularly not to mention the war, which will probably have the opposite effect to that intended, along the lines of ‘So that’s how we can really annoy them’.

bq. The English team’s travelling support is fond of drinking lots of beer, humming the themes of war films, and singing songs such as Two World Wars and one World Cup or Ten German Bombers.

(Via Handakte WebLAWg)

12 thoughts on “British idiots / Alle Seiten blamieren sich

  1. I have always maintained (as a dedictated hater of all things football) that footall should, by law, be made a non-spectator sport. Show it on TV by all means – but cut the morons out of it.
    I actually sent an email some years ago to Sky News saying just that. I was surprised it was even read out. You should have seen the smirk on the face of the Sky newsreader. I guess he thought I was the moron. If they banned football with same level of demonisation that they are applying to smoking, the UK would be a far “healthier” place. Make no mistake about it (to coin one of Dubbya’s pet phrases) football IS moronic, pathetic, antiquted, a waste of time and bad for the nation

    Paul (rant nuumber 2)

  2. I’m taking the ‘Life in the United Kingdom’ test next week, as a first step towards British citizenship. I don’t think it will be anything as complicated as the Hessen or Baden-Württemberg test though.

  3. This is interesting. Is it a written test? I see the Netherlands questions (Taccuino di Traductione has a link) also relate to the treatment of women, homosexuality etc. and they also have photos of Willem Alexander and Maxima to identify. Perhaps you’d better bone up on Charles and Camilla.

  4. I’m very surprised at the lack of posts on this very interesting and significant topic of the mentality of certain parts of the British population Margaret. It always annoys me seeing my compatriots behaving like total scumbags when abroad. I tend to try and not let people know I’m British in certain situations. It shames me greatly.

    Paul

  5. Assuming we are talking about soccer and not rugby football – whose crowds are renowned for being relatively well-behaved, despite the higher level of on-field body contact – we should be wary of branding all travelling UK (not just British) soccer fans as violent lager louts. The Scottish, English and Northern Irish fans travelling back to London from knock-out World Cup soccer rounds in Bratislava etc. were, though fulled by alcohol, models of good behaviour and entertaining banter. I – armed with a pair of knuckle dusters and a bicycle chain – am affronted not to have been challenged to a fight.

  6. Ekkehard: thanks, will probably do a separate entry on that.
    Paul: this is a big topic! At the moment I rarely see British football fans. And I suppose group psychology has a big effect. What occurs to me as shameful is the woman on the dreadful TV programme I wrote about, where a German and British family swopped houses and the British woman used a lot of her airtime making stereotype anti-German remarks, e.g. complaining about the Weißwürste that had been left for them to try – she obviously didn’t want to try any local specialities. Another thing is what I have heard from students that people who come over to trade fairs simply regard Europe as a place to get drunk. But what do I know? And I still find strangers of all ages friendlier in London than they are here, but that might have more to do with Franconia, or with my non-German behaviour.

  7. >>this is a big topic! At the moment I rarely see British football fans. And I suppose group psychology has a big effect. What occurs to me as shameful is the woman on the dreadful TV programme I wrote about, where a German and British family swopped houses and the British woman used a lot of her airtime making stereotype anti-German remarks, e.g. complaining about the Weißwürste that had been left for them to try – she obviously didn’t want to try any local specialities. Another thing is what I have heard from students that people who come over to trade fairs simply regard Europe as a place to get drunk

  8. “Another thing is what I have heard from students that people who come over to trade fairs simply regard Europe as a place to get drunk.” Defending drunken football fans or businessmen is hardly my scene, but alcohol is cheaper here after all.

  9. Ann: I think that remark of mine about trade fairs was a bit superficial, too. It sounds too much like generalizing from hearsay, something that is exactly the problem with this kind of discussion. If I saw various groups of British people at trade fairs, I might not find them as bad as all that.

  10. >> If I saw various groups of British people at trade fairs, I might not find them as bad as all that.

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