Kulture 9

Bureaucracy

Leitz Ordner

The first article Bureaucracy Gone Awry: The German Certificate Fetish, focuses on a German tendency to require pages and pages of documentation for any application. It claims that job applications are the size of novels and that they require certificates covering various skills learned throughout someone's life. The article suggests that Germans keep many Leitz Ordner around just to hold on to all of their certificates and similar paperwork.

The second article Welcome to America. Take a Number., is a German's perspective on the American bureaucracy. The author points out the obscure, unrelated details that are required on various legal documents, and he mentions how those applications get lost. He also describes the frustration of filling out those applications online, where vital web forms dispose of information at regular intervals if you need to take a minute to find the right information. Throughout the article, the author sorts out the various fictions American politicians use to claim socialism has not worked in Europe.

I think that it is interesting to see the contrast between the U.S. and Germany when it comes to bureaucratic nonsense. While both articles probably exaggerate some of their claims, it seems that both countries, at least in some areas, are too concerned with minutiae and not enough with getting to the core of an application.

Neighbors & Flags

Neighborly courtesy is not a big surprise. We have very similar rules in the U.S. Most cities and subdivisions have their own laws and rules that regulate the responsibilities of neighbors.

Germany's discomfort with flag flying is very unusual. Although not everyone here flies the the stars and stripes (the confederate flag is still very common),  everyone is still proud to be an American. Most of us do not internalize the decisions made by our leaders as signs of  who we are.

Neue Dinge

#150: People celebrate asparagus?

#161: You never really know a place until you've walked all around it. This seems like a great way to really explore Berlin, but I would still probably take a map with my just in case.

#184: All I have to say is that chocolate is fantastic.

#187: I visited Checkpoint Alpha in 2009, so it would be cool to see the other checkpoints first hand.