Whenever people make a comment about references like that, or with sports teams, it makes me think:
- If it was common to make references like that in Germany to Jewish institutions, groups, or tribes, ambiguously "honoring" them, would that be a bad thing? Would it be gloating over victimizing them, or commemorating their bravery?
- Given that (my impression is) they don't, what does the cultural difference really signify? Are Germans entitled to feel superior for it?
Like, I can imagine a world where there were sports teams called the "Maccabees" or the "Ghetto Fighters". I think that German cars do make reference to groups in ways that surely someone could find offensive, like the VW Touareg. Is this better/worse/as bad as using "Cherokee" as a name?
I don’t think you have the context. President Andrew Jackson violated a Supreme Court ruling to basically commit a genocide and expulsion of the Cherokee from land that was theirs by treaty.
- If it was common to make references like that in Germany to Jewish institutions, groups, or tribes, ambiguously "honoring" them, would that be a bad thing? Would it be gloating over victimizing them, or commemorating their bravery?
- Given that (my impression is) they don't, what does the cultural difference really signify? Are Germans entitled to feel superior for it?
Like, I can imagine a world where there were sports teams called the "Maccabees" or the "Ghetto Fighters". I think that German cars do make reference to groups in ways that surely someone could find offensive, like the VW Touareg. Is this better/worse/as bad as using "Cherokee" as a name?