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The anti-Semitic, racist terrorist attack in Halle is the latest addition to such a terrible and fertile couple. The result is a fascist ideology and the internet.
It belongs to the absurd German rituals, in no longer ignorable or deniable cases of anti-Semitism, according to "Never again!" to call, one of the most inconsequential utterances of the universe. And one of the most dangerous German rituals is to find the reasons for all the bad things where it fits best in the junk. Sometimes that does not even happen.
The reason why Germany discusses gaming is that it is the most pleasant debate for everyone involved. Gamers can with a grand gesture dismiss any connection between gaming and misanthropic ideologies as absurd. The rest of society can be outraged by something that it does not understand and therefore absolves it of any reflection. And Horst Seehofer can act as a deputy for the government, either trite or surprised. Oh, radicalized gamer, you probably did not have it on screen, annoying!
The author Max Czollek has put it precisely: "This is the storm we warned you about".
- Those who did not want to hear these warnings - like half the Union - still insisted on saying left-wing extremism in the second mention of right-wing extremism. As if the difference in the 21st century in Germany is that left-wing extremists are igniting cars and right-wing extremists.
- Those who did not want to hear these warnings declared - as Peter Sloterdijk did - in June 2019 that "the current rise in anti-Semitism in Germany" was pure alarmism and thus "emotions that had nothing to do with the actual risk potential". Sloterdijk does not believe in "all these threats". Literal quotes, I do not think so.
- Those who did not want to hear these warnings let - just like Frank Plasberg - a deeply anti-Semitic audience comment, as if it were a normal opinion: The "Jewish theme" should gradually "take back", it hate hate.
Trivialization and appeasement are part of the hatred of the Jews
The assassin himself said he had a "Jew-critical attitude", thereby throwing back the echo of a society in which right-wing extremists of quality media have been called "refugee critics". Trivialization and appeasement have always been part of the hatred of the Jews. In a mocking sense, the philosopher Isaiah Berlin has given the leitmotif: "An anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews even more than is absolutely necessary."
A young pirate official in 2012, as well as many before and after him, gave a serious variation of a bitter classic: "So I'm anti-Semitic because I find the Israeli crap policy and the Jews in themselves unsympathetic". Oh well.
The assassin's mother explained why her son wanted to murder Jews. "He has nothing against Jews in that sense, he has something against the people who are behind the financial power - who does not have that?"
In a twisted way one must be grateful to this woman: she unknowingly exposes the ubiquity of anti-Semitism in Germany. On the right-hand side of the political spectrum, this leads the AfD to claim, grotesquely and unreally, that it is a "thoroughly pro-Israeli and pro-Jewish party", while authoritative members are antisemitic to themselves. On the left is the consequence that one - in Germany! - can talk against anti-Semitism at the same time and call Israel the "apartheid state". Which is absurd in any case, but from German mouths a monstrosity with extra anti-Semitic cheese plus very hot sauce.
The net works on such a social foundation of hatred of the Jews and misanthropy. Because one of its many complex functions is that it can act as a radicalization machine. In my estimation in 2019, a new dimension has been opened here. In March, a right-wing terrorist in Christchurch murdered over 50 people, since then, the assassins in El Paso, in Poway, in the Norwegian Bærum and now in Halle have referred to him. With 25 other murdered.
Extended arm of a network community
The live streaming of violence, as in Christchurch and Halle, is considered a gaming or gamification element, but my rather crude thesis is that it has a different function: motivation and distance. Through the helmet camera and the commentary on the deeds, the offender establishes a relationship with a (partially imagined) network audience. So he puts himself under pressure to continue the act, because the shame of a possible failure in front of the community has a motivating effect.
At the same time, the perpetrator sees himself as a prolonged arm of a network community with similar goals and thus builds up distance to the monstrous act he is just commiting. The sarcastic comments in such terrorist live streams seem like a form of coping with the moment as digital terror events.
Linda Schlegel is a scientist with a focus on extremism and online radicalization. She speaks of the complexity of this process and that "unfortunately there is no blueprint for radicalization processes". Nevertheless, with reference to research on social movements, it can narrow down what "basic elements must exist to successfully communicate a narrative: diagnosis, prognosis, motivation, or in other words, what is going wrong, what the future should and should look like do is to bring about this future. "
The unholy trinity of radicalization
The assassin from Halle has published a kind of manifesto in addition to a live-streamed video clip, in combination the effective elements of diagnosis, prognosis and motivation are recognizable. Comparing the videos and manifestos of the other perpetrators reveals a possible pattern, namely an unholy trinity of radicalization in the web:
- self-victimization
- misogyny
- Antisemitism / racism
Especially through the use of racist conspiracy theories such as the "big exchange", self-victimization is practiced, the construction of a world in which one feels victimized. This sense of sacrifice allows one to regard even the most bloodthirsty acts as the form of violence that most people consider legitimate: self-defense. The victim pose is the preparation of violence.
All three elements of the unholy trinity of the Manifesto narratives can be condensed in three sentences: The "white man" in Europe should be replaced by blacks and Muslims, because they are easier to control. Feminism causes women to no longer see themselves as weaning machines for white children. Everything is controlled by the Jews. Across the network, various combinations of this conspiracy narrative can be observed.
Then comes the "members" joke
Toxic masculinity is meanwhile the elephant in the area of radicalization of young men, and here too experts like Franziska Schutzbach have warned and warned for years. And here, too, Germany does not want to deal with the reasons and background, because in the end that could mean to question cherished but toxic-patriarchal beliefs. Then someone makes a joke about "members" and everyone laughs with relief.
Linda Schlegel says: "An element of the utopia of the future is patriarchy, in which it is quite clear that the man determines the woman, which some extremists consider to be the 'true order'." It is no coincidence, incidentally, that right-wing extremists and Islamists are unanimous in their agreement.
Although left-wing extremism flourishes, too, was the question secretly posed by the first news of a synagogue attack: Nazi or Islamist?
Machinery for the purpose of maintaining power requires both groups, both are fascist. Her violent ideologies are responsible for almost every terrorist murder in Europe in this millennium. And both are very united in their anti-Semitism.