AM&S on Obama's "Black-Out"

by Martin Schwoerer

Published: March 16th, 2009

If you’re in the automotive business and can understand German, then A M und S (as the cognoscenti know it) is the must-read bi-weekly. Auto Motor & Sport offers features with brilliant technical detail about the snazziest innovations and highest-tech automotive gadgets. For me, it’s always a chore, never a pleasure. The Stuttgart- based periodical is dour and relentlessly auto-centric. If something is pro car industry, then they like it, if not . . . they don’t. Reading AM&S is as about as much fun as a listening to a cocktail party-goer going on about the Swabian way of sweeping sidewalks. Anyway, here’s my beef . . .

Auto, Motor und Sport has a weekly “Tops und Flops” column. They offer predictable bullet points, such as, “Good news: Clunker culling program means Opel selling more cars than in past five years” and “Bad news: European Union will not help auto industry.” But what’s this in last week’s print edition? “Black-Out: US President Obama says Americans Invented the Automobile.” Are they crazy? Is “Black-Out” supposed to be funny or what? Probably. Are they racist? Certainly not. Are they stupid like Berlusconi (who congratulated America for having a “nicely tanned” President-elect)? Stimmt?

Martin Schwoerer

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John R on Mar 17, 2009
I maintain that these are examples of crass naivité and backwardness, not of virulent racism. I concur. A friend over there shopped in a music store once. All the Hip Hop was located in the "Black" section. [facepalm] Good Grief.

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Matt on Mar 17, 2009

This is of secondary importance, but I feel the question must be asked. How exactly does a Swabian sweep steps?

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Bertel Schmitt on Mar 17, 2009
How exactly does a Swabian sweep steps? How? Very thoroughly. The neighbors are watching. When? When it's his turn. In many Swabian rental buildings, a certain renter has "Sweeping Week" duty (Kehrwoche,) designated by a sign at his door. Must sweep hallways, stairs etc. During the "Big Sweeping Week" (Grosse Kehrwoche) the sidewalk in front of the house has to be swept also. Enforcement: Peer pressure.

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TireGuy on Mar 17, 2009

Don't you think you are overly sensitive? "Black-out" is a word used in Germany quite normally. And use of this word shall already be racist? Or "Obama fingers" - when I read the article from the Spiegel, you must already be quite into the american culture before understanding that fried chicken had been associated with Afro-Americans in the US. I lived there 18 months of my life and never had such association. "Politically Correct" seems to be the main line of your article - but in the end, that turns out to be ridiculous. And by the Way: Bertel Schmitt thinks it's alright to write that the british minister thiks that the "Krauts" have done a good thing on the clunkers. Who is being prejudiced? To Robert Farago: this is no flaming.

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