The world of political correctness with its bloated indignation knows no bounds. Could there be nothing more important to do?
The Street Parade once once more took place in the streets of Zurich last week. Carefree, crazy and very eccentric performances are then the order of the day. At the same time, the Lethargy Festival is organized in the alternative Rote Fabrik. It is intended to be a less commercial alternative to the big event on the shores of Lake Zurich. Some of my good relations who belong more to the alternative scene are the very committed co-organizers. The “mammie” (a pejorative term designating an African nanny that dates back to the American colonial era in the 18e century) hung on the wall caused controversy and had to be taken down by the organizers. Perhaps it was a “Namoradeira” from the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. “Namoradeira” designates a “young girl who has an appointment” or a “sweetheart”, a free translation from Portuguese. These dolls are apparently very popular with tourists. Be that as it may, we are in any case showing great thoroughness à la Lethargy. A dreamcatcher, an object of worship in the Ojibwe culture, was apparently not welcome either. The group “Lauwarm” recently had to cancel several concerts, because white members of the group have dreadlocks and play Swiss-German reggae. All of this is called cultural appropriation. I myself committed this offense in my youth, since I disguised myself as an Indian several years in a row during the carnival. And my eldest actually had dreadlocks during his most turbulent phase. Only we weren’t talking regarding cultural appropriation at the time, otherwise I would have had good arguments to encourage him to finally cut these stuffed animals. They horrified me, but we live in a liberal society, which a good father respects.
About Indians: In my youth, I read almost all of Karl May’s books. Winnetou and not Old Shatterhand was my hero, which would probably be difficult today. German publishing house Ravensburger recently had to stop marketing two books that were published in connection with the feature film “Der junge Häuptling Winnetou” [«Le jeune chef Winnetou»] which has just been screened in Germany. The surge of hatred on social networks has brought the editor to his knees. The genocide of the indigenous peoples of North America should not be overlooked or minimized, the editor admitted. What might Karl May think regarding it? Christa Rigozzi, her husband and two children are currently vacationing in Forte dei Marmi, a fashionable seaside resort on the Tuscan coast where the beautiful and the wealthy like to vacation. During a bike ride, she and her husband actually forgot to wear a helmet. Worse still, their twins were also not wearing helmets and their feet were unprotected. In Italy, all this has not been a problem and is not prohibited. In Switzerland, on the other hand, it was set on fire. I find that the world of political correctness with its bloated indignation knows no bounds. And the fact that so many people apparently care regarding the events depicted speaks volumes. I wonder, is there nothing more important to do?
Oh yes. For example, acquiring generators in time to prevent blackouts in winter or stocking up on wood for heating, which even some particularly clever politicians recommend to us. Ecological balance? Secondary, the body must roll, whatever the cost! Germany is reactivating coal-fired power stations, nuclear energy is regaining a certain respectability even in Switzerland, everyone is looking for liquid gas, even if it was necessary to resort to hydraulic fracturing to extract it, which was still totally decried two years ago and although it is energy madness. Gas terminals are also often lacking here, too. The energy crisis is causing a wave of panic and yet the world still has time to waste on Instagram or Tiktok? Obviously. But hypocrisy also reigns supreme here. In Clash Royale, a mobile game, many clans have recently swapped their national flags for the Ukrainian flag, a gesture of solidarity almost without borders, even as far as Asia. This was not the case during the Syrian conflict. Morality fluctuates depending on the situation and indignation is not always fashionable. Maybe we’re doing too well in the end. And wouldn’t a shock even have curative virtues? In economics, exogenous shocks often have this kind of effect. Remember the last financial crisis that put the global banking sector in its place or the oil crisis, when we understood that savings would be inevitable. But we now have a culture of excess that must not be affected in any way and the economic policy of the last decade (just like the coronavirus) has encouraged this culture to exhaustion. Banking crisis? The state intervenes! Public debt crisis? Monetary policy fixes it! Coronavirus crisis? All receive checks! Prevention or foresight? False alarm! Waiver? Unthinkable! And the moral of the story? There is none, there is just an army of moralizers and moralizers.