Back Against the Wall

Randall L. Bytwerk, Professor of Communication at Calvin College, Michigan, would like to clarify one matter: How did the Germans get to be so spineless? Or more precisely, in Nazi Germany and East Germany, why did citizens fail to stand up in defiance?

In China, the nationalism debate is nothing new. It is commonly said that if a nation is spineless they are viewed as 'subservient' or 'inherently weak' implying that they are an 'inferior nation.' Regarding our nation, there are generally two verdicts: The first; that the Chinese people have never truly stood up tall and bold. The second; that the Chinese were hard and tough in the past but are now becoming soft.