Conservative FAZ Journalist Comes to His Senses

Lorenz Jäger is a frequent contributor to the conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Recently, however, he publicly took leave from the Right in Germany since, in his view, it has become an extremist movement that has nothing more to do with conservative principles.  His piece, which appeared in the October 13 edition, has the subtitle: 

Nicht mehr unter Rechten: Der Konservativismus hat sich selbst verraten. Er ist zu einer Ideologie der Großindustrie und der Kriegsverkäufer geworden.

    (No longer part of the Right:  Conservatism has betrayed itself.  It has become an ideology of Big Business and Warmongers.) 

Herr Jäger is only just now figuring this out?  Better late than never, I guess.  In his piece Jäger has harsh criticism for all of the well-known outlets for right-wing noise in Germany, including the volkish-national weekly Junge Freiheit, the popular anti-Muslim hate blog Politically Incorrect, the journalist Henryk Broder, and the so-called Freedom Party. 

Lorenz Jäger writes about how conservatism in Germany devolved into right-wing lunacy.  As an American, I am profoundly ashamed and embarassed that the United States provided the intellectual foundation and models for the Ideology of Hate that has become hallmark of the German Right:

Damit kommt man auf das Ursprungsland dieser Gedanken, die Vereinigten Staaten. Von dort beziehen die europäischen Populisten einen Großteil ihrer Ideologie, etwa aus dem Blog „Frontpage“ von David Horowitz, den man mit der deutschen „Achse des Guten“ von Henryk M. Broder vergleichen kann.

Lange Zeit war auch die zum Murdoch-Imperium gehörige Fernsehstation FoxNews mit ihrem Kommentator Glenn Beck eine gute Adresse der Rechten. Inzwischen ist Becks Stern wieder etwas gesunken; seine hysterischen Auftritte, die er gern mit Tränen vor der Kamera würzte, machten ihn auf die Dauer doch zum Gespött. Dennoch hat er immer noch Anhänger. Beck, ein Mormone, war es, der Obama als den „Kommunisten im Weißen Haus“ bezeichnete. Wenn FoxNews rechts ist, dann bin ich es definitiv nicht.

(Now we come to the land where these ideas originated, the United States. That's where the European populists got most of their ideology, such as from the blog "Frontpage" of David Horowitz, which can be compared to Henryk Broder's "Axis of the Good".

For a long time Fox News, as part of the Murdoch empire, with its commentator Glenn Beck was an inspiration to the German Right. Meanwhile Beck's star has faded; his hysterical performances where he often burst into tears before the camera, made him an object of derision.  But he still has his fans.  It was the Mormon Beck who labeled Obama as the "Communist in the White House".  If Fox News represents the Right, then I want no part of it.) 

I agree with everything Lorenz Jäger writes in his piece.  The question remains: if he no longer is part of the RIght will he use his platform to expose the political agenda of populists like Broder and Sarrazin?  Will he be an advocate for progressive causes now?  Let's see how this "conversion" plays out.

Comments

[Hattie]

I am very glad that this has appeared in FAZ.

[Zyme]

"As an American, I am profoundly ashamed and embarassed that the United States provided the intellectual foundation and models for the Ideology of Hate that has become hallmark of the German Right"

Ah come on, we have been here before. Or would "Ideology of Hate" not fit to the European Right in the 1920s?

Sorry to say so David, but it might not actually be so "American" as to how the German Right develops.
It might simply cease to be what it was from the 1960s on for several decades and return to where it always was beforehand.

[Strahler 70]

.Zyme, in general you are right, but it also can't be denied that 9/11 gave the political US-blogosphere a big boost, the right wing blogs in first place. While direct partnership with German blogs was rare, their influence was great. Stefan Herre's PI blog startet as a crude pro-Bush blog and, along with other 'pro American' bloggers got a jump start through David's Medienkritik, which itself was massivly pushed by Instapundit. And of course the political daily agenda in these days was dominated by the two theatres of war, on terrorism and on Iraq. Quickly privately run (!) right wing political blogs became tools of war propaganda, we got a picture of the mean, primitive and dirty enemy, at least within some limits, hate speech was and until now is accepted. If you make war propaganda, this is exacty what you want.

Would there have been a popular blog like PI without the impact of 9/11 on American rightwing war bloggers? Would we have a huge NPD blog instead, probably based in the US? Interesting nonsense, right? Fact is: The biggest German blog of the extreme right is based in the USA. And the second biggest and all the rest of the racist blogs, too.

All this will certainly not "return to where it always was beforehand". Thank's for nothing.

[David]

@Strahler,

It is misleading to say that "the biggest German blog of the extreme right is based in the USA". True, the Web site is hosted on servers located in the US, but the hosting providers have nothing to do with the content. We have protection of free speech, as as much as I hate sites such as PI as long as they do not violate US laws they can publish whatever they like on their Web sites.

[Strahler 70]

It wasn't misleading. It was ignoring that crude argument of 'free speech'. I don't accept this excuse for what is done in its name.
It is a threat for foreign nations and societies. It is an aggression. Stop it! Free speech? That's like free take and like free shoot.

But, I'm afraid, this is one of your minor problems. :D

[David]

@Zyme -

I would be interested in your thoughts as to why this populist anger you identify in Germany has not translated into votes. The "Freedom Party" and "Pro"-groups are a joke.

Is it the absence of a galvanizing figure like Geert Wilders?