America 1982-Chapter 645 - 149: New Life_2

Had it not been for an undercover agent from the Drug Enforcement Agency witnessing firsthand this modestly dressed, upright old brother standing on the pulpit in a church, leading a meeting with the core members of his gang inside the church, teaching everyone how to transport goods to the United States, how to build a sales network from scratch in a new American city, reminding them not to forget their hometown once they made money and settled in big cities, urging them to raise funds to build hospitals, schools, roads, and the notorious drug lords, whose photos hung on the DEA office’s whiteboard, sat below like disciples of Jesus, listening obediently, no one would have believed it was true.

When intelligence came back, the DEA even thought it was a set-up by the drug traffickers to shift the blame, because many members of the gang had been caught in the past without anyone ever mentioning this old brother’s name.

If the American Peace Corps hadn’t thought this scandal seriously affected its international image and kept refusing to authorize several movie companies, Hollywood would have adapted this legendary experience into a film a long time ago.

However, the Peace Corps in West Germany didn’t have as hard a time as those in Africa or South America. With about 2,300 members in total, most of them engaged in cultural exchange, education, and youth development and mentoring, in short almost all German schools, from kindergarten to high school, had American Peace Corps volunteers teaching, making German students understand the United States, understand Americans, understand American culture.

The dual invasion of the American Peace Corps and the United States Military gave Germans conflicting views of America. On one side, the devout missionary volunteers of the Peace Corps exhibited virtues of not being greedy for fame and fortune, selflessly devoting themselves; on the other side, the United States Military personnel became notorious for leaving thousands of German single mothers each year.

Therefore, generally well-educated Germans who had interacted with Peace Corps volunteers had an extremely positive impression of the United States, believing it to be a real-life Garden of Eden where everyone was cultured and polite.

Conversely, the underprivileged Germans living near military bases had the exact opposite impression of America, possibly because the Peace Corps had no poverty alleviation options in West Germany.

How could the Peace Corps be absent at such a significant historical moment? A group of East Germans carefully selected before the Berlin Wall was torn down were warmly welcomed by the Peace Corps as they entered West Germany. The whole process was extensively covered by Vox News Network, helping those people find accommodation, connect with schools, provide them with some cash, and most importantly, help them locate long-lost relatives.

Then VOX’s global subscribers were forced to watch ads for AmigaOS as they saw Peace Corps members boot up computers, launch browsers, and enter a message board for finding relatives, pre-arranged by Susy, to help those from East Germany post messages looking for family abroad.

In reality, the relatives of those East Germans had already started making contact beforehand when Susy had selected the actors, but the portrayal in the news was that of efficient technology and American humanitarian care. It usually wasn’t long before someone would respond to the messages, providing phone numbers and addresses, and then VOX’s reporters would seize the opportunity to film those touching East Germans holding long-distance phone calls, tears streaming down their faces.

Any smart person could see through the facade, but luckily, the world is full of sentimental fools. Using these heartwarming news stories, they remembered AmigaOS, recalled Midas, the graphics web browser software developed by the Stanford University Linear Accelerator Center, and recognized the Europe America Peace Corps message board website.

The most exaggerated advertisement came from Zoey’s live interview with Hans Joachim Meyer, the last Minister of Education of East Germany. To get the former East German Minister of Education and Minister of Arts to advertise for him once, Tommy had to arrange for a dedicated line from the American MCI Corporation, which provided telecommunications in West Germany, into East Germany. He also had to purchase several of the other party’s collected artworks and 20,000 copies of his published works, because the man was worried about his family’s livelihood after the merger—he might become unemployed and no longer hold the high-ranking position of Minister of Education.

Tommy had reached the highest-level official that he could lobby with public relations because the position of Minister of Education barely qualified as a modest government department. More high-profile cabinet officials like the Prime Minister, ministers of finance, justice, posts and telecommunications, economy, labor, construction, energy, and health, snubbed Tommy’s offerings. After all, many American industrialists had long been eyeing the East German market, which was about to open up. Major companies like General Motors, Chevrolet, John Deere, and Johnson & Johnson, had started showing generous goodwill to East German dignitaries looking to cash in last minute, using their soon-to-expire powers to secure various interests in East Germany, since the night the Berlin Wall fell the previous year.

Tommy was only able to draw in the pity characters that the big companies ignored, such as the Minister of Education, Minister of Sports, and Minister of Family and Women’s Affairs.

In a live interview, Minister of Education Hans explained that his biggest headache at the moment was the closure of East German schools as a result of the merger of East and West Germany. The German United Education Committee, formed by the merger of the two Germanys, had not yet provided a post-unity curriculum, leaving East German children and teachers uncertain about what to study or where to get textbooks and teaching materials starting tomorrow. Additionally, there was a group of high school graduates who were supposed to go to Moscow and other places for university this year, but now it seemed necessary to consider student preferences, whether to go to West Germany or other non-Soviet countries for university, and it was uncertain whether their high school grades would be recognized.