“So Many Trolls in my DMs, I Could’ve Shot a Remake of The Lord of the Rings”
Photo Credit: Gregor Fischer / CC BY-SA 2.0
Jessica Fowler für Shifted News
Just in time for the ‘68-movement’s 50th birthday, Übermedien-founder, Stefan Niggemeier, 2009 PARTEI candidate for Chancellor, Samira El Quassil and “Philosophie Magazin" editor, Nils Markwardt came together at the #rp18 opening panel to discuss topics involving the New Right, populism on the Internet, and the extent of the media’s responsibility to steer clear of opinions.
The basis for the discussion was that unlike the generation of 1968, today’s youth seems to be lacking a certain degree of revolutionary potential. Some of the possible reasons for this condition, as proposed by the speakers, were societal changes like society’s fragmentation as a result of individualisation (El Quassil), the lack of a subjectively experienced urgency for actionism (Niggemeier), as well as a spreading decline of religiousness, stripping the individual of its “dispositional hardware” to strive for reformation (Markwardt).
Aside from the political and sociological analyses, there was also room for personal anecdotes during the course of the conversation, such as El Quassil’s recollection of the day AFD-supporters found their way into her Twitter-inbox, motivated by their party receiving 12.6% of votes at the 2017 federal elections. “My DMs were filled with so many trolls, I could’ve shot a remake of The Lord of the Rings”, she jokingly recounted, delivering a refreshing breather in the midst of otherwise dystopian conversation, using words like ‘liberalisation-losers,’ ‘resentment-milieus’ and the ‘silencing of politically relevant issues.’
Nevertheless, panel moderator, Friedemann Karig, decided to send attendees off with a positive outlook by asking the speakers if, despite the course current developments seem to be taking, there was anything that made them stay enthusiastic. “All of you are making me optimistic,” El Quassil answered pointing to the audience, thereby staying true to this year’s #rp18 motto: the Power of People.