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| Re: <nettime> Arnold at the gates [3x] |
Try this from the beautiful faery land of Austria, play some "Sound of= Music" tunes and relax... it may not be as bad as you painted the picture= ;-) Cheers, g ### nytimes.com A Boy From Graz October 9, 2003 By ANNELIESE ROHRER VIENNA While Californians were voting on Tuesday, Finance Minister Karl-Heinz Grasser of Austria ended a television interview here about budget deficits and European Union economics with an emphatic "Good luck to Arnold Schwarzenegger." Mr. Grasser, like Austrians in general, has been pumped up with pride over Mr. Schwarzenegger's accomplishments. That's the case even though, or maybe because, Arnold Schwarzenegger's life - from lower-middle-class boy in the bland town of Graz to governor of California - is as alien to the mentality of the average Austrian as a recall vote is to an Austrian political system in which official careers proceed like clockwork. Mr. Schwarzenegger's career, by contrast, has all the elements that the average Austrian - with his dreams of a tenured job in the bureaucracy that leads to early retirement, with his love for his 38-hour work week and his five weeks of holiday per year - would despise: venturing into the unknown, enduring hard work and physical pain, testing the limits of body and mind, and drawing a road map to the top. On the other hand, there is enough in Governor Schwarzenegger that Austrians can recognize and admire, or so they think: a touch of machismo, a moving admiration of one's mother, a bit of a sly dog, a cheeky view of the country's Nazi past, and generally what is known in Austria as "Schm=E4h," inadequately translatable as "patter." So the hype here around California's recall was understandable, but there is something else at work, too. The frenzy is a result, at least in part, of one of the main features of the Austrian national character: the art of transference. In Vienna in 1972, Austrians held their biggest demonstration since the Allies ended their occupation. The cause was not an end to the arms race or any of the other usual issues of the era. Instead, they were protesting the expulsion of the alpine ski champion Karl Schranz from the Olympic Games in Japan for violating his amateur status. Schranz was supposed to be our hero, winning gold medals for Austria. His being barred from certain success brought an outpouring of frustration by his countrymen, who perceived themselves as victims of dark international forces. So, too, Arnold Schwarzenegger represents a success the average Austrian would have neither the stamina nor the inclination to pursue. Nor is he the only object of transference. The stunning success in 1999 of the right-wing politician J=F6rg Haider - wrongly viewed in the United States as a full-fledged Nazi - was possible only because voters transferred their protest against a rigid political system to him. The individual reluctance to openly oppose Austria's two major political parties, which had pooled their power in a joint government in 1986 and dominated every aspect of public life, was transformed in the secrecy of the voting booth: J=F6rg Haider should do the job of breaking up that system instead. Austrians could express sentiments without being publicly known for having them. The admiration that is showered on Mr. Schwarzenegger now in Austria has a parallel in the devotion that the country's elite and public have for Frank Stronach, another Austrian who did well overseas, in his case by founding a Canadian auto-parts company. To the Austrian eye, Mr. Schwarzenegger and Mr. Stronach are larger than life - or at least larger than any Austrian would conceive himself. And that touches a chord in the Austrian soul and stirs memories of the time when there was an emperor - and an empire for that matter; when the country was a force to be reckoned with, not an insignificant spot on the map of Central Europe, squashed between the powers of Germany and Italy and up-and-coming countries like Hungary and the Czech Republic, which once were dependents in the Hapsburg Empire. Besides, Austrians love vindication, and Mr. Schwarzenegger's victory is certainly seen as one: for the humiliation Washington dealt Austria by putting Kurt Waldheim (president of Austria from 1986 to 1990) on its "watch list" of undesirable aliens; for J=F6rg Haider's being called a Nazi in the United States and Europe; for the disapproval when the conservative People's Party and Mr. Haider's Freedom Party formed a coalition government in 1999. Thus Mr. Schwarzenegger's victory is seen as a signal to the world: look here, we too are somebody. A country like Austria that has been downsized by history vacillates between a national inferiority complex and exuberance. Now these are days of compensation. The anxiety with which some Austrians watched the American reaction to reports that Mr. Schwarzenegger made positive comments about Hitler was proof of the uneasiness about any possible new rebuke of the country of his birth. His defeat at the polls would have been seen as further evidence of a global misconception about Austria. The country would be a victim again. In Austria, Mr. Schwarzenegger was not criticized for any Hitler comments or for his groping. Here, neither is seen as reprehensible: on Hitler the attitude is, let bygones be bygones; on groping, it is not a criminal offense - yet (a new law is before the national legislature). Neither slip has damaged the career of any Austrian politician in recent history. Still, despite our pride over Mr. Schwarzenegger's election, there is open agreement, and relief, that it would have been impossible here. Stars, whether from entertainment or sports, have all failed politically in a country where party politics is a lifetime profession. This is not a land of self-made men who can take positions on issues contrary to their own party. And Mr. Schwarzenegger's one-liners (and those of the other candidates) would have been perceived as a sign of an inferior intellect. Austria is basking in Mr. Schwarzenegger's California triumph. We are enjoying the moment. But although we admire Mr. Schwarzenegger for what we are not, unlike Americans, we'd never elect him. Anneliese Rohrer is foreign news editor for Die Presse, an Austrian daily. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/10/09/opinion/09ROHR.html?ex=3D1066719066&ei=3D1= &en=3D8b6dd45cee6e02fb Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company **** Want to browse through recent articles? 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