Wis he Germany’s most popular humorist or the nation’s teacher? Bernhard-Viktor “Vicco” Christoph-Carl von Bülow, who has been around since 1950 Loriot called, loved to show a middle class that no longer existed what it no longer knew. When, in one of his cartoons, he demonstrated to his audience which way of eating during the opera premiere was correct and which was completely unacceptable, he was making fun of everything at the same time: about the opera, which he admittedly loved, about rules of etiquette, which in spite of everything were considered obsolete due to diminishing necessity, and about the audience, which he viewed with a keen eye and mild judgment. The Germans were his material, as inexhaustible as they were incorrigible.
Last but not least, Loriot, who published “guides”, “textbooks” and “guides” in rapid succession since the 1960s, sparked the widespread need for guidance in all questions of life, which was widespread then and now. The natural mental and emotional state of the Germans, as shown primarily by Loriot, resulted from deep-seated insecurity and simultaneous situational overload. Both together led to confusion, irritability and – in perfect symbiosis of both conditions – irritable confusion. This had to be covered up as casually as possible. But with what?
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