Sep
I was born and raised in America, but I don't necessarily concur with what American culture has 'become'.
I love most of the past German thinkers (with the exception of Hitler and other fascists), I love German culture, German classical music (Wagner and Mahler!), and have been very interested in Germany.
In America, people don't favor these finer arts, nor do they understand what privacy is. Most Americans, from my point of view, praise aesthetic features in a person, as well as economical ones. I don’t concur with this.
Would you state that Germans tend to not only respect privacy, but respect intellectuality?
I ask because from what I've studied about Germany and German culture, it seems different from America in all the right places.
However, books can be deceiving, so I'd like to hear your thought. 
Thanks!
Answer:
Thank you for your very positive outlook on everything German - this is me as a half-German answering.
Thing is, you are bound to find intellectuals, jerks, fun-loving and narrow-minded people in every single country on this planet. Intellect isn’t bound to nationality for obvious reasons. If you move to a larger city that has its own (or even several) universities, you’ll be very prone to find lots and lots of people (current students or graduates) who share your interest in classical music, philosophical theories etc. It´s not so much the country or nationality as such, but the places you go and the people you associate with.
I have met incredibly intellectual Americans during conferences who were in no way like you describe “the” American. Catching my drift?
It is true though that if we look at majorities, Germans tend to be more open-minded and liberal in general. Some argue that this kind of open-mindedness has gone too far in places - did you know you can pass your theoretical driving licence test in about 20 different languages in Germany, i.e. you don´t even have to be able to speak or understand German in order to pass the theory? Makes you wonder how you´re supposed to read important road signs, doesn`t it? After the suppression of intellect, critical thinking and tolerance during WWII, it seems that Germany, especially in the late 60s and early 70s tried to make up for it by moving to the other “extreme” - which is why you find that parents are less strict and teachers more encouraging of critical thinking these days. Then again, the latter mostly goes for A-level schools rather than those who prepare you for vocational training… bottom line, it´s not all black and white, but many shades of grey.
Answer:
yes through out the years many great thinkers have been german
Immanuel Kant
Friedrich Nietzsche
and Martin Luther
too name but 3
oh you say you hate nazi thinkers but like wagner - he was very pro-german and nationalist. he fell out with Nietzsche over his views
Answer:
Just travel there - Hamburg is a fun place. Book Mark it-> del.icio.us | Reddit | Slashdot | Digg | Facebook | Technorati | Google | StumbleUpon | Window Live | Tailrank | Furl | Netscape | Yahoo | BlinkList