Back around sixteen years ago....RTL (commercial German TV) and N-TV (commercial news) got this idea to create a 'Freedom Index'. Its a study by the Institute for Demoskopie Allensbach (IfD).
Somehow, the smart guys there figured some subjective way of getting inside of people, and getting their perception of 'freedom'. Yeah, I know.....it does sound a bit weird to measure freedom.
I noticed this popping up in the news today, via N-TV.
So here's the thing....ONLY around 36-percent of Germans today.....feel free. It's the lowest score since they started this study.
Reasons? Well....this gets to a perception as well.
There's a suggestion about social commitment (that you have to be pro-asylum, pro-environment, or pro-whatever). There's also talk of expression being suppressed now (over what you can say or talk about).
Covid likely having an effect on Germans? No doubt. A lot of people know limits exist on vacations, and there are consequences drilled down upon them....upon their return to the country.
Almost every week, the news media lets you know that so-and-so is being investigated for right-wing extremism.....or for tax-fraud....or for passing around a racist joke.
My forecast for the 2022 survey? It'll probably drop at least a point or two.
So are Germans less free? I would speculate and say that a fair number are living rich and fulfilling lives, and would easily cast damnation upon any suggested 'less-freedoms'. Perhaps the term here to be used....are you more regulated or plagued by rules, than you were in 2005? In that case...approaching 50 to 70 year old Germans....they'd laugh for a minute and respond with a 'yes'.
My fitness center (here in Wiesbaden) came up and said the city regulations got more rough this week.....I have to show proof of vaccination, proof of having gotten over Covid, or have a daily test done. But they were pretty nice about the test business....if you just walked in with a Covid test-kit (3 Euro), they'd test you at the counter, and if 'negative'....you got full-access.
It's another regulation, or hinderance.....but it's a society based on rules now. It's not 1977 anymore.
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