The resentment of the renegades
The government lied to us. Corona was a fake. And the measures were excessive. Experts were all swindlers and fraudsters.
I wish it were that simple. The situation was complicated at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and we were all overwhelmed at first. There was a lot we didn't know and other things we couldn't have imagined. With the exception of a few smarty-pants who knew what was going on from the start, we as a society were at the mercy of the experts' judgment. And most of us believed them at first.
From Serdar Somuncu
I wish it were that simple. The situation was complicated at the start of the coronavirus pandemic and we were all overwhelmed at first. There was a lot we didn't know and other things we couldn't have imagined. With the exception of a few smarty-pants who knew what was going on from the start, we as a society were at the mercy of the experts' judgment. And most of us believed them at first.
From Serdar Somuncu
In retrospect, however, the extent of the audacity with which politics and science acted surprised even those who thought that there was something wrong with the whole thing only as the crisis progressed.
Ever stricter measures against critics and the unvaccinated, unprecedented defamation, criminalization and exclusion meant that even the formerly reasonable voices began to have doubts and had to be silenced.
The signs are all there that we will soon have reached the plateau. I would not open up everything, but proceed in stages. Retail has never been the main transmission point for infections. That's why it's justified to bring it out of the de facto lockdown now."
Hendrik Streek (virologist and member of the expert commission, 10.02.2022)
At this point at the latest, I also began to change my attitude and go on the counter-offensive. Not only was it frightening to see the ease with which politicians were demanding ever tougher measures, it was also frightening that the majority of the population was accepting them without resistance.
"What we are currently experiencing is nothing more than politicians helplessly dealing with a pandemic whose end is not in sight as long as we keep relying on supposed ultimate solutions instead of constantly adapting measures in line with the goals we have and the dangers we want to avoid.
Numbers seem to play only a subordinate role and the power given to the same commentators and broadcasters is so overwhelming that further aggravation and exacerbation of the situation can hardly be avoided. Even the mantra-like repeated narratives no longer work. In the beginning, it was the "pandemic of the unvaccinated", then there was talk of a "vanishingly small minority of radical right-wing esoterics in the East" who are taking to the streets because they are stubborn and dissatisfied with the system anyway, now people are simply concealing the fact that more and more people are taking their protests to the streets every day, while the methods of silencing them are becoming increasingly authoritarian."
(My Facebook post from November 2020)
I was later banned from YouTube and restricted from Facebook for allegedly spreading false medical information.
On the other side were celebrities and politicians who not only stood unconditionally behind measures, but also supported campaigns whose sense was more than questionable from today's perspective.
"Would dividing society really be such a bad thing? It wouldn't break apart in the middle, but quite far to the bottom right. And such an appendix is not strictly speaking essential for the survival of the whole complex."
(Sarah Bosetti, blogger - tweet from 03.12.2021)
"It is clear, however, that most of today's unvaccinated people will either have been vaccinated, recovered or unfortunately died by then, because the incidence of infection with severe courses mainly affects those who refuse to be vaccinated."
Karl Lauterbach (SPD, 28.10.2021)
"Anyone who doesn't get vaccinated is an antisocial free rider"
(Eckhard von Hirschhausen doctor and cabaret artist, Die Welt 08.09.2020).
"I, on the other hand, would like to take this opportunity to expressly ask for social disadvantages for all those who voluntarily choose not to be vaccinated. May the entire republic point the finger at them."
Nikolaus Blome (Head of the Politics & Business department at RTL and n-Tv, 7.12.21)
We really must now do everything we can and use all means at our disposal - and that is exactly what proportionality is - to combat the pandemic. A minority of those willing to be vaccinated are holding the majority of society hostage. This endangers the freedom of 80 percent of the population. This is an encroachment on the physical integrity of 80 percent of the population."
Peter Dabrock (Chairman of the German Ethics Council, 22.11.21)
Curfews, bans on demonstrations and increasingly absurd rules, and finally demands for the introduction of compulsory vaccination were just the inglorious highlights. Much worse were the suspicion, mistrust and anger that existed on both sides of the now divided population.
Today we know that much of what was said and claimed was hot air. Whether it was the discussions about the effectiveness of the vaccination or the wearing of masks to protect people, the media in conjunction with supposed experts caused a great deal of hysteria. What's more, they have vehemently called for strict and rigid action against dissenters and doubters. Compared to the indifference they showed towards the desolate situation in hospitals and the shortage of nursing staff, this was not only disproportionate, but also arbitrary and wrong. People increasingly had the uneasy feeling that they were in a permanent state of emergency that was removing and abolishing all supports of the rule of law.
Apart from the economic damage, the loss of credibility of politics towards its citizens became ever greater, until it finally turned into sheer rage. An anger that has not calmed down to this day. The images of police officers beating innocent citizens, the arrogance with which those responsible spoke and the assistance of the press and media are still remembered by many to this day. They are a reminder of how susceptible we all are to seemingly impossible social aberrations. The state we were supposed to trust became ever more authoritarian and resistance to it ever more justified.
And the fact is that we have always been promised different rescue routes - we don't need to rehash everything now - but there has been a lot of talk about the effectiveness of vaccines, and a lot of revision, and even those who are at the forefront of selling and explaining this effectiveness to people have often had to revise themselves. This includes the head of the Stiko and Karl Lauterbach. This also includes Christian Drosten and many others. So what I now understand by realism is not only to support people's doubts and take to the streets and side with them, but at least to take them seriously and give them better explanations than those that have been given or are no longer being given, because it's no longer about explanations at all. I have the feeling that at the moment it's simply a power struggle between those in power and a large majority of those who think they've done it right and a small minority of those who think they've done it better, and that can't be the end of the story, that we now stand irreconcilably opposed to each other and wait for the other to buckle and do what we want them to do, but we have to find practicable and fair solutions that apply to everyone and you just said that there is no pressure or coercion, or whatever you called it. Of course there is pressure. You just mentioned it yourself, in Austria. High, drastic penalties from EUR 3000 to imprisonment, so quite apart from that, how are you going to implement that? Do you want to imprison people who don't want to be vaccinated now? Are you going to put them in prison by the thousands?"
And further.
"We have a considerable potential of people, however many there may be, who refuse or are dissatisfied or want another way and I also think there are other solutions, I've said that many times, such as in Switzerland, for example, where there is a tax that unvaccinated people have to pay, such as the possibility of letting people bear the costs they cause themselves. There are other ways than this compulsory vaccination!"
(Excerpt from the RBB podcast Schröder & Somuncu from November 2022)
Nevertheless. It would be wrong to believe that now is the time for revenge and that it is the right response to this scandal. The resentment of the apostates, as understandable as it is, must not turn into satisfaction. For in doing so, they are making the same mistake as their opponents. What we need now is a merciless clarification and the courage of politicians to admit mistakes. But this is lacking.
As long as Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, for example, continues to glorify his failings as a venial error, the question of transparency will remain unanswered. What's more, it becomes a defiant cover-up tactic for an elite caste of know-it-alls and moralists.
A minister who makes no secret of the fact that his countless talk show appearances were intended to serve no other purpose than to spread panic and uncertainty is flirting with the apocalypse and to this day is preventing the people of this country from being informed.
the people of this country from coming into their own. Namely, to finally learn the truth about the background to the corona crisis!
The fact that this could mean that some of those responsible are held accountable seems to be a thorn in the side of those who seem only too well aware of their dubious role during the crisis. Arrogant scientists like Professor Christian Drosten, artists like the witless Mai Thi Kim or hysterical loudspeakers like health expert Janosch Dahmen from the Greens suspect that their justifications will not be enough to survive this confrontation. That is why they stubbornly cling to their hypocritical excuses and continue to perpetuate the lies about the superiority of those who know better.
What's more, the already battered government must fear for its power because it finds itself in need of explanation between pointless solidarity with Ukraine and flimsy explanations for the economic escalation of the situation and hopes that time will save it across the finish line of the next general election. A discussion about the excessive measures would really shake this construct and new elections would be the most likely and mildest reaction of democracy to its permanent abuse during the pandemic.
At the same time, however, it would also be an attempt to reconcile the population and to live up to its responsibility retrospectively. Not to continue to play the card of the existential threat, which did not allow any compromises, and instead to put the unsparing and unvarnished truth on the table.
It would show us all that to err is still human, but it would be even more human to learn from one's mistakes.
28.03.24
©Serdar Somuncu
Current program "Seelenheil" now downloadable in Shop
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and director
Ever stricter measures against critics and the unvaccinated, unprecedented defamation, criminalization and exclusion meant that even the formerly reasonable voices began to have doubts and had to be silenced.
The signs are all there that we will soon have reached the plateau. I would not open up everything, but proceed in stages. Retail has never been the main transmission point for infections. That's why it's justified to bring it out of the de facto lockdown now."
Hendrik Streek (virologist and member of the expert commission, 10.02.2022)
At this point at the latest, I also began to change my attitude and go on the counter-offensive. Not only was it frightening to see the ease with which politicians were demanding ever tougher measures, it was also frightening that the majority of the population was accepting them without resistance.
"What we are currently experiencing is nothing more than politicians helplessly dealing with a pandemic whose end is not in sight as long as we keep relying on supposed ultimate solutions instead of constantly adapting measures in line with the goals we have and the dangers we want to avoid.
Numbers seem to play only a subordinate role and the power given to the same commentators and broadcasters is so overwhelming that further aggravation and exacerbation of the situation can hardly be avoided. Even the mantra-like repeated narratives no longer work. In the beginning, it was the "pandemic of the unvaccinated", then there was talk of a "vanishingly small minority of radical right-wing esoterics in the East" who are taking to the streets because they are stubborn and dissatisfied with the system anyway, now people are simply concealing the fact that more and more people are taking their protests to the streets every day, while the methods of silencing them are becoming increasingly authoritarian."
(My Facebook post from November 2020)
I was later banned from YouTube and restricted from Facebook for allegedly spreading false medical information.
On the other side were celebrities and politicians who not only stood unconditionally behind measures, but also supported campaigns whose sense was more than questionable from today's perspective.
"Would dividing society really be such a bad thing? It wouldn't break apart in the middle, but quite far to the bottom right. And such an appendix is not strictly speaking essential for the survival of the whole complex."
(Sarah Bosetti, blogger - tweet from 03.12.2021)
"It is clear, however, that most of today's unvaccinated people will either have been vaccinated, recovered or unfortunately died by then, because the incidence of infection with severe courses mainly affects those who refuse to be vaccinated."
Karl Lauterbach (SPD, 28.10.2021)
"Anyone who doesn't get vaccinated is an antisocial free rider"
(Eckhard von Hirschhausen doctor and cabaret artist, Die Welt 08.09.2020).
"I, on the other hand, would like to take this opportunity to expressly ask for social disadvantages for all those who voluntarily choose not to be vaccinated. May the entire republic point the finger at them."
Nikolaus Blome (Head of the Politics & Business department at RTL and n-Tv, 7.12.21)
We really must now do everything we can and use all means at our disposal - and that is exactly what proportionality is - to combat the pandemic. A minority of those willing to be vaccinated are holding the majority of society hostage. This endangers the freedom of 80 percent of the population. This is an encroachment on the physical integrity of 80 percent of the population."
Peter Dabrock (Chairman of the German Ethics Council, 22.11.21)
Curfews, bans on demonstrations and increasingly absurd rules, and finally demands for the introduction of compulsory vaccination were just the inglorious highlights. Much worse were the suspicion, mistrust and anger that existed on both sides of the now divided population.
Today we know that much of what was said and claimed was hot air. Whether it was the discussions about the effectiveness of the vaccination or the wearing of masks to protect people, the media in conjunction with supposed experts caused a great deal of hysteria. What's more, they have vehemently called for strict and rigid action against dissenters and doubters. Compared to the indifference they showed towards the desolate situation in hospitals and the shortage of nursing staff, this was not only disproportionate, but also arbitrary and wrong. People increasingly had the uneasy feeling that they were in a permanent state of emergency that was removing and abolishing all supports of the rule of law.
Apart from the economic damage, the loss of credibility of politics towards its citizens became ever greater, until it finally turned into sheer rage. An anger that has not calmed down to this day. The images of police officers beating innocent citizens, the arrogance with which those responsible spoke and the assistance of the press and media are still remembered by many to this day. They are a reminder of how susceptible we all are to seemingly impossible social aberrations. The state we were supposed to trust became ever more authoritarian and resistance to it ever more justified.
And the fact is that we have always been promised different rescue routes - we don't need to rehash everything now - but there has been a lot of talk about the effectiveness of vaccines, and a lot of revision, and even those who are at the forefront of selling and explaining this effectiveness to people have often had to revise themselves. This includes the head of the Stiko and Karl Lauterbach. This also includes Christian Drosten and many others. So what I now understand by realism is not only to support people's doubts and take to the streets and side with them, but at least to take them seriously and give them better explanations than those that have been given or are no longer being given, because it's no longer about explanations at all. I have the feeling that at the moment it's simply a power struggle between those in power and a large majority of those who think they've done it right and a small minority of those who think they've done it better, and that can't be the end of the story, that we now stand irreconcilably opposed to each other and wait for the other to buckle and do what we want them to do, but we have to find practicable and fair solutions that apply to everyone and you just said that there is no pressure or coercion, or whatever you called it. Of course there is pressure. You just mentioned it yourself, in Austria. High, drastic penalties from EUR 3000 to imprisonment, so quite apart from that, how are you going to implement that? Do you want to imprison people who don't want to be vaccinated now? Are you going to put them in prison by the thousands?"
And further.
"We have a considerable potential of people, however many there may be, who refuse or are dissatisfied or want another way and I also think there are other solutions, I've said that many times, such as in Switzerland, for example, where there is a tax that unvaccinated people have to pay, such as the possibility of letting people bear the costs they cause themselves. There are other ways than this compulsory vaccination!"
(Excerpt from the RBB podcast Schröder & Somuncu from November 2022)
Nevertheless. It would be wrong to believe that now is the time for revenge and that it is the right response to this scandal. The resentment of the apostates, as understandable as it is, must not turn into satisfaction. For in doing so, they are making the same mistake as their opponents. What we need now is a merciless clarification and the courage of politicians to admit mistakes. But this is lacking.
As long as Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, for example, continues to glorify his failings as a venial error, the question of transparency will remain unanswered. What's more, it becomes a defiant cover-up tactic for an elite caste of know-it-alls and moralists.
A minister who makes no secret of the fact that his countless talk show appearances were intended to serve no other purpose than to spread panic and uncertainty is flirting with the apocalypse and to this day is preventing the people of this country from being informed.
the people of this country from coming into their own. Namely, to finally learn the truth about the background to the corona crisis!
The fact that this could mean that some of those responsible are held accountable seems to be a thorn in the side of those who seem only too well aware of their dubious role during the crisis. Arrogant scientists like Professor Christian Drosten, artists like the witless Mai Thi Kim or hysterical loudspeakers like health expert Janosch Dahmen from the Greens suspect that their justifications will not be enough to survive this confrontation. That is why they stubbornly cling to their hypocritical excuses and continue to perpetuate the lies about the superiority of those who know better.
What's more, the already battered government must fear for its power because it finds itself in need of explanation between pointless solidarity with Ukraine and flimsy explanations for the economic escalation of the situation and hopes that time will save it across the finish line of the next general election. A discussion about the excessive measures would really shake this construct and new elections would be the most likely and mildest reaction of democracy to its permanent abuse during the pandemic.
At the same time, however, it would also be an attempt to reconcile the population and to live up to its responsibility retrospectively. Not to continue to play the card of the existential threat, which did not allow any compromises, and instead to put the unsparing and unvarnished truth on the table.
It would show us all that to err is still human, but it would be even more human to learn from one's mistakes.
28.03.24
©Serdar Somuncu
Current program "Seelenheil" now downloadable in Shop
*Serdar Somuncu is an actor and director
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