Nudes in the news

[eyesup]

These are all just further examples of the "Golden Rule" -
He who has the gold makes the rules.

These days it’s more like,
He who has the gold connections makes the rules.

Duane

[BlueTrain]

It's the gold that gets the connections.

I haven't noticed any mention of nudes in the news lately, not positive, anyway. But several years ago, when I still watched television, there was a news story about a local fitness club (or whatever it was) that hosted a nude night for (presumably) a local non-landed nudist club. There were kids in the video portion, though nothing was shown full-frontal, although from the back nothing was hidden. I may have mentioned this before. It must have been a slow news day or something.

A few years later there was a story somewhere on television about the nude beaches on the North Sea in Germany. Again full-nudity, but only from the back. The story was, I think, about how there were objections to the nudity from what had been East Germany. That may have been in connection with the relatively recent reunification of Germany. So that may have been a while. I also recall an article in a nudist magazine (which was probably 40 or 50 years ago) about some Germany nudist club located within sight of the border with East Germany.

We do have a television here and my wife watches it a lot. But she likes British TV, for which there is a local station, but I can't understand the dialogue. I could barely understand anyone when we travelled in the UK a few years ago.

[John P]

You've got that backward, Blue Train. East Germany was a repressive society, but one thing people were allowed to do was be naked, at least on beaches. Now there's some resentment of the fact that West Germans sometimes visit the east, and make it clear that they object to nudity! But in general in Germany, you never have to travel far to find an accepted nude beach, and even if there isn't one, you won't have any trouble if you're naked, as long as you keep some distance from other people.

A while ago I read about an amusing word--"Ostalgia". ("Ost" being the German for "east".) The end of East Germany is far enough in the past now that people can have a few pleasant memories about it. One thing is that the "East German Crossing Man" from pedestrian crossings, has now become familiar in the west too:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ampelm%C3%A4nnchen

A while ago there was a picture being circulated that was claimed to show Angela Merkel (who grew up in East Germany) as a young woman, on a nude beach. I don't recall that she ever confirmed or denied that it was her, but in Germany it wouldn't be embarrassing if it were true.

[jbeegoode]

I saw some of those Merkel photos somewhere. Sure did look like her, it had some background to verify them. She has been aloof about the "allegations" that she was naked on a beach in East Germany. It was something of a non denile denile. Could have been a hoak...it shouldn't be important, but it would be great for her to non-apologetically admit it.

I'm remembering the JAckie-O nude snatches and the uproar, the humility, the anger of some that she was being exploited, but everyone had to have a look, the monetary value of the photographic property, the scandal that she would do that, "Jackie wouldn't do that, it must be a fake!" "Heavens!" Merkel isn't America's darling, and the photos are old of a younger person before she became a public figure, and from the "olden times" of East Germany, but the hoopla seems to show that people's attitudes about simple nudity is improving, or should I say, naked celebrities are getting somewhat old hat.

It can erode cultural standards incrementally, step by step."If someone famous can brush off everyone seeing them naked, then I suppose that it ain't no thing and not the end of my world if my body is seen", then it may follow, "being nude, seen nude, seeing others nude is okay."
Jbee

[BlueTrain]

When I lived in Germany, the place to go was Croatia. If you go to the North Sea beaches, take a sweater.

[JOhnGw]

When I lived in Germany, the place to go was Croatia. If you go to the North Sea beaches, take a sweater.

Precisely - the North Sea is often cold but is usually colder.

[BlueTrain]

My daughter also lived in Germany for three years, not too far from Trier, but they never went to the beach.

[John P]

A beach doesn't have to be on the ocean! Last summer three friends and I went on the Naked European Walking tour, and we finished up in Germany visiting some tourist sites in Bavaria. One place we went was up the Zugspitze, the highest point in Germany, which is a tourist trip by cog railway, then afterward we walked out beside the Eibsee, an incredibly beautiful lake overlooked by the mountain. Someone told us that there was a nude beach there, but we never found it; with the day coming to an end, we just decided we'd come far enough, and we enjoyed the remaining sunlight with a swim. There were other people nearby, some nude and some clothed. If anyone cared, they didn't tell us.

[BlueTrain]

Once, when working in Massachusetts the summer after I finished high school, I was surprised to learn that not all beaches have sand, although the beach in question was in Connecticut.

[eyesup]

Connections, in a country with massive government intervention, are infinitely more valuable than gold. If you control what law enforcement does, it doesn’t matter how much gold you have. Just look at the countries with oligarchs running the markets with the blessings of the government.

The world turned upside down.

Duane

[eyesup]

JohnP, that was in the summer, yes? Was the lake as cold as the North Sea?

It is a beautiful spot. Was it included in the pictorial you did after getting home?

Duane

[eyesup]

What a deal! Get paid for being naked!
Unfortunately, the best spots seem to all be for women. But naked cleaners for naturists and nudists that don’t have time to do their own house keeping is a good idea whose time has come.

Duane

[John P]

JohnP, that was in the summer, yes? Was the lake as cold as the North Sea?

It is a beautiful spot. Was it included in the pictorial you did after getting home?

Duane

Yes, last August. I can't say how cold the North Sea would be, but that lake at the foot of the Alps was pretty comfortable, in spite of streams flowing down off the snowfields! Not sure what you mean about "the pictorial". The pictures I posted here? I actually ran out of energy there, and stopped posting them before I reached the end of the trip. Should I resume that project?

[BlueTrain]

Connections, in a country with massive government intervention, are infinitely more valuable than gold. If you control what law enforcement does, it doesn’t matter how much gold you have. Just look at the countries with oligarchs running the markets with the blessings of the government.
Duane

Doesn't have to be "massive government intervention." It can even be in a place with practically no government. All that is necessary is a few powerful people, not necessarily rich, either. Basic feudalism.

[eyesup]

Yep! Power is a much more potent aphrodisiac than gold.

Duane