Are you kidding me, or have things changed that much in 30 years? Meine Mutter war so ashamed of being German that she didn't even teach me and my sister the language, with the result that I couldn't talk to my grandmother until I was in my 20s. Screw the collective guilt thing.
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Collective guilt is way too nationalistic for my taste. There's no class analysis to it. It ignores class difference, the psychological effects of class domination and power and a whole lot more. It's lazy thinking based on reified notions of "a people" doing this or that. With that said, nationalist ideology has become an effective force in the world, because so many people "believe" in it--sort of like religion.
Best, Mike B)
Read "Penguins in Bondage": http://happystiletto.blogspot.com/
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