Enlarge image
Car in front of the gas station: movement only as long as the tank is full
Photo: Daniel Bockwoldt / dpa
According to surveys, most Germans wish it this way: They may be curled up against Covid-19 and its mutants by government officials much further than is already the case.
So here is a proposal to fully enforce this request: All petrol stations must close.
That would have enormous advantages.
Entrants - virtually all of them are considered dangerous - could only enter the federal territory for a few kilometers by car, as long as the tank is full.
Federal states such as Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania would no longer have to refuse entry to holiday guests: Even residents of Brandenburg can hardly make it there and back to Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania without petrol.
Franziska Augstein
Photo:
Michael Gottschalk / imago images / photothek
Studied history, philosophy and political science in Berlin, Bielefeld and Sussex and received her doctorate from University College London with a thesis on early race theories.
She worked as a journalist for the "Zeit" magazine, the "Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung" and the "Süddeutsche Zeitung".
In 2000 she was awarded the Theodor Wolff Prize for an essay on Martin Walser.
You can find selected articles and speeches since 1999 to date on their website www.augstein.org.
In the name of fighting corona, the craft should also put down the trowel.
It is still the case: construction workers work outdoors on construction sites, indefatigably and regardless of the infection rate.
You can only prevent them from doing this with brute force.
If these people run out of gas to drive to work, all construction sites could be fallow.
As for the food supply: As part of the closure of all petrol stations, all shops should also be closed.
The federal government has been supporting the decline of small shops since the outbreak of Covid-19.
Whether she is aware of it or not, she is betting on online trading.
It can run without the petrol stations and their petrol: The various online giants will be able to easily select their suppliers based on whether they have electric cars available.
The supply of the population with calories would therefore be assured.
Fortunately, our rulers at federal and state level do not need any gasoline anyway: They have technicians who have set up the zoom control so that it visibly works.
And what they say doesn't look any different than when they met each other and us in person.
The Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier gave a proper speech before Easter.
He mentioned the prevailing Corona fatigue, but only to come to the conclusion: The Germans should pull themselves together;
and everyone should "do" their best.
Frank-Walter Steinmeier did not realize how painful inaction people are, how inaction depresses people, that inaction is mostly perceived as imprisonment.
The verb "to do" is ambiguous.
It can mean a lot and it can mean very little.
If you say "I don't like doing that" then the accent is on "I like" and "don't".
On the other hand, when it comes to what to do, the verb gains weight.
The Federal President calls on the Germans to "do" their part to ease the pandemic.
Then the verb leads into the pit in which his prudent speech snuggled up.
In truth, he called on his compatriots to do nothing: stay at home, see no one, have no life beyond family and work (as long as you have one and / or the other).
Frank-Walter Steinmeier completed his speech.
He has not realized how painful inactivity is, how inactivity depresses people, that inaction is mostly perceived as imprisonment.
He and his speechwriters may be reminded of the note that used to be attached to a number of office doors and refrigerators: "If I had the strength, I wouldn't do anything."
more on the subject
Living in the pandemic: Why is my fear of Corona suddenly gone? By Heike Klovert
For the time being, the fact remains that the federal and state governments issue ordinances without a sufficient legal basis.
Most experts say you can hardly get infected outdoors.
The ordinances are different, you don't know why.
A number of experts say that you can hardly get infected in hygienically well-ordered theater rooms.
The ordinances prevent public life.
The federal and state governments have not bothered to find out where you are infected.
They rule technocratically, regardless of the population.
The population receives new warnings from all public channels and private TV channels.
The constant exposure is frightening and leads to aggression.
At the moment it is said: Now get through a lockdown, restrictions until the "third wave" of Covid-19 has been overcome, including the mutant from Britain.
It is a shame that the internet does not have to be refueled at the gas stations.
Then the lockdown would be even more effective.
Incidentally, the »fourth wave« of Covid-19 is already on its way.
