Stereotype Cast

‘IT’S a shame the Germans have no sense of humour, given that they give the rest of us so much cause for laughter.

Italy and Germany in happier times

Of course, that is an untrue statement, a concept based on a stereotype of the kind that pollutes the mind of Silvio Berlusconi.

Germans are no more humourless robots who jump to orders and like fighting than Italians talk with their hands, eat pasta and respond unquestioningly to German instruction.

And in the spirit of laying such ignorant ideas to waste, the Telegraph hears once more from Senor Stefano Stefani, the junior Italian minister, member of the xenophobic Northern League and Berlusconi loyalist.

In a spirit of brotherhood, Stefani says that he would like German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder to go on holiday with him, saying how he is ‘not as bad as most Germans’.

For a start, Herr Schroeder is not one of the ‘stereotypical blondes with hyper-nationalistic pride’ that Stefani talked of earlier this week.

On the contrary, he is dark of hair – which is not dyed in any way at all…

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Posted: 9th, July 2003 | In: Broadsheets Comment | TrackBack | Permalink