Where is the love
One thing I really enjoy each day in Basel is reading the two free local daily papers, 20 Minuten and Baslerstab. I struggle to read through some of the stories, and although my German teacher may not think these papers use proper German, I still think it's kind of like doing homework. Unfortunately, many times the newspaper boxes are empty by the time I get downtown (all the earlybirds who actually work for a living beat me to it) so I often have to go without.
This morning, I picked up a copy of Baslerstab after my German lesson, but couldn't find a 20 Minuten. Until I got on the tram to ride home. Lo and behold, there was a slightly tattered paper sitting on a seat. I grabbed it and started reading as I rode home. As I opened it up and started reading page 2, I was shocked to see that the previous reader had scribbled all sorts of nasty things in bright blue marker next to an article about a recent stabbing in Basel. He (the reader) made it quite clear (through his comments) that he wants to rid Switzerland of all Turks. Apparently, the alleged stabber was a Turk. I quickly turned the page because I didn't want other tram riders to think I had written these things.
(Side note: An interesting observation about newspapers in Switzerland. We've noticed that papers here are much more likely to identify the nationality of a person involved in a crime than they would be in the US. In fact, I seem to remember learning at one point that nationality can't be listed in stories in American newspapers-- because it's generally irrelevant. Here, you often find something written like this: "There was a fight outside a bar in Basel and 2 people were stabbed. One man was arrested. He is from Albania.")
I guess this guy (the previous paper reader) does not discriminate is his hatred of Auslanders because he also made notes next to articles containing information about English and American culture, as well as African asylum seekers. I actually felt sort of dirty after reading the paper, and was totally disgusted to think about who read it before me. I suppose he was hoping that whoever would pick up the paper after him might perhaps be influenced by this thoughts. Little did he know that it would be me-- an actual American Auslander.
This morning, I picked up a copy of Baslerstab after my German lesson, but couldn't find a 20 Minuten. Until I got on the tram to ride home. Lo and behold, there was a slightly tattered paper sitting on a seat. I grabbed it and started reading as I rode home. As I opened it up and started reading page 2, I was shocked to see that the previous reader had scribbled all sorts of nasty things in bright blue marker next to an article about a recent stabbing in Basel. He (the reader) made it quite clear (through his comments) that he wants to rid Switzerland of all Turks. Apparently, the alleged stabber was a Turk. I quickly turned the page because I didn't want other tram riders to think I had written these things.
(Side note: An interesting observation about newspapers in Switzerland. We've noticed that papers here are much more likely to identify the nationality of a person involved in a crime than they would be in the US. In fact, I seem to remember learning at one point that nationality can't be listed in stories in American newspapers-- because it's generally irrelevant. Here, you often find something written like this: "There was a fight outside a bar in Basel and 2 people were stabbed. One man was arrested. He is from Albania.")
I guess this guy (the previous paper reader) does not discriminate is his hatred of Auslanders because he also made notes next to articles containing information about English and American culture, as well as African asylum seekers. I actually felt sort of dirty after reading the paper, and was totally disgusted to think about who read it before me. I suppose he was hoping that whoever would pick up the paper after him might perhaps be influenced by this thoughts. Little did he know that it would be me-- an actual American Auslander.
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