The Berlin Spectator
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Opinion: Merkel’s Corona Approach Was Always Right

During those Corona conferences with the First Ministers in the past weeks, Angela Merkel was forced to deal with a kindergarten at times. Now they finally know she always had a point when she demanded uniform and strict Corona rules.

Berlin, December 14th, 2020 (The Berlin Spectator) — “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst” is a good principle, especially in the biggest crisis the Federal Republic of Germany has seen. In some federal states, the second half of this piece of wisdom was obviously forgotten or ignored. “In my sand pit, I will allow more things than you do in yours.” This was the kind of approach some of Merkel’s conversation partners followed.

Winter Comes After Fall

A few weeks ago, arrogance was in play, when several First Ministers rebuffed the Chancellor. She knew uniform, stricter Corona rules were the right way to go because, as opposed to some individuals from the capitals of certain federal states, she understood that the winter would come after the fall and that it is usually cold, at least in Central Europe. Mrs. Merkel knew the cold meant staying indoors, which would lead to more infections.

Now, because Angela Merkel did not get her way back then, a catastrophic Corona situation hit the country even before the winter commenced. While she always took the cautious approach, a few First Ministers did not. Some of those who insisted on easing restrictions only some weeks ago are now trying to pretend they have always been the most careful persons in the solar system, including Armin Laschet from North Rhine-Westphalia and Michael Kretschmer from Saxony.

Acting in Concert

The new restrictions might still not be strict enough. Maybe they should have copied the approach Baden-Württemberg and Saxony just took. Nightly curfews would possibly have prevented hundreds, if not thousands of infections. But now that the Chancellor and the First Ministers are finally acting in concert, because they have no choice, following the rules and defending them against idiotic deniers should be our priority.

Conspiracy theorists are either crazy or they simply do not understand what is going on around them, or both. Therefore they choose their own reality. Corona does not exist, the world is flat, Trump won the elections, and so on. Mental overload might be the diagnose here.

Despicable BS

It gets far worse: High-ranking members of the extremist right-wing AfD are not crazy, but malicious. While the Corona infection numbers in their own eastern German strongholds are even more alarming than in the rest of the country, they are using the pandemic to spread more hatred against the democratically elected government they hate so much and anyone who does not agree with their dangerous BS. If this is not despicable, what is?

On Sunday, Angela Merkel was being asked whether she felt she had always been right when she had demanded stricter Corona restrictions in the past weeks. Her reply: This was not the day for looking back. Of course she knew they should have listened to her earlier.

Let’s hope today’s terrible situation will not seem good in comparison with whatever happens in the upcoming winter.

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