My honest appraisal of all things German:

Why I love Germany, German Culture, and German Philosophers (Nietzsche)

The sad reality of being German, or being (recently) born into Germany:

You are not allowed to be proud to be German and you’re not allowed to be ‘pro-German’ and you are not allowed to be nationalistic and show the German flag (unless it be for football-soccer matches).

Why? Of course the guilt associated with World War II, Nazism, Hitler, Holocaust, etc. In a low-key way to be ‘Pro Germany’ (as a German) you’re seen as a low-key Nazi (not fair).

Similarly in America (right now with Donaldo Trumpo) you are not allowed (as an intellectual or smart person) to be ‘Pro America’. For example it is not tolerated for me (ERIC KIM) as a liberal left-leaning person who grew up in the Bay Area to be nationalistic, ‘patriotic’ or ‘pro America’. And if you wore a red MAGA hat in the Bay Area, you would probably be lynched or punched in the face by masked Whole Foods (which is owned by Amazon) folks (perhaps wearing a North Face fleece or Patagonia pull-over).

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Back to Germany

So, why is Germany so great? Well, the people are hardy. In the past they consumed a lot of meat (but now, this vegan-vegetarianism-Buddhism thing is starting to take off in Germany). Germany is certainly a very frank, direct, yet honest and warm culture. The folks are very open minded, and the older Germans are very racist, but the modern Germans (look at Berlin) are very open minded. Turkish people are German (the older folks wouldn’t consider this the fact). But with the modern Millenial or Gen-Z German … they are pro-open borders and they see being German as more of a nationality than a skin-based ethnicity morphology thing. Once again, the largest ethnic group in Germany (who self-identify as German) are Turkish folks … and Turkish folks are now officially German. Similar how Asian-Americans have assimilated so well into American society. I see myself as American, not ‘Asian’.

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The Bauhaus Aesthetic

Steve Jobs and Jony Ive (the true soul behind Apple) were huuuuge fans of the German Bauhaus aesthetic. The ‘Braun’ line of thinking. Dieter Rams vibes.