The Germans

If one watches the Fawlty Towers episode by this name, you can see some pretty grim--but rather atypically overpatient-- Germans.  We Schulers cannot help being German, hence there are some other related problems Germans have that are, uh, not very funny.  Some would say that is due to living in the outer darkness of civilization--but there are lots of Swedish jokes--but I must admit no "Black" Forest.

The same would apply to the arguments that cold weather leads to many inclinations: overactivity, frequent brain fevers, the Protestant Ethic--methinks the Germans Protest too much.  But then there's the Irish, who rival the Italians as party people and are on the same latitude. 

Is it tradition? Of having produced some of the most negative philosophers of all time, and one the side--just to show it wasn't just words--2 World Wars.  "Vell you started it!" "No we didn't,' says Fawlty, "you invaded Poland!"

I talked some time ago about epigenetics, first or most convincingly demonstrated in the far north of Sweden.  It seems that your longevity can be enhanced by having grandparents in the grip of famine, suggesting a long-rejected Larmarkianism; but more than that showing that heredity and the somatic results are much more complex than we thought.  This came just after we decoded the human genome, even though we have no idea of the functions of huge swaths of it. Turns out we are not merely products of DNA, maybe not even mostly.

So in this wise it occurs to me that Germans come by their joylessness by "virtue" of ancestors who lived this way for maybe millenia, passing down attitudes not only culturally and by our OCD nature, but it may take many millenia more before we can have before us a genuine German "joke.'

I would solicit the reader to provide me with some German jokes--I mean real ones, and not ones told by other nationalities on the Germans--which are probably much more of a hoot that anything we can come up with.  I'm not saying that they don't exist; but it is certainly telling that everybody has heard about Irish humor, Oly and Sven yokes, and French Folies. 

The BBC came up with this article today, which brings up another theory why Germans can't contend in the Humor Olympics:  "Why so glum?  Germans struggle to find joy, poll suggests."   It  then shows a priceless picture of the German soccer team lying on the field after losing a match.  Pretty much says it all.

But there's more: "Only one in six Germans can recall a moment in which they felt truly happy...and that many feel themselves weighed down by the financial crisis in Europe despite the fact that the country enjoys a record of solid growth."   Also they often feel, "incapable of true relaxation, and enjoying their free time..."

"And while 90% of participants said that pleasure makes life worthwhile. only 15% recalled moments in which they felt truly happy.  German Perfectionism may be part of the problem; about 80% remarked that they experience pleasure best" ( which apparently is not all that often) "when they have accomplished something."

Of course many others have observed this over the centuries, because this has gone on at least since the Germanic hordes swarmed out the the trees and came close to destroying civilization-- and if they had made it to Ireland, they might have succeeded.  What I observe in myself is the phenomenon that no matter what you do, no matter who is pleased with your deeds or words, it's, to quote my Dad, NEVER ENOUGH. This may also account for the fact that the Germans never stop trying to fix the rest of the world, that is, we cannot stop meddling because its one of the few things we know how to do, and according to this article, it is as close to pleasure and happiness as some are going to get.

How I love to make sweeping generalizations!  But much of this comes out of being part German myself, and not being able to tell a bloody joke right! (Punning DOES NOT COUNT; because it is just another form of meddling!)  It's interesting to me that in college I spent a lot of time with my very German girlfriend and I can tell you she took life very seriously indeed! Of course her Dad was in Stalingrad--but a few beers verked vunders to drive the demons away.  What was it that attracted like to like?  Yet for that very reason we were incompatible; nor were we destined  to spend life together.  But it taught me that I need someone very much different than me to complement me rather than just compliment me, if you see what I mean.

Not very funny either, I know. But I will conclude for now with this; it is probably not a good thing to live upon one's self made prosperity and productivity since it makes one more unhappy that the average poor person, who  may tend to enjoy whatever he can as often as he can without trying to turn it into a Happiness Machine: but like humility, joy and even "the joke proper" can evade those who technically can have just about all the things and situations they want. (If they actually knew what they wanted, which is the other aspect of the problem. (c.f. The four levels of happiness-- Google that, Mr. Zuckerman!)