There is an interesting social 'problem' that has popped up in Germany, and N-TV (commercial news) carried a good explanation of this issue.
In the Basic Law (the German Constitution), there is a paragraph that deals with race. It basically says that no one should be advantaged or disadvantaged because of their race.
The 'chatter' here is that article 3 of the Basic Law is outdated, and this whole discussion on race, should be either removed entirely, or reworded. Some of this discussion is over the idea of clarifying race, and indicating exactly what the Basic Law means, or doesn't mean.
So I went to look up this paragraph. It's fairly simple and direct: "Nobody may be disadvantaged or favored because of their gender, their descent, their race, their language, their home and origin, their beliefs, their religious or political views."
After you read it three or four times....you kinda come to the opinion that it's pretty simple, straightforward, and avoids complications. Whoever sat down decades ago and wrote the piece....probably did a fair amount of thinking and figured they would cover just about every possibility.
Why drag up a change? All this 'chatter' in the US has brought up racism, and Germans are worried that they might have some. So the discussions are now open and political folks are hyped up.
Is there racism in Germany? To some degree, yes....but it's more of a individual thing, and not where a government policy or school program is the trigger of racism. This goes back to something that I've noted for years....you can't really force everyone to think and act alike. There's always going to be 10-percent to 20-percent of society who simply don't flow with the 'norm'.
What'll happen with this debate over the Basic Law reference? An entire summer period will be wasted with intellectuals hyped up over this and wondering if they need to resolve something, or just let it be. Maybe it's a good thing....to keep them busy on this and not meddling with other problems instead.
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