It doesnât help that their main consumers are in that high risk range of getting seriously sick from the virus. Itâs not going to be a great time for mall owners.
Sorry, this is going to be a rather long response for a short question. Please scroll along if youâre not interested in the cultural semantics of German public debate.
The âinitiativeâ calls itself Querdenken, literally: thinking laterally.
It is important to note that a Querdenker is rather perceived a badge of honour. In public discourse, it carries a strong connotation: it is mostly used in context of public debate with people who have rather unpopular or uncommon views, but who nevertheless add valuable perspectives to various discussions. To âearnâ the public categorisation as a Querdenker (mostly male, BTW - very rarely the term Querdenkerin!), you usually also have to contribute your opinions to several subjects, or better even: fields. Which has, of course, to do with the âlateralâ p
The general meaning of âlateral thinkerâ for someone who is trying to think âout of the boxâ and using your subjective perspectives (and biases) as a creative element is also used - but rather rarely, compared to the general perception. (This manifests itself in publications using the term.)
I said above that the term is used mostly for men. Rarely for women. Also, it is, at least in my perception (other German speakers here might correct this notion, if necessary), mostly connected with conservatives (and specifically neocons and our own breed of libertarians) speaking up against a perceived leftist-liberal bias in public debates (classical German liberalism, that is).
It also worth noting that unlikely associations of people of various backgrounds *with (neo-)fascists have been called âQuerfrontâ. The term is pulled from history - Weimar history no less.
Careful, better not use the English Wikipedia article linked from that page as English equivalent, but maybe read it as a primer before throwing the German Wikipedia into Google Translate. The German article has a lot of background, and some nuances, which are not present in the English version.
I do not think this allusion is accidental.
This is purposefully introduced. The organisers play with it. They even play with the âAluhutâ connotations (tin foil hats), some by wearing aluminium foil balls on a sting as an ornament and statement. This wonderfully plays into the propaganda which is in full swing. The Querfront strives on that.
Also, please note that the Querfront term is often used by people critical of the association of neo-fascists with other, more moderate groups, but is also used by the right-wingers themselves, sometimes mockingly.
In current usage (I would say during last decade), the Querfront term has been often used as soon as real cranks turn up at events and were not sidelined. This is especially visible during the last weeks, when so-called ReichsbĂźrger are turning up at so-called Hygienedemos and the like. We could easily dismiss such idiots, but they are present and vocal right now, and they are influencing the wider picture by stylising themselves as victims of police overreach - e.g. they provoke the police to ask for their ID, and then produce a fake document, which in turn leads to usual procedure of identification, which they oppose physically. Right now, it seems to have reached a level which I last observed during the growing âuneaseâ against the Eurorettung (i.e., measures against the European debt crisis, especially the bailout-discussions about Greece) in 2011-2012. The stuff which grew out of this is the neo-fascist Pegida bullshit and the neo-fascist AfD. The latter is currently the largest opposition party in German parliament.
This is really, really unsettling.
I apologise for this long-winded OT explanation of context and cultural semantics.
Back on topic in regard to the developement of the actual pandemic:
I agree, in general. However, there are several things which might help:
- overall infection rates are quite low in Germany
- the demonstrations were outdoors, and air humidity was low and temperatures high (reducing the time a droplet stays infectious)
- the images are just capturing a tiny moment and may have exaggerating perspectives (FTR, telephoto photos âcompressâ the space and make it seem places are more crowded than they are)
- German testing capacities are high and under-used right now (so labs could cope with additional caseload)
- we still have many available ICUs, if this goes south
All in all, I assume that we will have more people infected due to this nonsense, but I think we will not see a surge of death in one month. (Which I would say is âsoonâ.)
The longer term is what currently (literally) keeps me awake at night. And writing long posts here, since this helps me to sort and sieve my thoughts, so I can cope with this fucking madness.
Iâm pretty sure the maids at those cafes always wanted a plastic sheet between them and their guests way before that whole virus thing.
I am still waiting for several important facts to be included in this fucking nightmare of a PR disaster the new patient zero in France is.
And this article: just FUD. Do not spread. Please. They donât even link the publication. Noone even related to science has had a look at this article, because âScienceDirectâ isnât a publication. And everyone knows that who ever worked in science. Also, right now, it doesnât even mean it actually is peer-reviewed.
Questions which have not been answered in media reports regarding the early cases in france:
- Did they use specific PCR testing, so they can confirm and double-check if it was SARS-CoV-2, and not another human Corona virus?
- Did they also do antibody tests for the patients (these might turn out negative even if the person had Covid-19, but if they have specific IG-G antibodies, this would support the hypothesis they had it as early as claimed)
- Did they have enough virus in the samples to sequence the genome?
- If so, which clade of the virus was found? Can they place it in the tree?
The whole narrative âit was here in November, folksâ is not impossible. It is not even completely unlikely. But we NEED more proof, and the bloody media circus around it is creating a lot of uncertainty. Which is exploited by the populists. And Chinese government. And US government.
But I repeat myself.
Unless those doctors perform procedures the rabble doesnât like, in which case theyâre vulnerable to being harassed, assaulted, and killed.
My state has dropped the ball with nursing homes, too. Is it worse not to have a plan at all, or to have a plan and not follow through with it?
As if the infections and deaths arenât bad enough, somehow they have plenty of resources to use conservative treatments suggested by the WH:
We do have the expression âlateral thinkerâ in English, but it doenât have political connotations. Your article attributed the protests to the âInitiative âQuerdenkenââ, so I assumed it was an organized thing (or maybe a nickname for an organized thing, like âProfessorâs Partyâ is a nickname for AfD).
Iâm afraid that the pandemic has moved too fast for the peer-review process. Most policy has been based on informal reports and things like letters to Lancet. Swedenâs Johan Giesecke has famously pointed out that British and American lockdowns are based on a âpaperâ by Neil Ferguson which is likewise not in a scientific article and ânot very goodâ.
Science Direct is not an academic publication, but it is part of the same service that is behind Scopus, one of the two main international scientific publication indexes, so it is not as easily dismissed as a newspaper or popular science magazine.
They donât even tell the name of paper and authors, neither the journal! Of course this can be dismissed.
ETA:
Thanks, Randall.
What problem? Trumpvirus has 1% fatality rate, maybe 2% when medical facilities are overwhelmed. Fewer people means fewer people he had to keep under his thumb.
If they were a law firm, theyâd know that in order to contest unemployment, an employee needs to fuck up bad, otherwise itâs not worth it. Really really bad. Like making credible threats of armed violence because of a perceived slight during what is actually a common everyday occurrence, then attaching his name and (presumably) his workplace to it via a social media post under his real name, because he thinks there is absolutely nothing wrong with this behavior.
âŚoh.
Absolutely it is.
I pity any woman or LGBTQ person with whom he has ever worked, or who has crossed his path in any way.
An update about the shitshow going on in my townâs nursing home
Things could end up getting much worse here. Thereâs a womenâs NY state prison across the street from The Villages Of Orleans. Iâm not making this up, check out Google Maps.
If folks arenât careful, itâs going to get into the prison which is one of the largest employers here and spread really freaking fast.
Remember how we were all supposed to be taking a hard second look at the virtues of Xtian Neo-fascism after Singaporeâs successful Trumpvirus lockdown?
https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/singapore-battles-massive-wave-of-coronavirus-infections
Infections in Singapore, an affluent Southeast Asian city-state of fewer than 6 million people, have jumped more than a hundredfold in two months â from 226 in mid-March to more than 23,800, the most in Asia after China, India and Pakistan. Only 20 of the infections have resulted in deaths.
The slip-up highlighted Singaporeâs treatment of its large population of low-wage foreign workers, who play an integral part in the economy but live on the fringes in conditions where social distancing is impossible. The misjudgment was also an embarrassment for Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loongâs government ahead of a general election anticipated in the next few months that is expected to be the last for Lee, who has led Singapore since 2004 and is planning to retire soon.
Looks like the AMC Theater at your dead mall might become an mini Amazon distribution center
Thank you, very interesting and vital in understanding the global spread of stupidity. Got our own brand of Quer here in the usa, Qanon seems to be cut from the same cloth.
But thatâs for the same reason: anything to do with girls has cooties.
Actual LOL here. Iâll bet she does, and I know she has the gumption to keep pressing to get answers!
Sure they do. It is a short communication in the International Journal of Antimicrobial Agents, which is a peer-reviewed journal with a decent impact factor. Here is the link to the article:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924857920301643
