Sedation Ministry
24-08-2006, 15:23
http://service.spiegel.de/cache/international/0,1518,433083,00.html
Incredible stuff. Major disconnect with reality. And, if Der Speigel is to be believed, a fair number of Muslims in Germany actually believe this stuff.
This just in: The Lebanese men suspected of having deposited bombs on German trains last month were hired hands -- in the employ of the German government itself.
That, at least, is what one 27-year-old from Saudi Arabia believes. "It's all a Protestant crusade," the man explains. "All of northern Germany is Protestant, isn't it? And so is President Bush." Then the man launches into a melange of confusing arguments and historical facts. The bubonic plague, Martin Luther and former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl all make a cameo. It's all connected somehow, the man is sure of it.
or this:
Or on television. Just a few days ago, a 17-year-old Kurd from Bonn espoused the following theory on SPIEGEL TV: "What happened first," he said, talking about the recent conflict in Lebanon, "was that the Jews raped a child, or something like that." Later he claimed to have learned from a credible source that Jews once systematically shot six-year-olds in a kindergarten. "They let the teacher live so she would become mentally ill," the young man said.
Bizarre theories about the conflict in Lebanon can be heard in St. Georg too. A telephone salesman insists the recent police raids in London were all propaganda. Has he heard that a bomb attack was being prepared with liquid explosives? It's all lies, he says. "No one believes any of that. It's just about distracting people from the war in Lebanon." As he speaks, the salesman points outside the entrance to his store, where a group of men is chatting. "We all think this way here," the man says.
Incredible stuff. Major disconnect with reality. And, if Der Speigel is to be believed, a fair number of Muslims in Germany actually believe this stuff.
This just in: The Lebanese men suspected of having deposited bombs on German trains last month were hired hands -- in the employ of the German government itself.
That, at least, is what one 27-year-old from Saudi Arabia believes. "It's all a Protestant crusade," the man explains. "All of northern Germany is Protestant, isn't it? And so is President Bush." Then the man launches into a melange of confusing arguments and historical facts. The bubonic plague, Martin Luther and former German Chancellor Helmut Kohl all make a cameo. It's all connected somehow, the man is sure of it.
or this:
Or on television. Just a few days ago, a 17-year-old Kurd from Bonn espoused the following theory on SPIEGEL TV: "What happened first," he said, talking about the recent conflict in Lebanon, "was that the Jews raped a child, or something like that." Later he claimed to have learned from a credible source that Jews once systematically shot six-year-olds in a kindergarten. "They let the teacher live so she would become mentally ill," the young man said.
Bizarre theories about the conflict in Lebanon can be heard in St. Georg too. A telephone salesman insists the recent police raids in London were all propaganda. Has he heard that a bomb attack was being prepared with liquid explosives? It's all lies, he says. "No one believes any of that. It's just about distracting people from the war in Lebanon." As he speaks, the salesman points outside the entrance to his store, where a group of men is chatting. "We all think this way here," the man says.