This op-ed by Anna Sauerbrey is definately in the running for the January most bat guano insane award, at least in terms of Big Credentialed Media.
Germany’s Post-Cologne Hysteria
As M asks in the comments “120 complaints of sexual assault is hysteria?”(actually more than that) Hello There writes “Ms. Sauerbrey is blaming Germany for not integrating the immigrants the same way that abused wives are often blamed for their husbands’ behavior.” NJ Voter: “Why should the women of Germany give up their freedoms (freedom of assembly, freedom of movement, freedom of expression and dress) in order to accommodate the needs of Middle Eastern refugees fleeing from problems in their own societies?” Carolyn: “In other words, blame the victim.”
Starting the article, though, I had to wonder if the headline was written by an editor, as they usually are, who didn’t actually read it
ON New Year’s Eve, hundreds of men gathered in the plaza at the main train station in Cologne, Germany, groping and robbing scores of women as they passed by. By the end of this week the police had received 170 complaints, including 120 related to sexual assault.
Despite the fact that the attacks occurred in the center of Germany’s fourth-largest city, it took days for the news to surface in the national media. Even stranger, the police seemed to know little about the attacks. No arrests were made, and authorities claimed that nearby surveillance cameras offered little help in identifying suspects. The Cologne police chief was forced from his job on Friday.
The police have since identified 31 suspects. They are a multinational lot, including Germans, a Serb and even one American. But 18 of them are asylum seekers from the Middle East and North Africa.
Let’s not forget that this occurred in multiple other German cities, as well as cities in other European nations to boot. This brought on a discussion from Anna about people jumping to conclusions “before the facts were all in”
Alice Schwarzer, a well-known German feminist, wrote on her blog on Tuesday that the events were a “product of misguided tolerance.†Frauke Petry, head of the far-right Alternative für Deutschland party, said the events were a “result of uncontrolled migration.â€
And Julia Klöckner, the top Christian Democratic candidate in the coming state election in Rhineland-Palatinate, called for an “open debate†on whether foreigners, including asylum seekers, could be kicked out for committing crimes — a proposal that even Chancellor Angela Merkel cautiously endorsed, though such laws already exist.
She notes that the Right was blaming, while the Left was deflecting blame. It all seems a ration discussion on the subject. Then it breaks down, and you realize that the headline matches the op-ed
In other words, precisely when the country needs a coolheaded conversation about the impact of Germany’s new refugee population, we’re playing musical chairs: Everybody runs for a seat to the left and to the right, afraid to remain in the middle, apparently undecided.
The irony is that the Cologne attacks, by highlighting the issue of refugees and their culture, raise an incredibly important question and at the same time make it almost impossible to have a reasonable conversation about it.
We’re supposed to have a rational conversation about mass sexual assault? Really? Here in the US, Leftists freak out over stolen kisses, guys looking at girls in a sexual manner, and catcalls. The deem this all as misogyny and sexual assault. In Europe, there was actually sexual assault in mass groups. Norway is holding classes for refugees which teach them “not to rape”. There are rape gangs and sexual assault all over Europe in refugee camps. This isn’t even taking into account the way these refugees treat women overall, along with the crime of other stripes they bring along, compounded by their attitude that countries like Germany will give them whatever they want. I think a bit of hysteria is warranted.
Integration will fail if Germany cannot resolve the tension between its secular, liberal laws and culture and the patriarchal and religiously conservative worldviews that some refugees bring with them. We cannot avoid that question out of fear of feeding the far right. But integration will also fail if a full generation of refugees is demonized on arrival.
And that’s where the victim blaming comes into play. Should all Germany women, and women throughout Europe, put on a burka? Schools have told girls to cover up to avoid sexual assault from refugees. Cologne’s female mayor told women they should keep an “arms length” away from men, and no hugging or anything, because the refugees might get the wrong idea.
Assumptions have replaced observation, assertion has replaced assessment, and ideology has replaced evidence. With its vision thus distorted, Germany is speeding toward a multicultural society, chased by the mob on the Internet, without any idea of what that society should look like.
We need to regain our sense of balance — or it’s just a question of time until we hit a wall.
Obviously, you people who are concerned about rampant sexual assault from these refugees, comprised mostly of young men, are just a bit hysterical, and need to calm down. No assumptions, we have a multicultural society to form! SW writes “It sure would be nice if the politically correct would stop throwing women as a group under the bus in the name of trying to judge these mass atrocities as some kind of balancing test. Punish the offenders and keep anyone with the mindset that women are fair game to be raped out of the West, period.” Good point. Why is it that so many Leftists have decided that protecting Islamic refugees (and Islamists overall) comes before their belief that women should be treated with respect and not sexually assaulted?
Crossed at Right Wing News.
Read: NY Times: Seriously, You People Need To Calm Down About All The Sexual Assault In Germany By Refugees »
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