Should a society tolerate everything in the name of freedom?

There are people who argue that there should be no consequences for the hateful, the spiteful and the vindictive.

A former German national football keeper Jens Lehmann, a former professional and national football player Denis Aogo and the current Greens party mayor of the city of Tübingen Boris Palmer and their supporters probably believe that they are victims of cancel culture.

But are they really?

This week, German superstar actors like Heike Makatsch, Jan Joseph Liefers, Ulrike Folkerts and 50 of their colleagues published videos mocking the current Covid regulations passed by Angela Merkel’s government. The applause from the far-right party AFD and supporters of fascist hateful movements like Querdenker was prompt and boisterous.

At this time last year, most of us were oblivious to the horrors that 2020 was going to unleash on us. In this episode, my ten-year old and I look back on 2020. From Trump to Covid-19, it looked like nothing was ever going to beat 2020. But that was of course before  2021 arrived.

With the insurrection in the US capital and the white supremacist terrorists, 2021 is already kicking 2020's ass.

2020 is finally coming to an end and I could not be more relieved. Yesterday, more than 1000 people lost their lives here in Germany because of Covid-19. To call 2020 exhausting would be a huge understatement.  Despite this, 2020 has taught me a few things that will guide my life going forward.

At the beginning of the year, Germany was hailed as a model of how to contain the corona virus. Watching the current number of infections and deaths from corona virus in Germany, that glorious past seems like a bad joke.

Every country has its own peculiar habits or things that are so commonly done there that no one pauses to wonder about them. For foreigners, this can sometimes be very baffling if not downright hilarious. In this episode, we talk of the peculiar German things or habits or if you like, the way of life.

Today is the 3^rd of October 2020 and it’s a national holdiay in Germany. On the 3^rd of October 1990, two independent countries East Germany and West Germany reunified to form the current Federal state of Germany. 30 years later, what are the differences?

Which places should you as a foreign looking person avoid?

To call 2020 a disaster would be a huge understatement. I in all honesty have no idea what to think or say about it so I invited my 10 year old son to share his thoughts on corona virus, police brutality and the year 2020.

It has been four weeks since Germany was put in a lockdown because of the highly contagious COVID-19 virus. A lot has happened since then. People have gotten used to not knowing the day of the week. Unlike the neighboring European countries like France, Italy or Spain where so many have lost their lives, Germany seems to have come out almost unscathed. There have been mounting pressure on the government to ease the lock down and so yesterday, a group of experts from Leopoldina (National Acadmy of Sciences) came up with recommenadtions on how to ease the lock down.

Is Germany playing with fire?

I have no idea.

Mesut Özil a German national team player with Turkish roots has quit the German national team citing racism and disrespect.

Trevor Noah celebrated the French team winning the world cup as an African win. Shortly after, he received a protest letter from the French ambassador to the United States expressing his displeasure.

For those who are thinking of moving to Germany, it might help to know what to expect. In this episode, I talk about some of the biggest challenges someone who was not born in Germany is likely to experience when they move to Germany. 

Many foreigners wonder about how much German is good enough for Germany. There is a widely held belief that English is rampant in Germany. How true is this?