Germany and freedom in one sentence is quite ironic, given the +400 Palestinians writers and public speakers who have been deplatformed and silenced... 😒
While I’m sure it wasn’t funny when it happened, I couldn’t stop myself from releasing a laugh on the train when I read the section about being chased by a skin head 💀
Fun newsletter as always, Berlin’s Ad in NYT is also pretty funny considering how cheeky it read to me. Great job!
Berlin's fountains: why on earth were they designed without a little in-built step for kids? Little kids have to struggle to clamber up them to get a drink.
And yes, they absolutely need to channel all that wasted water to plants nearby somehow (though I get the reasoning for keeping the flow always on).
I'm confused by your intro. Surely the people who cut in the line are the problem, not the guy who responded to them. There is no defense of the line cutters I don't care how old they are, and I'm sorry, but the guy responding to this by getting upset is actually fine. That's entirely normal. I'm with him - they shouldn't have cut the line. I don't know why you think he's wrong but the people who cut the line aren't wrong? Very strange opening in this newsletter...
Great. Just because you responded nicely doesn't make this guy's response worse than both of these line cutters. Maybe you could have empathy where his anger comes from. Perhaps you could give him advice but really he's not the bad person in this situation and I find it so sad you think he is.
Verbal assault is assault. Aggressive words are assault. Psychologically, and in many countries, legally. "Fighting words" (including insulting mothers and wives) change a punch from assault into self defence. Please stop demonstrating how unimportant you think people's psyches are by beating up on our journalist!
How is immediately calling someone a fascist Nazi a reasonable response to someone cutting the line? Can we at least try to stay in relationship just once?
An angry response to someone doing something wrong is NEVER worse than the original wrong. An important lesson. Really - they cut the line, let's focus on them. And considering the world is full of fascists right now, and you literally just wrote a comment about silencing voices speaking out against a genocide, I don't know, I'd say it's pretty normal to be angry about fascism and Nazis everywhere right now. And getting upset at the guy who is justifiably expressing a tiny bit of harmless anger simply by yelling at people who actually did wrong makes things worse. It's that simple.
Disagree. Both were unbearable. The responder was almost fascist in his zealousness. And you can't compare line-cutting to the heinous stuff going on in the world.
Come on this is exactly what is wrong with the world. Someone expressing anger at problems in this world, minor or great, is not "almost fascist". You also can't compare a guy getting upset at people doing something wrong as "fascist" this is extraordinarily strange. Why are you so afraid of admitting the people who cut the line are objectively in the wrong here?
Getting upset when someone does something wrong is actually entirely normal. Focusing on this and not on the real bad is actually making the world worse. Simple as that. Sure they're line cutters it's not so bad. But his insults are totally fine, too. Your "disproportionate" fear of him being upset is also not making the world a better place.
cutting a line is not nice (often happens unintentionally) and fair enough if it causes you anger. maybe the person had the worst day and that is a tipping point. but two people (possibly) accidentally cutting the line does not make them nazis, and of course the man then also directed more insults to the woman (classic misogyny). lets imagine the two elderly cutting the line were POC and the man would have responded using the N word and other racial, political slurs…. would you still think his way of expressing anger would be ok?
im not equating racism that POC experience with germans being victims because they are called nazis. germans are perpatrators, not victims even generations down the line every german who did not have family actively in the resistance has profited from the nazis…. so i really dont mean the two are the same but i hope im illustrating my point….. feeling frustration because someone wronged you is ok. we all have bad days were just anything can tip us over…. but being frustrated and saying yo you cut the line! what the hell!! is worlds away from calling people names, being racist, misogynistic, anti-senitic, anti-muslim etc etc.
Othering and putting people into boxes, justifying revenge, and not leaving any space for a more constructive exchange, on a collective level and over time is what facilitates atrocities like the Gaza genocide. Take a breather. Then respond. And if we're going to call everyone a Nazi or a fascists you're not doing any better than calling anyone who speaks up against the genocide an antisemite.
Letting people get away with cutting in line and then claiming the person who got upset is bad IS actually making the world worse. Take a breather. Then open your eyes and look around.
I hear that you're angry. And there is space for anger, but disproportionate, misdirected anger only creates more anger in the world, and without the right outlet, anger, as in this case, gets directed to the wrong subject. As they say, be angry with systems not people.
None of this happened you are making up extremes that are not based in any reality. And I will fundamentally argue that this kind of fear, labeling the guy who got angry as worse, is literally what has brought us closer to actual fascism every single day. The line cutters are objectively worse in this situation. Objectively.
I think Maurice's example of asking: "Who are you?" is a more helpful response. You can also make people aware of their behavior in a more constructive way than yelling insults at them.
Maybe. But in my experience in the world right now, way more bad people are getting away with everything and "being nice to them" actually doesn't help solve anything. Many people want to believe in this, sure, but it's not actually fixing anything. Unfortunately.
Germany and freedom in one sentence is quite ironic, given the +400 Palestinians writers and public speakers who have been deplatformed and silenced... 😒
Great point.
Exactly... So hypocritical! How do they still not understand this?
While I’m sure it wasn’t funny when it happened, I couldn’t stop myself from releasing a laugh on the train when I read the section about being chased by a skin head 💀
Fun newsletter as always, Berlin’s Ad in NYT is also pretty funny considering how cheeky it read to me. Great job!
Berlin's fountains: why on earth were they designed without a little in-built step for kids? Little kids have to struggle to clamber up them to get a drink.
And yes, they absolutely need to channel all that wasted water to plants nearby somehow (though I get the reasoning for keeping the flow always on).
This ad. 🫣 Holy delusional.
I'm confused by your intro. Surely the people who cut in the line are the problem, not the guy who responded to them. There is no defense of the line cutters I don't care how old they are, and I'm sorry, but the guy responding to this by getting upset is actually fine. That's entirely normal. I'm with him - they shouldn't have cut the line. I don't know why you think he's wrong but the people who cut the line aren't wrong? Very strange opening in this newsletter...
The responder was so over-the-top he was worse than the line cutter.
No actually that's objectively untrue. And man I just lost so much respect for you for taking this position. Really makes me sad to see...
Wow. In fact, right after this incident an older lady tried to cut in front me me. I said sorry, I was next. She smiled and let me pass.
Great. Just because you responded nicely doesn't make this guy's response worse than both of these line cutters. Maybe you could have empathy where his anger comes from. Perhaps you could give him advice but really he's not the bad person in this situation and I find it so sad you think he is.
Verbal assault is assault. Aggressive words are assault. Psychologically, and in many countries, legally. "Fighting words" (including insulting mothers and wives) change a punch from assault into self defence. Please stop demonstrating how unimportant you think people's psyches are by beating up on our journalist!
How is immediately calling someone a fascist Nazi a reasonable response to someone cutting the line? Can we at least try to stay in relationship just once?
An angry response to someone doing something wrong is NEVER worse than the original wrong. An important lesson. Really - they cut the line, let's focus on them. And considering the world is full of fascists right now, and you literally just wrote a comment about silencing voices speaking out against a genocide, I don't know, I'd say it's pretty normal to be angry about fascism and Nazis everywhere right now. And getting upset at the guy who is justifiably expressing a tiny bit of harmless anger simply by yelling at people who actually did wrong makes things worse. It's that simple.
Disagree. Both were unbearable. The responder was almost fascist in his zealousness. And you can't compare line-cutting to the heinous stuff going on in the world.
Come on this is exactly what is wrong with the world. Someone expressing anger at problems in this world, minor or great, is not "almost fascist". You also can't compare a guy getting upset at people doing something wrong as "fascist" this is extraordinarily strange. Why are you so afraid of admitting the people who cut the line are objectively in the wrong here?
Right, because disproprotionate insults always make the world a better place.
Getting upset when someone does something wrong is actually entirely normal. Focusing on this and not on the real bad is actually making the world worse. Simple as that. Sure they're line cutters it's not so bad. But his insults are totally fine, too. Your "disproportionate" fear of him being upset is also not making the world a better place.
cutting a line is not nice (often happens unintentionally) and fair enough if it causes you anger. maybe the person had the worst day and that is a tipping point. but two people (possibly) accidentally cutting the line does not make them nazis, and of course the man then also directed more insults to the woman (classic misogyny). lets imagine the two elderly cutting the line were POC and the man would have responded using the N word and other racial, political slurs…. would you still think his way of expressing anger would be ok?
im not equating racism that POC experience with germans being victims because they are called nazis. germans are perpatrators, not victims even generations down the line every german who did not have family actively in the resistance has profited from the nazis…. so i really dont mean the two are the same but i hope im illustrating my point….. feeling frustration because someone wronged you is ok. we all have bad days were just anything can tip us over…. but being frustrated and saying yo you cut the line! what the hell!! is worlds away from calling people names, being racist, misogynistic, anti-senitic, anti-muslim etc etc.
Othering and putting people into boxes, justifying revenge, and not leaving any space for a more constructive exchange, on a collective level and over time is what facilitates atrocities like the Gaza genocide. Take a breather. Then respond. And if we're going to call everyone a Nazi or a fascists you're not doing any better than calling anyone who speaks up against the genocide an antisemite.
The terms just loose their meaning. All we'd be doing is creating pollution.
Letting people get away with cutting in line and then claiming the person who got upset is bad IS actually making the world worse. Take a breather. Then open your eyes and look around.
I hear that you're angry. And there is space for anger, but disproportionate, misdirected anger only creates more anger in the world, and without the right outlet, anger, as in this case, gets directed to the wrong subject. As they say, be angry with systems not people.
None of this happened you are making up extremes that are not based in any reality. And I will fundamentally argue that this kind of fear, labeling the guy who got angry as worse, is literally what has brought us closer to actual fascism every single day. The line cutters are objectively worse in this situation. Objectively.
I think Maurice's example of asking: "Who are you?" is a more helpful response. You can also make people aware of their behavior in a more constructive way than yelling insults at them.
Maybe. But in my experience in the world right now, way more bad people are getting away with everything and "being nice to them" actually doesn't help solve anything. Many people want to believe in this, sure, but it's not actually fixing anything. Unfortunately.