Revelations that members of Germany’s far-right AfD discussed mass deportation plans have pushed tens of thousands of people to protest and sparked debate on whether the anti-immigrant party should be banned.
From Cologne to Leipzig to Nuremberg, Germans across the country have poured into the streets over the last week, with another 100 demonstrations expected through the weekend.
Many of the demonstrations have been held under the banner “together against the far-right”, with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock also joining a spontaneous gathering in Potsdam, where they live.
Isn’t “silent majority” the term used by the American far right?
Since this article is coming from Germany, the term used locally would be “schweigende Mehrheit”. This is based on Elisabeth Noelle-Neumanns work on the spiral of silence:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_of_silence
In this case the head of the German Verfassungsschutz (one of the spy agencies tasked with fighting extremism) asked the silent majority to stand up against right wing extremism and Nazism and therefore this term is used here. Those american far right idiots don’t have anything to do with it. Could be that they heard something about Noelle-Neumanns work and didn’t understand it, but even that is unlikely
It’s a cunning technique to make any perspective seem like the one “everyone” agrees with. Because of course they agree with us… They just don’t say it out loud because [reasons] but they agree really.
I sure fucking WISH the American fear right were silent.
It’s used as a lie by the American right. It doesn’t have the same associations everywhere.
It’s a lie wherever it’s spoken, the delusion that “the people really agree with me, even though no one shows up or says anything.”
It’s just obvious rhetorical deception on its very face, anyone can claim it for any thing at any time because it just means “I don’t have proof the people support my policies.”
If anything the “silent majority” staging a mass protest against a still minority party just proves no majority in a democracy is silent.