What makes the cancel culture guards tick, and do we need a pillory for those who blame us a Nazi?
Yes, the time has come, the normal, enlightened citizen who prefers logical thinking and points out, even fools, the illogical, green and left-wing ideology has been canceled for a good two years by the slogan: “You Nazi or right-wing populist” and without justification sent off.
I’ve noticed the following for a long time now when I express my opinion on LinkedIn, Xing or in my blogs:
I am told in one sentence that my LinkedIn contact connection will now be deleted because I am a Nazi.
This usually happens between 10 p.m. and 1 a.m., after these comrades have already had a few glasses of organic Château-Lafite and feel provoked by my articles. Then the kindergarten birthday invitation is withdrawn and you are canceled. These are purely emotional actions because these people don’t even bother to explain what is wrong with me or my beliefs. You don’t have to do that because that would be more than enough work for the emotional cancel culture ideologists and the accusations would ultimately come to nothing.
Conclusion: Nowadays, everything and everyone can be pelted with the Nazi club; the justification for these serious accusations and a discussion are not desired. At the end of the discussion, which does not take place, it would emerge that he, she, is not a Nazi at all, but just a thinking, concerned and awakened citizen.
That’s why the motto applies: We left-wing ideologues are always right because we claim the real truth through our emotions and our bubble as Sect 4.0.
It should be said in advance that I come from a conservative artist family (father art professor / mother interior designer and yoga teacher) in which books and travel came before the Mercedes. It was no problem to buy books for 1,000 DM / 500 € per month or to go on long-distance trips 6 times a year to get to know the world. Yes, that was still real educated citizenship because diversity was lived instead of just celebrated and demanded daily. At our house, all cultures, and people came and went, regardless of their religion, political views or gender. Straight, gay, lesbian, pastor, artist, lawyer, banker, plumber, or yoga teacher.
But my parents were a big difference from today’s BoBos, the left-wing upper class because they were both born around 1936, were driven out by the Russians and Nazis and experienced the 3rd Reich themselves as children. Yes, they could have been my grandparents. On the one hand, the horrors of the 3rd Reich were always present in our family. On the other hand, I was brought up with a cosmopolitan upbringing that knowledge, books and travel, was the true power of an enlightened citizen. I was also taught that the better arguments and facts count; in fact, at school it was our daily fun to trick each other with absurd, ironic statements. How happy we were when we were able to “fool” the other person, and he fell for it because he didn’t know or understand something.
Yes, unfortunately hardly any people understand irony, but that is another chapter.
Moreover, I studied Oriental Studies and traveled extensively in the Orient from 1998 to 2007, learned Arabic, Persian and Turkish, and have friends in Russia, the Orient, Asia, the USA, South America, the Balkans, and India. I just like ALL hard-working people to work and educate themselves.
I accept other countries and customs as if I were native there, and that’s a problem for many. How can you like China, the Middle East, Israel, the USA, and Russia equally and respect their customs when everything should be subject to Western thinking, and oh dear, human rights?…
Yes, it’s ok to respect and respect non-Western standards and customs, that’s what I want to say to all Cancel Culture friends who are now outraged. Nowadays, the principle is not: live and let live, but it is only correct to live what woke and according to the Western model. So a kind of woke western post-colonialism. Anyone who only imposes the Western way of thinking on other cultures denies themselves the chance to really understand other cultures. Every country has the government, rules, and customs that it deserves and that is good for it, or the people have to free themselves from it without constant Western help. This is what makes diversity and other cultures different, even if we in the West sometimes don’t like it.
We, in Germany, have to learn again that soon 10 billion people in the world will live according to their culture and rules, and then find common ground in dialogue without harping on the weaknesses of the other culture. Of course, e.g. B. the death penalty in Iran or the USA is not good, but in the USA it is more or less he is less accepting, if the Orient or China does the same, it is evil.
Being a Muslim or Hindu in Munich during Oktoberfest is not fun and certainly a culture shock. That’s the point. We always have to look at both sides of the coin, but we have forgotten how to do that out of complacency.
Why should it be, if it is enough to cancel those who think differently as Nazis and move on to the agenda without justification. “Oh! He said Jehovah!” By Monty Python hits the nail on the head of the times in which we live.
Another big difference to today’s BoBo’s of the left-wing cancel culture is the following: They are my age, but often younger parents who had children at the age of 25 instead of in their early 40s. So their parents did not experience the 3rd Reich first hand ; they only vaguely know the stories from their grandparents. You probably don’t know Daniel Goldhagen’s book ‘Hitler’s Willing Executors’ from the 90s, in which I currently see parallels to left-wing ideology, alongside Christoper Clarke’s Sleepwalkers.
Yes, their parents also grew up in the wealth that their grandparents (war generation) built up. So here we have two generations of children of peace who can no longer judge what was going on in the 3rd Reich and what real Nazis are. Which is why real diplomacy is taboo in the Ukraine conflict and war is en-vogue again.
The Nazi term is now only used as a manslaughter argument to silence critics, devoid of the context of its original definition because it has become vague. I think Nazis today are all those who simply have a different opinion than the left-wing mainstream. (Irony off).
We pretend to be enlightened, but we have forgotten how to first educate through knowledge and facts, and then discuss; Yes, to tolerate other opinions. This extends to all levels of society, i.e. politicians, business people, leaders and academics, who pull out the Nazi club and cancel, but no longer provide the justification for their nuclear strike. You Nazi, me good. End of discussion!
On the one hand, it is suggested to us that knowledge and thinking are important for the enlightened citizen. But on the other hand, this no longer applies in practical life because one can always claim anything without providing any justification. No one will be held accountable for false allegations. This has now become the social standard. I feel you are a Nazi; I don’t have your level of knowledge, which is why I would actually lose out in a discussion, but I don’t need it because other opinions are all Nazi opinions. End.
It would be exciting to turn the tables, but unfortunately, it would be too much effort to have a kind of fact police that would report anyone who unfounded calls other people Nazis. It would also be interesting to have a kind of pillory on social media for people who baseless call people who think differently Nazis. Perhaps this term would then be used in a less inflationary way. That would actually be the job of the state. True neutrality and respect for the law, as well as monitoring the facts in the media.
The silent masses, who continue to work ahead, only talk about what they really think within their own four walls. This is because expressing your opinion at work or on LinkedIn, which is far from the mainstream, has become difficult and even threatens your existence.
Ultimately, we should still use our common sense and not be intimidated by left-wing teenagers who insult us but don’t even bother to give a solid reason for their insults. What else could you expect in times when top managers are paid millions in bonuses after company bankruptcies, and 2,000 workers are laid off when private equity says the numbers don’t add up.
We present ourselves as human, diverse and cosmopolitan, but act like defiant children according to their own rules who have never learned to respect their parents, elders, and fellow human beings.
An old white man from Vienna.
