Richard David Precht. One name, one recipe for success. The popular philosopher’s career has known only one direction for years: upwards. He was (and is) on all channels, he is productive, he is sensitive and amazing at the same time. But now he of all people, once a great darling of the media, has taken on these same media.
Suddenly, a fire breaks out on the roof. Precht is presented as a righteous man. as a senior lecturer. Like a manspleiner. Comedian Carolyn Kebekus can now even gossip about the ZDF thinker in a rap video on ARD: “Who’s the king of stress/would like to be Germany’s Socrates/thinks he’s always right, NO! / Richard David Precht.
Anything not in the middle is considered radical
Yes, Precht is right. His new work, The Fourth Estate – How the Majority’s Opinion is Formed, Even When It’s Not, written with sociologist Harald Welzer, promises a lot of new knowledge. In it, the authors explain conformity in the media and politics without resorting to conspiracy theories.
Their initial conclusion: politics no longer represents the interests of the majority of citizens, there is a gap between published and public opinion. There is a policy of universal parties of the alleged center (from green to liberal), and the rest are considered radical marginals. Consequences: Political withdrawal and media skepticism are on the rise. But how is this possible when the opinion of the majority is allegedly indifferent to everyone?
Precht and Welzer argue as follows: for politicians, the motto “Being is perceived” has long been applied – politicians are led by the media. Activist journalists create a “closed communicative space” in which, according to the rules of “groupthink”, the opinion of their own environment, perceived by the majority, dominates. This can change as quickly and as often as you like, look at the attitude towards anti-coronavirus measures, gender politics or Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Shard Power on Twitter
Because the perceived opinion of the majority is formed not through feedback from an active civil society, but mainly through the use of Twitter. In this regard, journalists are often guided by themselves. And Twitter is dominated by a minority opinion that most viciously denigrates and discredits. This is how the position of the splinter group – see language policy, see MeToo – becomes the assumed opinion of the majority in the media and politics. And the real center no longer understands the world.
Precht and Welzer attracted media attention for a long time. But now they are tired. Luckily! But do they stick to it?
René Scheuil is a philosopher and director of the Swiss Institute for Economic Policy (IWP) in Lucerne. He writes to Blick every second Monday.