AW: German society (was: AW: [thechat] King Preaches Abstinence to Parading Maidens)

[Eike Pierstorff]

> This reminds me of the time a couple of years back when Germany started a
> scheme for more work visas for Indian IT workers. Despite that, very few
> applied because of the perceived threats from racist elements.
> Sure, people
> wanted to make money, but not when they feared for their lives.

There is a funny story attached.... After these working visa where
introduced (strangely enough they where called "green cards", although they
merely allowed to work in Germany for 3 years) the conservative Party went
furios - they painted a picture of millions of Indian people invading
Germany and taking away all good jobs (in the first years, three Indians
applied for those visa). Former conservative Minister Rüttgers invented a
slogan "Kinder statt Inder" (children instead of indian people) which was
supposed to mean that the government should spend more money on education
for german children instead of inviting foreigners.
Some years later Rüttgers tried to get a table in an indian restaurant in
Berlin. The owner of the restaurant said something like "hey, weren't you
the guy with that stupid slogan?" and refused to serve him.

One of the possible morals to this story is that you shouldn't be racist if
you like a good meal. German cuisine is mostly awful.

--eike