Blog - German Angst and the sow through the village

The term "German Angst" is already proverbial in the world.
When I look back over my somewhat longer life, I do not remember the end of the Second World War, but I do remember various crisis scenarios from 1961 onward.

Created by Dipl.-Ing. (TU) Stefan Merkle

03/05/2020

Before that, I have been told, things were no better.
The Germans were afraid of:

Jewish revenge (1945),
the revenge of the forced laborers from Russia,
the Allied victors,
the Foreign Legion (1950),
the nuclear war,
my birth(?),
communism (1961),
robots and machines,
state repression,
the leftists and the RAF (1970),
the end of the world,
the death of forests (1970),
nuclear power,
the Cold War (1980),
the population growth,
mad cow disease (BSE) (2000),
the hole in the ozone layer (2003),
avian flu (2006),
swine fever (2009),
Islam,
the climate catastrophe,
the AfD (2013),
the influx of refugees (2015),
Donald Trump (2016)
and now of the coronavirus (2020).

Although the list is certainly not exhaustive, what all the fears had in common was that, in retrospect, it wasn't quite as bad as we made it all out to be.

And there are always people who profit from it. The chaos merchants in the media who increase their circulations. The pharmaceutical industry, which suddenly conjures up vaccines and drugs out of thin air. Or the industry, which has developed new substitutes after the expiration of CFC patents, of course now protected by patents. It's clear that the old refrigerator had to go.

Perhaps we should take a closer look at the new pigs that are now hunting through the villages.

Maybe they're not as terrible as we think.
The air in my youth was much dirtier than it is today, and over-worried helicopter parents had not yet been born (thank God). The forest is still alive (despite or because of CO2) and bockwurst tastes good again.

We are also living longer and longer, poverty is decreasing worldwide. Actually, this cannot be at all, if one believes the media. Or is it?
Fear is not bad per se, because it prevents us from taking too high risks. We are initially afraid of everything that is unknown, but once we have overcome the unknown, we find some happiness. Maybe only for a moment, but that is also good. Otherwise life would be boring.

When I look at the discussions and the scaremongering today, I ask myself whether we can still recognize anything sensible at all through the jumble of information, half-knowledge and lies. In my eyes, the discussions on television are simply sick.
The export hit "German Angst" is perhaps not the real thing after all, more prudence and balance would be more appropriate.

So before we slaughter nuclear power, the internal combustion engine, energy technology and our entire infrastructure entirely on the altar of sustainability, we should think a little outside the box.

I would like us not to panic. Not even of the corona virus. Reasonable goals of where we want to go as a people, as humanity, would be more appropriate. I, for one, have decided not to watch the news for a while and to concentrate on the sports section of the newspaper. And you know what? I feel better about it! Unless the FCH loses.

I wish you that the virus does not spoil your health or your balance sheets.

Yours, Stefan Merkle.