Daily Dose 06.01

Ooops, watch out for the last link, it has an additional “http://” in front of the url.

Interns, can’t live with ‘em, pass the beer nutz.

Danke Ze,

But why did you have to tell my boss?

Hey Man,
I’ve heard a lot of buzz about major racism that will be going on in Germany for non-whites. I’m an African-American that loves soccer to death and i’m on my way to Germany on Monday. Can you please, cover some of the issues that me and my families should be aware about? Rather i’m requesting you talk about the color issue that sorrounds Germnay during world cup. BBC talked about it and figured you might too. I believe, that soccer is the only sport that brings the world to a stand still. Rebels fighters in africa watch the games with together with the enemies, Iran is also getting a lot of vibe about the game…..why is it that Germany is the only place where race is still a major issue? For those 30 days, everyone else seems to be focused on one thing. SOCCER….that brings together everything together, despite of race, religion…..country…all that! This is the first time, that a host country is faced with issues of Race since the game began. Phew!

Oh Sean, I made a mistake. The link is right! See, Peter’s not the culprit, I am.

Great work Peter! I wish WCB had more people like you!

Mike,

I would love to answer your questions about racism and racial issues in Germany, but the truth is I just don’t know the answers. It could be because racial tensions are a part of different groups of people living together and Germany’s immigration history was not terribly diverse until about 50 years ago. Or there might just be idiot hate groups who like scaring people and seeing their cause in the hype filled media.

African fighters dropping weapons to watch Soccer, and this is only my personal theory, could be the consequence of these nations suddenly feeling included as a member of an international community, or maybe they just don’t want to look violent on a national stage. Either way it is a demonstration of the positive influence that the World Cup can have and should be celebrated.

These are just some thoughts in response to your request, when I get to Germany in a few days I’ll start looking for other causes and consequences of the intolerance and try to put something together about the threats of violence.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Sean,

I am going from California to Germany also for the world cup.

I think the racial tensions will be kept to a minimum during the world cup, considering the fact there are 32 different teams and not to mention five of them are African teams. They will all bring thousands of fans.

Can you imagine the diversity in Germany ?? It will be amazing!! Hispanics, Caucasians, African, Middle Eastern, Asian!!

People who are racist by heart will probably not make a lot of noise or action.

However, as Peter mentioned there might be skin head idiots, who just want media attention, I think we will all be in a mix of a very diverse crowd, so if they hate, they will hate everybody, they will be the minority.

Honestly, I would be more afraid of the soccer hooligan idiots than racial issues.

If you see soccer hooligans, JUST RUN!!!!

Check out this article:

http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/060601/1/70rr.html

I am confident and optimistic that the Germans will truly be willing to make new friends when I see how a small German village in the alps welcomes Togo.

Maybe this would be a good time to start a list of tips for dealing with or avoiding hooligans that we can turn into a post on the main blog sometime.
Right now we have:

1: Run.

Any other suggestions?

Avoiding hooligans:
1. Run like hell
2. Hide far
3. Be neutral by wearing something like I LOVE CANADA shirt