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.
Articles identified by name do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher.
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18 Responses
…aber vielleicht haben Sie sich auch nur eingebildet den Grund zu kennen und eigentlich eine Prospektion ihrer Selbst angestellt, …eine mögliche Exploration besteht darin, dass für diesen Menschen der Besitz Anderer eigentlich nur egal ist, oder sogar letztlich Alles der „eigene“ Besitz ist.
Vertrauen ist bei Säugetieren eine Notwendigkeit der Aufwüchsigen, zwischen Erwachsenen sind mit Wohlwollen unterlegte klare Vereinbarungen ausreichend, oder ist das ‚rechts‘?
Es ist immer wieder schön hier! Kultivierte und intelligente Menschen, die mit wohl gewählten Worten ihre Gefühle und Gedanken teilen, zum Nachdenken und Reflektieren anregen. – Was für ein krasser Gegensatz zu der unerträglichen Banalität und Verlogenheit „da draußen“, bei den Leitmedien, in der Politik und beim überwiegenden Teil der Mitmenschen. So schön es ist, hier – und in ein paar anderen Foren – auf Gleichgesinnte zu stoßen, sich verstanden und integriert zu fühlen, so schmerzhaft ist die Erkenntnis, ein Außenseiter und Ausgestoßener zu sein. Das Vertrauen ist für immer zerstört, es wird nie wieder sein, wie es einmal war – da haben die Pandemietreiber und Propagandisten ausnahmsweise recht behalten. Die Überschrift eines „Aufarbeitungsartikels“ vor einigen Wochen war sinngemäß: „Wenn das möglich war, ist Alles möglich“ – und das macht Angst, das lässt das Vertrauen in den Klassenraum nie wieder zurückkehren. Was kommt als Nächstes? Vermögensabgabe? Lastenausgleich? Klimalockdown? Dritter Weltkrieg? – Alles ist denkbar geworden. Und im Klassenraum? Da wird Nichts aufgearbeitet, Corona ist vorbei, wir blicken nach vorne – so wie es Politik und Medien vorgeben.
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?
Ich sehe das weitgehend genauso. Nur glaube ich, dass diese zu beobachtenden Tendenzen eine Art gesellschaftlicher Entwicklungen sind, die eine Vielzahl unterschiedlicher Ursachen haben, die sich gegenseitig bedingen und verstärken, aber keinen Masterplan einer überschaubaren Gruppe, welche alles und alle orchestriert. Ich lese Aussagen von Persönlichkeiten des 19. Jahrhunderts, die sich über Entwicklungen sorgen, die man praktisch auch auf 2023 übertragen könnte. Nicht, dass es das besser machen würde, aber das Leben wird sich immer wieder durchsetzen und es wird immer einen Ausgleich geben. Wir haben ja auch gesehen, welche großartigen Initiativen weltweit seit 2020 in Gang gekommen sind, ohne die „die andere Seite“ noch schamloser „durchregieren“ könnte.
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.
„Mein ist die Rache, spricht der Herr!“ So steht es in der Bibel. Aus gutem Grund. Menschliche Rache schießt oft über das Ziel hinaus und beschädigt auch andere, die mit der Untat gar nichts zu tun hatten.
As a teacher, I always enjoyed reading the youth edition of 1001 Nights to my pupils (both young and old).
Darin gibt es die „Geschichte von der himmlischen Vergeltung“ Ein Eremit hoch oben auf seinem Berg geobachtet immer das Treiben tief unten im Tal und er hadert mit Gott über die scheinbare Sinnlosigkeit. Eines Tages besucht ihn ein Heiliger, ein weiser Mann, dem er sein
He complains about all the injustices. The wise man shows him how all the people down there are fatefully connected in their actions.
Am Ende spricht er:“Hier oder drüben.Ob er am Galgen endet oder in des Teufels Netz oder ob ihn die Dämonen in der eigenen Brust zerreißen, er findet seinen Richter. So ist auch keine gute Tat umsonst, siondern wird belohnt hienieden oder drüben und sie wirkt unsichtbar weiter und mehrt die geheimen Schätze der Welt. Es geht nichts verloren.“
Let's not give up hope!
„Wir sind lebensnotwendig darauf angewiesen Vertrauen zu haben, in unsere nächsten Bezugspersonen, in Freunde, in Leute in wichtigen Positionen und Ämtern, in die Politik, in religiöse Gemeinschaften und deren Vertreter, in Gott.“
…in Gott ja, aber das meiste Andere halte ich doch für den gefährlichen Trugschluß linker Indoktrination, gerade dieses beschriebene Vertrauen in „Leute in wichtigen Positionen und Ämtern“… Rechtsstaat und Vieraugenprinzip. Ja jetzt, wo diese Prinzipien durch die feindliche Übernahme sozialistischer emotionaler Kollektivierungen von virtuell gefühlter Mentalität als Fernstenliebe ersetzt wurden fordern diese unfähigen kakistokratischen Politdarsteller „natürlich“ Vertrauen, und zwar Vertrauen in ihre Fehlbarkeit und vertrauen weiterhin auf unsere Vergesslichkeit und Nachsicht, Exkulpation. Auf die Frage nach den Sylvesterkrawallen in Berlin antwort Giffey „aber das sind doch unsere Berliner Kinder…“
Das verlorene „Vertrauen“ kann nur durch Demokratie und einen Rechtsstaat erneuert werden, lehren Sie das und nicht dieses „gefühlsduselige Zeug“ linker Pferdeflüsterer. Wer vertrauen „muß“, wird zum Opfer, das ist die Realität.
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.
Ich glaube, dass das alles jetzt eine der größten Herausforderungen für uns als Menschen ist. Eine Freundin berichtete mir unlängst, wie sehr sie von den Menschen in ihrem Umfeld diffamiert und ausgegrenzt wurde, weil sie die Spritze verweigert hat. Exakt diese Menschen stehen heute vor ihr und möchten ihr Mitgefühl, weil sie so sehr unter den Nebenwirkungen eben jener Spitze leiden. Und sie sagt: „Ich habe in solchen Momenten Angst, völlig gefühlskalt zu werden.“ Ich kann das sehr gut nachfühlen. Vergebung – das habe ich in persönlichen Prozessen erlebt – ist ein sehr langer Weg. Ein lohnenswerter allemal in meinen Augen. Allein! Er setzt eine Aufrichtigkeit des anderen voraus, eine Entschuldigung aus dem Herzen und nicht, weil man medial noch mal davon kommen möchte. Und diese Aufrichtigkeit habe ich bisher noch bei niemandem aus der politischen oder wissenschaftlichen Riege gehört. Genau so wenig wie in meinem persönlichen Umfeld.
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!
Diese Versuche zur „Tagesordnung“ überzugehen, die provokant initiierte Ablenkung durch andere „Themen/Ereignisse“ der Zeit. Plump, Erbärmlich, Unglaublich.
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.
Und für alle von „uns“, die hier mitlesen und für alle, die aus „anderen Gründen“ hier mitlesen: Mein Vertrauen in die Politik, den „Staat“, Institutionen, Ämter, Titel etc. ist zerstört. Ich kann als erwachsener, lebensälterer Mensch vielleicht damit umgehen, aber wie sieht es mit jungen Bürgern aus, die sich noch in der Orientierungsphase befinden und vielleicht kein stabiles Fundament zu Hause haben?
Dennoch glaube ich, dass es irgendwann den „Dies Irae“ geben wird, den wir im März wieder mit großem Chor und Orchester zur Aufführung bringen. Und dann: 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.
Verzeihen – aber nicht vergessen – ist die Kunst. Ich mir und allen „Verlorenen dieser faschistoiden Zeit“, dass dies gelingt.
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.
Man könnte ja, bei aller Genugtuung, unken, dass dieser Vertrauensverlust in nationale Politik und bekannte Autoritäten gewollt ist, um sie von einer noch „höheren Autorität“ = Weltregierung abwechseln zu lassen. Das wäre der eine, sicher grauenvolle, Weg. Oder man nimmt es zum Anlass, in dieser Krise authentisch gebliebenen echten Menschen aus seinem Umfeld zu vertrauen und lokal neue Strukturen aufzubauen, die durch Eigenverantwortung geprägt sind. Man wird sehen, wo die Reise hingeht!