Here is the strangest Berlin Google Local Guide story ever! Have you ever tried this surveillance capitalism activity on Google called being a Google Local Guide? The Userstory is making pictures of a place and post it on Google Maps. You can also judge places with ratings.
It is so bad and privileged that I need to try it sometimes. This year, Google was all about Kafka and offered places in Berlin with the keyword Kafka. There is not much Kafka in Berlin, I think, accept this Kafka Linde next to the Mall of Berlin. I went there to find the tree and got disappointed how there is no signage of Kafka. Totally outraged by Google, I started to confront this people on the picture about this unique place they are standing right now. It is very important to me to translate that every spot in Berlin is history. Probably you stand on a Stolperstein where a Jew got deported and killed, or a place where there used to be a real wall. The first people I started to inform were just ignoring me. The second one told me when I started to inform them that they get major Kafka credit points when they make a picture here, that their name was actually Kafka. They were a Canadian family traveling through Germany with the name Kafka. When I asked them if they are related, they said yes but very distant.
I can't describe this isolated vibe in Berlin. You never meet or bump into a familiar face on streets and always wonder where everyone goes. But then this grooming situations are happening. I felt like I had the perfect example for their social media user story and could really post the picture on their map. The surveillance capitalism just makes me feel sad and angry. It took me three months to upload and share this strange story.
I found more Kafka at the Paper tiger Theater on Oderberger Str. 14, 10435 Berlin.
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