There is a certain type of person who follows all the rules and regulations to the letter, implicitly trusts the authorities, and has an undisguised attitude of scorn towards anyone who does not live and act the same way. I think the relative prevalence of this attitude is a long-standing cultural difference between Germany and the US.
As someone who moved to Germany, I feel like I understand this better now. Many people here a real stickler for rules even when they make absolutely no sense at all. Many seem to actually care whether a law was broken before they care to consider whether the thing itself is good regardless of legal status. Avoiding the feeling of legal guilt is probably a thing here more than I thought it could be.
In Philadelphia, you jaywalk if 1) The next car arrives in 10 seconds and 2) You believe you can get across the street in 9 seconds.
If you wait for the light, or because a car is in sight, people think you're weird. People have loyalty not to the law, but to nothing other than self-preservation. Absolutely no consideration for legality is given, whatsoever. This is in my experience in stark contrast with German culture.
I assert that there does exist in Germany a cultural appreciation for rules. This is not an exclusively German trait of course, I see similar in Seattle, but it is a trait that Germany has and some other regions do not.
I would like to add that the German distrust of government is fundamentally different to what I've come to know about the American distrust of government. We are very careful to give the government power that might be used to control the populace and further a totalitarian regime. But otherwise we have a strong government with a robust public health care system, free education (including great public universities) and reasonably good unemployment insurance. Some of that is eroding away unfortunately, but by an large Germans have a much more positive attitude regarding government organization and regulation than Americans.
>spending a very small amount of time in Germany, is that in Germany the rules are the rules, whereas in America it is not quite like that
That's the impression you'll get as a foreigner who spent a little time in Germany, but if you're long timer deep in the system you'll realize that "rules are rules" is only true for the little guy whereas the wealthy elite and old-money individuals and companies can and do bend and break the rules with the help of regulators, politicians and courts all the time who kindly look the other way because they are directly or indirectly invested in those companies or tied to the individuals who run the companies.
High level corruption in Germany is rampant and the scandals are numerous. VW, Wirecard, Deutche, Axel Springer, real estate giants, basically pick any rich big German company, chances are they have powerful friends in politics greasing the gears for them making sure the regulatory authorities are always looking the other way.
This article is quite far off from reality. Germany does have many rules and regulations and looks like citizens want law and order.
The reality is quite different: Germans want others to behave in order, and as soon as you stop looking at them or they feel like not being watched, they will be the first ones to break laws and order.
This. What I find so crazy about these people here in Germany (Reichsbürger) is that they reject the authority of the state by referring to the authority of another state that no longer exists in that form, the German Reich. They call themselves citizens of the Reich and have their own passports, refuse to pay tickets and so on. The German state will have none of their BS, and they have issued a 150 page handbook for administration and police on how to deal with those people.
This is something I love about living in germany, actually. In the UK (where I was brought up) you're very used to the kind of absurd situations that develop from common sense not being applied to rules. If you talk to somebody in a position of authority, you absolutely expect them to pick the least reasonable, least constructive application of any rule they have at their disposal to ruin your day.
I don't know why this is so different in Germany. I've more often observed the inverse - where people (mostly well-dressed middle-aged men, for whatever reason) are extremely rude and condescending towards secretaries, ticket collectors, etc.
I find in general this is the attitude in Germany - if you complain about some needlessly complex bureaucratic procedure here, or even just in general about something that is negative about Germany - people will usually say something along the lines of "But of course it is like this, because X, Y, Z".
I find the attitude in another countries tend to be a bit more reflective and open to criticism - here, everything is the way it is, because.. it is?
It's not any more bureaucratic than the US. With the significant difference that German bureaucrats usually stick to the law, while the US ones occasionally feel like making shit up. (Especially my friends at CBP.)
If you think the people of Germany follow orders, then go to Tokio. You might be surprised at how much stricter a population can follow rules. Even visiting the neighbor Switzerland will reveal a more trust-based society where people follow common rules and shun those that don't. Take their garbage disposal system for instance. But you're right that the population of Germany is more disciplined compared to many other societies.
reply