news article here, based on a study from this institude (this last one is a German site).
Should we start worring?
Are there German doppers around? If yes, do you feel these views around you?
I’d not sweat it. First of all, depending upon how you word the survey and where you sample your data, you can get all kinds of screwy results. Pick the right places of nearly any country and a random survey of the population will give you the same result. Next, the Germans aren’t stupid, and the ones I’ve talked to are well versed in the mistakes of the past and have no desire to repeat them. Once Germany recovers from having to absorb it’s former communist breathern and the bulk of the population is fat and happy (rather than just the western parts), the same type of survey will yield less frightening results. The odds of a “Fourth Reich” forming in Germany are slim to none, I’d say.
If they want to absorb France so bad I think we should just let them. What could it hurt? They seem awfully determined…
“anti-Semitism popular among current German population; 14 percent believe Jews cheat in business; 35 percent express blatant xenophobia; 28 percent believe Germany should regain world status with force.”
Replace German/Germany with the nation of your choice. Those figures sound fairly representative of the proportion of fuckwits to be found in any country.
For example, how many Americans feel it’s correct for the US to use force to maintain it’s dominant world status? I’d have wagered 35% is below the mark.
The figure that I have heard the last few decades is about 15 % with a fixed far-right world view. This study (commissioned by the foundation of the Social Democratic Party, the center-left one in the governing coalition) looked for various dimensions of far-right attitudes.
The questions referred to in the introduction of the ynetnews.com article are somewhat loosely translated (for example the German question about world status does not refer to the use of force).
A time series (table 2.3.1 of the study) shows that numbers are high but there is not a clear overall trend (I have bolded the lines where the differences were found statistically significant by the author
attitude 2002 2004 2006
**pro-dictatorship** 7.7 % 6.4 % 4.8 %
chauvinism 18.3 % 19 % 19.3 %
xenophobia 26.9 % 25.5 % 26.7 %
anti-semitism 9.3 % 10 % 8.4 %
**social darwinism** 5.2 % 6.4 % 4.5 %
trivializing Nazism 4.1 % 4.1 % 4.1 %
One finding of the study that’s taken some place in press reports is that far-right attitudes do correlate with economic deprivation but not nearly as much as commonly assumed.
Other significant findings:
Age-dependence of attitudes (table 2.2)
attitude age 14-30 age 31-60 age > 60
pro-dictatorship 4.9 % 4.6 % 5.2 %
chauvinism 16 % 18.9 % 22 %
xenophobia 22.6 % 24.7 % 32.7 %
anti-semitism 7.1 % 7.9 % 10.2 %
social darwinism 3.5 % 4.4 % 5.2 %
trivializing Nazism 3.3 % 4 % 4.6 %
So older people are significantly more likely to have far right attitudes. Whether this is more because people’s attitudes shift with age, or more because educational attitudes haven been much less authoritarian with younger cohorts remains open.
Also:
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far-right attitudes very much dependent on education (table 2.2.3): The various dimensions of far-right attitudes are roughly half as prevalent in persons with post-secondary education as in those without.
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Eastern Germans score higher overall on far-right attitudes esp. xenophobia, but lower on anti-semitism
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some hot spots in the Eastern states (e.g. 20.5 % in favour of dictatorship in the state of Mecklenburg-Eastern Pomerania - that’s probably because this state has suffered most economically after the end of East Germany, so a lot of people look fondly back to dictatorship)
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overall contentment with life not significantly correlated with far-right attitudes, but contentment with relationship strongly negatively correlated (anecdotically there have been reports that in depressed areas in East Germany with a higher far-right vote the young women/young men ratio is as low as < 80 % - young women migrating to West Germany for jobs, young men staying put. It seems a lot of far-right young men aren’t getting any.)
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in personality traits, far-right attitudes correlating highly with non-outgoing personality, depressiveness, anxiety, low resilience to stress, and low self-esteem
Doesn’t Matthew way something about removing the beam from you own eye before you worry about the mote in the eye of someone else.
We have a chief executive, and not just random citizens, who appears to embrace the idea that the executive is the single most powerful and superior branch of our government. And there seem to be many members of his political party in congress who agree with him about that.
Since we have the power to do a lot more damage to the peace of the world than does Germany, our first priority might well be getting our own house in order.
“We sleep sound in our beds because fuckwits stand ready”? 
Germany? FuckGermany!
U! S! A! U! S! A! U! S! A!
“Ze Turd time will do ze trick!”
I know you’re just talking correlation, but it’s funny how well those traits describe me and how poorly the far-right attitudes do.
In any case, I don’t see cause for alarm in the OP’s stats.
The extra information provided by tschild is indeed very significant. I especially appreciate the info showing age dependency, indicating things are improving (that’s actually co-incite with my personal experience of Germany and Austria).
I hate those vague, intentionally-dire-sounding statements that mean nothing. “14 percent believe Jews cheat in business”? Heck, I believe they do too. No more or less than non-Jews, though.