Over the weekend, we had this public TV thing (sponsored by both ZDF and ARD) here in Germany....where the Berlin leadership and the TV folks tried to convince people to become relaxed and agreeable on various topics.....agreeing to basically disagree, but in a civil and friendly way. So there were a couple of topics chosen.
This morning, they got around to talking about the disagreements, which might spark more discussion down the line.
On the topic of a national strategy of fewer cars in cities (meaning the government would find ways to 'force' people to lessen car usage)....70-percent of women who were in this participation group and 60-percent of German men....were happy to see a government strategy to lessen car usage.
On the topic of Germany being worse now than a decade ago? 15-percent of German women agreed, while 21-percent of German men agreed.
On the topic of reducing meat consumption in Germany (as a health strategy), 77-percent of German women agreed, while 62-percent of German men agreed (note that a fair number of men just didn't agree with this health strategy).
On the topic Muslim integration going well in Germany, 92-percent of German women agreed, while 81-percent of German men agreed.
On the topic of Trump being good for America, 4.2-percent of German women agreed, while 13-percent of German men agreed (meaning three times the level of women). It would suggest that men are more prone to like Trump's message but it's best not to bring this topic up with any German intellectual.
What do all the numbers really add up to? Well, I will offer this observation. Intellectual Germans watch and participate in public TV forums a great deal....while working class Germans watch little if any public TV, and rarely if ever participate in these forums. So in some ways, the numbers provided by ARD....are biased (they are representing intellectual Germans for the most part).
On why more women were agreeable to the topics chosen by the discussion group (except for the Trump topic)? Well, that suggests that intellectual German women follow the trend by the news organizations. I won't say they are manipulated or influenced more....just that if you bring certain topics hot on TV forums....they seem to agree with the moderator more.
So this effort to educate and get Germans to talk and be civil.....is a fraud? If you walked into a room with 100 boxing enthusiasts....it's safe to say that if you brought up banning boxing, you'd find almost no one willing to chat with you or to support your argument. Yes, the Germany Speaks project is mostly about like-minded people meeting their equals and all finding common ground....very easily....and with no complicated situations.
I won't slam the show...it's just that it's kinda rigged to have a certain outcome in the end. It's fairly easy to be agreeable, in the company of like-minded people.
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