Kultur 4

I find it fascinating that something as seemingly minor as right of way for pedestrians both on the sidewalk and street could differ so much culturally. In addition to getting a little heated while reading, I was mostly curious as to whether German cyclists were treated as a vehicle or pedestrian; if regarded as a vehicle (which it sounds like they are, as the bike trails received an autobahn reference) pedestrians will always have the right of way. As the article explicitly stated that pedestrians have the right of way on the street, it seems childish that a driver would intentionally speed up and swerve around a pedestrian to make such a minuet point. It’s incredibly careless to speed within inches of a pedestrian to attempt to “teach them a lesson”; especially when that lesson is to obey the light up traffic man. For a country donned as “obsessed with logic”, doesn’t it seem incredibly illogical to accidentally kill someone (manslaughter) to enforce the much more minor infraction of jay-walking?

On a lighter note, I thoroughly enjoyed the articles on nudity. I had no idea that within Germany there exists a strong subculture of nudity. Even more entertaining was learning that East Germany, under an unyielding controlling regime, enjoyed and expressed freedom through nudity. In a twist of irony it now seems that East Germans formally under Communist control consider the Democratic West Germans prudes. I like.