Explaining the Franziska Giffey 'Event'

 This is basically a German political story with three facts:

1.  Franziska Giffey is a 42-year old German gal from Frankfurt (Oder)....meaning the other Frankfurt in eastern Germany, who is a SPD politician.  She currently is a minister (Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Youth, and Women). 

    -- Don't get excited, it's not exactly a German ministry that you hear much about.

2.  Giffey finished up her doctorate degree in 2010 (thesis had to do with civil society).

3.  About three years ago, her degree got dragged out (don't ask why), and plagiarism accusations started up.  More than a dozen problems (way more) are cited. Some folks think she ought to be kicked out of the government.

Beyond that....the facts aren't really that abundant.  Based on what I've read....no one argues about her bachelor's degree, or her graduate degree (2005).  The idea that she screwed up and wrote a half-ass thesis without identifying the statements or facts?  That seems to be the bulk of this discussion.

Years ago, I worked with a Air Force officer who'd gone through a rough period in some doctorate study episode....realizing about two months into it, that this was the crappiest degree he could imagine.  The lecture folks (professors) seemed to be twenty years behind the times, and this seemed to be more or less a test to see how well they could write on a topic of marginal interest.  So this guy wrote the basic draft...realizing it was crap, and then hired someone to clean up the mess (add the citations), and seven days later....the product was done.  It passed the review, and this was his 'golden' ticket.  

I asked if this was really proving much of anything....which made him pause and render some critical thinking.  His response was more or less....if we depended on doctorate-people to save the world, he'd first ask what the hell we were saving the world from, and if could be done by someone else.

Giffey now?  Well....she's basically this past week....handed back her doctorate degree, and just figures things will go on, with her serving as a minister.  My humble guess?  No one in her party seems to really care.  My guess is that they will let her remain until next year's national election, and then dump her out of the party.  Lets be honest as well.....this is not exactly a minister job that people are begging to be the 'boss' over.  

Lesson learned?  Well....if you ever go and write a thesis as a German....then two decades later find yourself successful in the Bundestag, it's bound to be read by the wrong people.  You'd best do the oral exam by the professors.