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On a snowy Sunday I was undecided what to do with the morning. I opted for a mix of sports and nature and took the train to Aubinger Lohe. After I almost failed to get there due to bad train service, I reached and ran myself warm. Then followed the “best-of” of the spots, including the viewpoint uphill, the place of a former castle, the lake and the site of a Celtic fort. In the end it was quite an experience to stay warm in all the weather.

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Icking and the local water reserve are always worth a visit. Today I was fortunate to experience the entire lake frozen over. I had chosen to wander the western shore due to the sunshine and hope for few travelers. It felt remote and distant from anywhere else.

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One of the first autumn days with a bit of clouds and wind inspired me to go the closest park for a short break. Turning around since deadwood, I entered the world of bugs.

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Polynesian Master Navigators

From my current favorite history podcast I learned about the colonization of the pacific by the Polynesian culture. The pacific in itself is the largest ocean on earth and bigger than all continents together. Already 2000 years ago people from probably Taiwan started to go further east and colonize island by island. They did so using rather small boats and they did not have any kind of modern navigation technology such as a chronometer or a compass. They started against the wind that usually came from the west, so if there endeavor failed they had an easier trip back. The fantastic capability they developed was the one of master navigators: these people, tested almost equal in rank as chieftains, were able to securely navigate a boat over thousands of miles just by reading at the stars (they learned to read in its entirety), the animals they spotted, and the shape and height of the waves that told them whether an island was close. This description triggered the image in my mind of a calm nightly cruise under the shelter of the stars with gurgling waves and a lonely navigator focused on the endless ocean.

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Triggerpunkte von Steffen Mau

Seit langer Zeit hatte ich mir endlich mal wieder vorgenommen, abends raus zu gehen. Ich ging in ein neues Lokal, den Gesellschaftsraum. Ich war schon voller Erwartung auf Ort und Veranstaltungen. Diesmal war der Soziologe Steffen Mau eingeladen, von welchem ich schon in anderen Kontexteng gehört hatte - unter anderem hatte die Bundesregierung beraten und lief mir in meinen Podcasts als Experte über den Weg.

Die gestrige Veranstaltung hatte den Rahmen einer Buchvorstellung, sein Buch heißt "Trigger Punkte. Konsens und Konflikt in der Gegenwartsgesellschaft". Er beschreibt darin vier Arenen des Konflikts, die in sich geselllschaftliche Fragen verhandeln und eigene Logiken verfolgen. Die erste heißt "Oben-Unten" enstprechend geht es um Fragen der der sozialen Ungleichheit. Die zweite Arena "Innen-Außen" - also Fragen der Migration, die dritte "Wir-Sie" - es geht um Fragen der Identität und sexuellen Orientierung - und die vierte "Heute-Morgen" - darin geht es um Fragen der Klimagerechtigkeit und des Klimaschutzes.

Aus seiner qualititiven und quantitativen Studie leitet Mau ab, dass die Gesellschaft gar nicht so sehr gespalten ist, wie viele das derzeit behaupten. Es gebe gar keine Gesellschaft mit zwei komplette verfeindeteten Lagern. Er beschreibt, dass es eine stumme, demobilisierte Mitte gibt, die in ihren Ansichten recht kongruent ist. Links und besonders rechts an den Rändern werden jedoch extreme Ansichten sehr lautstark vertreten. Die Fragestellung seiner Studie war, in welchen Punkten die Passivität, das Sachliche und Rationale in den Hintergrund tritt und die Menschen emotional, berührt und betroffen werden. Solche roten Linien, bei denen Menschen empfinden, "Jetzt geht es zu weit" nennt er Triggerpunkte. Um diese Themen festzustellen ließ er Focus-Gruppen über Überschriften von Nachrichten diskutieren, die besonders provokant waren. Ein genanntes Beispiel war, dass in Berlin diskutiert wird, ob Trans-Personen eigene Schwimmzeiten im Schwimmbad bekommen sollten - daran rieben sich sonst auch sachlich orientiert Menschen, die sich eigentlich der Mitte zuordnen würden und es enstand in der vorher konsensualen Gruppe ein großer Dissenz.

Mau geht es aber nicht um eine Erfassung aller aktuellen Trigger Punkte, sondern welche gesellschaftlichen Spannungen hinter einen Triggerpunkt liegen. Einigen lassen sich beispielsweise der Verteilung zuordnen (z.B. Merz Beispiel der Asylbewerber beim Zahnarzt), bei anderen ging es darum, dass individuelle Verhaltensädnerungen erwartet werden (z.B. Maskenpflicht bei Corona), ein weiteres Feld waren Fragen von 'normalen' Verhalten, also was tagtäglich als normal erlebt wird und den Abweichungen davon.

Auffällig ist nun, das besonders im rechten Spektrum des gesellschaftlichen und politischen Diskurs ist diese Triggerpunkte eine große Rolle spielen, um die Menschen zu mobilisieren. Rechtspopulisten haben in der Vergangenheit solche Aussagen zugespitzt und konnten damit Akzente im ganzen politischen Diskurs setzen. Die aktuellen Regierungen werden dann meist in die Defensive gedrängt, ein plötzlich drängendes Problem zu verwalten und Schaden zu begrenzen. Die aktuelle Debatte um Migration ist ein solches Thema: die Herausforderung ist unbestritten, doch hat die Problematisierung ungleich stärker zugenommen als die Migration. So hat es dann eine rechtspopulistische Partei wie die AfD in Deutschland geschafft, ihr Wählerpotenzial nahezu vollständig zu auszuschöpfen einfach, weil sie diese Triggerpunkte bedient und nicht, weil sie besonders gutes Personal oder ein neues Parteiprogramm hätte. Mau erzählte auch, dass die politische Strategie der AfD darin besteht, dass sie bei einem neuen Thema beobachten, wie sich die Grünen verhalten und sich dann genau gegensätzlich positionieren.

In der anschließenden Diskussion gab es noch einige interessante Bemerkungen: so gehen Triggerpunkte und die Ökonomie der Aufmerksamkeit natürlich hand in hand - insbesondere in den sozialen Medien, wo Algorithmen emotionalen Themen viel Raum einräumen. Das Kernproblem ist die demobilisierte Mitte, welche sich aus verschiedensten Gründen nicht mehr beteiltigt. Die Frage der Veränderungsmüdigkeit blieb leider ungelöst.

Für meinen Teil hätte mich noch interessiert, ob es gelingen kann, solch eine Zuspitzung auch wieder zu schleifen, in dem die Botschafter in der Diskussion wieder stärker auf Gemeinsamkeiten gelenkt werden denn auf einzlene Reizthemen.

Ingesamt ein wunderbarer Ausflug mit viel Inspiration.

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Reading: Auf See

So I finished reading (or better listening to) the book of Theresia Enzensberger with the title “Auf See” (probably translated ‘Sea bound’ or something like that). It is a novel in a bit of a dystopian setting in the near future in Germany. The main perspective is the one of an 18-year-old woman, Yada, who grows up on an off-shore city that was built by her father to offer refuge from all of the catastrophies facing humankind as consequence of reclining state influence, climate change and untamed capitalism. The city that was conceived as self-sustaining community for a selected elite has developed after a few years in problematic place with the a functioning skeleton but without the heart of the idea. Yada, the founders daughter, follows a straight unexciting, routine, where literally no waves from any direction can disturb the technocratic peace of the off-shore settlement. However doubts grow inside her in particular about the original plans and why they failed,  why her mother is not with them on the island and what about the alledged illness of hers. The second main perspective is the one of Helena Harrold, an artist living Berlin. She has unwantingly become an oracle through a set of prophecies that accidentially turned out true. As an artistic experiment, she has founded a sect for hyperindividualism, from which she draws models for a set of paintings.

Throughout the novel and the intertwining of the narrative threads, the discussion is about whether the world has ended (as Yada has learned on the island) or not (as Helena is witnessign day to day in Berlin). It is a story from which I initially expected a dystopian look into the future but which countered my expectation by drawing a line of contiuity and self-reliance with the presence. I particular liked the filled-in excusions called ‘Archive’ that brought up curious stories about ‘other’ places and societies - be it Darwins’ biological utopia on Ascension island, the anarchist pirate socities in Madascar, the fake Central-American state by Gregor MacGregor or the invention of the special economic zones as states outside regular states. These particular heterotopic places appear to the cornerstones of the building Enzensberger is constructing with her social outlook - as much as you might long for the promise isolated social island, the world’s fate is to be negotiated ashore.

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Finally I managed to go for a little forrest excursion again and decided to take a closer look at Eichenau and the Emmeringer Leite, a row of hills fencing the lower land near Fürstenfeldbruck. The highlights were two former castle hills now home to old beech trees growing on sandy soil. At same places you could take out the pressed sand from the wall of the hill. The charme of the walk was that even though it was not far away not so much was going on and I had the forrest mostly for myself at least once I left the main roads.

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Models are opinions embedded in math.

Cathy O'Neil about the problem of bias in algorithms.

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Gretta Louw’s campaign is currently quite present in Munich. The above is one of my favorite aphorisms.

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Reading “Underland” by Robert MacFarlane

Today I finished Robert MacFarlane’s journey into the underland, a piece of nature writing, where he explores the caves, gorges, tunnels, catacombs, mines and vaults in different parts of the earth. As usual for his excursions MacFarlane excites through his poetic description of landscape and natural environment as well as his reading of the cultural connotations. For the underlands he identifies the techniques of locking away danger, of exploiting treasure and of storing valuables. Starting off in hilly English landscapes with old grave caves, he visits potash mines under the ocean, he wanders for days through the Paris catacombs, traces the wood wide web, pursues the suburban run of rivers in Northern Italy, dolines in Slovenia, cave paintings in the Norwegian fjords, underwater landscapes, the majestic Greenland glaciers and glacier mills and finally the vault for nuclear waste in Finland. I enjoyed that each chapter was not only about the particular place but the topic - thus opening your eyes and mind. I learned about gigantic ancient suburban cities in capadokia, about how glaciers conserve the air and the events of millions of years, the fight of the Norwegian fishers and environmentalists against the oil companies, and much more. But most I enjoyed that Robert MacFarlane manages to write in a way that you virtually join his steps on his natural path through the environment - until he lies down in forrests, valleys or his tent to fall asleep in the scene.

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Reading Mask Off: Redefining Masculinity.

 A friend handed me the thin book by JJ Bola, as she found in interesting, but did not manage to find the time to read.

I started and quickly finished. It is an essay about patriarchy and the harms it does to society, written from the perpective of a man. Starting out with deconstructing the common myths of ‘men don’t cry’ etc. which was not utterly surprising, each chapter got more exciting circling around upbringing, sexuality, politics, social media, feminism and sports. The main points that stuck to my mind were that Bola claims that leading teenagers in the role of a strong, non-emotional man often causes not only pain to others but to oneself as well. Emotions are held back, friendship can not unfold the full power of support, mental health problems arise, aggression is unleashed to surrounders. Young men often feel depressed according to studies, while they feel the need to maintain a happy, firm and competitive facade. Another point that he made clear was that feminism is actually for everyone (and for me that point was easier to accept from a male author): feminism does not struggle for the reversion of society but for an equal balance also elevating the pain that patriarchy forces upon the (larger) male part of society.

It was an easy read with biographical excursions. I was able to identify partially but I guess for male teenagers it might be a very important advise on their way to finding their role in society.

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Two years after I had received a book on how to make childrens toys from wood as a christmas present, I managed to apply the technique for the first time and it was not even a big effort. The stencil was quickly drawn and cut out with my daughter, the saw I had been given as a donation from a neighbor, the orange paint I made myself from capsicum powder. Compared to the time I spent wood-cutting this is really a fast an rewarding alternative.

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Following a spontaneous impulse we decided to spend the day in winter wonderland at Windach. After a hike with a sledge, we had a warm lunch near the creek and enjoyed the sun, while the water was running softly.

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Wolfszeit

Following the advise of a friend I borrowed Wolfszeit from the library and finished it in five days. It was a very captivating lecture on the post-war period, a time which I had bookmarked under a time of devotion, guilt, introvertism and silence about the things that had happened. The author, Harald Jähner, provides a wider perspective: he outlines the years after the war as a time without fix order and authority and therefore besides all tragedy also a time of improvisation and experimentation for new forms of society. Cultural institution, entertainment and night life was very quickly back in business and people had a hunger to love and dance. The scarcety of housing lead to new forms of cohabitation that normally only are remembered for the 1970′s. Urban gardening took place for purpose of feeding yourself. Social boundaries were cut down as everyone had made the experience of losing almost everything. The way how Jähner describes it, those 5 to 10 years after the war set the initial chemistry for the second half of the 20th century.