@vfrmedia and that was, i gather, from after napoleon had reduced the german micro-states-collection from over 300 to about 60 different states. lol

@vfrmedia so a lot of the stuff we know as "german culture" was created and promoted as something "genuinely german" then. the "revolution" failed, and it didn't change the system, actually.

but at least where I went to school, I realised how much of the german national identity tries to build on that time.

I really have to read and learn much more about this era. I don't think what I learned in school about it was super helpful, when I went to uni for a while I was in a seminar where they looked at this era's "making of german nationalist culture". but it's been a long time..

@distelfliege I'd been reading about this recently (researching history of the Reformation and its wider effects on Europe) - other stuff I read suggest even today there are still attempts to make a "one size fits all" German culture (which ignores regional identities) on top of Angst over both migration and "startup culture" in places like Berlin.

can also understand why nostalgia can be dangerous as in UK a subculture called "hauntology" existed that created non existent image of 1970s UK

@distelfliege this subculture was popular in early 2000s during marginally better more optimistic times and was harmless but abruptly disappeared after the shift of govt to the right and real austerity that actually put UK back to 1970s/80s (complete with riots etc) and then opportunities to make music/have fun got locked off (perhaps worse than DE)?so we have backlash against multiculturalism and angry divided groups of youth and things like Brexit happening..

@vfrmedia wow. that's creepy. but super interesting and important to know!

I would agree that even today the invention of "german culture" continues. I don't know what "german culture" is supposed to be, there is not much german cultural heritage that was not created on purpose by german nationalists.

the most ridiculous moment is when pegida assholes, when asked what german culture means, refer to christianity and the german constitution. because these two things are not at all expressed in their political views, which are hateful and nondemocratic.. it's just buzzwords.

@distelfliege similarly no one here agrees what "British values" are - by the standards of late 1990s and so-called "cool britannia" they could even have been interpreted as an acceptance of laziness and hedonism up to low level anti-social/criminal activity - exactly the sort of thing guaranted to provoke a conservative backlash when the economy declines, exactly what happened in the UK (although not as bad as it could have been, in my region Labour took back power last year)

@distelfliege I've also read both main Christian denominations (Catholics and EKD) openly denouncing use of the Cross and Christian symbolism by Pegida, AfD and others and/or attempts to "reboot the crusades" (that has also been tried in UK and result now in anti-terrorist feds watching *everyone*, probably led to same in DE). There was also the laughable poster AfD put up with a Dirndl made from completely wrong materials and zip fastener (from a fancy dress store) rather than the real thing 😆

@vfrmedia @distelfliege Now I am thinking about the Reformation (which I believe to be ongoing) and how to define cultural vernacular and how that relates to my own work as a church musician. Again. Must write a blog post or two on this.

@vfrmedia @distelfliege Also S Paul's "round robin" letters to churches, weirdly.

@vfrmedia 😂 it would be so funny if it wasn't so dangerously successful..

@vfrmedia omg now i put hauntology in wikipedia and it's philosophic and I don't get what the article is saying 😂

ok maybe I get it a bit, but maybe my brain shuts down as soon as Derrida is mentioned. or anyone from the Derrida posse. lol

@distelfliege I found it hard to understand (in spite of then being main engineer of community radiostation in last few years it was popular). basically young Brits nostalgic for things my generation (who lived through it) didn't even enjoy that much, patronising/scary safety warning films on TV, constantly repeated kids shows (rather than new ones made); expensive and poorer quality sound equipment (compared with today). And once it got too pretentious the bubble popped and created backlash

@vfrmedia thanks for summing it up!
In the article it's suggested that according to derrida, all culture has an element of hauntology. which is probably true. but I have also often thought about why it is that instead of creating new stuff, old tropes are recycled and recycled in an nostalgic way.

@vfrmedia side note: I really enjoy talking about culture, politics and random stuff with you here! it's insightful and now I have to stop myself instead of falling into a wikipedia hole or reading up on one of the topics we talked about - because I have some things I wanted to do! :)