Tuesday, November 01, 2005

Civil Rights, German Style

Last night, I went to GermanoftheMonth's apartment to hang out while he changed up. I switched on the TV and they were showing the Capitol where Rosa Parks was laying in state.

"Look," said GOTM. "It is Ms. Sparks."

"No, its Rosa Parks. Sparks is the name of the steakhouse where you had lunch today," I corrected him. "Didn't you learn about Rosa Parks in school?"

"No, why would we?"

"They didn't teach you about the American Civil Rights Movement?"

"No, we were too busy learning about Hitler," he said. I decided to let that one slide.

"Well, now you know what she did, right?" I asked, hoping I was going to get to give an impromptu history lecture.

"Yes, she was on the bus and she would not stand up. Some handicapped guy got on the bus, and she would not give up her seat for him. Personally, I think this is horrible but you Americans celebrate this."

There was about three seconds of me staring with my mouth open, about to burst a blood vessel, before I realized he was joking. Then I laughed and laughed. Then a ten second pause. "No, seriously, do we have to go over this?"

2 comments:

Lisa said...

I really hope GOTM was kidding...'cuz if he was, that was pretty funny.

That does make me wonder about the distorted view that people in other countries might have of Americans, though.

jesse said...

You should get GOTM involved with that handy Rent-a-German service. I'd make him sit in my cube and always be funny. Maybe it would drown out the office banalities.