German Self Esteem

The London Daily Telegraph Reports:

A multi-million pound campaign to boost Germans' low self-confidence has backfired after it emerged that its slogan was first coined by the Nazis.

The £20 million Du Bist Deutschland - You Are Germany - campaign was devised to inspire Germans to stop moaning and do something good for their country.

But a historian from Ludwigshafen has provoked an uproar with his discovery that the same Du Bist Deutschland cry was used at Nazi rallies in the 1930s.

The backers of the modern campaign, the brainchild of several blue chip media companies, expressed shock at the discovery but quickly distanced themselves from the Third Reich connection.

The project's image has now been battered by that same legacy.

Studies show that Germans are among the world's most pessimistic and unhappy nations. The gloom stems mainly from economic woes and chronically high unemployment.

Truly unfortunate for the organizers, They should have done some research.

The problem really stems from the effects of living in a highly regulated economy. If Germans are depressed because of a slow economy and high unemployment then solving these issues could do more toward self esteem than a national pep rally. Even the Nazis would have found it hard to get people excited if they couldn't get the economy moving again. Hey the unemployed have free health care and those who have jobs have three months of vacation, what's to be depressed about.

We had a big self esteem building effort in our public schools. The thinking was kids weren't learning becausee they had a low opinion of themselves. We raised their self esteem alright , but they didn't start learning anything more. They just felt so good about themselves they didn't realize how ignorant they were.