hey, bowly.

having spent a fair part of my youth in england i am well accustomed to british tv-program in all colors and shades. - i can also recall little boys turning from the tv-set proclaiming in utter pride that when growing up they will go to war an d kill all the germans. -- i also recall parents thinking of my strong deutsch mark and looking at my father's miracle of german automaker's ingenuity saying that england has won the war but germany has definitely won the peace. i also recall one night in a rather sinister part of london where my mere nationality saved me from being beaten up by a bunch of ball-headed brit nazis. ... so what: england by now has had its fair share in winning a good piece of peace herself (...so much in fact that today you can find quite a number of british passport holders living in 'cheap' berlin and earning their hard british pounds working for clients back home.) -- british hooligans are still the fear of most international soccer matches and all around the world war-gamers are fighting ze tscherrmann shweinehund in their x-boxes and play stations.
the fascination with a dark and mercilessly focussed evil in impressive uniforms will probably still keep popular culture busy for some time. -- and for the lack of any equivalent showing up on this world's stage it better be this way.
now tom cruise is trying on my grandfathers' shinning officers boots to play with the ambivalence of this quite unique semiotic cosmos. i doubt that cruise's movie will bring an end to the thrid reich on computer or on tv screen. and i do hope -- for the lack of anything comparable ever showing up -- that he will not be the last one in that uniform.

Da fällt mir etwas anderes ein:
es gab mal ein Werbeplakat mit dem O-Ton "Man sollte nie deutsche Ingenieurkunst unterschätzen" und es war eine Messerschmidt 109 abgebildet, die gerade eine Spit zersägt - ich wäre bereit, einiges für einen Abdruck zu zahlen.;)