Chat Forum Show

 Last night, after ZDF (Channel Two, public TV in Germany) ran the late news....the chat forum show 'Maybrit Illner' came on.  

It was a curious piece.  Invited to discussion?  

Wolfgang Kubicki (FDP) , who is a Vice-President in the Bundestag and deputy party boss.....Mai Thi Nguyen-Kim, who is a chemist and science reporter.....Mayor Peter Tschentscher (SPD) of Hamburg (doctor background as well)....Mayor Boris Palmer (B´90 / The Greens) of Tübingen....and Jan Josef Liefers (actor, and the guy who led the anti-ban-rule commentary from a week ago).

The chief topic?  Well...it started with Liefers explaining his controversial commentary from the past week....which was a cynical bit....aimed at the government effort to maximize on ban-rules for Covid-19.  The blunt side going against the Liefer's crowd?  They weren't empathetic to the suffering and dying.  

I would say (as an outsider) it's an odd phenomenon  that has occurred over the past twenty years in Germany....where being sympatric and empathetic is a big deal and continually harped upon.    If you aren't 'reading' the script and showing the sympatric/empathetic business....you get criticized.

So this open forum went onto what I'd say is a discussion about a 'discussion'...whether you (as a citizen, singer, journalist, or politician) can openly comment on the Covid-19 situation, the ban-rules, etc.

Palmer (the mayor)?  He presents the case that you really can't say what you think anymore....that each thought or criticism has to be measured and carefully delivered.  If your thoughts aren't empathetic.....you get yanked upon or 'cancelled'.  Just suggesting that non-Germans are less concerned about getting vaccinated?  Well...that could make you into a racist.  (I should hint here, ethnic background isn't collected by the vaccination centers....so no one within the government can say factually that non-Germans are or aren't enthusiastic about the shots).  

We are roughly 440 days into Covid-19, and I would suggest that German frustrations have grown greatly since December.    You can walk around and get some pretty sharp criticisms over the virus and the ban-rules.

The fact that the federal election is only five months away?  Well.....this is a bothersome part of the story....because both the CDU and SPD parties have 'shot' themselves in the foot and public support is spiraling downward for their 'brand'.