Error loading media: File could not be played
00:0000:0000:00
00:00
Where does extremism start? In many ways, Germany is a unique laboratory for that question. Recent right-wing anti-immigrant incidents have been more prevalent in the old East Germany than in the west. A study that came out today in Berlin sought to answer why.
Its answer: Under Communism, East Germans became socialized to have an “exaggerated need for harmony, ‘purity’ and order,” the report states. This has resulted in a “prevailing mentality” of xenophobia in places.
The study holds insight into the rise of right-wing populism in places like Hungary, Austria, and Poland. But in that way, it also offers a glimpse of a solution. Socialization is not irreversible, after all. It is the message that a society sends, repeated over years, sinking into thought and becoming action. But that message can be changed. What is needed is a similar commitment to a new message.
Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The Christian Science Church, and we’ve always been transparent about that.
The Church publishes the Monitor because it sees good journalism as vital to progress in the world. Since 1908, we’ve aimed “to injure no man, but to bless all mankind,” as our founder, Mary Baker Eddy, put it.
Here, you’ll find award-winning journalism not driven by commercial influences – a news organization that takes seriously its mission to uplift the world by seeking solutions and finding reasons for credible hope.
Explore values journalism About us