In 2018, I was considering moving to Germany for a new challenge in life. What I didn't realize at the time was all the things I took for granted living in America, like freedom of speech. This became clear during the pandemic when my German friends suffered in this nanny state.
At the time, I was going through various personal transformations, but felt stuck in many ways. I thought I needed a new challenge and after several trips to Germany and learning the Germany language (Note: I wasn't fluent but improving from beginner level), I strongly considered immigrating to Germany.
Many Americans who travel to Europe, especially Western Europe, get swooned by the surface of Europe. Most of the major cities are beautiful architecturally, their public transit systems run well and are efficient.
You look around, and you don't see any homeless people. On the surface, everyone appears happy, and you assume they've solved all their problems, leaving Americans behind.
The angriest moment I had was bouncing around Germany on the DB rail system, which is a high-speed and efficient transit system, and then landing at JFK airport to take New York City’s horrendous transit lines only to connect New Jersey's god awful NJ Transit system.
It's the mistake of looking at a country through a tourist lens, seeing the obvious niceties and avoiding peering deeper into the society you're vacationing in. Just about any country you visit, you can find positives about it. But the question is, would you really want to live there permanently?
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My first wake-up call that things weren't as they appeared on the surface was when I began applying for jobs.
I have a background in Information Technology and I have certain salary expectations due to my years of experience.
I had a Skype interview with a company in Frankfurt and when they asked me my salary expectations, I could see the lady’s face light up with disbelief: I never heard back from them.
When I looked at Germany economically, I started looking at my friends who lived there. Most of them had to have roommates, and they were very frugal. Americans often think Europeans are simple because they want to be rather than they must be in order to survive.
Yes, they get 5 to 6 weeks of vacation depending on the country, but they can't afford to take multiple vacations a year. One time, I had an honest conversation with a taxi driver in Berlin and he explained to me how their tax system works in Germany.
Their tax system disincentives working more hours and earning a higher wage when you hit a certain threshold. So what do you do when you get taxed to death but you still need help? You turn to the state.
I realized that Germans and Americans are culturally very different in how we view the government's role in our lives. Germans tend to default to trusting the government, so if the government says it wants to keep you safe with this new law, they're less likely to push back on it.
Meanwhile, Americans are more likely skeptical of it and face some public backlash when the government oversteps. During the pandemic, my life didn't change too much outside of needing to wear a mask in stores.
However, when I would reach out to my friends in Germany, they were not only told what to do but where they could go. In America, we were encouraged not to do things, but they can't limit our freedom of movement. In Germany, they were dictating life for Germans and enforcing every demand with the police, especially in major cities.
When Biden was attempting to use OSHA to force people to get tested constantly if they don't get vaccinated, that was already happening in Germany. One of my friends had to get tested multiple times a week to keep her job.
Vaccination status determined which entrance customers used at larger stores. Their descriptions of what was happening there were incredibly dystopian, and it made me appreciate the pushback that exists in America.
Germany is a nation that leans heavily politically left and defaults to trusting the government, which is why they are perfectly fine with enforcing "hate speech" laws.
Not enough Germans ask themselves about who will determine what is hate speech because right now, that definition doesn't seem like it applies to them. It's that law to stop the "others" until one day you're the other.
Germany has leaned heavily into the nanny state protectionist mode, especially now that they've allowed millions of foreigners to enter their country. From my observation, Germans have a hint of disdain for their heritage and traditions.
I can’t tell you how many Germans told me how much they don’t like their own language and couldn’t believe I wanted to learn it.
German pride is something that appears to be rare and maybe only reserved for the World Cup when you can pretend to be nationalistic for a couple of weeks.
I believe their lack of pride in their heritage stems from being encouraged, from a young age, to feel personally responsible for the Nazi regime's actions.
In a sense, it's like they think German nationalism is what created Nazism, so if they're never nationalistic, they can't repeat history again.
My inability to migrate to Germany turned out to be the best thing that happened to me. I met my now wife the following year and found several challenges here at home. I also became more patriotic when I compared the differences of living in America versus Germany.
Every country has its negatives, but I'm a proud American. I took for granted everything that makes America unique and overlooked the plentiful of stories of immigrants who chose to come to America. We have a culture of ambition and a healthy skepticism of government in our lives.
The fact that we go back and forth between Republican and Democrat presidents is actually a good thing. Nearly unanimous political systems, like in heavily left-leaning Germany, are bound to take their power to a point of self-destruction.
This example of policing insults online and in-person in Germany is the result of no real political friction to stop their ridiculousness.
I'm a proud American. I'm glad I stayed home.
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