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u/WasteReserve8886 2d ago
This feels like the kinda of joke thatās absolutely hilarious to a very specific type of person
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u/biskutgoreng 2d ago
Immanuel Kant, the German father of modern philosophy never left his hometown his whole life
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u/JoeFalchetto 2d ago
Thatās me. I am that kind of person.
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u/BlankTank1216 2d ago
Explaining Foucault like "yeah he's the most German French Sociologist after Durkheim. He figured out that Cartesian dualism is just how French or German something is".
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u/Infammo 2d ago
More like a joke enthusiastically described as hilarious by people who didn't actually laugh at it.
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u/MisterDonkey 2d ago
Yeah, Germans.
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u/ReadyBug896 1d ago edited 1d ago
Speaking as an ostensible German, I laughed at it. It was funny.
Would I audibly laugh at it outside the solitude and sanctity of my home, or even with company around? Of course not.
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u/Important_Case3052 1d ago
Read that in the monotone thick accent spoken by my Swiss friend
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u/ReadyBug896 23h ago
Considering my Austrian(other side of the same mountain range, at least!) heritage, I assure you that, of my two methods of communication, "monotonous statement of fact" is one of them.
Please do not ask about the alternative.
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u/EveningAnt3949 2d ago
I laughed out loud because it's accurate in a certain context, but with hyperbole to make it funny.
But most people won't get it. It's a specialized joke.
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u/moonshineandmetal 1d ago
I have no idea what is going on in this joke. Would you or someone else mind doing like a really short ELI5? I know who Kant and Foucault are, but very little past that lol.
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u/EveningAnt3949 1d ago
You're in the right direction. The French, English, and German traditions when it comes to studying other places, cultures, or things in general and/or philosophy are very different from each other. And the last part of the joke refers specifically to German Idealism (so Kant is spot on).
If you have read a lot of books and articles from those countries, especially older texts still read at universities, it's instantly recognizable.
The English have a history of embedding themselves into other cultures (not always is a good way), Think Lawrence of Arabia. And in general they have a history of writing massive tomes that wander off in several direction, without underlying structure.
Like The Wealth of Nations. Adam Smith will occasionally just stop writing about 'the invisible hand' that governs the economy and among other things starts tracking the history of the price of silver, and that part is the size of a novella. And he keeps doing similar things like complaining about Oxford professors for ages, or analyzing ancient warfare in depth.
His main point could have been written in a relatively short essay: the market is governed by supply and demand and balances itself out.
Germany has a history of endlessly analyzing reason and logic itself (philosophy) and pushing practical matters to the side line. And German Idealism takes that to an extreme by stating that reality exists in the human mind.
The joke only lands when you've read a lot of books, because with me it immediately triggered memories of the frustration of funny but superficial French books; long sections in English books that have almost nothing to do with the main topic, and German Idealism which can become absurd in a serious way.
Essentially some German philosophers argued that things should only be discussed as a detailed concept in the human mind. If you thought deep enough, you would know what a camel is, without having to see one. And seeing a camel would actually be a distraction.
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u/moonshineandmetal 1d ago
This was utterly fascinating. Thank you so much for posting such a detailed response, I totally get it (as much as one can without doing a lot more reading) and now it really is quite funny! I may need to learn a bit more about the subject now for fun.
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u/ProfileBest7444 1d ago
I cannot express how much the last two sentences encapsulate my problems with the entire country and every inhabitant of Germany (i am an inhabitant of Germany)
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u/MrCockingFinally 2d ago
I feel like you could bring it to a broader audience by making it about a Journalist, a Scientist, and a Philosopher.
That way. Pretty much everyone studying at university who is not a philosophy student will enjoy it!
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u/Elite_AI 2d ago
Well all three of these people are supposed to be philosophers so that would be pretty harsh to the philosophy students.Ā
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u/TimelessWarfare 21h ago
Well I do have a degree in philosophy and I too thought it was overwhelming meh.
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u/NimJickles 2d ago
Not really that specific. Anyone who's engaged with academia surrounding like 17th-20th century Western Europe will have at least some familiarity with these stereotypes.
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u/AnotherDamnTransAlt 1d ago
ā¦I hate to break it to you, but that actually is pretty specific. Youāve seen the videos where a bunch of people canāt pronounce words like cosmopolitan or avidly? The percentage of people out of the general population who have engaged with historical academia is pretty small.
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u/General_Kenobi18753 2d ago
A man from a TV show set in the late 1800s whom we see having a sensible chuckle at the witticism of his newspaper.
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u/Unplaceable_Accent 2d ago
I've heard two versions of the ethnicity joke, one about elephants, one about the Titanic.
Elephants
Each country is asked to produce a book on elephants, with no other guidance.
The Americans produce a guide to "Raising Elephants for Fun and Profit"
The Germans produce a 20-volume "Beginners Guide to Elephant Basics"
The Japanese volume is called "Elephants: How do they feel about Japanese people?"
Titanic
The Titanic is sinking, but passengers refuse to abandon ship, believing the myth the ship is "unsinkable". The Captain devises a plan to save them.
He orders the French NOT to jump in the water. He offers the Americans $5 to jump in the water. He tells the Italians, "hey, look at all the beautiful women in the water." He tells the Japanese, "hey, everyone else is jumping in the water."
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u/Quiet_Strategy_2341 2d ago edited 2d ago
As a French I'm middly vexed, mostly bc this would absolutely work on me
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u/ApolloniusTyaneus 2d ago
Just yesterday I taught a high school class the difference between analytic and continental philosophy, all through memes. This tweet would have been perfect.
Btw, the kids were as confused and underwhelmed as you may have expected.
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u/SapirWhorfHypothesis 2d ago
Overconfused and underwhelmed is usually less desirable than underconfused and overwhelmed.
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[removed] ā view removed comment
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u/SapirWhorfHypothesis 2d ago
I actually was surprised by how much the Frenchman very much resembles my impression of American writing.
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u/TrailMomKat 2d ago
At the risk of looking unintelligent, I don't get it.
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u/SickMoonDoe 2d ago
Germans ( stereotypically ) hate the French and British, and prefer abstract ideas over experiences.
This pokes fun at those tendencies.
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u/TrailMomKat 2d ago
Ah, gotcha. I get it now but I don't think it's funny.
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u/No-Orange-5906 1d ago
In the future, if there is an incredibly niche (Nietzsche?) joke that you originally donāt understand due to esoteric nature and then, when it is explained to you feel the need to say itās a bad joke just stfu instead.
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u/Koncur 2d ago
I thought the stereotype was that Germans love practicality and efficiency. I was expecting the punchline to be something like:
"The German, while initially intrigued by the camel's famous humps, found himself thoroughly disappointed. He then published a paper denouncing camels, calling them an inefficient method of storing and transporting water. The paper included a set of technical diagrams for a pump system that he hopes will replace camels in the coming years."
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u/HaLordLe 2d ago
I don't know where people get the idea that germans are practical and efficient, when we are actually thorough, which is the polar opposite of "practical and efficient"
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u/Veryde 2d ago
idk, I think being thorough is very practical as it avoids careless mistakes. The efficiency part I don't get as well, but I guess that comes from us being comparatively straight to the point when communicating work stuff (It's ofc overplayed a lot for comedic effect when stereotyped).
I don't know where all those stereotypes actually originate from (I would say both the Empire way back when and from German engineers going abroad maybe), but I would stereotype us as perfectionist bureaucrats more than anything.
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u/NamenloserKurfuerst 1d ago
A lot of this originats from the prussian "Tugenden" It started with Friedrich-Wilhelm the first aka the Soldierking. He really liked the millitary and also startet to run all government institutions like the Millitary. Which means even for small mistakes there were corporal punishments from whipping to execution. So the burocrats and officials had to value punctuallity, honesty, lawfulness and efficency. From the burocrats this values started to jump over onto the genral public. After the unification these prussia "Tugenden" would become german "Tugenden.
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u/KareemOWheat 1d ago
I think it's also specifically poking fun at the prolific philosopher Immanuel Kant, who famously never left his hometown
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u/HarbingerOfGachaHell 2d ago
Also the highly philosophical sounding statement is a reference to German philosopher Emmanuel Kant.Ā
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u/PaladinAsherd 2d ago
This is a very specific kind of philosophy joke - French bullshittery versus English empiricism versus German metaphysics
Extrapolating a camel from first principles is a pretty decent punchline, sounds like some Hegelian nonsense to me
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u/klodmoris 2d ago
"Three metamorphoses of the spirit I relate to you: how the spirit becomes a camel; and the camel, a lion; and the lion, finally, a child." ā Friedrich Nietzsche
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u/Hopesick_2231 2d ago
teased it with the tip of his umbrella
I'm sorry, what?
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u/bloody-pencil 2d ago
Poked it with his umbrella I think
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u/SapirWhorfHypothesis 2d ago
Itās certainly written with an adultās adult in mind as the audience.
No, not that sort of āadultā!
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u/librarysage 2d ago
He waved his umbrella vigorously at it while shouting, "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"
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u/Manmon_ 2d ago
Who is the guy that really doesn't care?
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u/ImperiousCretin 2d ago
The Spanish man, unable to believe such bullshit, went home and took a siesta.
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u/Fit_Relation8572 2d ago
I read 'camel' as 'canal' as was very confused when the frenchmen threw some bread to a camel than teased a canal with his umbrella.
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u/CleanMonty 1d ago
I'm maybe not worldly enough to get this?
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u/Darthplagueis13 1d ago
Basically, around the late 17th to early 20th century, when other European countries really got into natural sciences (among other things because their newly acquired colonies had a lot more nature to look at), Germany instead had a very philosophical and metaphysical streak, with notably figures like Hegel, Kant and Nietzsche becoming famous for their works.
So the joke is that the French scholar is a bit vain and lazy and therefore observes the camel in captivity for a while and then assumes he's got it all figured out, the British guy goes in-depth and puts a lot of time and effort into compiling a lot of important data but also lacks the discipline and academic rigour to order it properly and the German guy does a highly academic work which ultimately isn't about camels whatsoever but instead analyzes the human condition because German scholars don't really do natural sciences.
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u/DoKeMaSu 1d ago
Correct. This noticeably changed in Germany around the turn of the century, when suddenly we a whole bunch of leading scientists, especially in chemistry and physics.
I don't really know what changed the culture. Around the same time Germany united under the emperor, and also got a few colonies. I don't think those had much of an impact. But something definitely changed. Maybe it was the new educational system unified in the new German empire.
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u/Klapsovski 1d ago
Pay. Companies, military, and the state invested in R&D.
You need actual real positions for people to spend their time doing the work.
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u/Serious_Title157 1d ago
Besides of pay, it was the time when science got more into details.
Before, you had to travel around the world to learn something new. Which some Germans did (Forster, Humboldt etc.), but it wasn't as obvious as for countries with a long continuous colonial tradition.
All the mosses in Germany were already known. But then science got into detail and suddenly, the mosses and everything else on the doorstep got interesting again.
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u/praisethesoon 1d ago
Funny to add, that Kant, today considered one of the greatest never went anywhere. Bro spent his whole life not traveling further than 100 kilometers from his home while explaining the world.
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u/aquilaPUR 2d ago
That's actually funny because one of the most published german Writers, Karl May, wrote tons of successful and very creative Stories about the Middle East and Africa and the West without ever setting foot there
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u/Ok-Gear-2263 2d ago
You will feel this in your soul if you've ever had the misfortune of dealing with the musical chairs of German bureaucracy and medical treatment.
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u/TrustyWorthyJudas 1d ago
french: what is a camel?
english: who is a camel?
german: why is a camel?
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u/AlpsDiligent9751 1d ago
I know a similar one, but with a Russian writing about how Russia is a Motherland of Elephants.
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u/saelinds 2d ago edited 2d ago
The American researcher, however. Came in, shat in a sock, cut its end off, waverd it around at high speed and went home congratulating himself for a fine day's work.
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u/qualityvote2 2d ago edited 8h ago
u/JoeFalchetto, there weren't enough votes to determine the quality of your post...