What I choose is to act

On 24 September, we Germans voted - 75.6% of us, to be precise.

Since the election result has been finalised - with 12.6 % votes for the AfD - the mass media and social media have been full of anger and whining. As a rule, I don't post anything about political issues on Facebook because a real debate, dialogue etc. is only possible to a very limited extent in this medium. And abbreviated representations don't help anyone.

The only exception - a game with words that I couldn't resist.

Find the difference:
The AfD hunts and clings.
The rest complain and moan.

I don't want to start a political discussion on my blog either. There's room for that elsewhere. Just this much: I don't want to vote for a party where I don't even understand the election posters - for example: „Berlin is the gateway to the new Silk Road“.

I can't vote for anyone who seriously still has posters with „Proletarians of all countries unite!“ advertising and thus shows that it has not arrived in the present either in terms of language or content. (No joke, the posters of the old communist parties were hanging in my neighbourhood, unfortunately I missed photographing them).

No party is electable for me if it is unable or unwilling to distance itself from right-wing extremists in its centre and its environment. For me, this has less to do with our country's past and more to do with the present and future: one of my values is to respect people of all backgrounds and, where possible, to support the weaker within the scope of our powers.

So much for the explanation and delimitation.

I am not annoyed

When I read the election results and the outraged, angry, complaining reactions on social media, I asked myself what I can do now. Emphasis on me. Full stop.

I don't want to despise anyone - not even if they find different values important than I do and vote differently than I do. I know what is important to me and what I want and I hope I can treat people with respect even if we see things differently.

I've always thought that getting angry when you can't change anything is a waste of energy. A seminar at Dirk Eilert confirmed this once again on the election weekend. He said, in essence:

„Anger is an emotion that serves to release energy in order to remove obstacles. If they cannot be removed (for example, if you are stuck in a traffic jam), anger is useless - on the contrary. Sadness might be a more appropriate reaction.“

I didn't want to get angry about something that was already in the past and be outraged! What then?

I felt sadness. When I think that a few million people are accepting values that I don't approve of in favour of the „alternatives“ offered to them by the AfD, it pains me. And I ask myself what I can do.

What I'm doing now - looking for alternatives to the alternative

I feel 1/80 millionth responsible for the election result and also for my country. Not for everything, but for something. And I've thought about what I can, want and would like to do now.

Not an election poster, but an ancient sign in a Berlin underground railway.

My ideas: 

  • Talk to AfD sympathisers in your own environment. I only had one conversation with a friend who was frustrated with the established parties and was toying with the idea of voting AfD. She was confused as to how she could find her way in the face of the often biased press. We had a long chat and I told her what I was orientating myself on. And sent her a few more links. Where opportunities arise in the future, I want to continue to communicate with understanding for the genuine questions of others and also clearly for my values.

 

  • Going on holiday in the east of our country. If you live in Berlin, it's actually not that far. I usually use my holidays to visit friends. If the analyses are to be believed, the lack of prospects is one of the main reasons why the AfD got so many votes there. Young people are emigrating and there is not enough work for those who stay. In order to contribute to an improvement, I want to spend 4 x 4 days on holiday in eastern Germany over the next 4 years. If I get the chance, I want to talk to people who live there.

 

  • Coaching refugees. People who have fled often have a lot of stress in their bones. This can be old stress caused by war and flight or the stress of arriving in a new country. I am convinced that people who have been able to reduce stress (whether alone or with a coach) arrive better in a new environment. And that this not only makes them feel better, but also (hopefully) takes some of the heat off racist-minded people. I would therefore like to offer two coaching sessions per month to refugees free of charge or at a reduced rate.

This is my plan, or let's say the first draft. The election was only yesterday. 

I would love to hear from you:

  • What do you think?
  • What do you want to do now?

I'm looking forward to your comments.

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8 Comments

  1. Hello Kerstin,
    That all sounds quite reasonable. I would like to add one very important point:
    * Exclude biased media as sources of information. It is estimated that 70% of the public broadcasters are from the green-left camp. In our family, the seeds of the radical left-wing agitation against the AfD have sprouted massively and led to panic-like fear of all the „Nazis“. Instead, get first-hand information. Read the party programme, bypass the sifting of statements by the biased media, including the ÖR. Cool facts instead of hot emotions bring far better results.
    Nor do I want to join the ranks
    For my part, I voted for the AfD after weighing up the sum of all points of view (internal security, marriage and family, gender ideology, economy). The abandonment of border protection has led to an increase in xenophobia as well as more imported anti-Semitism. The CDU has completely betrayed its Christian values with the hasty vote on „marriage for all“ and the Hessian education plan.
    The AfD's negative points are clearly environmental protection and the still open relationship with Israel. Here, too, we have to bypass the biased media, then we see that Israel's right to exist is missing as an explicitly emphasised statement, but it is implicitly going in that direction. Frauke Petry has taken a pro-Israeli stance that is comparable to that of Mrs Merkel (to whom I credit this as a major plus point).

  2. Thank you, Kerstin,
    for your alternative thoughts on the outcome of the election. I find the catcalls after the election and the generalised condemnations beforehand not helpful. That's why I sympathise with your thoughts.
    I would like to maintain respect for people who expressed their opinions (anger, frustration, sadness) in a democratic election. In this respect, I was pleased to hear constructive thoughts on voting behaviour from quite a few people. And the concrete ideas too.
    Keep up the good work!

  3. Dear Kerstin, this is the first comment or post after the election that doesn't ‚upset‘ me. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. I see everything from helplessness to anger in most others, but of course we can act now despite the result, decide how we represent and live our values. Every citizen in this country is bound by our Basic Law, which grants dignity to EVERY human being. That the life of every human being is valuable.

    Your idea of giving company to people who can't afford it and need help is an absolute gift!

  4. LIebe Kerstin,
    I was struck by your positive commentary on the general election. I've already written you an article, but of course I don't know whether you'll publish it, although I'd like you to.
    Choosing to act, I like the approach, although at the moment I don't know where I can act. The contact I have with individual people who have arrived here („refugee“ is such a worn and abused term) is small but consistently positive; last Saturday, two of them found themselves working diligently on a building project in our community. That is a pleasing and important part of reality. Another important part of reality is the massive increase in assaults and crimes (I call it rape), especially against women. I think it's important to differentiate here.
    Differentiation would be enormously important in our country. The following examples:
    - Regardless of whether it's Pegida or the welcoming clappers (to pick out two opposing positions), both sides would do well to differentiate which groups are arriving here. The one side needs to know that people who have fled war and persecution really are coming here, while the other should be told that they are also indiscriminately cheering on those who later harass their (e.g. Christian) fellow residents in the initial reception centre, threaten them with murder, etc. Only through differentiation can we do something about the fact that our right to asylum is being completely or largely destroyed by the wrong asylum seekers.
    In my view, however, the media have failed the worst, with blatant defamation and sometimes unfair talk shows. A prejudice was built up and fear-mongering against the „right-wing populists“ was created.
    Gradually, more and more citizens realised that all the fairy tales they had built up were collapsing like houses of cards:
    - Homophobia: no one in their right mind would believe a party whose leading candidate has come out as a lesbian.
    - Xenophobia: too many migrants are welcome in the party.
    - Lack of commitment to Israel: In June there was an interview with Frauke Petry in an Israeli newspaper, from which it can be concluded that she is wholeheartedly on Israel's side. There are also negative examples such as Gedeon, Möllemann was not an AfD member and the outcry was much quieter.
    - Shooting order: Petry had said the exact opposite in the interview (I read it in full in the Mannheimer Morgen).
    - Extremism: No other party has such strict admission criteria for membership as the AfD. Unfortunately, it is the only alternative to a political consensus landscape that has neglected its own population and therefore also attracts many extremists.

    Anyone who sees the extremes as a strong counter-argument and therefore cannot vote for the AfD deserves my respect, because they are acting according to their conscience and sincerely. However, anyone who joins the chorus of accusers trained by the media and sees only Nazis everywhere, even where there are moderate people who want to keep the country in a good state, does not deserve my respect. He takes the side of the accusers and participates in hatred and agitation (here from the left). Because we as GadW have experienced exactly this incitement from the same sources several times, I feel that what has now happened politically is deja vu.

    My personal and conscience criteria included the following:
    - Border protection: I consider its total abandonment to be grossly negligent and it also harms the genuine refugees who have to meet their persecutors again at the reception centres. Admittedly, my own countrymen are even closer to me in this respect than the refugees I don't know.
    - Internal security: has suffered accordingly, but I think it is hugely important to prevent our country from becoming badly radicalised. Strong point in favour of the AfD. The FDP has taken up positions on this for the election campaign.
    - Marriage and family: AfD is the only party that aims to preserve marriage in its original form. As I reject a general right to adoption by same-sex couples for the sake of the child's welfare, this point clearly goes to the AfD
    - The AfD - together with parts of the CDU/CSU - is opposed to gender ideology. However, the CDU has betrayed its original values with the hasty marriage-for-all vote and by actively promoting gender curricula in Hesse. Children should be protected from being targeted by LGBTTI groups and early sexualisation from early primary school onwards.
    - Environment: A minus point for the AfD. Somewhat relativised since the diesel hysteria, because others now want to exploit the diesel scandal in an unfair way.
    - Israel: The AfD has so far lacked a position and is somewhat inconsistent. Petry and many with her are clearly in favour of Israel, Gauland wants a more generally formulated position. Conditional minus point.
    On the other hand, the party is indirectly doing more to combat anti-Semitism than the others, as it is the only party that wants to specifically combat left-wing extremism, which is also the source of anti-Jewish attacks, and is the only party to say that Islam does not belong to Germany. Political Islam is clearly anti-Jewish and as recently as June a documentary was withheld from public television that proved this. Here is a plus point. (Petry only dropped out after the election, I couldn't have planned for that beforehand). Some Jews are also party members.
    - National socialism: This is where the media hysteria has to be subtracted from those who immediately take the Nazi cudgel to any expression of love for their own country. People like Petry, Meuthen, Guido Reil and many others are big names who would vehemently oppose right-wing extremist tendencies.
    All in all - despite all the agitation - I have therefore put my crosses with blue. To the best of my knowledge and belief. But here, too, I only speak for myself.

    My position on dealing with the past has now stabilised:
    - What happened is too bad to ever completely forget.
    - Nobody has the right to keep us trapped in a guilt complex because of this. Not even ourselves. Slogans like „Never again Germany“ or „Germany die“ are an absolute no-go. From my point of view, this is complementary fascism, i.e. with a different political orientation, but otherwise the same character.
    - It would also be important to finally put an end to the horribly inflationary use of „Nazi“ and „right-wing“ so as not to indirectly relativise the unspeakable suffering that people have endured at the hands of these criminals.
    - We need a healthy relationship with our country again and must be allowed to love it again. The Americans have shown me that you can be proud of your country and still respect other countries. The black, red and gold flag must not be a symbol of irritation.
    - Our history is not just 12 years, but much more. Other nations envy us for our culture. We should also be aware of that.

    Sorry, I've filled you up with text, but maybe there's something useful for you. In any case, I think your article and your goals are really good and I wish you God's blessing!

    Kind regards
    Sebastian

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