by Markus Langemann //
"The continent, which is heavily burdened by fears of relegation."
The well-known Austrian sociologist Prof. Bernhard Heinzlmaier in an interview about young people in Germany.
Heinzlmaier, a social scientist, has been working in youth culture research for around thirty years and runs the Hamburg-based market research company T-Factory as a management consultant. His work focuses on youth sociology as well as media and communication research. The background to the interview are the latest results of the T-Factory youth study.
Here you can read some quotes from Bernhard Heinzelmaier from the interview, which provide initial insights into the young people's souls. The entire interview with important and explosive information about Youth 2023, listen here.
Self-preservation instead of self-development.
"Young people seem to be completely detached mentally from society and social policy and only think about the success of their own cause. (...) This means that, for whatever reason, young people feel massively overwhelmed by the way we live and work today.
(...) The young people living today did not experience the post-war period. They have grown up in an environment in which they are taught certain standards of living. These standards, which were set by their parents, are increasingly difficult for them to realize today. (...)
The new conservatism.
"If you ask people how they describe their emotional state at the moment, the baby boomers - i.e. the older ones - say 40% that they are satisfied. If we look at 16 to 29-year-olds today, just 15% say that. This means that the perception of life among younger people is much more pessimistic (...) We live in a continent that is heavily burdened by fears of decline.
(...) In other words, we have a youth today that is more conservative than it has been for a long time. In other words, they are more conservative than their parents and put security above all else. I have data that shows that young people today are very positive about a career as a civil servant."
The media problem.
"(...) The problem we have in our society is that normal people no longer have a say in the media and are no longer portrayed. Only the climate radicals actually get a chance to speak. This is due to the fact that all journalism is populated by people who are close to the left or green parties. Above all, it is the state media, i.e. ARD and ZDF in Germany and ORF in Austria, that produce this published opinion, which ultimately leads to young people turning away from these state media en masse. 8...) We have just carried out a study that shows that the average viewer of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation's programs is around 60, while only 15 percent of the under-30s watch this media."
The party problem.
"The Greens in Germany and in Austria are also a rigid, petrified, moralizing structure that is simply no longer compatible with the average person. For example: 80% of people reject this radical gendering propagated by the Greens and they continue to do so at all costs. So that literally cries out for there to be parties in representative politics that represent the majority again and not just those that propagate these minority opinions."
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9 Responses
Unfortunately, I have to agree with the article and especially the comments so far. However, I always find it disconcerting that our government and especially our mainstream media are described as "left-wing".
In my youth (1960s/70s), left-wing journalists and media were extremely critical of the government and consistently uncovered and pursued scandals and corruption. Just like Der Spiegel, Stern or Wallraff back then. Today's media are a far cry from that, and even the "Greens" are more asocial than left-wing compared to the early left-wing Greens of a Ströbele or a Ditfurth. At the moment, not a single party is concerned about the interests of the socially disadvantaged - nevertheless, one party in particular is benefiting greatly from the dissatisfaction because it succeeds in conveying a social impression - and because its representatives serve the image of a "left-wing" government and journalists.
There are several reasons why the whole thing has shifted. Firstly, today's young people have been deprived of / neglected the stamina to fight for themselves and the ability to work in a team by the benevolent favor of their parents. Also, many young people have grown up in situations with only one parent, in circumstances that do not necessarily make the future look rosy! The pressure has also increased enormously and our governments are not up to these demands on young people (education, training, psychology, etc.) Today it is important to show young people that there are prospects (school, clubs, society), but here too the politicians are failing, as for this clientele it is mainly about their own existence with little effort! There are plenty of examples of this, whether it's nepotism, gender madness, climate hysteria, migration, infrastructure and social exclusion (urban-rural divide). There is too little space and money for the real construction sites of this world, which is rather wasted on other sometimes pointless projects!
I also observe this "fear phenomenon", this "safety thinking", in my environment. BUT: mainly in young people who were either left to their own devices at a very early age or overprotected by their parents. I raised two children myself and encouraged their "self-healing and self-strengthening powers" from the very beginning. Nothing knocks them down today. Simply because they have learned that life is not a walk in the park, that they always have to expect and live with adverse circumstances and people and that they have a right to follow their own inner compass of values and live THEIR lives and not those of ideologically (or even idiotically) inclined people.
I feel sorry for these confused and lost young people with all my heart.
You write in the text that 80 % of Germans reject gendering. and yet we are downright tortured with it every day. Yesterday it was reported all day that 80% of Germans reject the highly moronic heating law. and yet the government wants to push the law through. we hear from chimney sweeps that homeowners are already thinking about taking their own lives because they don't know how to cope. Who actually authorized these morons in the government to pass such insane laws? It certainly wasn't just the 20% of Germans who went to the polls and have no problem with all this madness. Why don't we introduce referendums, the madness would end very quickly.
I couldn't have said it better myself
We already have this function in the GG; voting, only without the necessary implementation rules, as with elections. The public interest lobby is committed to this.
I can ONLY agree with you - unfortunately!!!
I fear that 'society' is already too brainwashed for sensible referendums because it is hardly possible to inform oneself sufficiently and independently apart from all the everyday stuff.
Fully agree with the article.