Wednesday, January 28, 2015

Trying to Make Sense Out of Pegida Today

After last week's episode where a photo popped up of the originator of Pegida in Dresden.....showing him in a Hitler-like pose for some costume party months ago.....Lutz Bachmann stepped down.  Or, that's what he said at the time.

Folks generally thought it was a wise move and figured that the head committee would find ways of moving on.

Today, it came out that the chief spokesperson of Pegida is quitting.  Two issues popped up.  The first being that Bachmann didn't really quit and wants to still be the leader in some fashion.  That didn't sit well with the committee running the group.

The second issue for Frau Oretel is simply threats that have been made on her.  She finally enough and intends to step back.

Generally, I'd say that the organization isn't in a growth period, and winter really screws up the numbers of people who might demonstrate.  There's also no real connection between AfD (the political party) and Pegida.  AfD likes the talk of them being the alternate place to go instead of the SPD or CDU for these issues.  Getting some type of political promise out of AfD?  Yet to happen, and may never happen.  Free advertising, if you ask me.

As for the speaker job for Pegida?  On a scale of honesty, Frau Oretel was pushing a 'nine' (my humble opinion).  She probably wasn't the best or most qualified person for the job, but she could sit in public forum and give a decent position.

As for the threat business?  Bad taste, bad logic, and ends up making the anti-Pegida position look negative.

At the end of the day......there are issues with immigration, refugee centers, and integration.  The networks (HR, ARD, and ZDF), along with Focus, Stern, the Frankfurt newspaper, and various dailies in Germany all hinted of problems from the summer of 2013 up to October of 2014, when Pegida suddenly appeared to take up the problem list.  Suddenly, the media acts like there are no problems?  Shocking, but then you wonder....what was all the talk about?  If there are issues....lay them on the table.

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