There is a wonderfully non-PC piece by Ralph Peters in this morning’s New York Post. Peters takes on the Germans, leaving us in no doubt at all

about how he feels. The context is German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s

having canceled his Italian vacation over the Berlusconi flap. “Italy, the

home of grace and beauty, doesn’t need any more loud, fat krauts polluting

its environment… the German contribution to the Renaissance was the

realization that you could fit more beer in a bigger mug… Poor Gerhard

may have to settle for that incomparable paradise on earth, Dusseldorf in

July… the elegant Italians just have to grit their teeth as Hans and

Hilda slop marinara sauce over the shirts they’ve both worn for three days

running, argue about the bill… [Speaking of a German couple he

encountered in a Rome restaurant] grunting, barking… grotesquely fat…

horrible Herman gave orders [to a waiter] in the same voice that

Obersturmbannfuehrer Schultz must have used in Rome 60 years ago…”

I am in two, maybe three minds about this. On the one hand, as a hater of

P.C., I think it is wonderfully refreshing to see such bluntness in print.

On the other, as a Germanophile, and a great admirer of Germany’s tremendous

contributions to our civilization (which go much, much further than beer

steins and lederhosen), I think it’s a bit cheap. On the other other hand,

as one who has been squirming for years under the restraints of public

comment in the U.S.,which are so much narrower and more confining than in

Britain, I welcome any sign that we are loosening up a bit. On the other

other other hand, what about those famous Italian tanks, whose four gears

include three for reverse and one for forward?…. And I have actually

been in Dusseldorf in July–it’s a nice town. Well, no worse than

Scranton.