tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post8525302193768635332..comments2023-07-17T11:55:51.363+02:00Comments on ObservingGreece: On passionate - but misguided - mindsetskleinguthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12491174042954678023noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-91395553094908278322012-02-13T22:51:39.850+01:002012-02-13T22:51:39.850+01:00Please don't interprete this as though it were...Please don't interprete this as though it were addressed to you personally because it might offend you and I don’t want to offend you.<br /><br />The normal reaction to a sentiment which you also display is: grow up! Don’t look for excuses elsewhere even if there were good such excuses! Teenagers may lament to their therapists how they are helpless products of their parents’ mistakes. That’s fine. But at some point, everyone needs to start assuming responsibility for oneself, otherwise we have to trace the line of guilt back to Adam & Eve.<br /><br />I am not saying that all Greeks are bad and that all the EU is innocent. If you browse through my blog, you will find that I am actually saying the opposite for the most part.<br /><br />But what I definitely would say to all Greeks is: please stop putting yourselves into the victim’s role! I mean, you have got to have much more of a feeling of self-worth than to do that all of the time. Putting oneself into the victim’s role automatically means that someone else is put into the usurper’s role. And I really don’t know who in the world would be out to intentionally usurp Greeks. If you have an idea who that could be, please let me know. If you tell me it’s the Germans, I will explain to you with facts why you are wrong.<br /><br />Since my wife is Greek, I have some understanding of what 400 years of foreign occupation can mean to the feelings of self-confidence and self-worth of a people. During those 400 years, other European “people” went through almost uninterrupted wars while Greeks had to be “subservient”. Those European “people” who survived those battles obviously came away with a greater feeling of self-confidence and self-worth than others who did not have to go through that process. <br /><br />I have met many Greeks when I lived in the world’s 3rd largest Greek city (Chicago) and through my wife I have met many former Greek guest-workers in Germany. None of them were cry-babies. They were of the mold that they wanted to do everything possible so that their children would have a better future. They didn’t strike for that (because it wouldn’t have worked); they worked for that!<br /><br />And that is the mold which I personally would require of Greeks when I am asked to send tax money to Greece instead of using that tax money in Austrian universities. <br /><br />http://klauskastner.blogspot.com/2012/02/inventory-of-key-posts.htmlkleinguthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12491174042954678023noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-80242524464925205712012-02-13T22:14:17.843+01:002012-02-13T22:14:17.843+01:00You are totally right, but unfortunately the likes...You are totally right, but unfortunately the likes of Mr Auerback will never be convinced.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882645467378797266.post-65592649476948740712012-02-13T22:13:39.477+01:002012-02-13T22:13:39.477+01:00I fail to understand how this mess is related to s...I fail to understand how this mess is related to selfhelp... <br /><br />in all relationships, including borrower & lender there are two needed to tango. Could Greeks borrow if no one lend them? No, and why did they lend them? ...but to make money of course! and where did the borrowed money go? Italian clothes, French supermarkets, German cars tanks & submarines, American fridges & films... (that made many CEOs happy back then)<br /><br />Yes, there were a few corrupt ones, just like the ones that exist all over the world (don't forget that the Siemens case started to unfold in US...), Greeks are not so good in hiding it... in other countries corruption is institutionalized! <br /><br />Please, lets stop pretend about the bad Greeks and the innocence of the EU!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com