2024-01-13 08:14:27
Markus Lanz is serious when it comes to debates. He himself is regularly the victim of shitstorms because he gets into a fight with Jan Böhmermann or dares to invite politicians like Sahra Wagenknecht to his show – a courage that may seem a bit cheap in view of the current disillusionment with politics, but for a representative of the public -legal television requires a certain degree of resistance. Markus Lanz makes an effort to endure the controversy from time to time.
His broadcast on Thursday evening, after a few days of respite, was about the topics of the week: the farmers’ protests, their escalation in northern Germany, the AfD’s threatened successes and the possible shift to the right in eastern Germany. Guests included Jens Spahn from the CDU, the journalist Martin Machowecz from Die Zeit, the sociologist Matthias Quent and the economist Philippa Sigl-Glöckner.
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Interpretation of a controversial farmer’s poster
As a viewer, you couldn’t shake the feeling that when it came to the farmers’ protests, even the belligerent Markus Lanz preferred to drive with the handbrake on. With regard to his choice of guests, Jens Spahn, of all people who supports the state, had to play the role of the farmer’s understander, who acted as a go-getter for Lanz and as a quasi-populist who dared to attract attention with anti-traffic light slogans and for his party advertise. “There is no majority for the government’s policy,” said Spahn, setting the tone.
“It’s bubbling under the surface,” Lanz replied, as if there was still a surface that could still hide the visible displeasure. Moderator Lanz didn’t really want to get into the traffic light bashing and instead stuck to the interpretation of a controversial CDU poster that shows a farmer with a pitchfork and promotes diesel subsidies. Isn’t such a poster tasteless? Cynical? An incitement of anger?
Critical reflectivity
Jens Spahn reacted visibly irritated and said, not entirely wrongly, that the debate about controversially designed election posters misses the actual topic. The discontent among the people. The AfD’s impending successes. Zeit journalist Machowecz agreed with Spahn and stabbed Lanz in the back. The focus of the debate should be other topics. Spahn added that the spectrum that needs to be discussed does not affect that many topics. He named the priorities ‘uncontrolled migration’, ‘tax levies’ and ‘draconian heating laws’.
As a viewer, you witnessed a debate that lasted more than an hour, the core of which failed to find out where people’s dissatisfaction actually comes from. Somehow you felt that a dilemma was blocking the discussion, a dilemma in which the public media as a whole finds itself: every profound criticism of the traffic light government, every necessary confrontation with the failure of the Federal Chancellor, every sober analysis of Robert’s failure At the same time, Habeck threatens to be seen as an attempt to overthrow democracy in which no one involved can have any interest.
This is the only way to understand why Spahn was the harshest critic of the traffic light government in the group and why the other guests, alongside Machowecz, came from the left spectrum and, above all, used bloodless empty phrases to warn Germany against a shift to the right. There seems to be a great fear of naming the problems of this country, such as the impending decline of Germany and the recession that is heading our way, which can hardly be prevented if you take a closer look at the current economic figures. At least Lanz didn’t go so far as to denigrate the farmers’ protests as right-wing. He then wanted to demonstrate so much critical ability to reflect.
The people turn away
Of course it is right to warn about the consequences of an AfD victory. And yet many of the conversations with politicians seem strangely distant, especially today, when the country is threatened with fundamental change. The decision-makers in this country are trying to keep people’s hopelessness at a distance and to discredit criticism of the traffic lights – as illegitimate hostility to democracy. The fact that the past months and years with a fickle Chancellor and a miscalculating, well-intentioned and yet tragic economics minister have brought about today’s misery is slowly becoming an unpleasant fact that is reluctant to be expressed in official circles.
The demonization of Sahra Wagenknecht, the unwillingness to accept reality, the real, authentic fight for voters, the understanding of the problems on the streets, the sense of the economic pressure that exists in middle and lower income groups – all these failures on the part of the decision-makers in this country are now taking revenge. “The cake is getting smaller,” said Lanz on his show. He’s right about that. And Spahn? He notes that when he travels through the East, people have the impression that they are being ruled – as before 1989 – by politicians who use beautiful pictures to paint the gray reality in color in order to distract the people from the facts. So that you don’t get stupid thoughts. And anyone who protests will be discredited. The fact that politicians are now discussing who can join which three- or four-party alliances with whom in order to prevent the AfD in East Germany is an indictment for the country. These calculation games seem desperate and prove – as was also shown by Markus Lanz – that many have not yet understood the seriousness of the situation. The people are turning away.
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