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Chancellor Merkel at online discussion on conspiracy ideologies: "That may also be a task for psychologists"
Photo: TOBIAS SCHWARZ / POOL / EPA-EFE / Shutterstock
Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) has called for a consistent fight against so-called conspiracy theories in Germany.
"That is basically an attack on our whole way of life," said Merkel in an online conversation with students in Berlin.
“Since the Enlightenment, Europe has followed the path of, so to speak, obtaining a worldview on the basis of facts.
And if a worldview is suddenly detached or antifactual, then that is of course very difficult to reconcile with our whole way of life, «said the Chancellor.
In an emotional speech to the Bundestag last week, she warned those who do not listen to scientific findings.
Since "the usual arguing" does not help, supporters of conspiracy ideologies are "a special challenge" for politics, said Merkel now.
"Maybe that will also be a job for psychologists."
According to the Chancellor, research is necessary on the question: "How do you actually say goodbye to the world of facts and get into a world that speaks a different language, so to speak, and which we cannot even reach with our fact-based language?" such thought patterns "a real refusal to discuss".
"Nevertheless, we are a tolerant country," said Merkel.
These people are also its citizens.
But it will be very difficult to lead them back into the world of mutual listening.
This also includes a greater understanding of the role of social media.
There are rooms here in which those affected are only confirmed.
She doesn't have a perfect answer, but politicians are very concerned about the problem.
Criticism of opponents of the corona measures is also coming from Merkel's party colleagues and North Rhine-Westphalia's Prime Minister Armin Laschet.
»It is not possible for them to demonstrate in the middle of Düsseldorf while people are fighting for their lives a few meters away in the university clinic!
That doesn't work, that's not bearable! "
NRW Prime Minister Armin Laschet on demonstrations against the Corona measures
In a special session of the Düsseldorf state parliament on the tightened corona measures, he called out hecklers from the ranks of the AfD opposition on Tuesday: “I know that they deny the whole virus.
I know they are demonstrating with weird people outside.
It is not possible for them to demonstrate in the middle of Düsseldorf while people are fighting for their lives a few meters away in the university clinic!
That doesn't work, that's not bearable! "
Most recently, opponents of the Corona measures had repeatedly demonstrated in the state capital - with rallies, the so-called lateral thinkers had turned against measures such as the far-reaching mask requirement with a car parade, among other things.
Laschet defended his government's course in the pandemic.
"There is no royal road," said the Prime Minister.
However, many successes can be attributed to the strength of federalism, "in other words, to making decisions with an eye for the local situation, to coordinate closely and to act holistically as a federal government and states."
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