Today I’d like to sing praise of a newspaper that has accompanied me for the past 20 years or so and actually contributes more than the occasional laughter to my well-being. By putting its finger in sores few people in Germany actually bother to even notice or be upset about, by constantly pointing out the blatant idiocy of Germanys “political culture” and some of the smartest, angriest and most precise political analytical texts published here the titanic magazine has been an indispensable tool for me to maintain perspective and sanity in this country.
If you think that is me being overdramatic, than explain to me why all the world is up in arms about the racist statements of a Bundesbank board member, while at the same time no-one seems to be bothered at the open comparison of a black to an ape?
If you think thats a sad point of view, entertain me and lets play the following game with a very simple rule: Name a progressive (liberal, communist, anarchist, your pick) german writer or philosopher of statue that was NOT driven to exile or suicide, incarcerated or murdered in the past two centuries. You win if you can name two.
Heine? Marx? Adorno? Horkheimer? Stephan Zweig? Walter Benjamin? And please don’t even try to name Böll or Grass, I said: statue. Gottfried Benn is the only one that actually comes to my mind.
And if you think I am lacking in patriotism: I am glad to be born in a western country with all its possibilities, public services, riches and securites. It just doesnt make me proud. For if it is me, I do not carry the burden of the past, I did not participate in war and genocide. But if there is talk of “we”, then this “we” includes this past, and in this case “we” should shut the fuck up.
And of course there are other countries which are worse, and there are other places presenting just the same amount of reasons to be angry and sad. If I move there, I will let you know. Until then: Three cheers to the titanic, may they live long and proseper, and not stop to cause outrage and be outraged.