About asking questions II (spontaneous small list of questions, March 12, 2011,

9 o’clock

“What are the things worth living for and how do we get them?”

“Why does everyone keep talking about “freedom” and “democracy” and everything always stays the same…”

“How can “steady growth” be achieved on a
limited
planet work and what sense should this growth actually have?”

“Why do crises in the so-called “Western democracies” always unload at the bottom and never at the top?”

“What is news and what is opinion?”

“Can “news” actually be “objective”, or does it not always serve a particular interest?”

“Doesn’t the mere selection of what is reported on and what is not already give rise to critical questioning of the claim that our media system is “free”, “independent” and “balanced”?”

“And: how is what was previously selected reported on?”

“Why did the amounts spent on armaments by NATO increase drastically after the disappearance of the so-called threat from the Soviet Union instead of decreasing? Can we seriously still speak of a “defense alliance” in the face of constant territorial expansion (“eastward enlargement”) on the one hand and wars of aggression (Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, … -> “foreign missions”, “humanitarian aid”) on the other?”

“Why have management salaries risen by 600% in the last 20 years, while middle and lower incomes have steadily declined?”

“Why has US policy not changed fundamentally since the election of Obama compared to the Bush era, even though everyone is jubilant about change and change for the better?”

“Why are weconstantly talkingabout the climate catastrophe (which is called “climate change”), why are there countless climate summits and yet everything continues as before?”

“The Chairman of the Board of Management of VW declared, to the cheers of the workforce and shareholders, that from now on every year to increase profits by 7% every year. How is that supposed to work?”

“How can it be that the same people who drove and were responsible for the global (financial) capital crash politically, operationally and in the media are now talking completely outrageously about wanting to “control” this system? Why did none of the so-called “experts” warn of impending dangers? How is it that they continue undisturbed as before?”

Why are “democracy” and “capitalism” so inextricably linked, when “free enterprises” have everything but democratic structures? Nothing can be more hierarchical and centralized, i.e. more undemocratic, than a global corporation!”

“The term “leadership” is constantly given a positive connotation in the neoliberal sense. The German translation is not so much fun. We’ve had “leadership” before. We’d rather not talk about it again. But “leadership” is great! Why is that?”

“Why are Western politicians who create “unity” and “unity” (“98% approval in the election for party leader”) “strong”, i.e. “good” politicians, while similar results in non-friendly states and systems are then an expression and proof of their autocratic, totalitarian structures?”

“Why do we always see the same people in the media? Why is there always acrimonious arguments about little things/details, but the system or at least structural aspects of the system are never questioned? (Motorized private transport, Afghanistan “mission”, NATO membership, private property, etc. pp)”

“Merkel constantly talks about the GDR as a dictatorship or an unjust state (anyone who claims otherwise – in one way or another – is immediately banned from singing in the public canon…). I ask myself: how could this woman (who, according to her own statements, was always an icon of democracy, i.e. “anti-state” in the sense of the GDR…) then study in this state and become a doctoral candidate/scientist? (especially when she came from a “church background” – they were supposedly not allowed to do anything, were they…) So: either the GDR was not so totalitarian (but somehow also “pluralistic” in a twisted way) or: Merkel was adapted, i.e. lived in conformity with the state… then something is wrong with her carefully constructed CV… I find this even more disgusting with Gauck, this vain “advocate of freedom”…”

“Why is it that in the mother country of “checks and balances”, for example, there are no difficulties in waging wars based on lies (where is the sustained parliamentary and media resistance/criticism)?”

“Why is everything Merkel does “without alternative”? What does “without alternative” actually mean if you think the term through to the end? How do the constantly invoked formulas and phrases of “freedom”, “innovation”, “flexibility” and “vibrant democracy” fit in with “no alternatives”?

“How can “partners”, “friends” and “guarantors of territorial and economic stability” become “dictators” and “despots” in a very short space of time?”

“Why do we actually hear and see so little from Saudi Arabia, a country that supports “international terrorism” like no other, that suppresses freedom of expression like no other, that carries out public executions like no other. Even now, during the generally acclaimed “Arab Spring”: neither our freedom-loving politicians nor our freedom-loving free media world are talking about Saudi Arabia.”

“How can you scold and reprimand countries like Greece when at the same time, as the world’s leading exporter, you are systemically dependent on there being countries that go into debt in order to be able to buy “our” products from “us”. The entire so-called “sensational upturn”, which can only come about through “growth”, is based on this. If there is growth on one side, then there is a shortage on the other, or: one person’s profits are another person’s debts… is that so difficult to understand???”

“How could countries such as Ireland, Latvia, Iceland etc. be celebrated for years in the media as proof of the “success story” of neoliberalism because of their “booming economy”? Why did none of these proven “experts” want to look behind the scenes? Now suddenly everyone of the same people knew again… So: either these proven experts are fools (but they all studied at evaluated, highly ranked international elite universities…what does that say about “excellence” and “elites”?), or: they deliberately misinformed, i.e. they lied (against their better judgment) for their own benefit (high salary, super position, fully insured in the system between politics, business and the media…).”

“How can you constantly grumble about “China” and yet want to use every, but also every opportunity to “do business” with China. (cheap workbench as well as the most important and constantly growing sales market for airplanes, cars, clothing, railroads, electrical goods, computers, etc., which is the only way to keep “the system”/”our economy” alive).”

“Why is “socialism” considered a failure after just one historical attempt? Is it even possible to speak of “socialism”? Was the GDR “socialist”? How many forms of capitalism have there actually been so far? In how many systems has it been able to flourish undisturbed (from empires to fascist systems to South American dictatorships)
How many attempts at capitalism have actually “failed”? Or to put it another way: which historical periods and places are actually suitable as convincing evidence that capitalism is an ideal to strive for?”

“Privatize, deregulate, cut taxes – repeated and propagated like a prayer wheel for decades…and implemented across the board after intensive media preparation. Which of the prophecies (everything will get better!!!) have really come true (for 90% of the world’s population)?”

“Airbus is making millions in profits this year, according to the news on DLF on March 9. Does this actually include the billions in subsidies that the state (i.e. we taxpayers!) are pouring into this company, from which “shareholders” and the boardrooms then approve great dividends and bonuses… The same applies to the banks, global corporations such as Siemens, Daimler Benz etc., Deutsche Bahn, Lufthansa … shouldn’t the main investors (i.e. us!) a) have the say and b) be the first to receive dividends … ????”

“I have to strip naked down to my shirt in front of anyone I want to borrow money from. And the lender naturally also takes the right to determine how I have to use my money. And ultimately, if I fail, the creditor gets what’s left over (e.g. the house I wanted to build and for which I took out the loan). But why is that not the case in the world between “big business” and “big politics”? Why do I, as a taxpayer, who has to pay for the “rescue package” via “non-performing banks” or “distressed groups“, not about what happens to the money and how? So why does the company remain the sole owner?

Strangely enough, it’s the other way round: if “the state” (i.e. me, although of course I’m not asked…) borrows money on the naturally “free” financial market, then “the financial world” (yes: the same ones that I have just “saved” without having any influence on their business practices, who have made profits for years, which have of course been privatized, whereas the debts have of course been “socialized”!!!!) of course, what the state has to do: and that is: to save (i.e. to sell off even more publicly owned public property/people’s property cheaply to free “investors”….)”

“Has the railroad become “better”? Or the postal service? Or the energy supply? Or the healthcare system? Or television? You said: everything will be better when the free market finally regulates things. I don’t see any of that. But privatization continues apace. When will it be the water’s turn? When will the city parks be privatized? When will all the schools and universities? When will the public theaters, operas, concert halls and museums be privatized? When will the “forest” be privatized? All the lakes, all the oceans, the mountains, the water, the air, the sunlight… When will I have to pay license fees to a global pharmaceutical company if I want to plant herbs whose genetic code, and thus its copyrights, it has “legally” secured?”

I notice that Russia in general and Vladimir Putin in particular are increasingly coming under fire from Western politicians and the Western media. Is a new “threat”, a new adversary, a new “bad guy” being set up? For what reasons? Who benefits from this? Who has an interest(s) in it? Why is everyone, really everyone, going along with it? What is emerging?

Where was NATO in 1989 and where is it today? Where is it going? I have a bad feeling about Ukraine and Georgia, which are increasingly coming into focus. Should they also be “brought into” NATO…