*Here, from Germany, is a jaw-dropping example of the COVID-19-era double
standard *
*over protests. *
*First, check out DW.com's bluntly hostile coverage of yesterday's
anti-masking protest *
*in Berlin, "featur[ing] a mixture of hard left and right supporters, and
conspiracy theorists."*
*Everything about this article—from its headline spotlighting the injuries
sustained by*
*45 police officers ("frontline workers" every one, just trying to keep
Germans "safe"),*
*to its quote from SPD pol Saskia Esken calling the protesters "covidiots,"
to its final*
*paragraphs attributing the current "surge" in Germany to "more
socializing, summer*
*travel and the public becoming negligent on social distancing rules" (just
like those*
*rampaging extremists beating up the cops)—is meant to demonize the
protesters as *
*thugs and **lunatics. *
*My favorite bit is this indignant line from DW correspondent Leonie von
Hammerstein*
*(doing her stander-upper in a scarlet mask), about the "verbal abuse" she
says that*
*endured in covering the protest, especially from "one man who shouted in
her face": *
*"He believed in conspiracy theories. He believed Bill Gates was behind the
coronavirus and *
*wants to forcefully vaccinate everybody and the German government is
helping him to do *
*that," von Hammerstein said. *
*So Bill Gates is not "behind the coronavirus" (never mind Event 201), **does
not "want *
*to forcefully [sic] vaccinate **everybody" (never mind his many statements
on the urgent*
*need **to do precisely that), and the German government **is not
"helping **him
to do that"? *
*That** those **are all "conspiracy theories," according to Leonie von
Hammerstein, tells us *
*that she **would have done an aces job "reporting" for the German press in
1939, when it *
*was **shrieking about Poland's plan to invade Germany, as Czechoslovakia
had done *
*to Germany the year before. *
*And, speaking of Gates and Germany, here is the full final paragraph of
this DW **piece:*
*The surge has been attributed to more socializing, summer travel and the
public becoming *
*negligent on social distancing rules, according to the Robert Koch
Institute, the German *
*government's disease control and prevention agency. *
*If Ms. von Hammerstein were actually a journalist, employed by a genuine
news outlet,*
*she would have noted that the Robert Koch Institute has itself been funded
by the Gates*
*Foundation, and has (therefore) consistently exaggerated the true toll of
COVID-19 in*
*Germany.*
*https://wikihausen.de/2020/05/11/grundgesetz-demonstration-in-oldenburg-vom-02-05-2020-menschenwuerde-demo-de-wikihausen-vor-ort/*
<https://wikihausen.de/2020/05/11/grundgesetz-demonstration-in-oldenburg-vom-02-05-2020-menschenwuerde-demo-de-wikihausen-vor-ort/>
*Now, having read DW's attack on all those reckless goons protesting
Germany's mask *
*mandate **yesterday, let's take a retrospective gander at DW's
gushing coverage of the*
*George **Floyd protests throughout Europe almost two months ago—when
"social*
*distancing" was still required in Germany; and yet the nationwide
convergences of*
*those protesting multitudes were just way cool, according to DW: *
*Fresh anti-racism protests kicked off across Germany on Saturday, with
demonstrators*
*filling up city centers from Berlin to Dusseldorf.*
*Thousands gathered in Alexanderplatz in Berlin's city center, holding
signs that said*
*"Black Lives Matter" and "No justice, no peace." Demonstrators, many of
whom were*
*dressed in black and wearing facemasks, also held up placards with slogans
such as*
*"Be the change," "I can't breathe," and "Germany is not innocent."*
*Thus "many" of those protesters—not all—were wearing masks, as ordered,*
*unlike those rampant Reds and **Browns (and nutcase "**conspiracy
theorists"),*
*none of whom (of course) were masked. And, while not all of them were
masked,*
*all those anti-racists congregating **righteously **all over **Germany
were as tightly *
*packed **together as sardines ("The **#Alex **is packed. **No more people
are being *
*allowed **in. Distancing is not **possible," **tweeted **one **of
the participants, with *
*slight **anxiety). C**lose study **of the **images of **those Good
Protests shows that, *
*sure enough, many **were not masked, or **had their masks pulled down
below *
*their **chins (presumably so they could **breathe). And yet DW was
strikingly *
*blasé about those multitudes protesting **cheek by jowl, and shouting
slogans *
*all together (a coronavirus no-no), as if **COVID-19 had somehow gone on
holiday *
*in Germany, in memory of George Floyd. *
*https://www.dw.com/en/george-floyd-killing-spurs-fresh-protests-across-europe/a-53706536
<https://www.dw.com/en/george-floyd-killing-spurs-fresh-protests-across-europe/a-53706536>*
*So there in Germany, as here in the US, COVID-19 has always been a crisis*
*more political than medical—as we were vividly reminded this **past
Friday, *
*when Rep. Jim Jordan asked Dr. Fauci, several times, if **mass protests
should *
*not also be banned, along with baseball games, church **services **and
concerts**: *
*a question that the usually smooth-talking Dr. Fauci, rather weirdly,
could not *
*answer, though Rep. Jordan asked him several times.*
*https://www.thetruthbarrier.com/2020/08/02/tony-fauci-unable-to-answer-simple-question-from-jim-jordan-nation-wonders-why-this-man-was-permitted-to-crash-the-country/
<https://www.thetruthbarrier.com/2020/08/02/tony-fauci-unable-to-answer-simple-question-from-jim-jordan-nation-wonders-why-this-man-was-permitted-to-crash-the-country/>
*
*MCM*
The surge has been attributed to more socializing, summer travel and the
public becoming negligent on social distancing rules, according to the
Robert Koch Institute, the German government's disease control and
prevention agency.
Germany: 45 officers injured at Berlin rally against coronavirus curbs
Berlin police said dozens of officers were injured — and three were
hospitalized — while dispersing some 20,000 people protesting anti-pandemic
measures. Many participants dismissed the coronavirus as a "false alarm."
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-45-officers-injured-at-berlin-rally-against-coronavirus-curbs/a-54402885
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