Days of government-sponsored protests and state media campaigns against the AfD have failed to break support for the party, and still less to solve any of Germany's problems
Days of government-sponsored protests and state media campaigns against the AfD have failed to break support for the party, and still less to solve any of Germany's problems
In Soviet Germany, the government protests YOU. Alas, government-organised and state media-promoted protests are a great expense and they cannot go on forever. Yesterday Der Spiegel could still write that “tens of thousands are protesting against the AfD
This is truly a remarkable time. Doomsters may lament that, like frogs in slowly-heated water, the populace will gradually acclimate to lower standards of living and diminishing freedoms until it's too late to mount an opposition. What we are seeing instead is that, at a very organic and personal level, resistance is mounting. It may be true that most people will not put up a fight until their heels are at the edge of the cliff, but we are reaching the point at which the choice of fight-vs.-tumble-into-the-abyss is starkly before us. If this sentiment were confined to only one or two jurisidictions, these pockets of resistance would not hold--but peoples across the West are finally being pushed to the breaking point. This is only the beginning of a very tense year, but there is hope.
I came to Germany 22 years ago, and the country in its present state is unrecognizable compared to the place I arrived in way back then. I thought I had left behind me a government that surely was the most hypocritical in history. Starting non-stop, permanent wars all in the interest of exporting women's rights, unisex public bathrooms, and the right to choose to treat the unborn like inconvenient bowel movements etc. I also had a very high opinion of Germany, based on very thin evidence. I thought the western European social democracies were going to be utopian compared to the United States. Laughing just writing these words. I was confronted by the REAL Germany when my freelance business collapsed and I learned first hand how people who are really the working poor are treated here. They are treated such that it is very easy to imagine Germany's rulers simply want them dead or mentally and spiritually broken, leaving them powerless to resist. If the were just a little honest they would simply send the poor to forced labor camps. Three times I built my business up again, because perhaps the greatest blessing of having grown up American was the idea of living at the expense of other people, at the expense of the guy who drives a taxi on the night shift, maybe with 3 kids and a wife suffering from cancer. I should have no qualms about dipping into that guy's bank account. That's what European social democracies (the welfare state) call "social solidarity". The welfare state is the prime cause of the fall of Europe. It robs a people of all their dignity, honor and self-respect. The fundamental principle of the welfare state is "How do I get my fingers into my neighbor's wallet." It is often said that a people get exactly the government they deserve. And the Germans richly deserve their present state of affairs. However, I sincerely hope they will come to their senses and stop this lunacy. As for me, I'm on my way soon out of this horrible country, running as if chased by a pack of wolves (my health insurer and the German tax authorities). Sorry for going on so long. Thank you for the forum, and God bless you all!
Reminds me of the attacks on Trump that only make him stronger. At a certain point, people become numb to the propaganda because it's so obviously undermined by reality.
Eugyppius, you could change a few words here and there and this article would also fit Canada to a "T".
Ever since the spring of 2020, Canadian media has been holding the people to account, rather than the politicians . . . but I guess that's to be expected when the ruling party (and big tech) are funding the media. Ultimately, the media is now paid to influence the public and that is almost entirely what they're currently attempting to do - but it's for the greater good, remember!
Also, your comment about the great-sounding slogans incessantly regurgitated by the Soc Dems and Greens: I think you really hit on something there. Why just last night I attended an arts event that was populated by 70-80% white, 40+ yr old, women, and during a short conversation I had with one of them (in the education industry) we both agreed that the increasingly high cost of living (especially food) was crushing families, but then only a minute or two later she told me she "didn't want to get political, but we're at the point now where the government needs to buckle down and spend more money on social services". Umm ok, because clearly the government hasn't been spending like a drunken sailor for the last 4 years! I don't think there is much critical thought of held beliefs among a pretty high percentage of the population. I didn't care to chit chat much with her after that.
"Yes, nothing portends “dismantling democracy” as much as holding free and democratic elections at a moment when too many people have the wrong opinions..."
Indeed follow the Biden model where DNC barred primary voters because all the cancelled debates and barred competitors still can't make Genocide Joe look popular.
I recommend reading the AfD's platform, which can be found online in English. I read it and found it quite reasonable. Do NOT believe what journalists say about them.
Ah, the old effigy-hanging hand-wringing has reached your shores as well.
There was a very crude gallows that made its way to the Capitol on our worse-than-Pearl-Harbor day known as January 6th. Our leftist media has taken that single item and elevated to the point that its intent was to physically hang Then-VP Mike Pence. I doubt it would have supported a sack of potatoes.
We are mirror-image countries at this point in time, and I fear for all of us.
This belief that the only reason why people don't like them is that they haven't explained their views well enough has a whiff of narcissism. A narcissist doesn't accept rejection, so they make up excuses for why they are only rejected in theory, but are actually well liked.
“Nothing makes me want to put the opposition in power more than reading the deluge of commentary about why it is a grave sin to want the Scholz Clown Car out of government. You could not devise a better pro-AfD guerilla publicity campaign if you tried.”
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This is true everywhere. I keep waking up every morning thinking I hope Trump wins and having to smack myself into wanting everyone to lose so I can restore my self-respect. Really tiring and not the exercise best for my cardiovascular system.
I like the gallows and see nothing wrong with their original purpose when it comes to politicians, elected and unelected (eg WEF) who are constantly trying to f*** us over.
Our chances of changing anything are slim. Governments are so powerful and they have managed to make us very dependent on them. It is difficult to imagine a country without politicians even for me. Imagine for the normies; they say they hate the politicians but they cannot live without them. I don't know how dependent we actually are or to what extent it is an illusion.
Things are no longer as they used to be. Imagine in the middle age, the king sent some guys to gather the taxes in a small town, they just kicked them in the ass and they were gone. Those peasants just noticed that taxes were just a theft. But now we feel that without taxes the country does not work, and to some extent it is true because the government has monopolized many areas.
This is truly a remarkable time. Doomsters may lament that, like frogs in slowly-heated water, the populace will gradually acclimate to lower standards of living and diminishing freedoms until it's too late to mount an opposition. What we are seeing instead is that, at a very organic and personal level, resistance is mounting. It may be true that most people will not put up a fight until their heels are at the edge of the cliff, but we are reaching the point at which the choice of fight-vs.-tumble-into-the-abyss is starkly before us. If this sentiment were confined to only one or two jurisidictions, these pockets of resistance would not hold--but peoples across the West are finally being pushed to the breaking point. This is only the beginning of a very tense year, but there is hope.
The AfD support is spiking up in an organic manner precisely because Germany is Imploding.
Deindustrialization is the natural result of decoupling from Russia & the rest of Eurasia.
The People will eventually revolt to stop living standards from cratering.
The US occupation of Germany (& Europe) will end!
The Populist Triumph in Germany is inevitable!
I came to Germany 22 years ago, and the country in its present state is unrecognizable compared to the place I arrived in way back then. I thought I had left behind me a government that surely was the most hypocritical in history. Starting non-stop, permanent wars all in the interest of exporting women's rights, unisex public bathrooms, and the right to choose to treat the unborn like inconvenient bowel movements etc. I also had a very high opinion of Germany, based on very thin evidence. I thought the western European social democracies were going to be utopian compared to the United States. Laughing just writing these words. I was confronted by the REAL Germany when my freelance business collapsed and I learned first hand how people who are really the working poor are treated here. They are treated such that it is very easy to imagine Germany's rulers simply want them dead or mentally and spiritually broken, leaving them powerless to resist. If the were just a little honest they would simply send the poor to forced labor camps. Three times I built my business up again, because perhaps the greatest blessing of having grown up American was the idea of living at the expense of other people, at the expense of the guy who drives a taxi on the night shift, maybe with 3 kids and a wife suffering from cancer. I should have no qualms about dipping into that guy's bank account. That's what European social democracies (the welfare state) call "social solidarity". The welfare state is the prime cause of the fall of Europe. It robs a people of all their dignity, honor and self-respect. The fundamental principle of the welfare state is "How do I get my fingers into my neighbor's wallet." It is often said that a people get exactly the government they deserve. And the Germans richly deserve their present state of affairs. However, I sincerely hope they will come to their senses and stop this lunacy. As for me, I'm on my way soon out of this horrible country, running as if chased by a pack of wolves (my health insurer and the German tax authorities). Sorry for going on so long. Thank you for the forum, and God bless you all!
Reminds me of the attacks on Trump that only make him stronger. At a certain point, people become numb to the propaganda because it's so obviously undermined by reality.
Eugyppius, you could change a few words here and there and this article would also fit Canada to a "T".
Ever since the spring of 2020, Canadian media has been holding the people to account, rather than the politicians . . . but I guess that's to be expected when the ruling party (and big tech) are funding the media. Ultimately, the media is now paid to influence the public and that is almost entirely what they're currently attempting to do - but it's for the greater good, remember!
Also, your comment about the great-sounding slogans incessantly regurgitated by the Soc Dems and Greens: I think you really hit on something there. Why just last night I attended an arts event that was populated by 70-80% white, 40+ yr old, women, and during a short conversation I had with one of them (in the education industry) we both agreed that the increasingly high cost of living (especially food) was crushing families, but then only a minute or two later she told me she "didn't want to get political, but we're at the point now where the government needs to buckle down and spend more money on social services". Umm ok, because clearly the government hasn't been spending like a drunken sailor for the last 4 years! I don't think there is much critical thought of held beliefs among a pretty high percentage of the population. I didn't care to chit chat much with her after that.
"Yes, nothing portends “dismantling democracy” as much as holding free and democratic elections at a moment when too many people have the wrong opinions..."
Indeed follow the Biden model where DNC barred primary voters because all the cancelled debates and barred competitors still can't make Genocide Joe look popular.
I recommend reading the AfD's platform, which can be found online in English. I read it and found it quite reasonable. Do NOT believe what journalists say about them.
Ah, the old effigy-hanging hand-wringing has reached your shores as well.
There was a very crude gallows that made its way to the Capitol on our worse-than-Pearl-Harbor day known as January 6th. Our leftist media has taken that single item and elevated to the point that its intent was to physically hang Then-VP Mike Pence. I doubt it would have supported a sack of potatoes.
We are mirror-image countries at this point in time, and I fear for all of us.
This belief that the only reason why people don't like them is that they haven't explained their views well enough has a whiff of narcissism. A narcissist doesn't accept rejection, so they make up excuses for why they are only rejected in theory, but are actually well liked.
Do you think there are "shy" AfD voters, kind of like how Trump polled low back in 2015 and then suddenly won? How are these polls conducted?
“Nothing makes me want to put the opposition in power more than reading the deluge of commentary about why it is a grave sin to want the Scholz Clown Car out of government. You could not devise a better pro-AfD guerilla publicity campaign if you tried.”
----------------------
This is true everywhere. I keep waking up every morning thinking I hope Trump wins and having to smack myself into wanting everyone to lose so I can restore my self-respect. Really tiring and not the exercise best for my cardiovascular system.
I like the gallows and see nothing wrong with their original purpose when it comes to politicians, elected and unelected (eg WEF) who are constantly trying to f*** us over.
So many 1930's vibes...sooo many.
Our chances of changing anything are slim. Governments are so powerful and they have managed to make us very dependent on them. It is difficult to imagine a country without politicians even for me. Imagine for the normies; they say they hate the politicians but they cannot live without them. I don't know how dependent we actually are or to what extent it is an illusion.
Things are no longer as they used to be. Imagine in the middle age, the king sent some guys to gather the taxes in a small town, they just kicked them in the ass and they were gone. Those peasants just noticed that taxes were just a theft. But now we feel that without taxes the country does not work, and to some extent it is true because the government has monopolized many areas.
"The people who set up these displays are not literally demanding that Scholz, Habeck and Lindner be hanged."
Maybe not yet, but a couple more years of intentional de-industrialization and the hanging crowd might gain some momentum.
"The system's like really complicated! That means it's everyone's fault (that means it's nobody's fault, particularly not mine *cough*)!