Are we governed by madmen?
A guest post from a fellow blogger on the current political grotesquery in Germany
By Pommes Leibowitz | October 12, 2022 – translated by DeepThought
Time and again in their history, Germans have kowtowed to the authorities. Because they were afraid of losing everything otherwise. And because they had kowtowed, they have then lost everything…
The discrepancy between what is heading our way and the illusory world that people are being led to believe in by the media is becoming increasingly grotesque, and one gets the impression that many people are actually not worried at all.
Inflation? It's going to be okay.
Energy prices? Oh, they're going down again, too.
A wave of bankruptcies among companies? Pfhh, they're not insolvent, they just don't produce anything anymore.
Immigration into the already empty social security funds? But they secure our pensions.
No heating in winter? Oh, we just shower a little shorter.
Blackout? Never mind, you've bought yourself a tea light stove.
Escalation of the Ukraine conflict into a world war? Great, then we can really show it to the nasty Putin.
Maybe it would be different if they would just listen to the politicians? Listen consciously?
Are there only lemmings in politics and among the people?
No, there were and are many warning voices. Sahra Wagenknecht, Oscar Lafontaine, Wolfgang Kubicki and last but not least Alice Weidel, all more or less present in the media. But I would like to introduce an old-school SPD man here, from the time when politicians still had brains and education to show:
»Three crises meet. Climate crisis, pandemic and now the Ukraine war. The latter brought the rupture. Not because Putin was in breach of contract, but because we wanted to stop imports of gas and oil from Russia, imposed energy sanctions and are now facing the ruins of our policy.
When the winter turns cold, we will hardly be able to avoid curbing supplies to the economy. The consequences would be destructive, long-term and self-inflicted.«
Klaus von Dohnanyi, SPD veteran (Quote from an interview in the Hamburger Abendblatt)
Is it allowed to lie in election posters (election promises)?
It's always the others who lie. Populists are always the others. Propaganda is always made by the others. The bad guys are (of course) the others!
But what if you compare the past election posters with the current policy. Are not ALL politicians then unrestrained liars and cheats?
Here's just ONE Green Party election poster that packs a punch:
What happened that pacifists, light chain fanatics and NATO critics became not only liars and deceivers, but warmongers and arms dealers, unique in the history of the Federal Republic (of Germany)?
In any case, the fact that one corrupt country invades another corrupt country cannot be the reason; this is everyday life in the world. Our new oil and gas partners are also part of it. Anyway, pacifism is a conviction that is not up for discussion. You are it, or you are not.
And what about crisis management?
The term is probably overused, because causing completely unnecessary crises (energy transition, Corona policy, misguided climate policy, ineffective boycott of Russia) can hardly be called management. One looks in vain for management. If our politicians had any sense at all, they would have ramped up all available power plants at an early stage until viable alternatives were available. However, politicians with sense would not have made all the other mistakes either. There were plenty of warnings…
Pommes Leibowitz is a German blogger who will soon be launching his own substack. As soon as he goes online here with his critical contributions, I will inform you. Also look forward to more satirical memes in a class of their own!