by Peter Löcke //
Skilled worker, auxiliary worker or local worker? Who is what and who defines it? I'm starting to get confused. The question seems to be about a person's labor and how it is valued by others. What possible benefit does a person's labor have for a society or an entire country? As a writer for the Club of Clear Words, I try to approach this topic.
One inevitably ends up on the subject of migration, an extremely polarizing topic. Are immigrants a burden on our system or are they an opportunity, an asset for Germany? As with many topics, I find myself in the middle. That has the advantage of wanting to understand both sides. It has the disadvantage of being insulted by both sides, as I like to represent the opposite opinion in discussions.
"I've noticed time and again that people from different backgrounds, with different life experiences, can only evaluate things based on their horizon of experience [...]."
That's exactly how it is. Hans-Georg Maaßen said that in an interview with Markus Langemann on the topic of migration. As a club worker who moves in different milieus, this sentence speaks to me from the heart.
Imagine academic, well-heeled circles. Humanistic, cosmopolitan, tolerant, colorful in their self-perception. Politically correct, ergo left-wing. Often working directly or indirectly for the state. The financial worries here are limited. Any problems caused by uncontrolled migration are completely out of their field of vision. One's own tolerance is confirmed when attending the vernissage of a Syrian artist, feasting in one's favorite Greek restaurant or vacationing abroad in Egypt. Ironically, these are often people who live in a better neighborhood with a low proportion of foreigners and hardly any crime. Mom doesn't have to worry about her weekly Pilates class at the gym being canceled because Afghans are now being housed there.
Imagine a family that lives in a socially deprived area. Living in an area with no-go areas. Life as survival, as a constant struggle, including a financial one. Here, violence and crime are not just numbers, not just statistics. Here, violence is a constant presence. We are also constantly aware that it is often "experience-oriented" young people and adults of non-German origin who are responsible for this violence. Wasn't it very different in your own youth? Here, mom is worried that her 14-year-old daughter will come home from school in good health.
Both realities of life are real, both have their justification. In both perceptions lurks the danger of giving one's own experience a universal validity. One's own perspective becomes absolute. Violence, crime, problems caused by uncontrolled migration? Where are they? That is an extreme of subjective perception. Every foreigner is a criminal. That is the other dangerous extreme of tunnel vision. I condemn both extremes.
Which of the two realities is depicted in the media? Only one. Only the first reality. This is decided by local forces in Berlin. It is the political-media consensus. Anything else would be AfD-speak. Wouldn't it? Are you in favor of upholding the right to asylum? Then you are now against foreigners. So it's not surprising that even Friedrich Merz, BlackRock metal fan and self-proclaimed opposition leader, recently declared Germany to be a country of immigration. Because of the skilled workers. Germany is comparable to the USA. Well, Mr. Merz. If I were to travel to the USA and go to the nearest employment office, I wouldn't get a green card, I'd get a red card. Health insurance, housing, citizenship benefits? Rather unlikely as far as the States are concerned, regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans are in power.
Enough about migration. Perhaps something glossy about a serious topic. The human being as a worker. People are valued according to their work. Depending on the job, I receive different amounts of money and different levels of social recognition. That goes right through to death. After all, it's not just Karl Müller who is being buried. According to the obituary, it is the senior teacher Dr. Karl Müller who will be buried.
As a typist, am I an assistant or a specialist? I approach the question scientifically, i.e. mathematically and physically. What about my own work performance? Work is power times distance. Oh dear. Typing letters requires little physical effort. What's more, sitting in front of the PC, my range of movement is limited. That doesn't look good for me. Performance? Performance is work divided by time. Oh dear. I've shot myself in the knee yet again. Some days the pen flows, other days only garbage comes out even after hours of writing. It's a good thing the publisher pays me in euros and not in watts.
Speaking of watts. When I look at various CVs and the lack of professional experience, I can attest to a considerable shortage of skilled workers in Berlin. More migration is urgently needed here. I would like to shout the following equation to these political assistants from the capital's local workforce:
You there Ohm. Watt Volt you then!
Articles identified by name do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the publisher.
Photo: American professional taken in N.Y., not far from the Brooklyn Bridge on 10/28/22
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9 Responses
My experience of migration in an upmarket part of big city x is naturally oriented towards the happy side of her description. That's the only reason why all my friends and acquaintances are so relaxed. There are finally enough cleaners again that you can afford. Syrians, Afghans and black Africans. Even our green neighbors (the only ones in the area who have a chimney to heat up against the lack of gas) now employ a dark-skinned specialist. Only 8 euros an hour, when nothing else goes below 12. They have replaced the two girls from Poland who were excellent cleaners but were too expensive. Adis, a black African from the very beginning, jovial like Uncle Tom, speaks good German, has been working here for a large cleaning company for twenty years and is now worried about losing his job. He is slowly becoming too expensive, with all the social benefits he is entitled to.
We see almost nothing of the 70 thousand Ukrainian refugees in the city. Sometimes a Ford Mustang with a young man at the gas station yelling at his three wives. Or just yesterday the first Maserati SUV, which I've never seen here before, although the city is teeming with Porsches and Mercedes, with four refugees from Ukraine. A man with his very blonde wife and two boys. I wonder where they live? Oh, says my wife, but in Quartier Y, where the BuReg pays 55 euros a day for the room.
We ourselves heat with electric underfloor heating. It was all the rage twenty years ago. Then it became expensive over the years when the price per KWatt hour for night-time electricity rose from 12 to 24 cents, and now it's all the rage again now that we're supposed to do everything with electricity. Or not? Because there isn't enough electricity either? Ricarda sees things differently, thank goodness.
Anyway, we feel very little of the world's troubles here. Only when Trump visited here and the Antifa got out of hand with Olaf did we have to flee to B. to the in-laws for a day with the baby. We live near where Trump is staying and it was teeming with police and chaos.
But everything else is quiet here.
Forgot to write: Irony over... 🙂
My focus: Every person/emigrant is an individual personality with a historical past and comes from a culture that has shaped them. It is important for me to be tolerant and to live my own values in a conscientious and exemplary manner. Although it is particularly difficult for me to remain true to myself in these times, I try to live my convictions. "You will not know them by their words, but by their deeds." I think that's a good message. Good role models are important.
Different truths as a normal state show me that wanting the truth is not the top priority. This harms us as a society, because a democracy cannot function without truth.
Watt and whether the Ohm want to, that remains to be seen.
And what we want downstairs - bread and rolls.
In the center, you're currently pretty far to the right! Demanding compliance with fundamental rights, the Nuremberg Code or the separation of powers can get you into trouble, because you realize where you're out of order. Let's keep it up! Think for yourself, express your opinion openly.
You have brought entertainment and thoughtfulness into a great verbal artistry. Many thanks
Once again, brilliantly written and so true. When the Syrian refugees started arriving in 2015, I was also ambivalent about whether the slogan "we can do it" would work. Then there was the accommodation of mostly young family fathers in my immediate neighborhood. Most of them are peace-loving and willing to integrate, who sooner or later brought their families with them. Friendships have really developed and when you look into it more closely, you come to the conclusion: what would I do in such a situation? Wouldn't I flee too? I always treated the people here with respect and they treated me with respect too. Most of them now feed their families themselves, and some of the women also work. But there are also those who came in 2015 and still don't speak German and aren't even willing to work because the hammock is there. Or they have so many offspring that the child benefit is enough. So it's quite difficult to have tunnel vision. Not everyone is a parasite and a criminal. There are highly intelligent people who have built a new life for themselves here, initially with start-up assistance of course. I think that has to be recognized. But there is also the other side. Recently there has been a mufti running around in a white coat, his wife in a completely black burqa, and these people sometimes make me suspect that we are being infiltrated by Islamists. I'm suspicious and I avoid them. But the fact is that we have opened the floodgates to all those who may be up to no good. It is and remains a difficult topic. Well, if only we Germans were given that much in a foreign country. If you want to emigrate, you need a lot of money to avoid going under.
Oh, what a delicious verbal feast. I adore your art of word choice, in the style of Mr. Langemann. It really does work without Anglicisms, even without Latin complications. Pure German, and you do it brilliantly.
Has my comment now put me in the Nazi corner in line with the mainstream?
yes, word games with only the German language are also a treat for me!
I speak several languages and have an immigrant background - for me, Denglish is an indicator of the dilution of culture, which is a great pity in my opinion.