This may be - in addition to the much smaller market size - be a reason why political satire doesn't prosper as much in Germany these days. Our politics are not only boring by comparison, but also fairly straightforward. One could satirise much of what the greens say, and also apply stale communism jokes on the far left, but other than that there's little but some centrist (SPD) hypocrisy, a couple inevitable government officials missteps and of course the conservative infighting between Bavarians and the rest of the country.
B.S.-wise we lag behind the U.S. by many years, and I won't complain about this.
S O
.
What percentage of the vote do you think the apparently unworthy of satire AFD will get?
ReplyDeleteAnything from 4 to 15%, but 8-15% is very unlikely.
DeleteThe election campaign hasn't really picked up steam yet, and the other parties are in control of those government institutions who could publish or hold back reports that would help or hurt the AfD.
The Neonazi faction is slightly below 5%, and the quantity of disgruntled former 'right wing of' CDU voters has a total potential of at most 20% of the total vote. The AfD will fall well short of exploiting this potential fully.
The CDU would keep a tough line against Greece if there's any Euro debt crisis in summer, so the AfD won't benefit much from this angle. The refugee/immigrant aspect can be kept low profile for months as well.
The AfD failed to make waves with topics other than currency and immigration, and thus isn't perceived as a full spectrum party (yet).
They had a chance to pick up where the pirates failed, but evidently their leadership was unsuitable for and disinterested in this.
That will hurt them in the federal elections because Germans have become accustomed to both the currency woes and the immigration woes over the last 4 and 2 years.
And frankly; satire is much more entertaining and worthwhile when directed against people in some kind of position of power. The AfD isn't in such a position on the federal level.
I work for a uni in Scotland, we get a few German students over on exchanges, post grad courses etc... I have seen a definite shift in their politics over the 10 years Ive been here.
DeleteI've talked to more than a couple of Germans over the past years who wide eyed tell me about the persecution of ethnic Germans in Poland, how German aircraft where shot up. How Germanys ambitions were to establish a peaceful alliance with southern countries that allowed them access to the Adriatic bypassing the blocking effect of the Royal Navy.
The details of the arguments, or their counters, arent what interests me. Its that they are getting this stuff from somewhere. What I wonder is, and am in no position to answer, is there a sizeable and effective propaganda, media war, informational war, campaign being waged in Germany and are the youth buying into it.
My father was in the navy during the cold war and has a couple of anecdotes about walking into the wrong German bar and running into the old guard. To be expected, nothing of note. However its important to remember as people get older it is easy to fall into comfortable models of reality. We saw that in Brexit (though not in Scotland) and with Trump in america.
I have first hand knowledge of a shift in the attitudes of German youth. I just wonder how widespread it is.
Doesn't seem like I'm consuming the same info & propaganda outlets as the students you mentioned.
DeleteThere's a small fraction of dangerous idiots in all countries, and the biggest shifts in the German far right post-unification were imho
- East Germans not as much vaccinated against Neonazi B.S. because the vaccination was part of the pseudo-communist propaganda and thus discredited by default
- old (real) nazis practically extinct, younger leaders had more skill in using new media, reaching younger people
- years of high unemployment in East Germany
- integration of rock music bands & clothing fashions to create a far right subculture (other than mere baldness)
- Warsaw Pact socialists no longer serve as scarecrows in the society, which also means that 150% anti-socialist far right wingers are less accepted (less useful) than they used to be (this is particularly of interest in military, intelligence services, police)
- the hostile takeover of AfD (which didn't start as a xenophobic party, but was unable to keep closet de facto neonazis out) gave them majority control inside a real not 100% neonazi party