Working class kids otoh often come - of -age, forge their bonds at the assembly lines of autoplants, in coal mines and steel mills, on football fields, in pubs and in street gangs. Gerhard Schröder, Danny Cohn Bendit and Joschka Fischer are examples of the latter. They all share a militant front fighter narrative.
The folks mentioned above are largely envied by poor chaps like i.e. Merz, the beloved darling of the CDU/CSU youngsters. Merz really, really suffers from his boring, unadventurous past, from his lack of 'street credibility'. In his desperation he even tried to make up some stories. Here are two of them:
One day I will tell you the story of that pennyless taxi driver and how he sneaked in with his 'Putzkolonne' to have some free drinks at a Weinprobe (degustation of wines) at the Cafe Südstern right next to the Frankfurt slaughterhouses. "The USA appears destined by fate to plague America with misery in the name of liberty." Simon Bolivar, Caracas, 1819
I'd better not invent a revolutionary past. Then again, I don't intend to run for office :-P guaranteed to evoke a violent reaction from police is to challenge their right to "define the situation." --- David Graeber citing Marc Cooper
