Just a harmless giant from a foreign land.
Par de course, yes.
"You can reply to this Message!"
It's pretty much the point, though they usually tend to aim more towards German politic. The idea is to express all the pent-up anger you feel towards your "rulers" so to speak. It's nowadays not as relevant as it used to be because, well, German TV is full of comedy shows, but it is still part of the tradition. Take it as a loud "we see what you are doing" towards the one in power from the unwashed masses.
Under the article someone commented that they made it into the Dutch media...Wilders is apparently not amused. Sad.
edited 28th Feb '17 7:12:35 AM by Swanpride
Oh, bother.
This was the first time I ever heard of this.
...So many wasted years. 
Also, I'm not sure whether to be flattered or horrified to see that our current POS POTUS was the "inspiration" for several of those floats.
edited 28th Feb '17 7:17:00 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprised
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
Should have seen the ones after the NSA affair....American politics tend to bleed into the floats because it does have an impact on Germany, though it is rarely that much in focus. We have enough own politicians to call out.
edited 28th Feb '17 7:57:48 AM by Swanpride
About satirical carnival and art... the Holy Roman Empire did an awful lot to inspire generations of highly variable German, Diets/ Nederlands and Italian speakers up and down the continent. 
... Hungarian, Romainian, Romansch, Occitan and Lombard, too. Before somebody yells at me.
edited 28th Feb '17 8:28:17 AM by Euodiachloris
Professional Moldy Fig/Curmudgeon
Some of the floats here are nasty and visceral - and that's a damn good thing. There hasn't been anything like it on this side of the pond since Thomas Nast took on Boss Tweed, or Walt Kelly took on Joseph Mc Carthy.
In America, even with the current political situation, people are afraid to really go all out and nasty with making fun of the morons who populate the news. Nobody wants to do utterly dehumanizing caricatures of these people, the sort of thing that would really make them angry. And even when they do show up they feel whiny and outraged instead of the pleasurable nastiness that these floats show.
So kudos to Germany for showing the world how making fun of people ought to be done.
"They say I'm old fashioned, and live in the past, but sometimes I think progress progresses too fast."
Well, there are some who criticize them as too direct and on the nose and therefore unfunny, but, well, that is the typical Carnival humour...you either like it or you don't. Plus, there is the concept of "Narrenfreiheit" (roughly translated the freedom of the fool), meaning that people who go to Carnival are free to act out as much as they want (as long as they don't break any laws, naturally). Call it the outlet to usually being correct and efficient....
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
Well, if I were going to vote on the best one I'd say the one of the foreground. It immediately hit home. Really shows, Liberty needs her wingwoman
◊.
Apparently people agree....this is actually a voting side, so the one on the top get the most votes at being the best.
My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare
I'd also like to say that many Americans fear that drawing or making artistic caricatures of certain figures may result in Unfortunate Implications in regards to their opinions on race.
Many satirical illustrators drew Obama more realistically in contrast to white politicians out of fear that they'd be perceived as drawing inspiration from historical artwork depicting blacks are large lipped and big nosed.
Though his big ears were never off limits. Even to him.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMQkV5cTuoY
Just throwing that in...sorry for just linking instead of embedding, the markup help doesn't open for me.
Vegan sausage.
Why is this allowed?
Si Vis Pacem, Para Perkele
I guess because it hurts nobody but the tastebuds of the people who actually eat the stuff.
I'm not sure that a people who wear socks with sandals can ever be considered truly civilized.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Oh, bother.
Savages.
My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare
When exporting communism is taken literally.
Only the East Germans would want them.
United Earth
Lots of Westies like Marx too.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
I mean, there are a few degrees of separation between celebrating Marx, and celebrating Lenin, Stalin, Mao, et all.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Oh, bother.
Yeah, Marx was just a philosopher and a writer. As far as I know, he never actually killed anyone or ordered people slaughtered.
United Earth
He was a keen and insightful dude who did a lot to help working class people get a less horrendously shitty deal in life, and laid out the groundwork for dramatic improvements in the study of history and society.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
I mean, the University of London is fine with having a statue of Adam Smith. I fail to see the problem, aside from the fact that it's a gift of friendship from China.
edited 15th Mar '17 6:48:20 AM by math792d
Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
Whats wrong with Adam Smith?
Yeah, I see nothing wrong with having statues from Marx and Engels, both not were very important persons who contributed massively to our understansing of history, economy et al. They also did a lot for workers' rights and poor people in general.
It is just ironic that China donates statues of them (they also donated statues of Engels in e.g Wuppertal) while still censoring some of their works.
edited 15th Mar '17 7:32:29 AM by Zarastro
I recall such satirical Carnivals, yeah.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman