by Peter Löcke //
The "Rüdiger v. Reichelt" case is causing a stir. What happened? National soccer player Antonio Rüdiger posted a selfie on Instagram. In the photo, he poses as a devout Muslim in a white robe with his index finger raised. Antonio did this because of the start of Ramadan. He only did it to honor his god Allah on social media. He didn't do it to satisfy his followers and certainly not for reasons of vanity and self-promotion.
Appearance Julian Reichelt. Rambo Reichelt is, by his own admission, the toughest opponent of hypocrisy, hypocrisy and propaganda. For this reason, Julian still has a box of Refugees Welcome stickers, and perhaps other skeletons in his closet. Reichelt is outraged and sees the so-called tauhid finger as an Islamist greeting. Religious gesture or extremist greeting? The Islamic scholars argue about this. As a proven non-Islamic expert, I will refrain from passing judgment. The fashion expert in me thinks that wide-cut white linen looks better on Rüdiger than a tight-fitting pink soccer shirt.
The mud fight between Rüdiger and Reichelt resembles watching a tennis match. My head moves from left to right and back again until the initial observation turns into a shake of the head. It's verbal cannonballs and not felt balls that the opposing parties are hurling at each other. "Extremist & terrorist" scream some, "Islamophobic racist" shout others. The outcome of the tennis match is decided in court. There, both parties will be taking the moral high ground. Speaking of moral finger-wagging.
"May the entire republic point the finger at them!" Meaning all unvaccinated people. This sentence was written by Nikolaus Blome, head of RTL's politics and society department and also a columnist for Der Spiegel. This statement will forever have a permanent place in the top 10 most disgusting pandemic quotes. Anyone who says something like that is a very bad finger. That's probably what my grandfather would have said to Nikolaus Blome. Dear Mr. Blome, for this you deserve the outstretched middle finger, the Effenberg. Only metaphorically, of course. Anything else would cost me up to 4000 euros.
Moral index finger and stinky finger? Fortunately, the human hand still has unsuspicious extremities such as the ring finger. The ring finger is adorned with valuable jewelry, usually a wedding ring. I associate marriage and family with something beautiful. But I belong to a minority. Do you know Emilia Roig? She is a political scientist and author of the book "The End of Marriage". Marriage is a historical sign of patriarchal oppression. Oh my! I know too many marriages in which the woman clearly wears the pants for this thesis. Emilia Roig being passed around in the media is not the problem. She should be granted the message. The problem is that there are now thousands of Emilia Roigs who suspect toxic masculinity under every stone. I think that's an unmistakable sign of an age of toxic femininity. If I hold the door open for a woman, I'm misogynistic because I'm thinking in old patterns. If I don't, I'm also being rude. It's exasperating.
Don't get excited, just don't get excited! I should calm down and enjoy the long Easter weekend. Easter rest? There was something. It was three years ago when Angela Merkel planned the great Easter rest. Par ordre du mufti! That translates as "by order of Mummy". But the Easter lockdown was so insane that even the biggest lockdown advocates and Merkel fans threw up their hands in disbelief. There was a big apology, which consisted of a 5-minute statement. In this statement, Merkel wrapped the whole of Germany around her little left finger. She alone had decided this. She alone had been responsible for the failed boozy idea of the Easter shutdown. Afterwards, all the journalists and almost the entire Bundestag lay at her feet for this self-criticism. You have to be able to wrap so many people around your little finger. A Federal Chancellor makes an absurd decision as the autocratic Queen of the Sun. The absurd decision is reversed due to public pressure and the Sun Queen is celebrated for it. Chapeau. The fact that the big apology consisted of one minute of apologies and four minutes of self-praise should only be mentioned in passing. Merkel is a really bad lefty. That's what my grandfather would have said, not me. But now really to the Easter rest, to a self-determined and not ordered rest.
I wish all loyal readers of the Club of Clear Words, also on behalf of the editor Markus Langemann, a wonderful long weekend and happy Easter holidays. Drink one too many egg liqueurs. Don't take life too seriously and keep your wits about you in these times. We would like to thank you for being here and for your support.
Thumbs up!
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3 Responses
Dear Mr. Löcke, I don't yet know how the week will end. But it has got off to an excellent start thanks to your highly successful text and all its tips - because I had a great time! But it was also easy for me because I empathized with you so much, after I'd looked a little here and there for the two bad fingers to be able to join in the conversation. Thanks to my total abstinence from mainstream media, it had passed me by completely, but unfortunately not quite in practice. After looking it up, I just thought: What does everyone want? They're fighting and playing foul, and the match is correspondingly transparent, bland and uninspired. I praise Löcke's finger associations: one profound laugh follows the next, great verbal theater!
Have you ever read "Nathan the Wise"? Lessing uses a wise old Jew to portray the equivalence of Jews, Christians and Muslims, so to speak. More topical than ever, it seems to me. However, it would be nice if everyone understood this, not just us Christians, but also the others. In my opinion, the negative excesses that we see in migration have little to do with genuine religiosity. I believe that religion is being misused. The Christian church, both Protestant and Catholic, has not behaved any better in the past, but I hope for further development in the future. I will soon be inviting an Afghan woman who wears a headscarf for a two-week internship in my practice and will then decide together with the other employees whether we will employ her. I have the greatest respect for the people who come as refugees and do not lie down in the hammock of our welfare state. Nonetheless, I hope that a solution will be found to migration, which is actually an apt term and means nothing other than "migration of peoples light", that takes into account all the interests involved in the long term. Everything should be handled in accordance with the applicable legal norms. Because if we do not respect the law, we will end up with a presumably oligarchic feudal state, i.e. we will lose our status as sovereigns in a functioning democracy. That cannot be in our interest.
A nice hint! The Enlightenment had already come a long way with people like Lessing. In this respect, the second half of my personal life and experience is mostly a step backwards. And religion has probably always been misused in the struggle for power. But this also applies to law, allow me to contradict myself. As far as I understand it, law does not serve justice, but peace. That is why proportionality is so important as one of the basic legal principles. And that is why the last four years clearly show the decline not only of the fourth, but also of the third estate, because in both it is like "double standards" - the exact opposite of proportionality and ultimately higher principles, which all religions probably know and, above all, every person carries deep inside as a child, before some people get very lost as they grow up. And another contradiction: "our status as sovereigns in a functioning democracy" has long since been lost, it can only be regained! Let's all hope so. But first the holy spirit must find its way into the majority of minds in this country.