German club with a side of hate.

On Sunday, we had our monthly German club meeting. It was the first meeting since Trump was elected, and it was a full, rousing group. I sort of expected that no one would show up what with it being a holiday weekend here, but I was pleasantly surprised. Not only were a select group of regulars in attendance, but there were also a handful of newbies in the house. We were made up of a few native speakers & at least one young man, M., who only began learning German last year. Initially, he seemed friendly & receptive to whatever subjects were discussed. We covered the usual topics ranging from 'where you from?' & 'why German?' to 'how was your Thanksgiving?' 'so Trump was elected...' You know, it was typical, topical stuff. At one point, M. mentions having friends who are 'communists' & who meet at a 'communist cafe'. I happen to know the cafe in question & there's nothing 'red' about it, but I didn't say anything. Instead, I thought, Uh, okay. Weird. Then the subject changed & that was that. At another point in the convo M. says that he admires Putin and thinks he's a great leader. I laughed a bit & put my hand on his forearm in an 'ah, bless' kind of way before turning to talk to another person.

All seemed fine, in fact all seemed more than fine for the rest of the afternoon. A few of us stayed 'til the bitter end some three hours later, M. included. Before we disbanded to go on about our day, I recall getting a smile & a handshake from the Putin lover. 

Apparently, all was not fine as the website where our German group event is posted received a strange missive from M. It read: I thought it was a German language meetup, not nonstop Judeo-Marxian globalist propaganda brunch hour.

He followed up the note by posting a series of links to non-news internet sites typically associated with the paranoid, the hateful & the severely uninformed. I deleted the links.

I probably should have ignored M., but instead wrote that I was sorry he did not like our group & wished him well. M. then responded with the hateful, rabid-sounding mess below.

Why do you start badmouthing Vladimir Putin, and talking about how stupid white people are and we think all brown people are Muslims? You just assume everyone at the table is a brainwashed communist like you? Poor Muslims being oppressed and deported for being rapists and killers. Poor ISIS getting bombed by Putin. Your hero Obama created them. Another girl sits there and tells an Indian person the Electoral College exists to make brown people's votes not matter. The Electoral College was created before anyone other than white people was even legally allowed to vote. Vladimir Putin is a hero for the European and Christian people. God bless him and keep fighting the good fight against Muslim scum, who should be eradicated from our lands. Long live Donald Trump. Long live Putin. Long live NDP. Long live FPÖ. Long live sacred Europe. May all traitors one day feel the arm. Tschüss.

I sometimes forget that there are those who are not motivated by their love of Goethe & Schiller, Bach & Handel (or in my case, Neue Deutsche Welle & Tatort) to learn German. Sadly, in the case of M., a seemingly budding Pediga adherent & Trump supporter, we see other pursuits at hand. And none of them are welcome at our German club.