The TV show 'The Lions' Den' provokes a number of questions. Neoliberal thinking and a lack of socially acceptable aspects dominate the format.
Frankfurt – Every week the same story: “Read what incredible deal Tillman Schulz made!”, and what a “mega-battle for a company from Mainz!” No, Tillman Schulz is not the top scorer from the football club next door, but a so-called “lion”, an investor with a more or less deep wallet in the show Löwen der Löwen on the private channel
VOX
. It is notable that the show is now in its 15th season.
Given the format, a number of questions arise: Who is actually voluntarily looking at these seven lack monkeys who got too much money by chance? And what keeps the audience watching when these investors invest in business ideas like dumplings in a jar or pink latex gloves for disposing of menstrual items? With the first deal, the objection can be that you can watch a cooking show and do the things yourself. The second was simply a case of clumsy classism, in which 48 pink latex gloves were marketed at a price of twelve euros as a “hygiene product” and a great feminist achievement.
But of course no one in the lion's den is interested in the socially acceptable and social aspect. There are people here who seriously believe in the neoliberal credo that you can get rich if you just try hard. And they instill this into their audience, even though they know full well that it is of course not true. The Lion's Den is to the television landscape what the FDP is to the German party landscape.
Neoliberal beliefs among the “lions”: contempt for lower earners
The “lioness” Tijen Onaran recently underlined this contempt for lower earners in an interview with the
BILD
newspaper. While the train drivers employed by Deutsche Bahn under the collective bargaining agreement won a flexible working time model through strike, Onaran says: “The discussion about sabbaticals and 35-hour weeks annoys me because I believe that it doesn't get us anywhere. “Because in the investor’s logic, everyone on the job market is equal and is potentially sitting in a warm TV studio.
“I now have the feeling that I have to apologize for the fact that I like to work a lot.” But apparently she doesn’t have to. At least you haven't heard this statement from her yet on
VOX
in the lion's den. And otherwise she certainly wouldn't have time to dictate to
BILD
the most clichéd phrases and baseless phrases that neoliberal convictions produce.
Lack of attention to social aspects by “Löwen” and FDP: Germany is not a company
Another example: “If Germany were a company, it would have gone bankrupt a long time ago.” It’s just stupid that Germany isn’t a company. But a welfare state in which politics should focus on the needs of everyone, rather than the balance sheet at the end of the year. The FDP-led Ministry of Finance demonstrated where the neoliberal corporate approach leads on issues such as basic child welfare and the supply chain law at EU level.
But in the glittering world of narrow-gauge investors in the lion's den, it's a good deal that counts at the end of the day. Things get unintentionally funny at the end of the
BILD
interview when Tijen Onaran answers the question of what she would do as Chancellor: “I would launch a big reform package with the big topics: digitalization and de-bureaucratization.” Craziness! Certainly no one has come up with the idea yet. Maybe go to the lion's den?
(Moritz Post)