German Of The Day: Gleichschaltung

October 20, 2015 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helections, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hysteria Tags: German, Germans, Germany, Immigration, Media, Migrants, PEGIDA, Refugees, Xenophobia 2 Comments

That means “enforced political conformity” and that’s what’s happening in Germany’s media world right now.

Actually, that’s what’s always been happening in Germany’s media world but it’s particularly hard to overlook during the current refugee crisis. How the media here unanimously come together in this Pavlovian response to organize massive mind policing undertakings like this is the thing that really amazes me. It’s like… Magic.

You didn’t have to read a paper or turn on a news channel to know in advance what the reaction to PEGIDA’s anti-immigration get-together in Dresden yesterday would be. Do you want the long version? “They’re all a bunch of Nazis!” All 50,000 of those protesting? The same of course applies to all the others who voice their concern about Germany being overrun by refugees (I am convinced that is now what the majority of Germans think): They are immediately made mundtot (another great word – “mouth-dead” or muzzled) and labeled idiots or right-wing radicals. Over a half a country comprised of idiots and right-wing radicals? Well, sure. Why not? I could believe that. But not in this case.

Now we have reached the point where many Germans feel bullied and do not speak openly about what they really think and their resentment about this will only keep growing. Correct me if I’m wrong but didn’t this already happen here in the past? This guilt-driven obsession with compensating for some dark German past is preparing the way for what could be another one, in other words. Only in the future, of course. You know what I mean. Maybe, just maybe, it’s time to understand that these-whole-lot-of-non-Nazi-German-citizens who are gravely concerned about this situation need to be taken seriously by the mind police. Nobody has the intention of building a wall. But I don’t see how anybody has a choice anymore.

The scale of the refugee influx into Germany is almost unprecedented in modern European history: 1.5 million people in six months. It’s as if the US, with four times Germany’s population, were taking in one million refugees each month.

German Media Giving Germans A Distorted Image Of The Migrant Crisis?

September 24, 2015 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, High Art, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hustle (Hoax), Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Distortion, German, Germans, Germany, Journalism, Media, Migrants, Misrepresentation, Political correctness, Refugees, UK Leave a comment

No way. Or way?

The German language website Frankfurter Allgemene has reported on how the British media “reports on the crisis differently than the German” media.

The newspaper explains: “When it came to clashes between Hungarian border guards and refugees, the BBC showed young men who threw stones.”

The rioting, fit young men were of course described as “hungry”, “desperate” and “defensive,” but at least the images were shown. The suggestion that such a key part of the developing story was omitted on German TV is a startling one.

“On [German channel] ARD Tagesschau,” Frankfurter Allgemenie reports, “the most dramatic pictures could not be seen – instead, women and children, fleeing the tear gas by security forces [was shown]… German television suggesting disproportionate action by Hungary, however the BBC reported of the “defense of the borders…””

Flüchtlinge sind eine Chance, heißt immerfort. Und das entspricht der Wahrheit. Gleichzeitig jedoch stellen uns die 800 000 Flüchtlinge vor Integrationsprobleme, die offen anzusprechen ein Tabu ist. Menschen, die dies trotzdem tun, werden unbedarft rechts verortet, teils sogar medial beleidigt. Dabei muss das Stellen von Fragen erlaubt sein: Wenn so getan wird, als gäbe es bei hunderttausenden Flüchtlingen keine oder kaum Probleme, können diese auch nicht bekämpft werden.

2 Intellectual 4 Me

July 14, 2015 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Helplessness, Hideology, High Art, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Humor, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Der Spiegel, Die Bildzeitung, German, Germans, Germany, Greece, Intellectuals, Journalism, Media, Snobbery 1 Comment

Nope, this latest Spiegel cover is not what I would call “defamatory or racist.” It’s just particularly stupid. But everybody seems to be having hurt feelings about it and calling each other names because of it and stuff like that, which always warms my heart. So keep running with it, folks.

“Our Greeks – Taking a closer look at a strange people.” Takes one to know one, I guess.

And always remember: “Spiegel readers know more” (one of the magazine’s more popular slogans). And they also love to look down their noses at people who read the Bildzeitung, for instance. There is a big difference, you see? Me, neither.

SPIEGEL-Leser wissen mehr!

Germany New Measles Superpower

February 8, 2015 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Health, Helplessness, Hideology, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypochondria, Hypocrisy Tags: Brian Williams, Immunization, Journalism, Measles, Media, Medicine, Vaccinations 1 Comment

And here you thought US-Amerika must be a world leader when it came to irresponsible immunization rates. The United States has been shocked by a surge in measles cases with more than 100 incidents in January alone. This, however, is much less worrisome than a current outbreak in Germany. While authorities there had hoped to completely eliminate the disease this year, 254 new cases emerged in January, primarily in Berlin. If we consider that the German population is only one fourth of the United States’, the German measles surge was about 10 times worse than the one in the United States in January, relative to the total population. “The outbreak in Berlin is a sobering setback. In general, Germany’s immunization rate is too low.”

PS: Germans are also super-good at producing journalists who like to twist the facts, too. Their lies might not be quite as spectacular as other journalists‘ lies are, but still.

Russian Propaganda? What Russian Propaganda?

January 28, 2015 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Helplessness, Hideology, High Art, Higher Education, History, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hustle (Hoax), Hypocrisy Tags: Annexaion, Crimea, DDR, Disinformation, GDR, German, Germans, Germany, Journalism, Media, Propaganda, Putin, Russia, Ukraine 4 Comments

The speaker of the Russian Duma has asked a parliamentary committee to study a proposal to condemn the reunification of Germany in 1990.

Sergei Naryshkin earlier this week faced scathing criticism of Russia’s annexation of Crimean peninsula when he spoke at the Parliament Assembly of Europe.

Russian news agencies say Communist deputy Nikolai Ivanov on Wednesday proposed a resolution to condemn what he called the “annexation” of East Germany in 1990. Ivanov said that unlike in Crimea, there was no popular vote to support the German reunification.

…Deutsche Welle, an international television and radio broadcaster akin to the British Broadcasting Corp.’s World Service, plans to launch a new multimedia English-language service called DWNews in April. Deutsche Welle President Peter Limbourg has said the new service is designed to “defy [Russian President Vladimir] Putin ’s propaganda.”

Spiegel Objectivity

January 20, 2015 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Helplessness, Hideology, High Art, Higher Education, Home Cooking, Hustle (Hoax), Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Bild, Edward Snowden, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Journalism, Media, NSA, Objectivity, Press, Satire, Spiegel 4 Comments

Do you remember how “there’s strong, and then there’s Army strong?” It’s the same with objectivity. There’s objectivity, and then there’s Spiegel objectivity. Just ask the Bildzeitung. Hardy, har, har.

Take the ever-popular NSA hysteria and superhero Edward Snowden HIMSELF. Of the nine (9) authors bringing out their latest shocking reports in the latest shocking Spiegel edition, only three of them actually work for the paper. The other six are well-known and clearly rabid anti-surveillance activists who make no qualms about their feelings for the NSA – and who have also managed to make good money in the process. I mean business.

Here are a few examples: Jacob Appelbaum, author of “Die Freiheit des Internet,” Euro 16.99, Andy Müller-Maguhn, hacker hero and former frontman for the Chaos Computer Club who makes his money as an IT security consultant, Aaron Gibson, salary man for the “Tor Project,” etc. pp. No conflict of interest here, folks. Other than the vested interest all of them have, Spiegel included, in keeping German hysteria levels at a constant peak, which, as all know who live here, isn’t terribly hard to do. Nice work if you can get it.

Spiegel knows what its readers want before Spiegel readers do. And if Spiegel readers are not absolutely sure what it is they want then they can always find out what that is just by reading the Spiegel.

Als Gibson und Appelbaum im Juli 2014 eine NSA-Geschichte für den NDR recherchierten, legte der NDR diesen Interessenkonflikt offen, schrieb unter der Überschrift „Disclosure“ (Offenlegung), die beiden seien „bezahlte“ Mitarbeiter von Tor. Im „Spiegel“ – kein Wort dazu.

New Pegida Narrative In The Works

January 14, 2015 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Demonstrations, German, Germans, Germany, Hype, Immigration, Journalism, Manipulation, Media, PEGIDA Leave a comment

Now that Pegida is not going away as planned (but is in fact still growing) the secret German media police have decided to do a controlled rollback before their current hysterical narrative about courageous Gutmenschen (do-gooders) doing selfless battle against evil Nazi numbskulls gets all too ridiculous even for them (for the secret German media police, I mean).

These unwelcome troublemakers will now be rebranded in a decidedly less overwrought fashion, the first merchandise coming out as we speak, so-to-speak. It is in the form of a study just made by the Technical University, Dresden in which we discover the following rather surprising fun facts:

Only one-fourth of those demonstrating are actually demonstrating against the “Islamization of the Western world.”

The typical Pegida supporter is a politically independent 48-year-old male who is well-educated and well-employed.

The main gripes most Pegida supporters have are their dissatisfaction with 1) German politicians, 2) German media and only then 3) the increased number of immigrants and asylum seekers now coming to Germany.

Why, uh, that’s suddenly a completely different picture, isn’t it? Stay tuned, there will certainly be more to follow. The hysteria sure was fun while it lasted though, wasn’t it?

“Sind Sie von der Presse?”

And Speaking Of Free Speech…

January 13, 2015 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Hideology, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy, Hysteria Tags: Free speech, German, Germans, Germany, Journalism, Language, Manipulation, Media Leave a comment

The latest German Un-Word of the Year is Lügenpresse or “the lying press.” The year is still pretty young though, if you ask me. But still.

Of ill repute as it is a term that was gladly used way back when during World War I and then later by the Nazis themselves, it’s been in the news a lot these days because that EVIL Pegida is using the term, as well. If you accuse the press of lying you’re a Nazi here, I guess. So watch it.

I mean, it’s not like the media here in Germany would ever manipulate or mislead us or spin or hype or ignore things or anything like that there, right?

Der Ausdruck “Lügenpresse” ist als Parole der Pegida-Bewegung erst seit wenigen Wochen in aller Munde. Die Bezeichnung blickt allerdings auf eine lange wie auch traurige Geschichte zurück – als Devise von Demokratiegegnern jeglicher Couleur.

German Word Of The Day: Meinungskartell

July 20, 2014 By Hermann Observer in Habitudes, Hard Facts, Helplessness, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings, Hypocrisy Tags: Bias, Christian Wulff, Der Spiegel, Fake News, German, Germans, Germany, Humor, Journalism, Manipulation, Media, Satire Leave a comment

That means “opinion cartel” and was just created by ex-president Christian Wulff when referring to his dealings with Der Spiegel news mafia, I mean magazine.

That’s the cool thing about German. You can just throw words together like that and make up new ones that everybody who speaks German immediately understands. And the thing that’s cool about that is that sometimes, like this time, the new creations hit the nail right on the head.

Der frühere Bundespräsident Christian Wulff hat eine Überarbeitung der Regularien des Presserats gefordert. Auswüchse in der Berichterstattung ließen sich so im Interesse des Ganzen strenger ahnden, sagte Wulff dem Nachrichtenmagazin “Der Spiegel”. Die Medien müssten sich immer wieder kritisch fragen, ob sie mit ihrer großen Macht auch verantwortungsvoll und korrekt umgingen.

German Of The Day: Lebenslänglich

June 2, 2014 By Hermann Observer in Habeas Corpus, Habitudes, Hard Facts, Home Cooking, Hurt Feelings Tags: Crime, German, Germans, Germany, Justice, Media, Murder, Prisons, Punishment 1 Comment

That means life-long, like in a life-long prison sentence?

That’s what this guy here got for killing that young woman there (and someone else not pictured), pretty much televised live. Actually, he got two life-long prison sentences. And that’s why he’s getting out of prison now because life-long in Germany, as in life-long prison sentence life-long, means 15 years and since he was sentenced in 1991 that means that, well, I dunno, he’s been in there a whole lot of years and it’s only fair that he be allowed to come out now, right?

Das Landgericht in Essen hatte die beiden Männer 1991 zu lebenslanger Haft verurteilt.

Observing Hermann

“Was interessiert mich mein Geschwätz von gestern?”

Tag Archives: Media