#but this sort of thing really emboldens people who favor certain narratives

[berlinbabylon]

Uhm whats going on with Volker Bruch? 👀 I dont speak German and dont trust google translate lol so if you could summarize the issue I'd appreciate it, ty 😊

Oh yeah sure! So basically him and a bunch of other actor/actresses (including some others from the show, like Meret Becker who plays Esther, the wife of the Armenian, and Trystan Pütter, who plays the lawyer Litten) were part of a campaign organized by a TV director with sympathies for the so-called “Querdenker” movement which is a kind of melting pot of different groups and people united in their protest against the Corona policies and measures (like social distancing, wearing masks) from the German government. This movement is made up of people across the political spectrum (including people voting for the Green party, esoterics, and so on) but it’s also been a breeding ground for conspiracy theories and rightwing radicalization which is why many Germans, including myself, view people who participate in that very sceptically (and to give you my totally biased take: a lot of them are total idiots, regardless of their political affiliation; the right to protest is important but if people feel the need to be a part of mass events during a pandemic while not wearing their masks properly as if that’s such a big ask, then those are people who’ve got a strange, narrow-minded, egotistical outlook on the world imo).

So anyway, that campaign of the actors/actresses was essentially a series of videos by these actors/actresses, all uploaded at the same time to coincide with a law designed to give the government more deciding power (because fun fact, most of the Corona counter-measures have not being taken on a national level at all because they’re within the responsibility of the federal German states and this has slowed down a lot of things, including our vaccination campaign). They used the hashtag #allesdichtmachen (”close everything”) and basically used irony or satire~ to criticize the government. Every actor/actress has a video where they talk nonsense (”oh please please I want to be more afraid!!!”) under the disguise of art~

Look, I’m entirely sympathetic to people wanting to shine a light on the plight of the cultural industry which has been hard-hit by the virus, with the theaters closing and people losing their livelihoods. But that’s not what the campaign is about. It’s a completely obnoxious, tone-deaf, cynical parade of ignorant people vastly overrating their intellectual acumen and artistic genius and complaining about the media and the government using the same narrative strategies that have been a gateway to conspiracy theories (pretending like our freedom of speech is threatened, when it’s not, evidenced by the thousands of people protesting throughout the pandemic and driving up the infection numbers; or pretending like criticism of the policies is not allowed, when heated debates about them have completely dominated our news for over a year; or pretending like this is some sort of plot by a nebulous elite or “the powers that be” who want to keep us enslaved by making us... wear masks... when really various complicated political processes and decentralized responses have been what’s been going on). Predictably, this kind of divisive talk has been applauded by the rightwingers and the nutters. Pretty exclusively only by them.

This “campaign” has rightly been hit with a lot of criticism but as with conspiracy theorists, the harder you critique them, the more they feel validated in their us vs. them. Some of the actors/actresses acted naive afterwards but you’d have to be pretty dumb and ignorant to be this naive. Thing is, most of them are the ones who are really well-off, who kept shooting and working throughout the pandemic, who’ve lounged in their villas and gardens all this time. It actually makes me angry to think about.

And as for Volker Bruch, apparently he and Jan Josef Liefers who’s also a famous and well-liked German actor co-organized the whole thing with that TV director. Volker Bruch has also not apologized or reflected on his participation in this campaign. On his insta in the weeks beforehand, he’s already been sowing doubts about the safety of masks for children. He follows “Querdenker” accounts. He’s evidently on a slide into conspiracy theory and rightwing nutter territory and the irony is that people like him always complain about being called out for this because they genuinely don’t understand anything about what’s going on. They’re an example of what we call Wohlstandsverwahrlosung (losing the plot due to having too much wealth and nothing real to worry about).

It’s just... a lot. People are dying and medical staff and personnel are completely overwhelmed and then they have to go home to see a video by a beloved actor going “dear government, I want to be more afraid, please make us more afraid :))”

Genuinely infuriating tbh.

#ask #reply #anonymous #volker bruch #behind the scenes #this got long #sorry #but this sort of thing really emboldens people who favor certain narratives #it gives a boost to rightwingers and nutters #and the people behind the campaign don't even pretend they didn't know this was going to happen #they wanted it to happen #because they're assholes #(whiny assholes we might add in the case of the TV director who cried about the slightest bit of criticism they got) #(the irony...) #the worst of the videos might actually have been the one from richy müller #where he joked about needing a ventilator #but volker bruch's was also extremely cynical and creepy #but he's got the victim complex down pat #son you have every right to voice your opinions #but if you're an asshole about it then that's just that