#german stereotypes

[siryyeet]

Oh you have complicated feelings towards Germany? Let me make 91836373 assumptions about it with my piss poor understanding of history, not listen to germans at all and then come to a horrendously bad and false conclusion on why that is! Also I think you germans should stop feeling guilty and be proud of your country again!

[suusoh]

I'm so sorry but could you imagine your friend Johan being all touchy and fond with you again, cupping your face and kissing both of your cheeks, and nuzzling you all over. When you try to point it out and question him about it, he doesn't even hesitate for second before saying the lamest most half-baked excuse on earth without blinking.

"I'm European."

then happily goes back to squishing and biting you.

[woodgoblins-rubberducky]

Northern German Miku

[drysaladandketchup]

hi! sorry you can absolutely delete this if u don’t feel like answering or anything cause this is kind of vent-y (?) and isn’t like… actually a question but i am SO annoyed at some hockey fans and how they decide to treat leon. i am german and i live in america and the way leon gets treated in fanfictions and hockey discourse gives me serious flashbacks on how i am treated here. ik leon speaks perfect english but i wish people remembered that that��s still his second!!! language!!! it’s not his native language!!! sometimes he will come across differently then he actually is!!! his words will get twisted and he will be misunderstood because it’s not his native language!!!! every time he’s described as pissy and arrogant and rude (in a genuinely rude way) a vulnerable german kid living in america dies… 😔😔😔 and then the mattdrai fanfictions (admittedly i have not read that many because im just a not a big fan of the pairing but it was one of the main ships that got me into the fandom) i just hate that he seems to be so villainized (?). i might be biased (i am) lol but i am soo sick of it rrrr sorry sorry this got way too long. you just spoke about it before so i felt like you might understand where i'm coming from. peace

Oh my dear anon, people continuing to personify Leon as arrogant, emotionless, and rude is becoming my villain origin story. I'm happy to vent alongside you. I have talked about this before, and it does still bother me when I see it. Because I'm biased too. I love this guy haha.

Just for context, I'm Canadian, born and raised, and as of yet haven't lived in another country where I've had to fluently speak a second language or adjust to a culture I was not raised with. So I am by no means someone who can speak on that experience. But I'm sorry you've faced that kind of judgment.

I've written my thoughts on this subject before, here and here, so I'll try not to rehash everything I've said in the past. But as you say anon, I do think Leon is woefully misunderstood. He himself has said he thinks he's misunderstood, and that he comes off as too direct at times, that it's, 'probably the German in me.' He speaks English perfectly well, very fluently, and he's been living in Canada so long it would be weirder if he wasn't culturally affected and adjusted in some way. But he's still very much German; socially, culturally, linguistically. You don't just lose one entirely just because you've been exposed to and entrenched in another.

Sometimes he says things that can come off differently in English than probably intended, or at least that are easily misinterpreted by a North American audience, but that's a far cry from being 'pissy', as he's been branded by fans and media alike (also as an aside even people speaking their first language get their words mixed up and twisted sometimes, so I think we should just cut everyone some more slack when speaking maybe?).

And look, admittedly I've called him bitchy at times in my tags, as a joke, because yeah like literally any other person on earth, sometimes he says or does something that is snarky or poking fun or off-brand humour. But that's not inherently bad, nor is it inherently German. That's just part of his personality, a singular behaviour in a singular moment. I don't genuinely think he's an angry or aggressive or mean person. I think he's literally just a human being with multitudes.

His occasional tone of voice or his sometimes blunt way of speaking or his sarcastic sense of humour--things that could at least in part be because of his being German but are also not at all exclusive to or ubiquitous among Germans--is why some people make him out to be this aggressive or mean-spirited person, but like... obviously that is not only not true if you pay even an ounce of attention to him beyond a few choice soundbites and clips, but it's also insulting in general. As you say, people assuming the worst of you simply because of differences in communication or expression is the farthest thing from okay. Insinuating that he's brutish or emotionless or rude because he's German is obviously bigoted. It's xenophobic. Not to mention, as you said, it just makes it that much harder for other Germans to approach this audience without fearing they'll be judged the same way.

Now, obviously I don't know the guy personally, I only know what of him is public, but he seems like the farthest thing from rude or standoffish or arrogant. He really isn't any different from any other player (skills not withstanding), but for some reason he doesn't seem to get the same leeway between his on-ice persona and his off-ice persona, or from one instance to the next. For some reason, he's held under this microscope and reduced to his 'worst' moments more than a lot of other players I've seen. He does anything without a smile on his face or makes even one joke or comment that's less than flattering (or falls flat due to language differences), he's immediately made out to be a bad guy.

And to touch on mattdrai, which I do love a lot--and it's okay if it's not something you're into anon, you don't have to justify what you do or don't like :)-- I've said before that I think Matthew and Leon aren't always written very true to life. And I totally agree with you that the issue I sometimes see with Leon's characterization is that he is written like he's arrogant and lacking in emotion (at least outwardly), sometimes even acting like some overly-aggressive bully, and that's just so far from the reality that we know. And yes, some writers, like some fans, actively point to the fact that he's German to explain that. As if that's just how all Germans are, by nature of being German. Which, as I said and as you know anon, is so many kinds of wrong and horrible.

Yes yes he does dumb things on the ice sometimes and he and Matthew (and others) have exchanged shoves and whacks and chirps over the years. But again, if folks watched literally anything with Leon outside of those moments, they'd know that those are incidents, not his whole personality. I'm not over here pretending like he's never done anything wrong or questionable or stupid, but who hasn't? He's not a villain for that. Just like he's not perfect. We're all human.

Oof sorry anon this response got away from me a bit lol. Sorry if this got a little off topic, but I am nothing if not someone who rants and rambles. This topic drives me nuts; I can only imagine how upsetting and frustrating it is for you, as a German living in America.

But my ask box is always open for venting <3

[lil-gae-disaster]

It was surely awkward when Frederick found about about the Laurens-Hamilton affair...

(It absolutely doesn't help that they both lived in England for a while)

(@hamalicious-soup @marsfingershurt)

[ladyylavenderrr]

Continuing with my obsession with the German DS9 dub, after two episodes of being a fairly good, if unremarkable actor (sorry), Imo Heite is suddenly possessed by the rage of an ancient God for one specific line (or maybe someone spit in his drink before recording this line). Wish I were exaggerating when I say that line scared the crap out of me the first time I watched this episode in German. Way more intense than the English version of this same line lol

[whimsiboy]

if i see/hear one more white usamerican claim to be from a country they're not just because that country may or may not pop up on a dna test they could take i will implode/hj

[spiderziege]

what’s wrong with it?

its super unreliable, trains are constantly late or get cancelled, most of the train tracks need to be repaired or overhauled, its just a whole mess and has been for many years

[atwhughesversion]

22 minute leon interview omg i know what i’m doing after work 🙏🏻

[blasterdude80]

So people are drawing Hatsune Miku in different countries and states and stuff?

Well, I just so happen to be a fan of Vocaloid!

Behold! German Miku!

(i was gonna add The Noid because of that one collab they did and because Yo! Noid! 2 exists but I decided not to.)

[murphyslawyer]

I’m in Rome and have some updates for the few of you who followed my girl drama in Brussels last December:

Saw German girl and she immediately came to hug me and chat. She was tired after a long train ride and I was also tired from a long day of traveling so we didn’t interact for long. I’m told she’s just very friendly but I’m genuinely not used to that kind of attention and also she’s really cute and I AAAAAAAAAAAAH

Italian girl is sleeping on top of me. As in a bunk bed. But I swear this is some fanfic shit.

Another Italian girl said I reminded her of someone she knows and when she showed me a pic I went “girl I wish that was me” and she said “well, that was a compliment” and now that I’m thinking about that I’m all ?????

There’s also another cute German girl in my room and my Portuguese buddy has already started with his theories.

[sewerpalette]

As an autistic German person AL-AN is literally me, I claim him /j.

[mauraeyk]

just finished maxton hall... guess who's ordering the books bc she can't wait to know how it continues

[persephone-nymph]

When I was a kid I thought David Byrne was German but then I learned that he was just autistic

[aprofessionalwithoutstandards]

Its surprising no one ever used the name Fritz before, bc soldier has a voice line where call medic fritz¿

Tbh I think that might be where it came from, but if I'm being perfectly honest if you're going to treat Soldier being xenophobic as "proof" that Medic's real name is Fritz then yall better start calling Sniper "Balbo Bravins"