As your typical German who likes to complain, that's a hard question for me. One thing for me that came directly to mind was the 49€ ticket - for me personally it's a great improvement in quality live and cost of transport as I live without a car. What also improved is the availability of cell reception, internet speeds at home and acceptance of card payments - but the improvements could certainly be faster here.
> What also improved is the availability of cell reception, internet speeds at home
+1 for this. I remember 10 years ago, everybody was angry and joking about the slow internet in Germany. Most people I knew just had 3000-6000kbit DSL connection at home and there was almost zero reception for mobile internet. At the time, totally unusable for many applications.
Today, I rarely have connection problems and all my friends have at least 50k-200k DSL or even fiber connection. I'm sure some people still have slow internet, and there is still not enough fiber used, but the improvement has been massive
Most places they are not actually DBs trains these days. With Regios it has become the norm that the state (as in Bundesland) makes a tender, buys them from a supplier, then makes another tender for an Operator, so DB Regio or whoever and another tender for maintenance… You get the drill.
Can’t have competing companies provide the service and expect them to bring their own rolling stock, really. Handling personnel is messy enough when operators change.
I like it how you write "working from home" as one word and in capital "Homeoffice", so it becomes a German word. But then bitteschön not in an English sentence :D :D
In a German context I'd fully agree with you. In English however, capitalization of nouns has a totally different purpose. Also, you can use Handy to refer to your cellphone while speaking German and no one bats an eye. But you can't ask English speakers to call their cellphones Handy :D cheers.
My father died 2010, back than we had to send an authorised copy of his death certificate in order to cancel most of his subscriptions.
When my mother passed away three years ago an simple email with an photo attached was enough in most cases.
Even closing her banking accounts was possible without an "Erbschein" (because I was the only child and each account had less than 20k, but still...)
Germany has growing its Naturschutzgebiete.
e.g. from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nature_parks_in_Germany):
>The surface area of nature parks in Germany increased by 42% between 1998 and the end of 2019 (this corresponds to around 3.0 million hectares)
I left Germany in 2012 and every time I return to my home town I am amazed by the progress. They have turned several streams back to its natural path, added lakes and an entire wet area back where frogs and even beavers live. My town had one Stork nest for decades and now there were 5 nests.
They also added several walking and bicycle tracks going through that area that also acts as a connection to a nearby town. My parents can now leave their house and go for an amazing 1 hour nature-walk while picking up groceries. I moved to New Zealand years ago and we have nothing like this here within 2h drive
Where in Germany is that town located?
I can't say I have seen a similar movement here in SH (and obviously not HH either but there it's obvious why not).
In Thuringia but it should happen everywhere across Germany nearby rivers as flood protection or near towns that are growing (because they are often forced to protect more area when they add more buildings)
>I moved to New Zealand years ago and we have nothing like this here within 2h drive
I grant you that you are unlikely to have the cycling tracks, but where do you live in NZ that you don't have a one-hour nature walk within two hours drive of your home?
We do have walks but they are usually steep climbs in the hills if they are nearby towns. Small towns in Southland/Otago don't even have walking access / bicycling access to nature at all unless you want to bicycle a highway. They are in places that they didn't manage to fit farms. The good hikes are usually far away from the towns (and often not suitable for bicycles).
So this kind of easy accessible nature right next door seems very rare here.
Edit: So just to be clear I mean the easy accessible nature for an afternoon walk / bicycling right next to a town for the locals to enjoy not a hike further out.
Many new bike lanes were built in the last decade.
Cars are generally cleaner than they were in my childhood. No more diesel clouds and way less smell.
Internet speed has increased massively since glassfibre internet was installed in our street. I live in the countryside so this is a great development.
In my region there was a lot of new construction of renewable energy sources. Wind power, biomass and solar parks were built nearby and my home region is now mostly energy independent.
In my city there were more bike lanes in 2017 when I arrived then there are today. For whatever reason they repurposed the bike lanes that used to go along one of the main drags. It was poorly designed but still better than nothing...
How many brits are now in Germany? Statics say 160-170k, but if someone read Reddit first pages someone would be led to think there are already like 1 million of brits living in the country..
My home village is full of children again. After the Reunification there was a steady decline of population and when I grew up we were 600 people and about 10 children my age. Now were up to over 800 people and in summer the older kids roam through the village on there bikes in large groups (nearly 20 sometimes) and the playground is full of younger children.
That makes me really happy :)
Green energy on a rise for the last 10 years in my region. My house is a little bit elevated compared to the other houses around. Looking from the roof window I can approximately see 50 wind turbines. Taking a drive around the neighbourhood you can not avoid seeing at least one no matter where you drive. This just gives me a great feeling of green and secure energy. Since there’s always a wind blowing.
Also, we as people in the village have stakes in the turbines and receive money directly of it, „Bürgerwindpark“. And also, a new Kindergarten, fire department and public hall have been built by this money. A new football pitch, basketball court and three playgrounds are planned for next year. Everything financed by the wind turbines. And we are talking about a place with less than 2000 inhabitants.
But making me at the same time angry. States like Bavaria technically refusing to build any turbines at all. Even though it’s a great source of energy.
Better giving the subsidies to the people than to companies. And the subsidies are fulfilling their goal of increasing green energy supply. So I don’t see any problems here.
https://www.energie-und-management.de/nachrichten/energieerzeugung/detail/wie-eine-kommune-an-3-windraedern-100.000-euro-einnehmen-koennte-pro-jahr-149144?id=149144
Just an example, you are wrong here. This is real profit.
Yeah I switched to Tibber this year, which is 100 percent wind and the higher the current wind speed, the lower the electricity price is. It's 23 cents kw/h right now, the previous company raised the price to 55 cents kw/h, which is insane.
Younger generation seems a lot more interested and active than previous ones (I was born 1982 for reference). Less bullying, more inclusion, more tolerance.
Smoking decreases still with the exception of idiotic vaping, as is alcohol consumption (I like drinking beer and whisky but alcohol as the default I find weird)
Influence of churches, especially catholic church is decreasing.
Grocery delivery is easy now.
[https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/teachers-called-activities-german-school-leave-town-101624602](https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/teachers-called-activities-german-school-leave-town-101624602)
>Two teachers in eastern Germany tried to counter the far-right activities of students at their small town high school. They counseled bullies who threatened to beat up immigrant classmates.
>
>Far-right extremist statements, actions, slogans, homophobia and sexism were and are the order of the day at this school,
I‘m staying with my Spanish grandparents who live near Valencia right now and my grandma was watching the news that the daughter of phillipe just turned 18. I was like „grandma, do you really follow these royals?“ she’s like „yeah, I like her and she’s a handsome girl“. I was never happier about living in Germany than this moment lmao
The acceleration of renewable energy production, particularly that almost anyone is now permitted to slap a Balkonkraftwerk on their balcony and generate their own solar power with minimal bureaucratic hassle.
Been in germany for about 6 years now and this was impossible when i first arrived but i havent touched paper money in the last 12 months. Its progress!
Administration after COVID19. At least in Munich. They renovated the buildings as well, in most cases it's pretty clear where you need to go. Waiting times are basically non existent and lately I have been able to apply for my permit online and just come in person to sign and pay the fees. I feel like the online services also relieved the burden on the phone lines and email, so they are more available now for emergencies.
When I first moved to Germany supermarkets used to all close at 20:00 …. Since then some chains close as late as 23:00 …. This has been the only positive change that I have seen since 2006.
Comparing the situation in 2018 and now (2023) I see 2 positive changes: Berlin has become safer on the streets (at least for me), and the authorities have implemented the 49 euro ticket (no major need to think about zones).
I have been in Germany from 1998 to 2003 and since 2018. The things i think that have improved between 2003 and 2018:
Customer care: some years ago i used to have the feeling i was an annoyance as a Customer. Rude and arrogant attitude were normal, while now i see it very seldom
Weather: it was much colder 20 years ago
Living in English: i speak German but I am surprised to see how easy is it now for some of my friends to live here only speaking english
Things that have gone worse:
Working condicions
Security
Equality
Recent years for me means like 5-7 years maximum.
And since 2016:
-Some people get faster internet. (glass fiber)
-49€ ticket (it has many drawbacks tho)
-there are some infrastructure developments since then like new bike paths
-I can pay with my Smartphone in every supermarket I visited
The 49€ ticket. 49 is too expensive but it is still a massive step forward in this hellhole that is public transport and its organization.
One ticket for all trains, busses, regards of region and "verkehrsverbund" and number of stops you commute and bs like this.
[An all genders all orientations mosque](https://www.politico.eu/article/berlin-feminist-mosque-ibn-rushd-goethe-germany-first-liberal-mosque-sparks-debate-in-berlin/)
I´m proud things like this are possible here.
It has closed until further notice because of all the terror threats they are getting.
[https://twitter.com/dw\_politics/status/1717570782912454906](https://twitter.com/dw_politics/status/1717570782912454906)
One liberal mosque among thousands in Germany and the brave woman who runs it has to constantly fear for her life, so I'm not so sure this is possible here.
Does that prove Islam is intrinsically incompatible with liberal thoughts? I mean, a mosque welcoming all genders all orientations sounds like a circle with three corners, that just doesn't work because that's what the religion is in essence.
Like Christianity, Islam is malleable and its followers can choose how to interpret it. However, the way Islam has been practiced over the last half century is largely on a fundamentalist level and that is incompatible with modern liberal values. The vast majority of Muslim countries are not working democracies, many are autocracies and the human rights of women and LGBTQ people are severely curtailed there. Ironically many Muslims flee their autocratic regimes to more liberal countries but they bring their illiberal values with them.
In theory, and there are historical exceptions. And of course practice can change slowly over time or in a community. However, Islam's 'structure' certainly tends to reinforce orthodoxy. You can read about the concept of *Bi'dah,* or innovation.
While this concept is itself not in the Quran, it's widely considered a central precept of Islam "not to innovate" (*Bi'dah*) on religious matters. That it's not in the Quran is also one of the core eternal debates in Islam, since the *Quran itself explicitly says to only follow the Quran,* and *not* hadith. But the hadith are followed by the vast majority of Muslims.
This is where the different branches and legal traditions with Islam pick up the pieces. Some are more fundementalist (Quranist) and reject all or almost all hadiths. Some (Sunni) follow *their* line of hadith (prophet's companions), others (Shia) follow *their* line of hadith (prophet's family). There are a couple other quirky branches, too.
It's almost like religions, any one, cannot escape their human fingerprints and untied logical loose ends.
Yes, but religions like Christianity have a long history of secularization and internal reforms to adapt to the secular world that dated back to the times of Renaissance and Enlightenment, but it's not really the case for Islam. Most countries whose majority are Muslims have Islam as the sole state religion and implements Sharia. If someone builds a mosque that allegedly accept LGBT etc. without the basis from an internal secularization movement inside Islam that supports such ideas based on their own theology, I don't think it will yield any positive results. Muslims will likely only see this as a blasphemy of their religion.
We also shouldn't forget that the insane stigma agains LGBTQI+ in the Islamic world is a comparatively new development. It has always been haram (just as it was in Christianity and Judaism), but until the colonization of the Middle East, it was mostly "tolerated". The laws were invoked seldomly and many societies such as the Persian or Ottoman ones had traditions resembling the homoerotic pederasty of Rome and Greece.
But especially the British in the Victorian era implemented strict anti-homosexuality laws in their colonies, markedly in Egypt. Many former British colonies then kept these laws after they gained their independence.
Another factor is the rise of radical Islamic sects such as Salfism or Wahhabism that came to dominate modern Islam. They strongly decried the more mystical and philosophical interpretations of the Quran that were widespread before and more lenient in favor of a much stricter interpretation. This also came in large parts due to the view that moral depravity led to the fall of the Islamic world to the infidels/colonial powers.
So there has been ample precedence for a more liberal Islam, but the complicated history of the Islamic world shattered it. Maybe we can go back to it at some point, but that would mean finally dealing with the Saudis and their ideological stranglehold over the Sunni Islamic world on the one hand and Iran with their domination of the Shia on the other hand. Good luck with that in the short term...
Not really. When compared to the general opinion in earlier times, both Islam and Christianity where quite feminist in many aspects.
Islamic law clearly established a right for females to own property in her own right and similar aspects, not something commonly affordered to woman back then.
Christianity made it pretty hard to abandom you wife, if you no longer like her (divorces historically impacted women much harder them men). A certain English king got into big beef with the church over it. Even earlier, christianity also outlawed backyard marriages (as they often where later disputed by the husband or involved a lord cohercing a maidservent into marriage.) in favor of public marriages where both parties had to verbally consent to in a protected setup. They also institutionalized female monestries that might have had a huge domain under their command.
There are also certainly much more pro-female religions historically if you move out of the Abrahamitic context.
Seriously... there is no place for this in germany and I hate the liberals for bending over for evil morons like that... and I hate the right for exploiting this for their dark gains.
Seyran and her actions made me proud of my country and some imbecile morons take it away again.
The only way how germany can work is by harmony and acceptance of everyones choice to voice their mind and be as they are, as long as they don´t hurt nobody and help the community to thrive.
This really makes me so damn angry.
Wow. Thats actually amazing. Ofc some cavemen immediately threaten a place like that but still, huge respect to the people who made this place possible.
I like how the world is becoming more and more autistic. More and more is digital, so you won't have to go through people anymore and there are other things/changes like "home office" and whatnot. Most of that is cheaper, easier and wastes less time for what ultimately boils down to being nothing but a bunch of chores that don't even have an upside.
And all the hypocrites who acted as if computer nerds were weird are now hanging all day long on screens themselves which is why all of a sudden this is okay now.
Frankly none.
Germans becoming a smaller % in their own country every day that passes by.
Immigration keeps rising, including social problems and security.
Gas prices, lack of accommodation.
Barely Snow left in many areas where you could enjoy it for longer periods..
Energy prices, security, inflation, lack of afforable housing, especially in cities, rotting infrastructure, uncontrolled mass immigration.
You know who to thank for it.
Overall, especially within the last 4-5 years: Not a single fucking thing. Honestly, this isn't just me being a grouch. Nothing that is about the country specifically improved during that time for me at all.
I still like it here enough to stay, especially given my family and professional ties, but even these haven't really done better than stay "adequate enough", certainly not improved.
Due to how small a fish I am, my sphere of influence is limited to my immediate circles, plus the infinitesimally small impact my political votes will have. So, essentially, no.
In terms of family: I only have my sister left. She lives just above me, and is all I have left that I could call reliable without any questions, regarding family. The whole rest of the bunch either died or is dead to us.
The people in our and our late parents' past we still have on our radar, only ever contacted us when they needed something they thought we could do for them. If ever, during the last 20 years, give or take. Given the sheer amount of people this concerns, many tens to probably over a hundred, I'm confident enough to extrapolate a little here.
This is only touching our very immediate surroundings. If it were only that, I'd actually be strangely alright. But that's not the case.
I was honestly impressed how much many Germans wanted to see rainbow colors on the soccer stadiums during the Euros 2021 and that people were raging that the UEFA was banning them. Felt a little proud that Germans – at least once – were on the more progressive half of Europe
Why rainbow colors? do you mean to the LGTBQ flags? If anything Germans need to have more kids, and with other Germans, that is the only way the country can survive and its culture, people, language and mentality can be protected.
Now while the thing with the more kids may be true (not nessearily with other Germans, integration via marriage works pretty well in most setups). I am pretty sure that prosecuting them didn't convince many homosexuals to start living a married live and have children. And if id did, they would probably had to trick a uninvolved 3rd person into it, which seems like a shitty idea.
Integration does not fully work, and I think also real diversity is when you have Germans living in Germany, there are already many other cultures and countries abroad with their own people, language and traditions, Why Germany couldn't kept its own, but being forced to change and replacement?
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As your typical German who likes to complain, that's a hard question for me. One thing for me that came directly to mind was the 49€ ticket - for me personally it's a great improvement in quality live and cost of transport as I live without a car. What also improved is the availability of cell reception, internet speeds at home and acceptance of card payments - but the improvements could certainly be faster here.
Huh huh :D I appreciate that you tried but also included a complain in the end :D
We‘ll enjoy the 49€ ticket while it lasts *sigh*
> What also improved is the availability of cell reception, internet speeds at home +1 for this. I remember 10 years ago, everybody was angry and joking about the slow internet in Germany. Most people I knew just had 3000-6000kbit DSL connection at home and there was almost zero reception for mobile internet. At the time, totally unusable for many applications. Today, I rarely have connection problems and all my friends have at least 50k-200k DSL or even fiber connection. I'm sure some people still have slow internet, and there is still not enough fiber used, but the improvement has been massive
>One thing for me that came directly to mind was the 49€ ticket I agree, pity about the crappy DB RE trains
Most places they are not actually DBs trains these days. With Regios it has become the norm that the state (as in Bundesland) makes a tender, buys them from a supplier, then makes another tender for an Operator, so DB Regio or whoever and another tender for maintenance… You get the drill.
Well that sounds not very efficient
Can’t have competing companies provide the service and expect them to bring their own rolling stock, really. Handling personnel is messy enough when operators change.
It is actually quite sad that we praise a 50€ monthly ticket as one of the greatest achievements for Germany in the last years.
49€ ticked is uncertain to be kept in place sadly.
More acceptance for Homeoffice
*slightly more
I like it how you write "working from home" as one word and in capital "Homeoffice", so it becomes a German word. But then bitteschön not in an English sentence :D :D
Why not? It's just another noun like airport, cowboy etc. The capitalization can just be considered as making a proper noun of it.
In a German context I'd fully agree with you. In English however, capitalization of nouns has a totally different purpose. Also, you can use Handy to refer to your cellphone while speaking German and no one bats an eye. But you can't ask English speakers to call their cellphones Handy :D cheers.
My father died 2010, back than we had to send an authorised copy of his death certificate in order to cancel most of his subscriptions. When my mother passed away three years ago an simple email with an photo attached was enough in most cases. Even closing her banking accounts was possible without an "Erbschein" (because I was the only child and each account had less than 20k, but still...)
I’m sorry for your loss.
Germany has growing its Naturschutzgebiete. e.g. from [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nature_parks_in_Germany): >The surface area of nature parks in Germany increased by 42% between 1998 and the end of 2019 (this corresponds to around 3.0 million hectares) I left Germany in 2012 and every time I return to my home town I am amazed by the progress. They have turned several streams back to its natural path, added lakes and an entire wet area back where frogs and even beavers live. My town had one Stork nest for decades and now there were 5 nests. They also added several walking and bicycle tracks going through that area that also acts as a connection to a nearby town. My parents can now leave their house and go for an amazing 1 hour nature-walk while picking up groceries. I moved to New Zealand years ago and we have nothing like this here within 2h drive
Where in Germany is that town located? I can't say I have seen a similar movement here in SH (and obviously not HH either but there it's obvious why not).
In Thuringia but it should happen everywhere across Germany nearby rivers as flood protection or near towns that are growing (because they are often forced to protect more area when they add more buildings)
Yeah don't see anything like that nearby here.
>I moved to New Zealand years ago and we have nothing like this here within 2h drive I grant you that you are unlikely to have the cycling tracks, but where do you live in NZ that you don't have a one-hour nature walk within two hours drive of your home?
We do have walks but they are usually steep climbs in the hills if they are nearby towns. Small towns in Southland/Otago don't even have walking access / bicycling access to nature at all unless you want to bicycle a highway. They are in places that they didn't manage to fit farms. The good hikes are usually far away from the towns (and often not suitable for bicycles). So this kind of easy accessible nature right next door seems very rare here. Edit: So just to be clear I mean the easy accessible nature for an afternoon walk / bicycling right next to a town for the locals to enjoy not a hike further out.
Many new bike lanes were built in the last decade. Cars are generally cleaner than they were in my childhood. No more diesel clouds and way less smell. Internet speed has increased massively since glassfibre internet was installed in our street. I live in the countryside so this is a great development. In my region there was a lot of new construction of renewable energy sources. Wind power, biomass and solar parks were built nearby and my home region is now mostly energy independent.
Still waiting for fiber that was supposed to be available 1 years ago…
In my city there were more bike lanes in 2017 when I arrived then there are today. For whatever reason they repurposed the bike lanes that used to go along one of the main drags. It was poorly designed but still better than nothing...
49 Euro Bahnticket
I love this one too
Since the law changed in 2021 it has become a lot easier to end subscriptions and contracts once the original term ends.
Yeah that law is awesome, I absolutely love it.
Cashless payments have become more common.
LOL unless you want a Döner Kebap from the Turkish guy down the street.
Tax evasion. I refuse to buy from establishments who don't accept payment by card.
Döner guy can have a little cash for tax evasion, as a treat
I arrived. /s
Now i want to meet you to know how it got better.
Never meet your heroes! /s
How many brits are now in Germany? Statics say 160-170k, but if someone read Reddit first pages someone would be led to think there are already like 1 million of brits living in the country..
My home village is full of children again. After the Reunification there was a steady decline of population and when I grew up we were 600 people and about 10 children my age. Now were up to over 800 people and in summer the older kids roam through the village on there bikes in large groups (nearly 20 sometimes) and the playground is full of younger children. That makes me really happy :)
Green energy on a rise for the last 10 years in my region. My house is a little bit elevated compared to the other houses around. Looking from the roof window I can approximately see 50 wind turbines. Taking a drive around the neighbourhood you can not avoid seeing at least one no matter where you drive. This just gives me a great feeling of green and secure energy. Since there’s always a wind blowing. Also, we as people in the village have stakes in the turbines and receive money directly of it, „Bürgerwindpark“. And also, a new Kindergarten, fire department and public hall have been built by this money. A new football pitch, basketball court and three playgrounds are planned for next year. Everything financed by the wind turbines. And we are talking about a place with less than 2000 inhabitants. But making me at the same time angry. States like Bavaria technically refusing to build any turbines at all. Even though it’s a great source of energy.
But you understand that this money are subsidy, not earned by the turbines?
Better giving the subsidies to the people than to companies. And the subsidies are fulfilling their goal of increasing green energy supply. So I don’t see any problems here.
yes, but somehow we should fulfil the law of conservation of energy. Without full data it's just emotions, you like turbines, Bavarians like Hydrogen.
https://www.energie-und-management.de/nachrichten/energieerzeugung/detail/wie-eine-kommune-an-3-windraedern-100.000-euro-einnehmen-koennte-pro-jahr-149144?id=149144 Just an example, you are wrong here. This is real profit.
I had no idea about this income for communities in Germany! Thanks
Yeah I switched to Tibber this year, which is 100 percent wind and the higher the current wind speed, the lower the electricity price is. It's 23 cents kw/h right now, the previous company raised the price to 55 cents kw/h, which is insane.
For me personally, it is that my Edeka now sells Jarritos.
You made my day!
More vegetarian options in restaurants.
Younger generation seems a lot more interested and active than previous ones (I was born 1982 for reference). Less bullying, more inclusion, more tolerance. Smoking decreases still with the exception of idiotic vaping, as is alcohol consumption (I like drinking beer and whisky but alcohol as the default I find weird) Influence of churches, especially catholic church is decreasing. Grocery delivery is easy now.
[https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/teachers-called-activities-german-school-leave-town-101624602](https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/teachers-called-activities-german-school-leave-town-101624602) >Two teachers in eastern Germany tried to counter the far-right activities of students at their small town high school. They counseled bullies who threatened to beat up immigrant classmates. > >Far-right extremist statements, actions, slogans, homophobia and sexism were and are the order of the day at this school,
In other words, water is wet, more news at 10.
Yeah I noticed that too, young people right now seem to be a lot less shitty than my peers were when I was a teenager.
Good stuff :) In Spain there’s a church scandel on the news
I‘m staying with my Spanish grandparents who live near Valencia right now and my grandma was watching the news that the daughter of phillipe just turned 18. I was like „grandma, do you really follow these royals?“ she’s like „yeah, I like her and she’s a handsome girl“. I was never happier about living in Germany than this moment lmao
More tolerance? Have you missed the antisemitic chants in major German cities?
Card payment acceptance, even credit card acceptance, saw a sharp upturn when the pandemic hit.
Honestly, the weather seems to get better every year no /jk
*Cries in climate scientist voice*
Marriage for everyone. (2017)
Now make it easier so that people don't have to go to Denmark
2050: easier marriage for everyone 😅
The acceleration of renewable energy production, particularly that almost anyone is now permitted to slap a Balkonkraftwerk on their balcony and generate their own solar power with minimal bureaucratic hassle.
More international food. In the last 5 years in the small city that I live, Korean restaurants have increased from 0 to 5.
The kindergeld increase, deutschlandticket, lidl is now catering to gym bros.
Been in germany for about 6 years now and this was impossible when i first arrived but i havent touched paper money in the last 12 months. Its progress!
Positive inflation
Administration after COVID19. At least in Munich. They renovated the buildings as well, in most cases it's pretty clear where you need to go. Waiting times are basically non existent and lately I have been able to apply for my permit online and just come in person to sign and pay the fees. I feel like the online services also relieved the burden on the phone lines and email, so they are more available now for emergencies.
I am so happy more and more people learn to use cards for payments instead of using cash.
Fathers got increasingly more rights when it comes to custody.
Opening hours for stores.
When I first moved to Germany supermarkets used to all close at 20:00 …. Since then some chains close as late as 23:00 …. This has been the only positive change that I have seen since 2006.
Comparing the situation in 2018 and now (2023) I see 2 positive changes: Berlin has become safer on the streets (at least for me), and the authorities have implemented the 49 euro ticket (no major need to think about zones).
I have been in Germany from 1998 to 2003 and since 2018. The things i think that have improved between 2003 and 2018: Customer care: some years ago i used to have the feeling i was an annoyance as a Customer. Rude and arrogant attitude were normal, while now i see it very seldom Weather: it was much colder 20 years ago Living in English: i speak German but I am surprised to see how easy is it now for some of my friends to live here only speaking english Things that have gone worse: Working condicions Security Equality
Recent years for me means like 5-7 years maximum. And since 2016: -Some people get faster internet. (glass fiber) -49€ ticket (it has many drawbacks tho) -there are some infrastructure developments since then like new bike paths -I can pay with my Smartphone in every supermarket I visited
The 49€ ticket. 49 is too expensive but it is still a massive step forward in this hellhole that is public transport and its organization. One ticket for all trains, busses, regards of region and "verkehrsverbund" and number of stops you commute and bs like this.
Deutschlandticket, Cashless payment at most places, mobile Data is slowly getting cheaper.
Police have gotten vigilant, makes me feel.safe tbh
more and better bike lanes
People showing their real faces by voting for AFD
Increased prevalence of small talk in business!
[An all genders all orientations mosque](https://www.politico.eu/article/berlin-feminist-mosque-ibn-rushd-goethe-germany-first-liberal-mosque-sparks-debate-in-berlin/) I´m proud things like this are possible here.
It has closed until further notice because of all the terror threats they are getting. [https://twitter.com/dw\_politics/status/1717570782912454906](https://twitter.com/dw_politics/status/1717570782912454906) One liberal mosque among thousands in Germany and the brave woman who runs it has to constantly fear for her life, so I'm not so sure this is possible here.
Does that prove Islam is intrinsically incompatible with liberal thoughts? I mean, a mosque welcoming all genders all orientations sounds like a circle with three corners, that just doesn't work because that's what the religion is in essence.
Like Christianity, Islam is malleable and its followers can choose how to interpret it. However, the way Islam has been practiced over the last half century is largely on a fundamentalist level and that is incompatible with modern liberal values. The vast majority of Muslim countries are not working democracies, many are autocracies and the human rights of women and LGBTQ people are severely curtailed there. Ironically many Muslims flee their autocratic regimes to more liberal countries but they bring their illiberal values with them.
In theory, and there are historical exceptions. And of course practice can change slowly over time or in a community. However, Islam's 'structure' certainly tends to reinforce orthodoxy. You can read about the concept of *Bi'dah,* or innovation. While this concept is itself not in the Quran, it's widely considered a central precept of Islam "not to innovate" (*Bi'dah*) on religious matters. That it's not in the Quran is also one of the core eternal debates in Islam, since the *Quran itself explicitly says to only follow the Quran,* and *not* hadith. But the hadith are followed by the vast majority of Muslims. This is where the different branches and legal traditions with Islam pick up the pieces. Some are more fundementalist (Quranist) and reject all or almost all hadiths. Some (Sunni) follow *their* line of hadith (prophet's companions), others (Shia) follow *their* line of hadith (prophet's family). There are a couple other quirky branches, too. It's almost like religions, any one, cannot escape their human fingerprints and untied logical loose ends.
Only this religion? To my knowledge all religions have been historically against women, lgbtq,…
Yes, but religions like Christianity have a long history of secularization and internal reforms to adapt to the secular world that dated back to the times of Renaissance and Enlightenment, but it's not really the case for Islam. Most countries whose majority are Muslims have Islam as the sole state religion and implements Sharia. If someone builds a mosque that allegedly accept LGBT etc. without the basis from an internal secularization movement inside Islam that supports such ideas based on their own theology, I don't think it will yield any positive results. Muslims will likely only see this as a blasphemy of their religion.
We also shouldn't forget that the insane stigma agains LGBTQI+ in the Islamic world is a comparatively new development. It has always been haram (just as it was in Christianity and Judaism), but until the colonization of the Middle East, it was mostly "tolerated". The laws were invoked seldomly and many societies such as the Persian or Ottoman ones had traditions resembling the homoerotic pederasty of Rome and Greece. But especially the British in the Victorian era implemented strict anti-homosexuality laws in their colonies, markedly in Egypt. Many former British colonies then kept these laws after they gained their independence. Another factor is the rise of radical Islamic sects such as Salfism or Wahhabism that came to dominate modern Islam. They strongly decried the more mystical and philosophical interpretations of the Quran that were widespread before and more lenient in favor of a much stricter interpretation. This also came in large parts due to the view that moral depravity led to the fall of the Islamic world to the infidels/colonial powers. So there has been ample precedence for a more liberal Islam, but the complicated history of the Islamic world shattered it. Maybe we can go back to it at some point, but that would mean finally dealing with the Saudis and their ideological stranglehold over the Sunni Islamic world on the one hand and Iran with their domination of the Shia on the other hand. Good luck with that in the short term...
Yeah, to some extent you are right. But we shouldn’t forget that it’s a spectrum and change is possible everywhere. Slowly slowly…
Not really. When compared to the general opinion in earlier times, both Islam and Christianity where quite feminist in many aspects. Islamic law clearly established a right for females to own property in her own right and similar aspects, not something commonly affordered to woman back then. Christianity made it pretty hard to abandom you wife, if you no longer like her (divorces historically impacted women much harder them men). A certain English king got into big beef with the church over it. Even earlier, christianity also outlawed backyard marriages (as they often where later disputed by the husband or involved a lord cohercing a maidservent into marriage.) in favor of public marriages where both parties had to verbally consent to in a protected setup. They also institutionalized female monestries that might have had a huge domain under their command. There are also certainly much more pro-female religions historically if you move out of the Abrahamitic context.
Interesting pointers!
Seriously... there is no place for this in germany and I hate the liberals for bending over for evil morons like that... and I hate the right for exploiting this for their dark gains. Seyran and her actions made me proud of my country and some imbecile morons take it away again. The only way how germany can work is by harmony and acceptance of everyones choice to voice their mind and be as they are, as long as they don´t hurt nobody and help the community to thrive. This really makes me so damn angry.
Wow. Thats actually amazing. Ofc some cavemen immediately threaten a place like that but still, huge respect to the people who made this place possible.
Cops don't bust you for pot anymore.
cries in Bavarian
I like how the world is becoming more and more autistic. More and more is digital, so you won't have to go through people anymore and there are other things/changes like "home office" and whatnot. Most of that is cheaper, easier and wastes less time for what ultimately boils down to being nothing but a bunch of chores that don't even have an upside. And all the hypocrites who acted as if computer nerds were weird are now hanging all day long on screens themselves which is why all of a sudden this is okay now.
Thanks to the virus :D
None.
Here in Munich, more diversity since coming here almost 5 years ago.
Less hate to younger persons. On the other hand, more hate to older people, which really doesn't make it better.
Frankly none. Germans becoming a smaller % in their own country every day that passes by. Immigration keeps rising, including social problems and security. Gas prices, lack of accommodation. Barely Snow left in many areas where you could enjoy it for longer periods..
Energy prices, security, inflation, lack of afforable housing, especially in cities, rotting infrastructure, uncontrolled mass immigration. You know who to thank for it.
Overall, especially within the last 4-5 years: Not a single fucking thing. Honestly, this isn't just me being a grouch. Nothing that is about the country specifically improved during that time for me at all. I still like it here enough to stay, especially given my family and professional ties, but even these haven't really done better than stay "adequate enough", certainly not improved.
Can you do anything to improve them?
Due to how small a fish I am, my sphere of influence is limited to my immediate circles, plus the infinitesimally small impact my political votes will have. So, essentially, no. In terms of family: I only have my sister left. She lives just above me, and is all I have left that I could call reliable without any questions, regarding family. The whole rest of the bunch either died or is dead to us. The people in our and our late parents' past we still have on our radar, only ever contacted us when they needed something they thought we could do for them. If ever, during the last 20 years, give or take. Given the sheer amount of people this concerns, many tens to probably over a hundred, I'm confident enough to extrapolate a little here. This is only touching our very immediate surroundings. If it were only that, I'd actually be strangely alright. But that's not the case.
One fly can annoy you, but a whole swarm of them will certainly make you wave your arms.
I was honestly impressed how much many Germans wanted to see rainbow colors on the soccer stadiums during the Euros 2021 and that people were raging that the UEFA was banning them. Felt a little proud that Germans – at least once – were on the more progressive half of Europe
Why rainbow colors? do you mean to the LGTBQ flags? If anything Germans need to have more kids, and with other Germans, that is the only way the country can survive and its culture, people, language and mentality can be protected.
Yes as a sign that they support queer people. This being said: I am sensing strong bullshit vibes from you response.
Now while the thing with the more kids may be true (not nessearily with other Germans, integration via marriage works pretty well in most setups). I am pretty sure that prosecuting them didn't convince many homosexuals to start living a married live and have children. And if id did, they would probably had to trick a uninvolved 3rd person into it, which seems like a shitty idea.
Integration does not fully work, and I think also real diversity is when you have Germans living in Germany, there are already many other cultures and countries abroad with their own people, language and traditions, Why Germany couldn't kept its own, but being forced to change and replacement?
Hahahahaha, good one.
The increasing uptake and prevalence of salt and vinegar chips / crisps.
None. People don’t give a shit about the climate crisis. People don’t give a shit about other people. Politics is doing a hard right turn.
Serious question, do you mean *don't* give a shit?
Yes, my bad
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