Das Buch Wer mitmacht, hat Recht!

There was a very interesting interview with Thomas Kliche a while ago in German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

A large and established part of society is made up of people who believe in authority. These are people who were educated to submit to power, believe in strength, and despise weakness. It is enough if the moderate give up and become silent. Then authoritarians can prevail.

This quote is Kliche’s key point and I totally have to agree. I can see this happening in Germany right now:

• Radical authoritarians currently in power are passing very strict but useless, not to say: harmful, laws
• They sell fake safety at a very high price: we pay with our liberties and privacy
• A lot of disillusioned Germans are more than willing to accept

So, why don’t we hear more from the last few sane folks in Germany?
That is because people are lazy by nature, and people don’t want to get hurt. That’s why so few people actually speak up. The rest either fear getting prosecuted, or, even worse, think it’s too late, or no use at all to say something.

German news website WELT ONLINE reports:

The Minster of Education and Cultural Affairs of German federal state Hessen, Karin Wolff (CDU) (German Wikipedia entry), wants to see Genesis being taught in biology class.

Believe and science; Hand in hand?

Karin Wolff repeatedly demanded that Intelligent Design be taught since Hessen’s school law allows for “interdisciplinary teaching.”
“Pupils have to be given the chance to compare scientific and theological explanations of the world,” says Wollf. “Science explains how the world came to be while theology is about interpretation and questions of meaning.”
She claims that biology lessons should also point out that there are limits to human knowledge.

German news website heise online reports:

Chancellor Angela Merkel (CDU) wants to see a timely end of the current discussion on the proposed tough anti-terror laws proposed by Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble (CDU).

The key points of the new law are

• Online search and seize of computers using the so-called “Federal Trojan Horse”
• Use of information gained from autobahn toll collecting for law enforcement
• Fingerprints as part of biometric passports and national ID cards
• Additional storage of biometric data at the local registration office (“Meldeamt”, where citizens have to be registred)
• Even more possibilities for computer-aided search / investigation