The German "Rathergate"

The following was reported by the Transatlantic Conservative blog today.

The German blog Politically Incorrect (PI) has published a video and an audio tape of a political chat show broadcast by the public (state owned) ARD TV station. Here, the German Secretary of Justice, Brigitte Zypries and a Green member of the parliament of the city and state of Berlin, the ethnic Turk Oezcan Mutlu, share a whispered conversation that was evidently not meant to be overheard by the public and which PI noticed (my guess is that they were tipped off) and made public.

The debate was about the frightening increase of violent crimes by "youths with a migration background" (read: Muslims). A former member of such a violent youth gang was interviewed by the host and the question: "What could Germany have done to offer you a better existence?" was met by an unexpected reply: "Well, I can't think of anything specific really. All the opportunities have been there, you just have to look for them a little bit and take them up". Frantic whispering in the background, which could clearly be identified as the question: "Has he not been briefed?" by Mutlu and Zypries irritated, even angry, reply: "He HAS!"

The take of PI and Transatlantic Conservative, which I share, is that here a German state controlled TV channel is offering biased and doctored content to the tax paying audience who, as the Transatlantic Conservative puts it, "pays for their own media indoctrination". Obviously, the boy had been briefed to make statements along the politically correct line of the German mainstream politics and -media.

Of course, the frantic backpedalling was only to be expected. The comment section of the PI-entry is a psychogram of angry leftists. According to their interpretation, Alaattin Kaymak (the young ex-gang member) had had a hang-up, thus the question about the "briefing", when he was, in fact, a picture of competence, literacy and self-assurance and spoke German without any foreign accent. Compared to Mutlu...

Read the rest at Roncesvalles.

Postscript: Today, BILD, the German tabloid shitrag did, what in these days and times only shitrags do because serious papers are too busy being good, and published the entire sad affair.

This howler is too good to be missed. Oezcan Mutlu, the Berlin lawmaker of whom I wrote in my original blog entry:

The fact that Mutlu, a naturalized German and member of a German state parliament, still speaks a sort of semi-"Kanaksprak" shows how seriously he takes his own assimilation

has now the temerity to explain his gaffe away by stating that

Alaattin Kaymak is obviously no professional when it comes to politics and not very eloquent. All I wanted to ask was whether nobody talked to him prior to the programme.

That is the same Alaattin Kaymak of whom I wrote yesterday:

...he was, in fact, a picture of competence, literacy and self-assurance and spoke German without any foreign accent. Compared to Mutlu, who came to Germany when he was five years young and who is an electrical engineer by profession (and, incidentally, the speaker for educational policy of his parliamentary group), he almost appeared as a gentleman and that means SOMETHING.

That said, I wonder what talking to a tongue-tied chat-show guest prior to the programme should achieve.

Wearing suit and tie is not enough to pass yourself off as a German, Oezcan.