by Peter Löcke //
Love. Hope. Happiness. It is difficult to write about the really big themes in life. Such words come with too much importance. Heavy with meaning, pathetic and yet intangible. Trust is one of these words. Time and again I read how important trust is. Conversely, it is rightly criticized that a great loss of trust, an erosion of trust can be observed in large parts of society. But what does that mean in concrete terms?
A trip back to my youth, to my school days. Alongside my parents' home and sports club, my class was my little microcosm, my small, perfect world. This perfect world was in turmoil for six months. Why? A thief was up to mischief in tenth grade. Things disappeared, were taken, stolen. A new compass or calculator here, small amounts of money there. Panic among the class teacher, panic among the parents. The classroom was constantly locked. Satchels and other belongings were no longer left unattended. The really bad thing was the constant atmosphere of mistrust among the pupils. Every pupil was a suspect, every pupil became an investigator. No one trusted anyone, even though they had known each other for years.
Maybe my little school anecdote has nothing to do with what's happening in Germany right now. But maybe it has everything. The big feeding frenzy, the tearing each other apart, has begun. All those who have long protected each other are running for cover and now pointing the finger at each other.
Politicians say they have been given the wrong scientific advice. Science says it has only given advice, not made decisions. The leading media are acting as clarifiers and accusers, although they themselves belong in the dock. I watch the big feeding frenzy with a sense of satisfaction. Amnesty through amnesia? Are the perpetrators really hoping to get away with this strategy? They won't succeed.
A Lauterbach has been touring German talk shows for years as a warning Nostradamus and is now trying to pass the buck to science. The very science he claimed to embody. How pathetic. The first media are complaining that dissenters have been ignored, defamed and marginalized. Only it was the media themselves who did this. How pathetic. A Lothar Wieler leaves the RKI through the back door and lands gently in the lap of the Hasso Plattner Institute in Potsdam. The guru of measures is not ashamed to make his exit with hubris and self-congratulation. How pathetic. Should Wieler's role and his measures never be questioned? They are guaranteed to be questioned, Mr. Wieler. No matter where they disappear.
Hordes of perpetrators slip into the role of ignorant victims. The loudest proponents of compulsory vaccination, such as the Green Party's Janosch Dahmen, are suddenly calling for a fresh start, a cloak of silence over what has happened. Are you serious, Mr. Dahmen? The chair of the Ethics Council, Alena Buyx, asks "Nobody could have guessed", she says tearfully. This is the Ms. Buyx who wanted to slowly escalate government measures against the unvaccinated. I recommend that Ms. Buyx take a basic course in history and ethics. The phrase "Nobody could have guessed" has a sad tradition in Germany, as does the marginalization of minorities. What about a certain Christian Drosten? He says that politicians have drawn the wrong conclusions about school closures and other issues in a momentum of their own. Whenever he left the consultation room. You won't get away with that, Mr. Drosten. You won't succeed.
Politics, media, science, justice. The big feeding frenzy has begun. The phase of mutual recrimination. I confess that I feel a deep sense of satisfaction. Isn't this what I and many others have wanted for a long time? The lie should reveal itself. The wind should change. The perpetrators should be questioned. If not legally, then at least morally and politically as a first step. I feel satisfaction when people who mocked me just a year ago now shamefully avoid my gaze. I feel satisfaction when I observe how people regret their blind trust in politics, the media and science.
But that's exactly what scares me. The growing social mistrust scares me. Think things through from the end! It's one of the few sentences from the former German Chancellor that I would sign. What is a society without any trust in its institutions?
It was said on the Tagesschau. A respected politician says so. This is the opinion of a renowned scientist and expert. The Federal Constitutional Court has decided so.
What does it mean when all these sentences no longer count for anything? When there is a deep social mistrust and hardly any authorities seem credible? The thought scares me.
Who can I still believe and trust?
A valued reader of this forum posed this rhetorical question in a comment. A long time ago. More addressed to himself than put up for discussion. Whether trust in God, trust in yourself or trust in your partner. It doesn't matter who you trust. Only trust them. Because you can't do without it.
Perhaps forgiveness is also part of trust. The class thief of my school days turned out to be the son of a rich businessman. Someone who needed it the least. When he changed schools in disgrace, there was trust in the class again. And yet I felt sorry for my classmate. I could forgive him because I knew why. It was a cry for attention. The reasons for the perpetrators today are beyond me.
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18 Responses
...but perhaps you have only imagined to know the reason and have actually made a prospection of yourself, ...a possible exploration consists in the fact that for this person the possessions of others do not really matter, or even ultimately everything is their "own" possession.
In mammals, trust is a necessity for those growing up; between adults, clear agreements underpinned by goodwill are sufficient, or is that 'right'?
It's always nice here! Cultured and intelligent people who share their feelings and thoughts with well-chosen words, encouraging people to think and reflect. - What a stark contrast to the unbearable banality and mendacity "out there", in the leading media, in politics and among the vast majority of our fellow human beings. As nice as it is to meet like-minded people here - and in a few other forums - and to feel understood and integrated, the realization of being an outsider and an outcast is painful. Trust has been destroyed forever, it will never be the same again - for once, the pandemic drivers and propagandists were right. The headline of a "reappraisal article" a few weeks ago read: "If that was possible, anything is possible" - and that is scary, it means that trust in the classroom will never return. What's next? A levy on assets? Equalization of burdens? Climate lockdown? World War III? - everything has become conceivable. And in the classroom? Nothing is being worked through, corona is over, we are looking ahead - just as politicians and the media pretend.
Your column gets to the heart of the matter.
Will there be a reappraisal? It's hard to say. We just can't go back to business as usual, we have to keep putting our finger in the wound. The rats leaving the sinking ship must know that we are waiting for them on land. Forgiveness? That's only possible if you honestly repent and ask for forgiveness - I don't see that happening at the moment.
For my part, I no longer trust anyone. It's not always easy, but for me it's the only way forward. I'm doing very well with it, but I already have enough years under my belt. Thank God, I don't want to be young anymore.
You have to be able to wait in life because you always see each other twice.
So be patient and never lose hope.
I can understand the author's feelings and thoughts. ... And yet ...
I don't see the slightest reason to believe that the serious corona injustice - decided, beaten up and carried out in the name of the good - will be dealt with. What makes me believe that? A Lauterbach is clearly fantasizing about the next lockdown. The German government is donating, I believe, 130 million to an organization called the WHO, which has pushed through this madness in the name of science (and politics) and many profit interests, without any scientific basis. And the WHO is already on the move again.
But if it were only corona ... I see a continuity that is frightening in its effects. The same methods, indeed technologies, have been and are being used to reformat the world's societies - in the interests of a very narrow circle of beneficiaries - politically, economically. The rules of coexistence are being fundamentally changed. Language as the basis of every culture is being changed for political reasons to such an extent that it is not wrong to speak of a destruction of the prerequisites for understanding. As a result, this leads to fragmentation and alienation within society. Which, in turn, makes it much easier to influence and control in the interests of whomever. Streamlined media continue to support these processes to the best of their ability. ... Divide and rule ...
And so the same people who decided on the war against corona may soon decide to send German soldiers to fight one in the name of the people after all else and despite laws to the contrary ... And what will happen then?
I see it largely the same way. However, I believe that the trends we are observing are a kind of social development that has a variety of different causes that are mutually dependent and reinforce each other, but not a master plan by a manageable group that orchestrates everything and everyone. I read statements from 19th century personalities who worry about developments that could practically be transferred to 2023. Not that that would make it any better, but life will always prevail and there will always be a balance. We have also seen what great initiatives have been launched worldwide since 2020, without which "the other side" could "rule through" even more shamelessly.
Bonne chance.
We are vitally dependent on having trust in those closest to us, in friends, in people in important positions and offices, in politics, in religious communities and their representatives, in God.
Anyone who has forfeited this trust because they have harmed us deliberately, indifferently, out of all kinds of vile motives, has forfeited this trust forever. If such a person sincerely and regretfully asks for forgiveness for what he has done, he can be forgiven, but trust will not be restored.
Too many from all the groups mentioned have lost our trust forever in recent years. We can still maintain contact, but nothing will be the same.
As far as our politicians are concerned, many of them are of such a nature that I wouldn't want to have anything to do with them in private, with the psychopath Lauterbach, with Scholz, who demands our trust in him when it comes to the war in Ukraine, in someone who is involved in financial irregularities, who has appointed all these unspeakable ministers and who, when it comes down to it, simply can't remember anything. I do not wish to comment on Ms. Faeser. I must restrain myself.
If I had politicians like Strack-Zimmermann in my neighborhood, I'd be scared to death of her evil eye. Etc. and so on....
In the not too distant past, my students had a better understanding of ethics, morals and justice (something has changed here too) than, for example, Mrs. Buyx, who so gracefully decides about our lives and deaths with her bright red, always painted chatterbox.
It remains to be seen how the trust that has been lost and gambled away in society as a whole will play out. As I said, we are dependent on it. Will we look for new friends, new doctors, new politicians? We will see.
How do all those who have so directly and indirectly intervened in our lives and deaths live with the huge trail of blood they have left behind, with all the dead, the lonely dead, the children who have been maimed, the vaccinated, the socially marginalized? Do they spend sleepless nights, do they need psychotropic drugs, are they afraid of revenge?
Yes, there is still the question of satisfaction, of revenge.
"Vengeance is mine, says the Lord!" So it says in the Bible. For good reason. Human revenge often overshoots the mark and also damages others who had nothing to do with the misdeed.
As a teacher, I always enjoyed reading the youth edition of 1001 Nights to my pupils (both young and old).
In it, there is the "story of heavenly retribution" A hermit high up on his mountain is always watching the goings-on deep down in the valley and he argues with God about the apparent senselessness. One day, he is visited by a saint, a wise man, to whom he
He complains about all the injustices. The wise man shows him how all the people down there are fatefully connected in their actions.
At the end he says: "Here or there, whether he ends up on the gallows or in the devil's net or whether the demons tear him apart in his own breast, he will find his judge. So no good deed is in vain; it is rewarded here or there and continues to work invisibly, adding to the secret treasures of the world. Nothing is lost."
Let's not give up hope!
"We are vitally dependent on having trust in those closest to us, in friends, in people in important positions and offices, in politics, in religious communities and their representatives, in God."
...in God yes, but most of the rest I consider to be the dangerous fallacy of left-wing indoctrination, especially this described trust in "people in important positions and offices"... the rule of law and the four-eyes principle. Yes, now that these principles have been replaced by the hostile takeover of socialist emotional collectivizations of virtually felt mentality as remote love, these incompetent kakistocratic political actors "naturally" demand trust, namely trust in their fallibility and continue to trust in our forgetfulness and forbearance, exculpation. When asked about the New Year's Eve riots in Berlin, Giffey replies "but these are our Berlin children..."
The lost "trust" can only be renewed through democracy and a constitutional state, teach that and not this "touchy-feely stuff" from left-wing horse whisperers. Whoever "has to" trust becomes a victim, that is the reality.
P.S. I would like to take this opportunity to thank you once again, dear Mr. Löcke, for your columns on this site. They have become a very valuable source of self-reflection for me in these crazy times.
Once you tell a lie, you're never believed. A piece of wisdom from my childhood in the sixties and seventies. Of course, I lied as much as I could, simply to give myself the freedom I couldn't get otherwise. On the other hand, I held back and never used my lack of love for the truth to gain an advantage over my peers or other "objects" in my little world. This taught me that there should be a general leap of faith, but that you shouldn't believe everything you are told. Even as a child, I came to the realization that the search for truth cannot be replaced by pure faith. Here and today, however, many people demand faith and outlaw questioning, declaring an infantilization of the democracy participant to be desirable - just don't question. This cannot be right; instead, we should think and understand for ourselves, listen to our inner voice and then take a critical look at scientific findings, perhaps even admitting that we cannot mentally penetrate something instead of simply parroting some nonsense. The self-exposure of certain circles through their ostracism of thinking and understanding is interesting. In the last three years, many perpetrators have become victims. The vaccination fundamentalists have had themselves, and even worse, their own children vaccinated, they have shouted "hurrah" at 2G and now many of them are seeing the side effects. It is precisely those who vaccinated themselves who realize the danger they have generally put themselves, their own families and the patients entrusted to their care in. They are scientifically trained and would not have had to rely on faith. On the contrary, they are required to make their own personal risk assessment - not to make the right decision in every case, which would be contrary to the nature of science. It is a far greater task for these perpetrators, who have themselves become victims, to be honest with themselves and then forgive, than for the victims to forgive the perpetrators. Let's hope for the best.
Trust is an essential part of life.
What creates trust?
If the advance of trust that we humans grant our exchange partner in every exchange of goods is not violated by a breach of contract.
The rules that people must abide by if they want to live together peacefully and coexist have been known since time immemorial. Theft, robbery, kidnapping, assault, damage to property, murder and manslaughter are demonstrably not among them.
So how can it be that people decide in favor of a regulatory framework, accept it, actively or passively participate in it and defend it as a last resort, in which the necessary rules for peaceful coexistence and living together, which have been known since time immemorial, are not only permanently broken, but the breaking of these rules is the main component of the regulatory framework?
How can it be that most people consider a shoe monopoly, meat monopoly, timber monopoly, yoghurt monopoly, sports monopoly, club monopoly, etc. to be a problem and reject them, but do not even critically analyze, consider and question a monopoly on money, law and violence?
Trust between people can only develop and continue to exist if people can and are allowed to exchange goods freely and peacefully (voluntary and non-aggression principle) and offer goods and services to each other as voluntary offers on a contractual basis, which would require legal certainty for ALL community members equally. If hostile attacks on free enterprise, private property and the market economy as a regulatory framework are not punished by prosecuting every hostile attack on freedom of competition, freedom of contract and private property with retribution, compensation, damages - forgiveness would also be possible - against EVERY aggressor, neither peaceful coexistence and coexistence nor trust is possible, as can be seen and felt ever more clearly.
I believe that all of this is now one of the biggest challenges for us as human beings. A friend recently told me how much she was defamed and ostracized by the people around her because she refused the injection. These very people are standing in front of her today and want her sympathy because they are suffering so much from the side effects of that very tip. And she says: "At times like this, I'm afraid of becoming completely numb." I can empathize with that very well. Forgiveness - as I have experienced in personal processes - is a very long road. A worthwhile one in my eyes. Alone! It requires sincerity from the other person, an apology from the heart and not because you want to get away with it again medially. And I have yet to hear this sincerity from anyone in the political or scientific community. Just as little as in my personal environment.
dear Ulrike,
Your comment literally got to me.
I would like to echo her words.
When you encounter a jumble of give and take between people everywhere, it leaves a very bitter aftertaste, almost a blockage of emotions.
This article pretty much sums it up!
These attempts to move on to the "agenda", the provocatively initiated distraction by other "issues/events" of the time. Clumsy, pathetic, unbelievable.
And how many people around me are not (or no longer) interested in the Corona tyranny, Corona is over. Like a movie in the cinema and it seems to go on as before. Washing cars, booking vacations... Everything seems more important, hardly anyone is interested in what's happening. Provocative ignorance in my eyes.
I can't just go back to business as usual, let things rest, forgive. My 5-year-old son was NOT treated further by the eye clinic in Göttingen UMG Outpatient (follow-up appointment)! Sorry, 2 G regulation. My trust in the medical profession is not only shattered because of this. Loss of trust at every turn, especially in the old parties. In fact, what will happen when a society has lost all trust in its institutions...!
Time heals all wounds, I can confirm this. This time it will take time.
I don't think there will be a real reappraisal in the foreseeable future. Back in the 70s, a buddy of mine, crazy as he was, could go around town wearing a swastika armband and shouting HH, and the most people would do was shake their heads in amazement.
And for all of "us" who read along here and for all those who read along here for "other reasons": My trust in politics, the "state", institutions, offices, titles etc. has been destroyed. I may be able to deal with this as an adult, older person, but what about young citizens who are still in the orientation phase and perhaps don't have a stable foundation at home?
Nevertheless, I believe that there will be a "Dies Irae" at some point, which we will perform again in March with a large choir and orchestra. And then: Quantus tremor est futurus, quando judex est venturus, cuncta stricte diskussurus...
Then there is only ONE fact checker left!
Dear Mr. Löcke, the reasons of today's perpetrators are just as much a cry for attention and, above all, recognition. And not only that. For the average Joe, it's the feeling of being on the supposedly right side and the satisfying feeling of belonging to the group of good guys. Who likes to be ostracized? You feel more protected in a herd. Driven by fear, it is easier to be manipulated. Fear and a clear thought process are mutually exclusive. In politics, the media and scientific experts, of course, it is the obsession with power. They celebrate and overzealously outdo each other. Power corrupts and the pursuit of power knows neither empathy nor human dignity. Power is owed to the megalomania of being allowed to rise above others without scruples, combined with the belief that one has thereby acquired the right to manipulate people for their own good and to curtail their self-determination to this end without limit. How small, powerless and fearful people must feel who consider such measures to be necessary and right and outdo themselves in the process. More self-deception is hardly possible. It's actually downright pitiful. They have done themselves a disservice. These victim roles that are now on display, with mutual infantile recriminations, only reinforce the loss of trust. A truly adult and conscious person is capable of self-reflection, takes responsibility for their actions and draws the necessary consequences. Forgiveness perhaps, forgetting without relentless reappraisal no. This is my very personal opinion.
A contribution that gets under your skin and yet so conciliatory at the end. Trust - yes, it is so infinitely important. If it is missing or even gives way to mistrust, it eats us up from the inside like a cancer.
Forgiving - but not forgetting - is the art. I hope that I and all those "lost in this fascist era" succeed in doing so.
Dear Mr. Löcke!
Thank you. Just like this.....how should we trust again? Can we forgive? For whom? For what?
In the last 3 years my world has been turned upside down...no, worse, completely shaken up....even if my trust in politics and politicians has been very limited for many years, this was and is the landslide.....(not to mention that the flood 1.5 years ago also disturbed a lot)....And now I am struggling, dear people around me are struggling to find a basis on which we can stand, trust and live.... how this can be done remains open for the time being...my spiritual orientation helps me..... an honest reappraisal would also help...but I have limited confidence in this...nevertheless, your article, especially your statements, help to ensure that those responsible will not simply get away with it.
Despite all the satisfaction, one could be forgiven for thinking that this loss of trust in national politics and known authorities is deliberate, so that they can be replaced by an even "higher authority" = world government. That would be one, certainly horrible, way. Or we can take this crisis as an opportunity to trust genuine people who have remained authentic in their environment and build new local structures that are characterized by personal responsibility. We will see where the journey takes us!