by Peter Löcke //
Please do not post any advertising! This small label is attached to many letterboxes. Whether an advertising leaflet is seen as useful consumer information or an annoying nuisance is at the personal discretion of every citizen. Even the choice of media was and is self-determined in the analog paper world. Daily newspaper yes or no and if yes, which one? I alone decide. I am the master of my mailbox. Logging in is still like unlocking and works with an actual key. When I turn the key, my empty analog mailbox looks back at me in 2023. The local cheese paper, Süddeutsche and Spiegel? Subscription times are over for me.
The world has changed. Hardly any letters or postcards anymore. A WhatsApp, a text message or an electronic mail can be sent in seconds and free of charge, without the need for a stamp. I hardly ever receive even unpleasant invoices by post anymore, but as a pdf file attachment. Sent to my e-mail address in a legally compliant portable document format. So I open my electronic mailbox at least once a day. What awaits me there before I log in with my password? Pictures, headlines, news await me. News for me and millions of other customers. But which ones? These are media formats that I would never choose for myself. What does the typical news menu on GMX, Web, Yahoo and the like look like?
The daily horror report with the climate message "The end of the world is near" is a must. There is also an uncritical interview with an expert. The messages from military, medical, climate and other experts are one-sided and correspond to the official narrative. I can't find an expert critical of NATO here, nor a scientist who contradicts Lauterbach. What else is on the menu of the free e-mail providers? The typical menu looks something like this: bad Trump and good Biden, Putin's imperial war of aggression alongside the nightly video message from Volodymyr Selensky, plus one-to-one agency reports and regurgitated material from the mainstream. In other words, media reports about media reports. The bland fare is seasoned with a benevolent retelling of the previous evening's talk show and, from time to time, a fact check by Correctiv. As an alternative for people with little interest in politics, the menu includes some sport or the world of stars and starlets.
Now we could delve deeper. The experts mentioned are those who are also requested and passed around by Süddeutsche Zeitung, Der Spiegel or the public broadcasters. If you research the names of the up-and-coming young journalists for other articles, they are mostly freelance writers who are primarily interested in the topics of climate and right-wing extremism. Why is there a fact check on the high-reach mail pages? Because only a few people go directly to the checker pages and it is free content for secondary users. Steal our stories is Correctiv's motto.
So if you think that you largely do without information from the so-called leading media - that is not the case. You consume this information every day when you go to your electronic mailbox. Incidentally, unintentionally and by choice. Please don't post propaganda and advertising? That may work for the letterbox on your doorstep, but not for your electronic mailbox.
Of course I can defend myself with my own paid email domain. But who wants to spend money on something that is (still) free? Besides, humans are creatures of habit. Perhaps you are also optimistically convinced that you will not be influenced by such propaganda. I'm not so sure about that. At least I regularly find myself clicking on the articles. Be it out of curiosity, be it out of bewilderment, be it out of anger, be it out of amusement. It's the digital advertising pillar that catches my eye every day without me wanting it to. Especially as I am one of those people who still open their electronic mail on the computer and not on the small display of their smartphone. I try to ignore the messages, but then an inner voice tells me to "Click me!"
Incidentally, humans work by scanning an image, a text or even their screen with their eyes from left to right and from top to bottom. Today, my free email provider informed me of an innovation. It's just a minor detail. In future, I will be able to log in at the bottom of the website.
Articles identified by name do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher.
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8 Responses
Ist der prophetische hit ‚I’ll be watching you‘ nicht von Police?
Dear Mr. Löcke, when I read this I assume that you are accessing your mails via the browser and the provider's website. I recommend a mail program such as Thunderbird and you will be rid of the propaganda.
Three days ago I saw that the Protestant Church, more precisely the Frauenkirche in Dresden, is now also throwing itself into the fight for the climate with a huge poster.
„Wir können alles wieder aufbauen- außer das Klima“.
The church is finally taking a stand!
The only problem is that you should also have a clue.
Climate as an average value of weather phenomena over a longer period of time will always exist and cannot be destroyed.
Aber sicher hat man lange darüber nachgedacht, wie man Kirche für junge „Aktivisten“ attraktiv machen kann. Ob’s hilft?
Sometimes there's also something else nice in the mailbox. Today I had mail from Markus Langemann. Fields of Gold. A wonderful piece of music by Police that took me back to days long gone. It was one summer, I think in 1977, I didn't have a driver's license yet and my girlfriend and I decided to go on a trip together. My first, by the way, because I had never traveled with my parents before. I had never been further than Munich to visit my relatives. And the trips to visit relatives were a horror anyway. With the VW Beetle, the parents in the front, four children in the back, the smell of gasoline. My brother, who faked a stomach ache to avoid the visit. My father, who said, well then we'll stop off in Steinhöring and you'll go to the children's hospital. That made my tummy feel much better straight away. However, this didn't stop us all getting sick and throwing up one after the other. But now to my trip to France. I had 150 marks, which I used to buy a train ticket for 90 marks from Wasserburg to the Spanish border. There and back, to be on the safe side. A large rucksack with a sleeping bag, what more did we need? It was our idea of a trip. It was a fantastic journey. We drove as far as we liked, got off somewhere and lay down to sleep in the countryside. When we reached the sea, we found wonderful places to sleep in the sand, eternal conversations on the beaches. The sun burned our faces. Sometimes we hitchhiked when we strayed from the train line. One day we made the acquaintance of a group of young French people. We went to a village bar and were invited to a concert afterwards. We had never heard of the band before. Police were playing in Montpellier. I was looking forward to the concert. The concert took place in the stadium in Montpellier. Maybe it was even Police's first concert. I don't know. In any case, my girlfriend didn't want to go. I never found out why. I didn't want to leave her alone and with a heavy heart I stayed outside with her on a bench. The music started and we could hear it loud and clear. I was so impressed by this magnificent music that I still remember that wonderful balmy summer evening with Police music. Yes, it was a field of gold. My contribution may not really fit, but perhaps I can make a small encouraging contribution for Peter Löcke to ease the frustration from the mailbox.
I switched from GMX to Posteo precisely because I no longer wanted the nausea to precede reading my e-mails every time, it's really not expensive, highly recommended and should be supported.
Dear Mr. Löcke,
You speak from my soul on almost all points. As far as the climate narrative is concerned, however, I am of the opinion that, au contraire, the mainstream and politicians are ignoring climate change, which is threatening to manifest itself everywhere and is becoming increasingly apparent. It is the mainstream that does not want to admit that humans have already exploited this planet in every respect to such an extent that future generations will have to reckon with having to live under extreme natural conditions, if life is still possible at all in the foreseeable future. If the mainstream were to follow what you call the propaganda narrative with regard to climate change this time, as the mainstream has done with the fatal corona measures, long overdue measures would be taken to oppose climate change, which unfortunately still seem excessive to the majority (mainstream) and are even ridiculed and torpedoed: Making animal products more expensive; generating energy only through sustainable technologies, saving energy where possible; banning deforestation of our natural forests; no mass animal slaughter facilities etc....
Best regards, Melita
Future generations are being deprived of their livelihoods through war and wrong political decisions.
Very nicely written. I boldly claim that the text was written from my life....