What’s German for “forthright and/yet/but inherently deceitful"?

June 21, 2019 6:44 AM

On Truth and Lying in the Extra German Sense (Rebecca Schuman for Longreads) But, of course, honesty is only synonymous with Germany if you don’t know much about its storied history of prevarication. [...] somehow, beginning many centuries before the Third Reich, and in fact in most of Germany’s defining moments, someone has always told a very large lie. The Relotius and VW scandals are not exceptions. They are accordances with the rule in a country obsessed with them.
posted by ZeusHumms (5 comments total)

This is a weirdly stereotyping article.
posted by tivalasvegas at 7:15 AM on June 21, 2019 [8 favorites]

If this article were about, say Israelis, how long would it stay up on the blue?
posted by Oyéah at 7:56 AM on June 21, 2019

Let me continue, no one is going to read all this, unless they enjoy social inflammation of a negative sort against the German people, against Martin Luther, against anti Semitism from the 16th century.

I am not sure why Shumann took a doctorate in German, but now she is an expert in anti German propaganda. I am talking here because I can't find a flag to throw down
posted by Oyéah at 8:11 AM on June 21, 2019 [2 favorites]

From the author's Twitter:"I worked on this piece for literal months. It is either the best thing I have ever written, or an exact record of the precise moment I lost it for good."
posted by No Robots at 8:17 AM on June 21, 2019 [1 favorite]

whoa yeah, i couldn’t even make it through the first paragraph without tripping over the axe this woman is grinding. what a nasty bigoted little hit piece
posted by aiglet at 8:18 AM on June 21, 2019