Hello Fab,
As you mentioned, although the topic is about German politics, but it’s showing a global and worrying trend.
We also had a recent change in government in the Czech Republic, and I’m still curious what will be their take.
Lately, the departing government declared the state of emergency, and there was a proposal to mandate vaccinations.
I still have hope that there are people who are pushing back against, what I see as clear infringement on the rights of people.
You (Fab) mentioned back when Germany was the leader on renewable energy. I remember this well. The Canadian province of Ontario took the design of the subsidy Germany used more or less as is. In English they called it a feed-in tariff: Feed-in tariffs in Germany - Wikipedia
I remember it from having arguments with my dad. He was never a fan of environmentalism, so his take would be, “you wouldn’t believe what Germans have to pay for power because of this damned renewable nonsense you’re blathering on about.”
I did come across a pair of scientists who wrote, not a scientific paper exactly, but an opinion piece with a lot of references, with a level of skepticism on the transition exceeding even yours. They don’t think it can be done at all (“it” being maintain our lifestyles and sub out with alternative “cleaner” technologies). They think there’s nothing for it but to cut population dramatically (not with a cull, by birth control) and give up a lot of modern conveniences – think horse and buggy: Energies | Free Full-Text | Through the Eye of a Needle: An Eco-Heterodox Perspective on the Renewable Energy Transition | HTML
I’m not sure what to make of it, except there’s no way people would go for that. Perhaps their references would be useful when you and Mike talk about these issues.
With regard to cyber bullying, I agree it should not equate to physical violence and as an adult I agree that cyber bullying would have little effect on me. Like you I have experience with bullying and I have figured out the best way to fight bullies, is to not give a shit about what they say and I can turn off from cyber bullying.
The problem however is young people today do not see it like this. As a teacher I see this all too often. I try to educate them to my way of thinking but I have not yet figured out how to make them see. The trouble is if the bullies were just targeting you by personal messages I think it would be easier to switch off. However, because they do it on a public forum kids worry about what is being discussed about them. The other issue with cyber bullying compared to what we faced in our youth is it relentless. We got a break when we came home from school, students today do not.
Thank you for the episode, @fabsh! Living in a country like Russia, it’s very easy to lose faith in democracy and start believing that government can not be influenced by “ordinary” people, that oppression can only ever grow, and that the only remediation is a civil war that is a cure worse than the disease in many situations. Hearing that you have a real perspective to have those insane “digital” laws reversed was very heart-warming. My compliments (and envy) to Germans!
The pandemic hysteria and the green insanity are another matter, of course, and I can only wish you (and by “you” I mean the country, if not the whole Europe) start making sound decisions in these regards before the economy is wrecked beyond any repair and the civil society is reduced to shambles.
Actually, I am planning a series of episodes with @MikeTheDane where we talk about this very thing. The first of those will be released this week, if everything goes according to plan.