Hate and unconstitutional thinking taking over

Emmalephant said:

I‘m not religious, but I think I‘m going to take those few lines with me to have in moment where I am at a loss of words and thoughts again,

Good.  I'm not religious either.  It's the sentiment behind it, the wisdom.

I‘m not religious, but I think I‘m going to take those few lines with me to have in moments when I am at a loss of words and thoughts again,

Emmalephant said:

This sounds like a good exercise, I‘m definitely gonna try this. Thank you for the advice. It‘s easy to forget that other people feel the very same way about all of this. Seeing all the answers here is reassuring.

My local MP (Member of Parliament) is far right, from the Reform party.

These words from the Prayer of Serenity help me:

'God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change; 
courage to change the things I can; 
and wisdom to know the difference.'...

This sounds like a good exercise, I‘m definitely gonna try this. Thank you for the advice. It‘s easy to forget that other people feel the very same way about all of this. Seeing all the answers here is reassuring.

Unfortunately, people do not learn from the mistakes of the past. What was one of the reasons world war 2 happened - people weren't happy with the way their country was and voted for an extremist party. I do not want to make you panic - I don't think we're headed to a world war quite yet. I just can't understand how people can sit through history lessons and not understand that they are making those same mistakes voting for these parties. People just desperately want to believe that there is an answer/something better and for some reason extremist parties make people feel this way.

I am also struggling with how hateful the world is at the moment. The UK has a lot of hate circulating currently too and that is persuading people to back extremist parties that will help no one.

As far seeing things in perspective, I try to distance myself from it. I don't watch the news. I only look up news when I know I'm in the mindset to cope with it. For the idiots I see on social media I try to concentrate on those really nice feelings good stories you see about decent people, however few they may be, they are the stories I want to hang on to. But most of the time I prefer to get lost in a book. It may not be a happy book necessarily but it is a world that is not mine or even real. And that is the best escape I can get.

I don't know whether it would help you. But if you Google it, there are some good resources for things I can control and things I cannot control. I wonder if this would help you in those moments to be able to say well I can't control how other people vote and I can't control what my government etc does. But I can control ..... What ever it is you feel you can control. Sometimes that can help.

Wormtongues and algorithms that support them, trapping people in echo bubbles.

That‘s an interesting point of view. Thank you for the advice and the insight to your story!

Our mainstream media tried to cover the stupidity of this party so desperately but some people just don‘t get it. It‘s not just their values and horrible goals, but also stuff like having a 2 billion euro gap in their budget plan… 

Alexa said:

People who feel forgotten or disadvantaged are more likely to fall for extravagant promises of change plus there may still be some who look back on the DDR with nostalgia.

That‘s certainly a big part of the reasons for the AfD‘s success. Funny though… a statistic from our national financial institute shows, that the AfD is the number one party for benefitting extremely wealthy people. People really don’t like researching.

Luckily I‘ll study in Lower Saxony (near to my current home) and in a city known for being a pretty progressive bubble. Lower Saxony is not right-wing (we‘ve got a vote coming up this weekend and it doesn‘t look like it‘s gonna be as bad).

Thanks for the advice on consuming media through official websites, I‘ll try sticking to that for a while and see how it‘s working out for me.

You’re making a good point right there! I‘m constantly forgetting that there are also good things happening in the world. 
And also, in the name of all democratic Germans (and believe me, the majority of people here still are): We‘re sorry for the folks who just won‘t learn from history.

Oh, that‘s terrible! Thanks for your insight though! 

I‘m gonna study medicine. So not really political and an absolute victim of current politics destroying the already week health care system.

Thanks for the recommendation, I‘ll look into it!

Pretty sad, right? I forgot to specify; voters between 18 and 24 in Saxony-Anhalt. But still… Sad to see young folks destroy their own future

It's mostly right wing influencers and false information that's causing people to behave like this.

Everyone is having a hard time these days, and that's totally understandable, however, these right wing influencers that social media algorithms tend to promote a lot take advantage of this and feed people information that tells them all their problems are caused by *insert marginalised community here*. The internet is full of Wormtongues, sadly.

profdanger said:

All that to say, I am VERY accustomed to living in a societal situation where I don’t feel like I belong. Here’s what I’ve discovered: Society needs us outliers to not run from the opposition. We need to stand our ground, even if silently.

I very much agree with this sentiment and I think that autism alone can lead to us feeling we don't belong, let alone other complications, eg. being within/aligned to the LGBTQ+ group.

I have always felt like an outlier.

profdanger said:

Here’s an example: When I was a professor the university had no idea that I supported LGBTQ+, which allowed me the opportunity to be a confidant for a trans student that needed support. I did not need to be an outspoken advocate for this student to find me.

Well done.

I currently live in a very “red state,” meaning the state as a whole can be relied on to vote Republican no matter what. In fact, the governor recently declared June as “Nuclear Family Month,” with a weak attempt to disclaim that it was not to replace Pride Month. I am likely best described as a Social Democrat, though I do not currently vote based on a particular party, so I am an outlier in my community.

I have also served as a professor of music at a conservative Christian university for ten years, despite being agnostic atheistic and being strongly against many of the university’s policies (ex. I am a strong advocate of LGBTQ+). Expressing my views or living the way I want to could have guaranteed my termination, but somehow I was able to leave on my own terms when the right time came.

All that to say, I am VERY accustomed to living in a societal situation where I don’t feel like I belong. Here’s what I’ve discovered: Society needs us outliers to not run from the opposition. We need to stand our ground, even if silently.

Here’s an example: When I was a professor the university had no idea that I supported LGBTQ+, which allowed me the opportunity to be a confidant for a trans student that needed support. I did not need to be an outspoken advocate for this student to find me.

What I’m saying is that I believe it is important for you to keep true to yourself, especially if you decide to stay. Germany needs individuals like you to, even if silently, stand by the values that are important to you in spite of any opposition.

However, if you feel unsafe, that is totally different. Your personal safety is more important than opposing injustice. Keep that in mind as you decide what to do next.

I  agree with the observations.

What I do personally is to carefully allocate some money (when I can) to specific causes or organisations with which I share values.

For example, funding independent media and investigative journalists.

Donating small amounts, when we are able to, can make a difference in the long run, and across many individuals.

There is also activism or volunteering that we can do to help. But I think the financial support is sometimes under discussed, which is why I mention that one.

I think that an another aspect is to have statistics at hand (normally the ones from the governments are accurate enough) to show the situation is different to what most right wingers believe. But of course, this usually doesn't work.

Obviously, bigoted and racist people vote for Far Right parties. However it seems that many non-extremist people are also doing so out of frustration with the political status quo. Unfortunately, they seem to be too stupid to realise that they are voting for something far, far worse.

There have certainly been a lot of changes from Coronavirus onwards and many of these have involved using the resources of countries for things that were unplanned. I think it is very difficult for any leader to budget for the country's spending when money is being used on unexpected things. Sometimes when people vote I am not sure they look at the whole picture.

I think we have to try to find positives in our lives, even small things, as we have very little influence on world affairs. There are some who post on here that are good at that.

Which course are you taking? Perhaps, now or in time, you can use your knowledge toward building a better country. Focussing on a campaign takes away the pain of present life, I find. This is an interesting book I've started reading, which you might like: 

'What We Owe Each Other: a New Social Contract,' by Minouche Shafik. The Bodley Head, London [Penguin} 2021. 

Review by Michael J Sandel, 'This excellent book ofters a hopeful framework for social, economic and political renewal.'