German arrested in LA fire starter investigation
Harry Burkhart, 24, a German immigrant was in custody as a “person of interest” in the scores of fires that have been set in the Los Angeles area over the last several days. Apparently his mother is facing deportation which prompted him to tell police “I hate America”, according to the UK’s Daily Mail.
Fifty three blazes have flared since Friday in Hollywood, neighbouring West Hollywood and the San Fernando Valley, causing about $3million in damage.
According to Los Angeles Police Department Chief Charlie Beck, Burkhart is believed to a foreign national from Germany.
Well, look, Konrad (I know that’s not his name, it’s what we used to call Germans when I was stationed there), if you hate America, WTF are you still doing here? If you and your mother are German nationals, GTFO and go home, don’t burn our property. I’m pretty sure he hates us because he’s getting used to being here and enjoying our way of life and climate as opposed to Germany, that third world country.
Now, he’s going to hate America even more locked up in the nearest Federal homosexual recruitment office and discovering why we call our prisons “pounds”. Swift move, Konrad.
Category: Legal
So much for that civilized Eurotrash.
Touch my monkey!!! Touch my monkey!!!
I’m kind of obsessed with Germany. Wonderful country but its people can be EXTREMELY anti-American. Not as bad the French, but still pretty hard to handle.
“I hate America” is probably a common sentiment. They love to say things like, “We’re not anti-American, we just don’t like American foreign policy.”
But then the mask slips a little and one of them says what they really mean. They hate American foreign policy because it’s America that’s doing it. If it were Russia, they wouldn’t care. If it were Hugo Chavez or Fidel Castro, they’d probably blame it on America for “making” them act the way they do.
And here I thought it was just a lonesome French citizen trying to celebrate the New Year with that traditional urban holiday tradition of making car-b-ques.
/sarc
Lived in Germany for 4 years (mid-late 90s). Xenophobic didn’t begin to describe them–my landlord still called my neighbor “the new guy from Poland” despite the “new guy” being 93 and having lived in the village since 1929.
However, I can’t say there were specifically anti-American as much as they were anti-Not-German. No, I don’t mean a “master-race” mindset like in the early 20th century, but much more of a “master culture”. They felt their culture was vastly superior to yours and never hesitated to point it out. That, and an overwhelming sense of entitlement to tell you how you should behave or act–again stemming from the attitude that they simply knew more than you and how you should live.
“No, I don’t mean a ‘master-race’ mindset like in the early 20th century, but much more of a ‘master culture’. They felt their culture was vastly superior to yours and never hesitated to point it out.”
Well, yeah. But that’s not so different from the old mentality as you might think. The supremacy of German culture was the bedrock of that old National Socialism thing.
Ever read a book called “What We Knew”? I read it recently for research purposes. The authors interviewed dozens of people who lived through the Nazi times; some were victims of the Nazis, some were Nazis themselves, a lot claimed to have been just innocent bystanders. ‘Claimed’ being the operative word.
One example that leaps to mind is a musician from Cologne who played in the clubs there. Jazz was forbidden, but the musician played it anyway, illegally. When the authorities checked in on the club, they quickly switched to playing good, strong, German music, which was the only music permitted by law. The idea was that German culture was superior and shouldn’t be debased with anything else, much less jazz which was associated with America, blacks, the jungle, sex, and even Jews. Yes, they associated jazz with Jews.
Jazz is no longer forbidden in Germany, of course. It’s not 1936. But the idea that German culture is superior isn’t far from hand.
Truth be told, Germany does have a wonderful culture and a lot to be proud of. So does the United States. There’s no reason to be all chauvinistic about it.
And again, not all of them are. Just enough of them so that you can keep bumping into them over and over again.
Didn’t mean to imply early 20th century Germans didn’t believe in their superior culture–only that in those days they attributed more to racial/genetics than they would today.
Also didn’t mean to imply they didn’t have a rich culture–only that they do sometimes give one the opinion theirs is the only culture…..
Wow! This is the last time I visit this website. Isn’t it a wee bit hypocritical to accuse one culture of thinking they’re better than other cultures and in the next breath talk about how great America is? If you had bothered to learn the language while living in Germany then you would know that most Germans are still quite ashamed of being German, after World War II. It was actually uncommon for Germans to even wave the German flag, until the 2006 World Cup. I sincerely hope that in the future you consider exerting effort to spread tolerance and respect for other cultures instead of hate. There is enough of that in the world.
Also, not sure where the idea that Germans hate American comes from. They love Americans and especially American culture. I accidentally posted my last comment without a name
@8…and a lot of it starts with smug Eurotrash. Buh-bye, don’t let the door hit ya in the ass on the way out.
I am American just a wee bit more open minded than you
Usually, those who point out how open-minded they are, aren’t.
And, uh, Megan–you want to see xenophobic cultures? Overt racism? Try a little stop in Japan sometime.
Real eye-opener, no pun intended.
“Wow! This is the last time I visit this website.” Then she comes back not once but twice more! Thanks for the laugh.
As for German culture, after Wagner and beer, what is there? I am discounting mechanical aptitude as a cultural element but I’ll certainly give the krauts that.
Pardon those of us who harbor no patience for those who violate the law. Expect no sympathy from us when, as a guest in this country, you violate our laws.
Doesn’t really matter where you came from. This one happened to be from Germany, so Germany is the country which looks bad because of his bad behavior.
It actually is rather doubtful that German citizens in Germany feel any differently about this clown, or even one of us, were he setting fires in one of their cities.
Well, AirCav, there is this, I realize it’s tied in with beer, or bier, but it’s a part of German culture. http://www.flickr.com/photos/stephen-oung/6318025603/
And, nice of she who won’t come back to assume that no one who’s ever been there didn’t learn at least some of the language.
Yes, UpNorth. Then there’s also this. Oh, and don’t thank me in advance!
http://www.barelyhangingon.com/ugly-people/fat-women-in-swimsuits-photos/
I’d love to respond to some of Megan’s baseless assumptions, but she won’t be checking back. Is it pointless?
She’s awfully open-minded. (That was sarcasm.)
Well, for the benefit of others:
“Also, not sure where the idea that Germans hate American comes from.”
It comes from living there for three years–two in the military, one as a student at a German university. The level of hate was palpable. Again, it would be silly to make a blanket statement that all Germans hate America. But there is a significant number who do, and they usually base their opinions based on a warped idea of who we are as a country. Their media doesn’t help either. This German arrested in LA, with his statement about hating America, is not some kind of anomaly. His attitude is quite common.
“If you had bothered to learn the language while living in Germany then you would know that most Germans are still quite ashamed of being German, after World War II.”
Actually, I’m a licensed German teacher and I studied in German at a German university. I don’t know why she would assume that I can’t speak German. Yes, I know that most Germans are ashamed of their Nazi past. They deal with it in a number of ways, some of which amount to psychological projection. But what does that have to do with what we’re talking about? Did the blogger say anything to the contrary? This is the classic straw man argument–Megan is refuting an argument that no one made.
I suspect that she believes that Germans being ashamed of their Nazi past necessarily debunks the silly notion that there’s a lot of anti-Americanism in Germany. That’s a no sequitor. Germans being ashamed of the Nazi past in no way equates to Germans loving Americans, America, etc.
Megan, if you’re listening, have you ever read anything at all about the Red Army Faction?
AirCav, I prefer my picture, thanks. Now, to bleach my eyes some.
Sieg heil?
Megan,
You assume I don’t know the language. My grandparents were German and immigrated to the US post-WW2.
I based my opinion on having lived in a German village–where there was a an “American Friendship Club”. The Club President often referred commented on how he couldn’t stand Americans and their deficient culture–and he was supposed to be the friendly one. To be fair, he did appear to hate former East Germans and Gypsies more than Americans.
My land lord and the local butcher and baker refused to do business with my wife because she was an American. I could pass for German so would have to do the shopping.
There was also the time someone spray painted my car with “American Go Home”. Hard to not get the impression they were trying to deliver.
There was, however, a local restaurant where the owner and his wife were absolutely fabulous and made amazing food. The number of times I encountered an attitude less than contempt was rare.
Lastly, never said they weren’t ashamed of their Nazi past. At least those of my parents or grandparents generation. Those Germans in my generation or younger acknowledged the Nazi past, but felt no particular guilt over it. I’d liken it to the amount of guilt some whites might feel today about slavery–sufficiently removed by time there isn’t the same level of guilt.
As another poster mentioned, their impression of America and Americans is severely warped by their press.
Actually the arson and her son are not ethnic Germans. They came from Chechnya as refugees to Germany. They hate the Germans as much as they hate Americans.