Germany: Not Exactly A Model Civilization
The train in the Fleishmann exhibit has a station with this little scene:
Tough, heavily armed cops confronting a hajib-wearing woman and a black woman. Also in the expansive exhibit, according to Der Spiegel, there's this:
A horse in front of the Boggensags butcher shop is about to be beaten to death with a hammer. Next door, a metal worker has lost an arm. There are copious amounts of blood everywhere. Meanwhile, a man urinates on a wall and a woman watches him, looking pleased. A single suitcase stands by the train tracks. Will it explode?Model trains as political statements ... or model trains as model reality.
This being secular Europe, of course the new model train world is also one of model sex. This is a a PG-rated blog, so here's one image ... the tamest of the bunch:
The Merten exhibit gives us this little scene of a brothel being busted. Yes, your train can toot its way not just by this, but also from Preiser a girl flashing at a rock concert and nude sunbathers ... and from Viessmann a couple breaking the 8th Commandment on a red blanket (hip motion available via either 14v or 16v power).
Why did the innocent world of model trains suddenly become a dark, sick, violent, sexually aroused world? Der Spiegel has this read on it:
What? The best of all possible worlds is one where we have create little model Hells so the Gates of Hell don't look so bad?There's only one explanation: Playing in those pastoral paradises was no longer a source of solace, because afterwards the real world always seemed even more miserable.
Now Fleischmann is turning the tables. Spend a few hours playing in the horrible world of the Toy Fair and you'll be glad to return to everyday life.
That's the good news from the Toy Fair: We're still living in the best of all possible worlds.
Give me the bucolic scenes of streams and trees and towns and mountains. My American, Christian life is so gratifying that such things just bring me the joy that comes with innocence -- because I still like innocence.
Related Tags: Europe, America, Society, Morality, Sex
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