Narratives have been with us as long as mankind exists. They just take different forms and content nowadays. Whereby narratives have first spread orally, then much later through written words, images and movies, they are forceful ways of communicating. Robert Shiller wrote a good story about narratives related to the field of economics. Referring to the writing of the polymath David Hume (1742), main proponent with Adam Smith of the Scottish enlightenment, contagion like in pandemics is mentioned for the first time to explain that “the multitude will certainly be seized by the common affection and be governed by it in all their actions”. (Shiller 2019, p. 58). In order to understand narratives going viral Shiller mentions the importance for narratives to be embedded in “narrative constellations”. Holding truth against spreading false narratives might not be enough in itself. Strong, catching narratives seem to bypass or override even truthful information. Additionally, narratives never die, but rather offer opportunities for repetition. On content of economic narratives Shiller exemplifies stock market panic, consumerism, financial stability, automation and AI fears, speculation bubbles, evil business and labour unions. Topics like lazy unemployed persons, too early entry into retirement, too late entry into the labour market for youth, women or migrants, all have endured stigmatising narratives across time and/or across countries. With emotional and powerful economic narratives all around us, trust and authenticity become a very important meta-currency. The instantly printing camera now serves as proof. Beware of the scenery, actors and action chosen. Medieval painter Gabriel Metsu (1629-1667 Leiden-Amsterdam) had chosen the economic narrative of the “women baking pan cakes and the child as beggar”. Ending up in a museum instead of the White House is probably the opposite of going viral. The same Photo in black and white might have more of a trustworthy documentary character than the suggestive colours. 
Economic Narratives
Joseph Stiglitz (2003) provided a detailed description and interpretation of the economic history of the 1990s in his book on the roaring nineties. As a member of the Clinton Administration serving as a Chairman of the Council of economic advisers, he had first hand access to the information, debates about interpretations and conclusions drawn during the period. In the preface (2003, p.XII) he provides some of the lessons this work has provided him. “Today, the challenge is to get the balance right, between the state and the market, between collective action at the local, national, and global levels, and between government and non-governmental action. As economic circumstances change, the balance has to be redrawn. Government needs to take on new activities, and shed old ones. We have entered into an era of globalization in which the countries and peoples of the world are more closely integrated than ever before. But globalization itself means that we have to change that balance: we need more collective action at the international level, and we cannot escape issues of democracy and social justice in the global arena.” The surprising approach by Stiglitz, as a winner of the Sveriges Riksbank Prize, to present no data in tables or figures demonstrates the need for telling convincing stories beyond throwing images and shuffled data at your audience. However, this is probably only feasible once you won a quasi-Nobel prize to not lose credibility among economists. Nevertheless, the issue is larger. Stiglitz manages to address the much larger audience of non-economists who construct or constructed their own “collective memory” of the legacy of the nineties as the “global 90s”.
The narrative of the 1990s grossly neglected the value of the biosphere. Asymmetric information (his shared prize winning issue) was and is still used in the market of natural resources to keep polluting the planet and push ahead with careless deforestation. The Exxon case is just one piece in the puzzle of asymmetric information and misinformation. Misguiding economic narratives play a powerful role. Maybe we need to write more about the “roaring failures” of economics and public policies across several decades in the 20th century. (red dots = forests lost on our planet A early 2000s, and there is no planet B) 
Time5
The social sciences deal with time either as part of social theory and as part of social measurement in the broadest sense. The entry of time in “The encyclopedia of social theory” (Ritzer, 2006, p.837-41) reminds us that since the age of Augustinus, believing that time is a God-given concept, we have evolved with Kant’s notion of the “Ding an sich” that time exists within our experience, but also beyond our experience of it. It is Durkheim who sees time as a social institution and raises the issue of a social construction of the concept(s) of time. In the process of civilisation, Nobert Elias leads us to think of time as an evolving social process which allows us to reach higher levels of civilisations. Despite wars and other backlashes, the basic premise remains an eventual improvement on previous situations (Time 3). The phenomenological method applied by Husserl points at the “inner time consciousness” of persons, which finds its literary expression for example in Proust’s writings.
In addition to time as the object of social theories, we find frequent implicit use of concepts of time as a component of social theories. Life courses, social change, social mobility, social integration, learning, all these concepts are conceived with “time stamps” attached to the them. Their temporality, i.e. location in time and space, durations, sequential orders and interlinkages form huge fields of research. Whole societies have attempted to define when is the “normal”, “right” or “best” time to do something for the individual or the society as a whole. Social desirability is linked to time and space and varies accordingly. The 1960s probably were a decade where the questioning of social desirability was most obvious.
Social measurement of time and the location of social phenomena in time leads us to the empirical field of studying time or the treatment of time as a basic dimension in and of social processes. “The encyclopedia of social measurement” (Kempf-Leonard, 2005) list the sampling of time as a basic entry to the topic. Frequency of sampling, (yearly, quarterly), level of sampling (person, household, region, country), repeated surveys (prospective, retrospective) of same person or rotating samples of persons have their specific strengths and weaknesses. Analytical methods rely on the concepts of the measurement of time. It seems to be a fair observation that (Clarke and Granato, 2005, p.836) the future of time series analysis lies in the linkages to theory. After all, the 2 worlds of theory and empirical measurement are linked through the concept of time, despite the tendency to abstract from it or assuming a large overlap in the concept of time (and space) referred to. Clocks seems to be ticking differently in different places.
Image: Dali Paris. R. & N. Descharnes Salvador Dali Sculptures & Objects. Eccart. Ref. 615, page 238. 
Aphorismen L
Lichtenberg hatte den späteren ausufernden Individualismus spekulativ in seinen Aphorismen vorweggenommen. Im ersten Band der Sudelbücher schrieb er bereits: „Je länger man Gesichter beobachtet, desto mehr wird man an den sogenannten nichtsbedeutenden Gesichtern Dinge wahrnehmen, die sie individuell machen.“ (1976, S.25). Unsere Fototechnik und soziale Medien haben eine wahre Revolution durch die Flut der allgegenwärtigen Fotos geschaffen. Was früher der Spiegel war, ist längst der schnelle morgendliche Blick in die Kamera des Handys geworden. Intelligente Spiegel wären also die durch Kamera aufgenommenen und direkt auf einen größeren Bildschirm übertragenen Bilder. Das Hautscannen auf Melanome oder checken von depressiven Phasen könnten eine frühzeitige Erkennung ermöglichen. Sollten wir das wollen? Aus derartigen Hinweisen lässt sich sozial invasiv Gefahren für den Einzelnen, die Einzelne ableiten, aber eben durch Bezug des Einzelfalls auf verallgemeinerungsfähige Vergleichsfotos. Gesichter länger anzusehen, das hat seine sozialen Grenzen. Mit Breughel durften wir das dann. Kindern wird früh erklärt Personen nicht anzustarren, dabei trainieren sie so, was das einzelne Gesicht so singulär macht, die Augen, Ohren, Mund, Zähne, Nase oder Schattierungen. Donatello, gepriesen als der Erfinder der Renaissance, spielte schon mit den Details der Gesichter. Mehr Mut zum längeren Hinsehen sollten wir aufbringen, auch beim Hinsehen auf einfache Charaktere, auf Armut statt Wegsehen. Oft ist David interessanter als Goliath. Die Rahmung des Bronzolino verstärkt geschickt eine zeitgenössische Analogie zum 24.2.2023.
Berlin Wahl 2023
Wähle Wähler, sonst hast du die Wahl verloren. Die wiederholte Wahl geht sicherlich in die deutsche Wahlforschung ein. Murks bei der Durchführung einer Senats- oder Landtagswahl dürfte in etablierten Demokratien nicht in diesem Ausmaß vorkommen. Solche Versuche, demokratische Systeme zu delegitimieren, kennen wir aus demokratiefeindlichen Umgebungen. Die angeordnete Neuwahl hat eine um ca. 150.000 Stimmen geringere Wahlbeteiligung ergeben, bei einer Anzahl von ca. 1.500.000 abgegebenen Zweitstimmen von ca 2.500.000 Wahlberechtigten. Neuwahlen bringen also nicht unbedingt ein faireres Ergebnis im Sinne der Beteiligung an Demokratie mit sich. Im Gegenteil, Frustrationen äußern sich an Wahlurnen in Form von Denkzetteln statt Wahlzetteln. Die Summe der entschieden für Demokratie eintretenden Wählerstimmen, die im Senat vertreten sein werden liegt nur bei 1.170.905 Stimmen. Das ist keine absolute Mehrheit der Wahlberechtigten mehr. Damit sollten die demokratischen Alarmglocken klingeln. Während sich Rot-Grün-Rot im Zentrum behauptet ist der Speckgürtel deutlich schwärzer geworden. Die Neuwahl hat ca 1 von 10 Wählenden abgeschreckt. Sogar die Protestwählenden und ungültigen Stimmen sind rückläufig. Meinungsäußerung über das Parlament wird dadurch weniger repräsentativ und das kann auch gefährlich werden. Interessenvertretung findet dann mehr auf der Straße statt als im Parlament. Partikularinteressen, die Tierschutzpartei hat 36.233 Zweitstimmen gewinnen können, die FDP nicht einmal das doppelte davon, können Parlamente bereichern, in dem sie kleine Gruppenmeinungen ermöglichen. Das fordert die Koalitionsfähigkeit und den Koalitionswillen aller demokratischer Parteien heraus. Allzu knappe Wahlergebnisse von 105 Stimmen, wie zwischen den Grünen und der SPD in Berlin bei den Zweitstimmen schüren kontraproduktive Glaubwürdigkeitsdebatten. Der Gerichtsbeschluss zur Neuwahl 2-2023 ist gültig, verloren hat aber eher die Demokratie als Ganzes, die das Gericht zu schützen glaubte. Vielleicht am Überraschendsten von allem ist, dass die Skandalpresse nicht wirklich von diesem Ereignis profitieren konnte. Die noch Lesenden sind wohl auch von der belehrenden Berichterstattung dazu eher angewidert gewesen. So schreitet das Auseinanderleben der Stadt und der Gesellschaft weiter voran. Solche sozialen Prozesse sind lange bekannt. Sie heißen „Schelling’s process of segregation“. (genauer Gentrification) Eine fortschreitende Entmischung einer städtischen Bevölkerung ist die Konsequenz. Schelling’s Modell ist ein gutes Beispiel. Der Markt alleine, auch mit häufigen Wahlen, wird die Gesellschaft nicht zusammenbringen oder zusammenhalten. Bund gegen Stadtverwaltung gegen Bezirksverwaltung bringt noch mehr Unzufriedenheit in die Stadt. Es ist Karneval und die Berliner Bären tanzen noch gemeinsam, hoffen wir mal. (Datenquelle: Wahlleiter Berlin)
Flotow Europa
In der späteren Aufführungspraxis des Werks von „Fritz“ von Flotow, wie ihn seine Mutter in MeckPom nannte, sollte es für den in Frankreich ausgebildeten Jugendlichen einige Fallstricke zu überwinden geben. Bereits seine erste Oper „Alessandro Stradella“ hatte mit Produktpiraterie zu kämpfen. Der Übersetzer Gustave Oppelt (1844 Autor zu Stradella genannt BNF), mit Erwähnung auch von Alphonse Royer, hatten die Rechte des Librettos inne (Stempel des Dépôt Légal 1859 Nr 1139). Anlässlich der Erstaufführung in Brüssel am 2-3-1859 au Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie erschien das gedruckte Libretto versehen mit einem Echtheitsstempel. Bereits 1860 gab es dann Anlass, dass Gustave Oppelt mit der Unterstützung von „Frédéric de Flotow“ für seine Übersetzungsrechte kämpfen musste und dazu eine Notiz in der „La revue et gazette musicale de Paris“ veröffentlichen mussten. Autorenrechte waren und sind keine Selbstverständlichkeit. Die Lebensgrundlagen vieler Künstler, besonders der KünstlerInnen, auch heute, bleiben meistens prekär. Flotow war bereits beteiligt an Vereinen, die die Kompensation von AutorInnenrechten vertraten. Die „Dédicace“ an die königliche Hoheit Madame la grande Duchesse Douairière Alexandrine de Mecklembourg-Schwerin, née princesse de Prusse (Link Stammbaum), versteht sich dabei wohl auch als Dank für die Berufung von Flotow als Intendant an das Theater von Schwerin, gleich neben dem schönen Schloss. Mäzene konnten wohl über Stellenbesetzungen KünstlerInnen ihr künstlerisches Arbeiten weiterhin ermöglichen. Flotow brauchte auch die Unterstützung, die ihn zu seinem Lebensende nach Darmstadt umziehen ließ.
40s
The years spanning from January 1940 to December 1949 are probably the worst to cramp into one decade. However, there are a few historians that use this approach to throw new light on a distant series of historical events in the 40s. The European perspective is dominated by war years and still has to deal with the unimaginable atrocities committed by Nazi-Germany until the end of the Second World War. From a more global historical perspective the war in the pacific also leaves lasting political changes, which are important to understand international politics and affairs of today. After a disastrous beginning with war for the USA for the decade, on the 10-12-1948 the United Nations (Charter Ratification 24-10-1945) General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. On the timeline at the end of the 40s we find the founding of NATO (4.4.1949) and (12-8-1949) the Geneva Convention which specifies internationally accepted laws of warfare. The beginning of the Cold War (Yalta and Potsdam Conferences in 1945) with strategies of containment and confrontation (Thomas Tandy Lewis, 2011 p.220), Berlin blockade determined a long-lasting concern for a balance of power across the world. The 40s were a market period of de-colonisation as well. The U.S. enabled struggles for independence to succeed with a sticks and carrots politics towards their wartime allies. The Marshall Plan for European Recovery is the most prominent example of this period. Ronald Goldberg (2012) includes a chapter on the home front in his summary of the forties in the U.S.A. After the 2nd World War all countries had to re-establish their societies and economies that had suffered due to lack of sometimes even caring for the most basic needs. Important lessons have to be learnt from the 1940s (Dave Renton, 2000 p.144) concerning how Fascists could rise and why, for example Britain, could resist the fascist movement. Anti-fascism in Britain during the 1940s and the importance to stop beginnings of an undemocratic political movement early and with the help of the police are 2 elements of the lessons learnt. Goldberg argues that it is less the Fascist ideology that conquered the minds of people, but the organisation as a political and para-military movement that is the more important threat to democracy. 
Affordable Art
The affordable art fair in Brussels 2023 has different rules than other art fairs. First of all, well behaved dogs are allowed to visit. Underdogs might have a problem. The entry fee is an astonishing 20€, only 5€ less than “Brafa”. Inflation hits affordable art apparently more than the prestigious fair, at least at first impression. It remains questionable, whether artists represented as affordable art can actually afford to make a decent living from their art, now and at retirement. Taking into account the cost of rent, material and working time of artist, gallerist and transportation, art is frequently the art of minimalist approaches. The “garbage cycle N18” by Alessandro Gerull presented by WinArts challenges our habits of endless production of garbage by use of recycled material for making art. Not an entirely new idea, but still intriguing at affordable prices. Similarly, from the same gallery the work from Golsa Golchini invites us to “Remember to water the plants” as we might have asked somebody to help us out.
Re-use of material or innovation in photography are present at many places. Discovering new talents at affordable prices is a feasible feature of affordable art around the globe. The thresholds of entry are considerably lower than at Brafa. The surroundings of the old Tour & Taxis Logistics Centre in Brussels are an interesting excursion in modern renovation of old industrial sites as well. Not many skill-shortages in arts, except the more critical and provocative artists probably have still a hard time to find their way into galleries and art fairs. Other cities dare more daring art, be it affordable or not. The concept is a bit like coffee or “art to go”, quite many people walk away with a nice, little parcel in their hands. Even participatory art is represented, a kind of do-it-yourself, or finish it yourself drawing. It is fun to experience and to be part of affordable art of that kind to leave with some positive vibes (Roxehga). Enjoy!
Art Un-Fair
The Brussels Art Fair (Brafa 2023) with its long tradition is certainly a major highlight in the world of art in Brussels. In view of the languages spoken at the fair, mainly French and Dutch, some English with here and there a word in Spanish or German, the international reach is probably still not at the level of before the corona crisis.
The availability of established, internationally recognized art over many centuries on the art market is remarkable. Whereas before the crisis speculators bought art to shield their fortunes from a high inflation and/or politically instable period, nowadays it seems to me, that some art is returning to the market due to the need for liquidity of speculators or risks of confiscation in case of dubious previous acquisitions or ownerships. Renowned galleries, of course, provide impeccable certificates or information on them, a tricky business in itself. Anyway, the tour on the fair is a “parcour” through the history of art, mainly through the Western or European arts across centuries rather than decades. Most persons will find splendid examples according to their preferences of art ranging from paintings, sculpture, prints or other artefacts. Beyond the impressive individual art work, the arrangements and “mise en scene” of art is another learning experience at the fair. Whereas most public museums are happy to make accessible as much as they can of their collections and archives, the private art market has another objective. Effective and convincing presentation of the artefact is likely to “enrich” the value of art work as well as the seller and the dealer. Technology allows great lighting and some otherwise “sombre” artwork becomes a shiny little piece catching eyes, hearts and wallets. For some visitors it works probably the other way round.
For persons overly stimulated by art, I recommend to close the actual or virtual visit with a look at the little bit cheeky artwork presenting Belgian chocolate next to royalty (Gallery Delaive, showing Peter Anton’s “Paradise Variety” next to Andy Warhal’s depiction of a Queen, see below or their Instagram presentation). A sublime moment to repeat the experience at home at moderate prices with your very own box of chocolates. At a price of 10€ each box you can enjoy roughly 2000 of them for the price of the art work. The question is: What is more healthy? Think about mental health as well. Alternative question: Art on a Fair is fair, unfair or fair traide? 
50s
The fifties are remembered as the prosperous and booming years in the 20th century, worthy of nostalgy for some. Indeed, after the 2nd world war and its destruction the time of re-construction had come already some way, thanks to the Marshall plan of the late 1940s. Most countries had to turn huge military equipment industries into civil uses. After the Schumann Declaration, the European Coal and Steel Community was a first successful and lasting institution building in Central Europe. A mass production boom of cars, civil aircrafts, radio and the beginning of public television were landmark changes in the relationship of technology and society. The U.S. became a leading force in this evolution pushing for free trade between countries and consumerism. The deprived generations of the war period in the 40s welcomed the “fabulous fifties” (Arleen Kelin, 1978) as a dynamic and prosperous decade, despite dramatic speed to innovate new more deadly weapons. The atomic bombs were tested from superpowers and nuclear energy started to surface. Solar cells and optic fibres were also inventions of the mid-50s. Strange that we had to wait for another 70 years and multiple crises before these resource-efficient technologies achieved popular success. Integrated circuits, micro-chips, the laser, Tupperware, Coke, Lego, Mickey Mouse and global cinema came upon us during the 50s. The Sputnik effect re-opened an arms race as part of the cold war including outer space beyond airplane reach.
Families longed for and indulged in an as normal as possible family life. Unfortunately, this meant for many women, who had worked outside home during wartimes, to return to a role of housekeeping. Rock n Roll and increasing consumption of mass produced products could compensate for some of this deprivation. Higher divorce rates in the 60s and/or lack of own pensions were the dire consequences for many women. Showtime, and showing-off were the mantra of the 50s. Glamour (Magazine) rose to cult status and prepared popular culture and art. Following fashion and awareness of design spread across societies enabled by the easier access to “sewing machines” allowing more home production for the middle-class persons. The “people of plenty” (Andrew Dunar, 2006 p.167-8, referring to David Potter, 1954) were effectively sold a car culture with the automobile as an agent of change.
The atomic era was believed to continue prosperity for more decades (Expo 58 in Brussels) and a delicate, but relatively stable balance of power restricted open wars. “The End of Ideologies” during the fifties (Daniel Bell, 1960) lead to focus on Realpolitik and a race for prosperity, oblivious of the ecological consequences for many decades to come. 
Protest
In studying the 60s we still come up with a number of remarkable ideas. Not only concerts moved the masses but also new ideas flourished. Many subcultures developed specific forms of protest. To implement new ideas, new forms of protest were applied to advance civil rights, to overcome established routines and to raise awareness for inequalities and injustices. New forms of participatory democracy were tested and some reached public attention and/or approval. Burner (1996, p.162) even goes as far as defining freedom as “continuing exercise in decision-making” which hinges on the taking-in of all voices across society. The coming together of freedom and community constitutes the cross-roads of politics. Besides terrible effects of violent abuses, peaceful forms originated in Gandhi’s peaceful resistance in 1930. Martin Luther King and later Nelson Mandela reached historical milestones through peaceful forms of protest. In 1967 in Oakland, California, the form of “action protest” took place. The basis of protest was civil disobedience going beyond sit-ins as the civil rights movement had applied. “They involved blocking roads and entrances to buildings, peacefully inasmuch as the demonstrators used no force beyond the presence of their own bodies or other obstacles to passage.” (p.163). The new feature was, that protesting persons take the risk of being a victim of violence without a violent response from themselves. The intention is to “convert temporary antagonists into permanent friends”. Through the repercussions in mass media protesting persons can reach larger audiences and touch “uninvolved or possibly sympathetic bystanders” (p.163). Such new forms of participatory democracy, acting in the public arena, are stretching the idea of peaceful protest to its limit, where the freedom of others might be impinged. Participatory democracy, therefore, is a balancing act. Some recent forms of protest, in fact, have their origins in the 1960s or the year 1968 a focal point. They continue to be influential 55 years later in many countries and at all instances where basic freedoms or minority rights are violated or threatened.
Protest has also moved online. Internet sites are not only used for simple communication, but they serve as port of entry to prepare and organise protest. High-jacking of company or political adverts in the public arena can be taken online as well. Challenges to conventional politics and media representation is enacted through webpages like www.adbusters.org or www.indymedia.org the latter page comprises a whole network of local activist groups. Brian D. Loader (2003, p.1320) has added activist approaches against particular corporations to the list of online protest forms. Through public shaming of brands these activists attempt to raise awareness of the public for abusive employment practices, cruelty towards animals, environmental disasters or fake information using online channels like social media, email-lists or chatgroups via mobile phone numbers. The funding of protesting persons is another relatively new form which ranges from crowd-funding initiatives through platforms as well as forms of corruptive practices applied by states or corporate interests. Protest against protest is online and offline the next round of activist forms of protest. Democracy, law and the police have to balance out these new forms of protest. Learning about the way democracy functions is a continuous task, some would say a continuous struggle. Evaluations of the short-term or long-term effectiveness of protests yields important insights about the functioning of democracies and autocratic regimes. New forms of protest need new forms of measuring impact as well. 
60s
“Make love, not war”, is a summary slogan of all sorts of protests that have moved the sixties. With the spread of television impressive images caught attention no longer just locally, but almost across the whole world. With the inauguration of political debates on TV between Kennedy and Nixon, reaching millions of persons at once and images travelling borders faster than to translate text, spreading of new ideas and political actions was more rapid and more emotional. Commonly the 60s are described as the sex, drug and rock-n-roll period. But there is much more to it. Yes, the sex revolution got started and access to, as well as experimenting with, drugs became more widely spread. Music became a defining moment for young people from teenage years onwards. After Rock n Roll from the 50s, came the rock music and pop culture, which were able to bring together huge crowds of several hundred thousand party-goers. The Woodstock festival and hippie gatherings became a defining moment mainly for the young. Older generations still battled for affordable housing and the “Great society”, as a large-scale anti-poverty program was called.
The phenomenon of the Beatles co-defined the 60s. The Beatles captured more than just one generation with their popular songs and iconic style. Mary Quant, attributed to have designed the mini-skirt, equally co-defined a period with a visual provocation to conservative life-styles. In parallel, the sixties saw the civil rights movement grow, Black Power succeeding with peaceful actions more widespread attention, leading to the abolition of openly racist practices. The peaceful movements and happenings, however, had to face the deadly attacks on J.F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King during the 60s. The whole decade was influential in the field of education as well. Based on a new spirit of altruism and happiness combined with, but also beyond religious feelings, new forms of living together, sharing and the common good were tried out. Anti-authoritarian educational practices were influential beyond the 60s.
Books covering the 60s are manifold. In addition to Arthur Marwick’s impressive, multi-faceted volume “The sixities”, I enjoyed the book by David Burner “Making peace with the 60s”, especially his approach to burn some received wisdoms about the 60s, namely the restriction of it to those 10 years. “The withering away of philosophy”, the beginnings of postmodernism and a theory-driven or conceptual approach to the decade, amongst other topics, is the merit of Fredric Jameson (1984, p.192). “The 60s without apology” is a programmatic title well worth thinking about seriously as the editors and authors did.
Besides the ecological disasters of the 60s already, (nuclear, oil and wars), Mini Cooper cars, Lava Lamps as well as Blow or Ball Chairs, Barbies, Frisbees, Brigitte Bardot and Pippi Longstocking (Patricia Massó, 2010), all were dressed to impress. “The 60s without apology” by a group of editors nicely summarises the review of the 60s and their lasting effects on us, for better and/or worse. 2 generations later in 2023 youth is again threatening mass mobilisation in France as depicted in LeMonde 4.2.2023. It is a kind of “déjà vu experience”. 
Time3
The evolution of time is fascinating as research topic. Both in theoretical as well as empirical approaches. Beyond the precise measurement of time and the use of time in measuring working time, which intensified during the industrial revolution, we witness continued struggles over the length and the organisation of working time. The 30+X hours week working time could be reorganised into a 4-days week to improve work-life balances for millions of people. The effects are not only on employees directly concerned, but also on their families and/or households involved.
The changing perception of time (as being short of time) and its evolution over time needs huge surveys collected over time (known as “Time use studies”). Inequality over the life course remains an issue with a persistent gender bias. Unhealthy and excessive overtime work is still a problem, usually negated by upper ranks in hierarchies.
Let us start to imagine different concepts of time to maybe one day overcome the shortcomings of our current understanding and use of time. Usually, time is considered a linear concept, one day follows another day and so on. Time, depicted as an arrow or a horizontal axis in graphical representations, is helpful for most processes we observe. If our aim is to explain a social process which evolves over time, we could perceive time as running with different speed in, for example, urban and rural areas of the same country. The liberalisation of women or peace movements evolved or spread with different speed in different regions. The 60s became known for many women as the decade when the control of reproduction allowed different life styles. Concerning reproductive behaviour and divorce rates a break in series compared to previous periods is observable, reduction of reproduction and diffusion of divorce throughout societies. Instead of continuous time we might speak of discrete time, in for example decades like the 60s, 70s, 80s. In retrospect “social time” seems to have passed faster in one decade than the other. We might also imagine time as growing exponentially as time². Taking into account the slowing down and successive rise again of evolution over time, the time trend might look like a rising wave (time² + time³). In econometric models testing of such hypotheses is feasible, although it is more difficult to convince reviewers of an alternative theoretical model of time.
An investigation of trends of democratic behaviour over time would need to adjust for the potential and sometime measurable return of undemocratic practices for periods. A depiction of such “social time” of democracies as an upward rising line with periodic relapses is a plausible theoretical framework. Trajectories of inwards or outwards spiralling processes are already fairly complex trends for the process of democratisation as the phenomenon to explain or the modelling of a time trend to explain the level of democratisation reached so far. Challenges of time frames for independent and dependent variables in social processes might be questioned altogether to claim that time is a spurious occurrence of events much like a process of a so-called “Brownian motion” also named white noise. In fact, not being explicit about the concept of time applied in social analyses amounts to a severe neglect. Examples of such neglect are certainly all those cross-section studies, still pervasive practice, in social sciences or opinion polls. The linear concept of time, as a chronologically processing arrow of time, is a convention useful for synchronisation of action. However, this synchronisation is already debated more forcefully with more persons being unsatisfied with the use of synchronisation as a tool to regulate our “social time” and social processes. Time zones, summer and winter times challenge our day-to-day perception of everybody living at the same time, speed or intensity. Bedtime for me, wake-up call for others, or vice versa. 
70s
In autumn 2019 the Cosmopolitan featured a headline “Stop fighting it: the ´70s are back”. At least in fashion the 70s are still with us. Platform soles, moon boots, hot pants, all had their first appearance in the 70s. We keep seeing them in fashion shows even 50 years later. In politics, the retreat of the U.S. from Vietnam in 1972, with more than 50.000 killed soldiers from the U.S. and many more Vietnamese persons, is certainly a success of the sizable activists’ peace movement of the 60s. Willy Brandt’s kneeling in Warsaw in front of the heroes monument in honour of the Warsaw ghetto marked the beginning of a reconciliation with Eastern parts of Europe.
The oil crises 1973 and 1979 caused mass unemployment and from the beginning of the 70s “Greenpeace” started its on-site activist approach against nuclear weapons, killing of whales and dumping of toxic waste. The network of independent organisations is contemporaneous to the invention of e-mail between large so-called mainframe computers using the now common address format x@y.z. The feminist movement achieved major successes with a UN resolution to ban discrimination against women. The male dominated aggressive and excessive punk movement occurred almost in parallel. New products like the Polaroid camera for instant photos and prints, video cassette recorder, the chopper bike “Bonanza” as well as the collapsible Maclaren Buggy for children defined a lifestyle around a more mobile society. Plastic furniture, bright colours with uncommon combinations brought with it a more diverse culture. Societies exploded into different lifestyles. Some taking the new Concorde, so-called supersonic speed delta airplane between Paris and New York, whereas others walked around in “wooden clogs” as a kind of folk fashion, watched Kojak the bold police inspector, listened or sang to ABBA tunes, danced like in “Saturday night fever”. In December 1979 Pink Floyd released “The Wall” which became with 23 million sales the top seller of all 70s productions (Champ Hamish p.120). Some of these artists we can still enjoy jumping up and down on stages across the world or being honoured with a Nobel prize in literature like Bruce Springsteen.
The wild 70s are remembered for the sexual revolution, the philosophy of love and peace as well as the continued spirit of the civil rights movements (Particia Massó, 2010). The sexual revolution spurred women’s liberation just as additional exploitation by thriving borderless consumption industry. Sex sells and it sold well. The cinema and print industry cashed in on the new trends and the spreading the new trends. Social relationships became much more unstable, divorce rates increased sharply in the 70s. In response, “surviving the 70s” (DeMott, 1971) a kind of survival guide tried to give advice of how to stem the tide, largely unsuccess for some decades.
Societies continued to explore new forms of life, while some niches of conservative life styles started to shield themselves from these outrageous trends. Vasarely imitating tapestry and design invited new forms of facing your own walls. Where to go on from this liberalisation? More equal rights for all, was a claim, but it took several additional decades to achieve some of the claims. Intersectionality, viewing for example violence as an across gender, social class and ethnicity as an overall mankind issue, became a claim much later only. “All in all, it was just bricks in the wall”, a huge wall it still is. We haven’t climbed it yet. 
80s
The colourful 80s. That could be a summary of the years from 1980 to 1989. Certainly in fashion and design a multitude of colours dominated the 80s. Mariel Marohn (2010, Ed.) published 20 years later a visual summary of the 80s. Often thought as less spectacular than other decades, the 80s had seen some defeats to start with. John Lennon shot dead in New York December 1980. The NASA space shuttle Challenger explodes 2 minutes after the launch in 1986. Nuclear accidents (after three mile island 1979, Tschernobyl 1986,or the finding of the Titanic demonstrated not only the “limits to growth” (1972), but reminded us of deadly consequences of technological ambitions wanting to move too fast in time. Ghettoblaster, Walkman, first cell phones, facilitated a more mobile life style to more people. Overcoming the oil crises of the 70s, mobility roared ahead again. Cars, bikes, planes, CDs, windsurfing and aerobics become part of the lifestyle in these years.
Mass culture in music reached all levels of society. Music was no longer perceived as a protest movement, but a normal part of the freedom of expression. Fusion of music and dance, but also music and street art like in hip-hop music and graffiti art become part of day-to-day experiences of commuters. In the anthology of poems of the 80s we find on page 141 “Commuters” by Edward Hirsch 1983 who singles out the commuting practice as the way of life, he does not want to identify with. “Malgré lui”, in spite of himself, he finds himself in cars, trains travelling distances every day. More, faster and with more colours, time moved on. The fall of the Berlin wall 1989 was thought of as a “Zeitenwende” already. Royalty in the press with the marriage of Diana & Charles, was replaced by Madonna as the Queen of Pop and Michael Jackson as the King of Pop. The digital age entered into a new era with the Apple Macintosh desktop computer with an accessible visual interface to computing. Reaganomics and Thatcherism pushed for a revival of liberal market economies ploughing the fields for digital multinationals (GAFAM) to thrive ever since. These lasting technological changes define this period as colourful, grabbing all our senses and attention. Want to breathe a bit of the air of the 80s – visit MAD Paris. 
Flotow Analyse
Interessant ist der Aufsatz über Flotows’ Martha, der vor einigen Jahren in einer musikwissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift erschienen ist. Anselm Gerhard ordnet die Oper unter Berücksichtigung des Werdegangs des Aristokraten Flotow dem französischen Stil der Oper zu. Das Schicksal des von Flotow war es wohl, mit seiner aristokratischen Herkunft aus Preußen, Deutschland, ein Uraufführung in Österreich, dann mit Bel Canto assoziert überwiegend auf italienisch aufgeführt zu werden (Metropolitan Opera 1914? mit Caruso), aber ein französisches Opernschema basierend auf einer irischen Volksmusik mit einer Story in England zu verbinden. Kosmopolitisch nennen wir das im 21.-ten Jahrhundert, nicht oder schwer nationalistisch verwertbar im 19. und 20.-ten Jahrhundert. Für die Handschriften ist es wohl am besten, gleich in die Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF) zu fahren. Im Saal Richelieu ist das dazu passende kunstgeschichtliche Ambiente noch nachvollziehbar. Quelle:
Gerhard, A. (2004). „Tinta musicale“ Flotows „Martha“ und die Frage nach Möglichkeiten und Grenzen Musikalischer Analyse in Opern des 19. Jahrhunderts. Archiv für Musikwissenschaft, 61(1), 1–18. 
Zigarre
Die Zeiten, in denen Zigarrenrauchen Schlagzeilen machten, sind eigentlich lange vorüber. Heute wundern wir uns lediglich über die Sorglosigkeit der Personen bezüblich ihrer Gesundheit. Friedrich von Flotow hat die Szene im Salon de Marquis de Custine (Paris) in seinen Erinnerungen vorzüglich beschrieben. Die Schriftstellerin George Sand hat die Gemüter mit dieser Rauchszene nachhaltig inspiriert. Frédéric Chopin (1810-1849) hat an diesem Abend seiner (späteren) Mäzenin eine Ovation dargebracht. Flotow hatte sicherlich einen inspirierenden Abend verbracht. Seine unveröffentlicht gebliebenen Memoiren wurden von seiner 3. Frau publiziert. Ein Vorabdruck auf Schwedisch habe ich in der Svensk Musiktidning vom 15-8-1883 gefunden. Datiert ca 6 Monate nach seinem Tod, heute vor 140 Jahren, ist das eine Würdigung des Komponisten in Schweden und eine Anerkennung der Aufarbeitung und Verbreitung seines Werks durch seine Frau. Die Aristokraten und ihre Kreise waren Anregung für viele künstlerische Kreise. Das wohlhabende Bürgertum hat später diese Rolle übernommen. Heute brauchen wir zahlreiche öffentliche und private Stiftungen oder Crowd-Funding für diese Events und Inspirationen.
(Quelle: Flotow, Friedrich von. (1883). F. von Flotows minnen. II. En soaré hos marquis de Custine [Beskrivning av G. Sand (baronesse Dudevant) och Chopin]. Svensk musiktidning, 3(16), 121–122. ) 
V for Value
Value in its singular form refers for most people to the value of things. Since Karl Marx we have been fighting about the surplus value of a worker’s work. Nowadays, we have to deal with speculation bubbles on the value of property or even basic elements of nutrition (Water, wheat, energy). Max Weber introduced us to the rigorous analysis of value judgements. In political science the plural “values” refers to basic human rights as fundamental values of humanity. Many other associations with the letter V pop up and arouse emotions: victory, video, view(s), vision, visit, voice, vote, vulnerability.
Creating lasting value seems to transform itself into part of our system of values later on. The longitudinal dimension of value is often neglected, particularly in the short-term focus of much of economic reasoning. Value over time, in addition to the distribution question, or as part of distribution over time, excites researchers of inequality and policy design for generations. Approaching the end of the alphabet increases the stakes of the “endgame”, it seems. Value for me, might not be of value for others. I hope you have found a person that values much of the same as you do yourself.
Interpersonal value, value exchange and intertemporal value are own fields of research. Since the Scottish enlightenment and Adam Smith’s work on “The theory of moral sentiments (TMS)”, reciprocity in value exchange has been an issue, well before the utilitarian turn in his own writings on “The wealth of nations”. Even Adam Smith refers to happiness and interest as a kind of value and “very laudable principles of actions” (part VII.ii.3.15 in TMS).
Children learn and experience value as natural part of growing up. Material things which you valued highly as toddler, you are ready to trash or exchange a couple of years later at much lower prices. Above which monetary value are you ready to trade in your humanitarian values? Never? History and bargaining theory is full of experiments and experiences that teach us otherwise. Corruption is the prominent example of exchanging or trading material value against immaterial values. Reading Kwame Anthony Appiah on “Experiments in ethics” is highly instructive. This bring me back to the economist joke I used to tell in lectures: You know that you’re an economist, if you ask your child, whether s/he prefers 20 Euros in cash, a trip to an adventure park later, a basket ball set or a pizza party for the next birthday. Economists do all this to find out about the value of each item, the preferences, the time frame of delayed reward or discounting of value also called the net-present value. Reading up to here is equal to the value of, maybe, an online bachelor in economics or social science. In your very own life review of learnings you then can estimate the value of your readings to you, your community or humanity. Alternatively, enjoy the joy of just living in peace with optimism. 
T for Time
“The times they are a changing“, end of blog entry T.
We live time forward, but we seem to understand it only backwards or in retrospect. Towards the end of each year, it is common practice to look back and review the last 12 months. Then we imagine what will the future be like. Our concept of time is past, present or future oriented. In classical physics we reflect this with a depiction of time on a linear axis. However, modern concepts of time include Einstein’s relativity theory, whereby in 2 different places time may run with different speed. Similarly, quantum physics allows that the causal relationship between 2 physical states is no longer observable in a logic that follows linear time. A particle may exit in 2 states in parallel. Hard to imagine, maybe, but demonstrations of these effects are found in textbooks for pupils already. Our grasping of the world around us is enhanced through scientific rigour.
Story-telling also plays with time frames. Analepsis and prolepsis are common techniques constructing a story, a film or any form or narrative. We tend to perceive chronological time even as boring. Our memory is also playing tricks with us on time scales. When was …? Additionally, we have multiple clocks ticking away. Time to submit a report, pay taxes, until the next medication or the psychological concept of “time until death”. Strangely enough, depending on which ticking clock we focus most, our behaviour is likely to change. Mobile time management tools have been created for centuries for us to handle all this jazz (call them a watch). They all have not changed our concept of time, only the precision to measure and cramp more activities or the same one faster into our daily life. Happier since? Test your self-efficacy, more general than time management! Try meditation to slow down the pace, use an app!? I started to clone myself with a virtual presence to experience the quantum effect of my life. Podcasts are played with 1,5x the normal speed now. Rhythm and music are the remaining traditional metrics of time. Even there, John Cage’s piece “silence” managed to abandon the time reference, partly at least. Okay, time is up, next letter, please.
N for Nature
The first association with nature for me is the nature surrounding my childhood. Rivers, forests, vineyards, mountains. Maybe a little bit of German romanticism surrounds this. I still enjoy occasionally listening to some nature romantic songs (Lieder) from Schubert, Schumann, Flotow or Mahler. Beginning with adolescence natural sciences took over, but what does natural really mean in the natural sciences. In the “Encyclopedia Britannica” the term natural has already been dropped. What has been referred to as natural sciences is just found under the term sciences. The social sciences or psychology are not included under entry of sciences. One of the high reputation scientific journals is still named “nature”. Only a small fraction of the papers deal with what ordinary people would associate with nature. The nuclear fusion or nuclear energy research and applications in practice figures still prominently in there. Ever since Tschernobyl, Fukushima or Hiroshima, horrific dangers are associated with nuclear energy. The power plant of Saporischschja in Putin’s war, dominates public concerns in 2022. The natural sciences frequently are certainly not researching in the interest of nature. Hence, the social sciences need to deal with the social consequences of (natural) scientific advances. Science and technology have an intrinsic link to each other.
The loss of biodiversity is the most obvious demonstration of how cruel our own species is towards any other form of live. Not only is demography reminding us that with 8 billion of us we might further contribute to our own overpopulation, we might sooner or later destroy the whole planet either slowly with polution or through weapons of mass destruction. Poor nature, instead of pure nature is our destiny. Our western lifestyle is not sustainable and we have no right to impinge on the rights and resources of future generations of us or those who have not poluted the planet like us in other parts of the world. So, when did it all start to go wrong? Probably our creed for more of everything has been nurtured for far too long. Less is more has to replace it somehow. This is also part of our nature. 
L for Law
Contrary to a popular misunderstanding. Law is not boring. The history of ideas is full of exiting projects based on laws. Starting with the foundation of empiricism, i.e. the comparison of laws governing the different Greek city states pioneered by Aristotle. Considering law from the perspective of legislation gives it an actionable touch and makes it more exciting to many persons. Contrary to a static perception of law, laws can be changed and are subject to interpretation continuously by courts and judges. The fascination with law might start with the philosophers of the French enlightenment like Montesquieu. “De l’esprit des lois” – explains already the need to look behind the literal text of law. What is the spirit of law, becomes the driving question. Not only the categories of countries like republic, monarchy and despotism were argued by him, but also the separation of powers into an executive, legislative and judicial power is his original contribution. These principles govern the German “Grundgesetz” and are a common understanding of the founding states of the European Union as well as a potential breaking point.
A sociological perspective on law is formulated by Niklas Luhmann (short intro in D) and highlights the danger of laws as a self-referential system. This dominated by experts who develop the system further independent of the concerns and understandings of wider society. In order to understand this concern, it is probably useful to think of climate change as an urgent problem. Bio-diversity has for much too long not been of much relevance for legal founding principles of our constitutions. In the same vein, women judges or diversity in the legal profession is a point of concern. Majorities versus minority rights create intrinsic tensions in law, legislation, execution and interpretation. Analysing the half-life of laws is interesting, i.e. how fast do they really change or get abandoned altogether. Equality in front of the law remains a thorny issue. It is a huge issue when moving from law to justice as primary concern. The most interesting point is the view of law as a changing matter, hopefully for the better, but this is another question altogether. Reveillons-nous l’esprit des lois ! (pas seulement au Reveillon). 
H for Health
Health is not just a personal issue. Of course, in modern times most people are primarily concerned with their very own health. Particularly, if pain is involved, we tend to put ourselves first. Only various religions and ideologies put God or some other bigger thing, for example identity, in front of personal pain. This bigger thing is believed to decide wars, like Russia trying to anihilate Ukraine. Russia’s military agression stands against the fight for freedom, democracy and perpetuates corruption.
At the beginning of the Corona-Crisis most persons and societies still believed health and infections are only a very personal issue. Researchers with knowledge about “public health” knew already, viruses have accompanied humanity since its beginnings and maybe continue to do so even beyond our disappearance. Hence, addressing the topic of society and health from a public health perspective has become much more popular as prevention is key to fight pandemics as early as possible. However, for prevention to work you have to involve and rely on individual behaviour. As soon as we leave the personal issue of health, we have to address a whole set of other topics like patient – carer relationships, cooperation, interdisciplinarity, public expenditure, public-private partnerships, corruption or behaviour of large crowds. We have developed antidotes against most difficulties, probably the strongest one is solidarity. Social systems that address inequality of provision (e.g. between regions) or inequality in access to and quality of medical services (e.g. doctors, care or pharmaceuticals) have a strong role to play. Structural, financial and political issues play a powerful role in health. As we think more about prevention and costs we start to understand that we have to start with nutrition, mobility, mortality and our western style of life in more general terms, particularly if we think about health on a global scale. There is no planet B where we could travel to, once it has become impossible to lead a healthy life on our planet. Topics of health over the life course or ageing will need a lot more attention. Findings on the risk of suicide after onset of physical health problems (Link to study) asks for fast responses. Access to digital tools might be part of the solution like “Sympatient” as well as being part of the problem like data leakage. 
Human Rights
It is 10 years after the publication of a Ph.D. thesis on “Corruption: a violation of human rights and a crime under international law?” by Martine Boersma that at the top level of the European Parliament and the International Trade Union Congress the smell of corruption is investigated by police and judges. Following “Qatargate” (Radio France Link) this means that the persons accused of corruption, forming a criminal group and money laundering have changed their lobbying in return for accepting cash. Exploitation of workers and more than 100 deaths in Qatar was the result, due to the heat when building the stadiums for the Football World Cup which took place in 2022. Following the recommendations of Boersma corruption in this respect can be interpreted as these persons contributing to and being guilty of abusing their political positions to silence criticism and whistle-blowers, and the right for defendants to a fair trial for example. The advocacy to counter corruption with developing international human rights legislation and persecution in this respect is dearly needed now. “This line of reasoning transforms a corrupt act into a possible starting point for legal action, be it at the national level, …, or at the international level by submitting a complaint to a regional or global human rights monitoring body.” (Boersma, 2012 p.376) The International Criminal Court or “alternative such as the establishment of a permanent anti-corruption court, or anti-corruption commission to monitor compliance with the UN Convention Against Corruption should be kept in mind, as well as the possibility of setting up ad hoc anti-corruption tribunals” (p.380). Not much to add to this, act now, before the practice spreads.
Francesco Merloni wrote in his book (2019, p.132) on corruption with Italy in comparative perspective: “when corruption is defined in its wider meaning of maladministration, we are looking at a mass phenomenon which is “sub-criminal”, yet nonetheless with strongly negative implications for the efficiency and effectiveness of public administration and democracy in general.” The practice of excessive salaries of the Italian parliament (p.131) is mentioned in the list of case histories of corruption just like the international event of the EXPO 2015 in Milano with huge construction projects (LeMonde on Panzeri l’ex-eurodéputé). Learning from case studies is best practice in many business schools and probably beyond. Finally, attention should be drawn to prevention of corruption. Here the reading of Corruption and Anti-corruption by Larmour and Wolanin (2001, p.235) offers good advice. The micro-economics of corruption (pp. 119) states for example that “If expected penalties are sufficiently high, bribery is deterred” (p.126). Equally the real threat of a full and explicit audit of operations, promotions and financial transactions might deter corrupt activities. Most importantly the authors state, “the social networks approach to corruption allows the corruption investigator to conceptualise the operation of corrupt networks in terms of power flows and relationships rather than the attributes of actors. The question to be asked by the corruption investigator is not whether actor A is corrupt. The question should be, what is the relationship between actor A and other potentially corrupt actors in the network.” Re-reading some classics of sociology like Max Weber on bureaucracy, but also James Coleman’s foundation of social theory provide basics for understanding social interaction when things go fundamentally in the wrong direction. We might even need to use artificial intelligence to detect corruptive practices to shield and support the trade union movement. 
Marx-Wagner
Begleitend zu den Ausstellungen zu Karl Marx und Richard Wagner fand eine vom DHM organisierte Vortragsreihe statt. Die Links (hier) zu den Hördokus sind eine anregende Erweiterung der Ausstellung und stützen die These der Verbindung zwischen Karl Marx und Richard Wagner auf einer abstrahierenden Meta-Ebene. Die Vorträge, Gespräche und Diskussionen informieren und vertreten wissenschaftlich fundierte Thesen. Die müssen gerade nicht von allen geteilt werden, aber eine Haltung zu dem Thema haben die meisten Menschen in der Welt, besonders wenn wir an die Millarden von Menschen jenseits von der westlichen Welt denken. Es ist also auch an uns, diese Diskussion über den Kapitalismus zu führen. Hören wir mal rein. Alle dauern 1h-1.30h!
Einleitung, M&W Kosky + Bisky, M&W Nietzsche, M&W Mahatma Gandhi, M&W Viktoria Kaiserin Friedrich, Ein Artikel aus der Financial Times von Martin Sandbu vom 18.8.2021 und Martin Wolf vom 21.11.2021 ergänzen die Diskussion: Wenn der Kapitalismus weltweit gewonnen hat, was war dann noch mal der Wettbewerb? Bitte öffnen Sie jetzt ihren Computer, Sie haben 3 Stunden Zeit für die Beantwortung. $???$ Danach speichern Sie bitte das Dokument in der Cloud und nehmen es zur Evaluation nach 10,20,30,40 Jahren wieder hervor. Hat sich ihre Meinung über den Sachverhalt zwischenzeitlich verändert? THX for your feedback. 
Wagner Kontrovers
Selbst im 21.-ten Jahrhundert lesen wir weiter von Kontroversen um Richard Wagner (z.B Molnar und Molnar 2022 S.161-186). Dazu hat auch das DHM beigetragen mit einer Ausstellung, die interessante Assessoires aus dem Leben Wagners kürzlich in die Vitrinen stellte (s.u.). Neben Dokumenten zu seinem hartnäckigen Antisemitismus, bereicherten die extravaganten Kleidungsstücke, Maßanfertigungen, Beispieldrucke zu seinen politischen Überzeugungen und Dokumente zur kontinuierlichen Geldnot, die Sichtweise auf das musikalische Schaffen des Komponisten. Verliebtheit in kostspielige Details bei gleichzeitigen Überredungskünsten bei Stiftenden und Gönnern, haben sein überragendes Lebenswerk erst möglich gemacht. Die Zusammenschau von Leben der Person und seinem Werk konnte zeitgleich zur Ausstellung über Karl Marx in Nachbarräumen des DHM in 2022 besucht werden. Die überraschende, aber gelungene, Parallele oder Klammer für beide Ausstellungen ist die von beiden auf völlig unterschiedliche Weise betriebene Kapitalismuskritik, wie ein Begleittext und in Führungen durch die Ausstellungen berichtet wurde. Müssen wir zur Freistellung des Schaffens von Wagner dem Vorschlag Adornos folgen, die Musik des Komponisten frei zu machen von seinem Antisemitismus und der späteren Vereinnahmung durch die Nazis? Es fällt mir äußerst schwer, diese Trennung vorzunehmen. Es ist jedoch Wagners eigenen Schriften zu schulden, dass er einen Absolutismus predigte und darauf hinarbeitete. Das Werk „Muette de Portici“ von Auber, welchem er sogar die Revolution in Belgien zuschrieb (Colas 2012 S.26) hatte ihn schwer beeindruckt. In einem Aufsatz „Über deutsches Musikwesen 1840 S.165, schreibt Wagner, zitiert nach Colas, „La Muette entspricht einem Nationalwerke, wie jede Nation höchstens nur eines auszuweisen hat“. Die kurze Zeit Wagners in Paris ab 1839-1842 hat ihn mehr beeinflusst als er zugeben mochte, vielleicht durch Ablehnung in Frankreich sogar in eine dialektische Entwicklungsrichtung hineinbewegt. Die libertäre und kritische Einstellung Wagners zu politischen und wirtschaftlichen Zuständen seiner Zeit, bei gleichzeitigem Ausleben eines extravaganten Lebensstils, lässt den Tonkünstler in zwiespältigem Licht erscheinen. Dieses Facettenreichtum der Persönlichkeit und des Werks kam in der Ausstellung im DHM gut zur Geltung. Ambivalenz aushalten, lehrte diese Ausstellung. Anregen zu weiterer Befassung mit Person, Werk und Wirkung ist die Folge. Bei mir hat das gewirkt. Die in dieser Zeit sich vertiefenden “Mythen der Nationen” (Flacke M. DHM 1998) in europäischen Ländern, spiegeln den Wettstreit der Komponisten um nationale und überregionale Geltung wider. Ein anderer Komponist dieser Zeit, der als Vermittler zwischen den Kulturen wirken wollte, ist dabei etwas in Vergessenheit geraten, sowie viele andere KomponistInnen dieser Zeit, die sich an dem anzettelten deutsch-französischen Kulturkampf nicht beteiligen wollten. Der Tod von Wagner am 13.2.1883 ist 3 Wochen nach Friedrich von Flotow, 1 Monat vor Karl Marx. In dem Jahr veröffentlicht Nietzsche “Also sprach Zarathustra 1.Band”. Bewegte Zeiten.
Kapitalismus Kritik
Das Deutsche Historische Museum in Berlin (DHM) zeigte vom 10.2 bis 21.8.22 die Ausstellung “Karl Marx und der Kapitalismus“. Die Verbindung von Leben, Werk und Wirkung des in Trier geborenen Sozialwissenschaftlers Karl Marx st eindrucksvoll. In einer knapp gehaltenen Dokumenten- und Exponatensammlung wird die Bedeutung von Marx für die Weltgeschichte durch seine Kapitalismuskritik deutlich. Viele schreckliche Taten wurden in seinem Namen ausgeübt. Dabei geht oft die wissenschaftliche Analyse, die von ihm betrieben wurde unter. Gerade in seinem Verständnis von wirtschaftlichen Krisen hat er Beiträge geleistet, die uns in der Bankenkrise 2007 nochmals klar geworden sind. Weiterhin sind die Arbeiten zur Ungleichheit zwischen Kapitaleignern und Beschäftigten eine grundlegende Herangehensweise geblieben, die von SozialwissenschaftlerInnen auch im 21.-ten Jahrhundert, beispielsweise von Piketty fortgesetzt und mit aktuellen Daten nahezu weltweit untermauert werden. Die Folgen der industriellen Revolution, die er damals erforschte, befasst uns heute wieder in anderer Form zum Beispiel mit den Auswirkungen der Digitalisierung auf Beschäftigung und Lohngefüge. Selbst den von ihm geprägten Begriff der Ausbeutung, verwenden wir weniger auf Beschäftigung, als auf die Ausbeutung der Natur oder unserer Umwelt zugunsten von einseitiger Kapitalvermehrung. Kurz gesagt: Karl hat keinen Murx gemacht, sondern Methoden und Analysen geliefert, die noch die heutigen Jugendlichen und nächsten Generationen beschäftigen werden. Damit wird das DHM einem Postulat gerecht, das bereits bei der Eröffnung des Historischen Museums Frankfurt von Hilmar Hoffmann formuliert wurde: “Ein demokratisches historisches Museum ist kein Museum, das Kriegschroniken in goldenen Lettern schreibt oder die Mächtigen zu Übermenschen stilisiert. Es informiert vielmehr über die Geschichte des Volkes, über die Sozialgeschichte der Durchschnittsmenschen”. (S.33 in DHM Ideen-Kontroversen-Perspektiven 1988). Zu all diesem hat die Ausstellung “Karl Marx und der Kapitalismus” unzweifelhaft einen guten Beitrag geleistet. Was bleibt? x-tausend BesucherInnen und ein dicker Katalog. Reicht das? Wirkungsforschung zu Ausstellungen könnte hilfreich sein. 
China altert
Zurückgehend auf die frühere strikte 1 Kind Politik erhöht sich der finanzielle Wohlstand der Chinesen alleine dadurch, dass das gleiche BIP auf weniger Köpfe verteilt werden muss. Eine Generation später ergibt sich aber durch das rasche Altern der Bevölkerung eventuell ein hohe finanzielle Last für weniger Beschäftigte bei gleichzeitig mehr älteren Menschen. Die Beschäftigungsquoten der älteren Menschen waren niedrig im Vergleich zu Europa, das bedeutet ein gestresstes System zur Finanzierung der Renten und, wie eine neue Studie (Lancet Public Health 2022) zeigt, für die Pflege der Älteren. Bis 2030 werden laut der Studie bis zu 14 Millionen Menschen zusätzlich Pflege benötigen. Das betrifft überwiegend Frauen und Personen im ländlichen Raum. Das ist bei uns auch so, denn Zugang zu ärztlicher Hilfe, Krankenhäusern und Unterstützung im täglichen Leben ist aufwendiger bei größeren Entfernungen und Fachkräftemangel. Das Ausmaß der Pflegebedürftigkeit hängt stark von dem gesunden Altern ab. Dies ist wiederum vielfach bedingt durch Bildungsniveaus und Lernfähigkeit und -wille im Alter bezüglich der eigenen Gesundheit. Bewegung ist der Schlüssel zu mehr Gesundheit. Damit lässt sich die Pflegebedürftigkeit lang hinauszögern. Also raus, auch wenn es frisch ist. Open access Lancet paper (hier) 
Open access
Foreign Affairs = Auswärtige Angelegenheiten ist der Name einer hervorragenden politikwissenschaftlichen Zeitschrift, die Einordnungen und Analysen sowie Ausblicke auf internationale Politik open-access publiziert. War früher ziemlich teuer und ich suchte eigentlich seit meiner Jugend Bibliotheken auf, die diese und andere Wissensquellen zur Verfügung stellten. Die pay-wall zu relevantem Wissen fällt mehr und mehr. Das ist wichtig, da das meist öffentlich kofinanzierte Wissen nicht zu privatisierten Gewinnen führen sollte. Der rasche und kostengünstige Wissensaustausch und dessen Erweiterung ist ein fundamentales demokratisches Grundrecht. Dazu gehört dann wohl auch der Zugang über öffentliche Einrichtungen wie Bibliotheken oder andere Orte mit freiem Zugang zum Internet für das Abrufen der Informationen. Gerne auch als pod- oder videocast, damit Lesen nicht als einzige Aufnahmemöglichkeit der Information bleibt. Ob Webseiten, youtube shorts oder tiktok, twitter, mastodon, sorgen weiter für die breiteren Formen der möglichen demokratischen Teilhabe. Es werden täglich mehr Sender auf die gleiche Anzahl von Empfängern losgelassen. Neben viel mehr von dem Gleichen, gibt es eine reale Möglichkeit, auch die inhaltliche Vielfalt der Meinungen zu erhöhen. Das ist demokratische Chance und „fake-news-Gefahr“ zugleich. Auch Wissenschaft und öffentlich-rechtliche Medien sind dadurch herausgefordert. Ignorieren der technischen Möglichkeiten für die Massen geht nicht mehr lange gut. Das Rüberschieben von viel steuerfinanzierten Geldern in diese beiden Sektoren kommt in unruhiges Fahrwasser. Frankreich hat seinen „Rundfunkbeitrag“ bereits aufgekündigt. England streicht heftig bei der BBC. Mit mehr „open access“ werden die Intermediäre wie Rundfunk und synthetisierende Wissenschaft in breitere Hände übergehen. Daraus ergibt sich das zukünftige „Skillset“ und Kompetenzen der nachfolgenden Generationen. Nicht mehr einpauken, sondern kritisches Reflektieren und Abklopfen von Informationen auf Zuverlässigkeit und Wahrheitsgehalt, Trennen von Meinungsmache und Information, Stimmungsmache und Volksverhetzung, Fakten und Urteil, das sind die fundamentalen Kompetenzen auf denen unsere Demokratien aufbauen. Bildung ist das falsche Wort dafür, es braucht kontinuierliches Lernen, damit „open access“ fruchtbar und nicht furchtbar wird. 
Spitzel
Warum der Tagesspiegel bei meinem früheren alteingesessenen Zeitungshändler “Spitzel” hieß, ist mir lange nicht klar gewesen. Ein ungutes Gefühl bei den gelegentlichen Käufen ist geblieben. Das Schimpfwort “Springerpresse” war schlimmer und “Lügenpresse” ist eindeutig ein Pressefreiheit misachtendes Statement. Der Unterschied zwischen Meinungen, wie und welche Meinungen in der Presse erscheinen kann verzerrt sein. Im großen und ganzen können wir mit unserer Presselandschaft in der globalen Aufmerksamkeitsökonomie noch zufrieden sein. Das Sinken der Zeitungslesenden um ca. 50% in den letzten 20 Jahren ist zwar recht dramatisch, aber hat vielfältige Gründe. Wenn aus Berichterstattung zunehmend Meinungs- oder Stimmungsmache wird, werden Personen, die Informationen suchen sich an andere Medien halten.
Es ist verständlich, Printmedien brauchen andere Finanzierungsquellen als Abos und Laufkundschaft (Grenze irreführende Werbung). Den “local turn” der Lesenden bei gleichzeitig Qualitätsbewusstsein bei überregionalen Zeitungen, was Auflagen steigen lässt, hat der “Spitzel” vollzogen. Da Überregionalität in Deutschland kaum mehr zu erreichen ist, begibt sich der “Tagesspiegel” auf die “Spitzel”-Variante. Mit 12! lokalen Teilen allein in Berlin gibt es fast für jeden Bezirk einen Spitzel. Diese Person berichtet meistens Trivialitäten aus dem Bezirk, erreicht aber wahrscheinlich, wegen dem alternativen Bezahlmodell (à la Google, Facebook etc. mit gezielterer Werbung + viel Eigenwerbung) und nur scheinbar kostenlos, eine breitere interessierte Öffentlichkeit. Gezielte high impact Werbung wird so ermöglicht.
Was heisst das konkret? Naja, auf einen Artikel zu Milieuschutz und Gentrifizierung folgt dann eben eine gezielte Werbung, die als Info getarnt daherkommt. Die vielen Spitzel vom Spitzel spielen das Spiel kräftig mit, indem sie Gentrifizierung als “Kampfbegriff” versuchen zu diskreditieren, obwohl es in der wissenschaftlichen Literatur z.B. der Stadtsoziologie + Geografie weltweit ein analytisches Konzept ist (Ursprung).
Der Treppenwitz der Berliner Geschichte ist dabei, dass Fahrstühle, die in Berliner Altbauten eingebaut werden leider für Rollstühle oft zu eng sind und meistens erst auf einer 1/2 Etage starten. Genau, sie stoppen dann auch wieder eine 1/2 Etage niedriger oder höher, da sie wegen der Treppenhäuserkonstruktion in U-Form eigentlich nur außen angebaut werden können. Wir sollten also die Spitzel mal mit Gehhilfen, Rollator, Rollstuhl oder Kinderwagen solche Aufzüge benutzen lassen, damit eine objektive, nicht von möglicher verdeckter Werbung getriebene Berichterstattung erfolgt. Ich empfehle einen Besuch beim Orthopäden oder Osteopathen, um frühzeitig auf die Gelenke zu achten, mehr aber sollten wir das Körpergewicht (Obesity in EU) im Blick haben. Vorbeugen war schon immer besser als Heilen mit teuren Hilfsgeräten. Das gilt auch für faire mediale Bericherstattung. Noch mehr Spitzel in immer kleineren räumlichen Einheiten braucht wohl keiner, oder? 
Auszug aus: Tagesspiegel Leute Tempelhof/Schöneberg vom 14.6.2022. Nur zu, machen sie “was mit Medien” aber richtig, nein auch nicht mehr so wie Henri Nannen. Radiobeitrag dazu. Hier.
Was mit Medien
Wenn wir Jugendliche nach ihren Berufsvorstellungen fragen, antworten viele ich würde gerne was mit Medien machen. Okay, Daddeln als Beruf ist vielleicht nicht schlecht und in der Tat, wir brauchen viele medienbewertende, kontrollierende, kurz medienkritische Menschen. Meistens lautet eine Präzisierung dann, naja was mit sozialen Medien. Aber, was sind denn soziale Medien im Gegensatz zu unsozialen Medien. Mark Zuckerberg hat das „Framing“ für sein Medienimperium gut hinbekommen. Sozial ist daran der ideale Grundgedanke jede/r könne mit jedem nach Kontaktanfrage sich austauschen. Werbung und Mobbing haben bereits die Oberhand genommen und aus den sogenannten sozialen Medien werden vielfach höchst unsoziale Konsequenzen sichtbar. Nicht erst seit den letzten Jahren versuchen die anderen Medien, auch zu sozialen Medien zu werden. Skandale, dass von Unternehmen gekaufte Artikel publiziert werden. Sponsoring von Beiträgen erreicht oft mediale Verbreitung, ist aber eigentlich verdeckte Werbung.
Aber was sind denn unsoziale Medien? Medien, die nur über eine unsozial hohe Paywall erreichbar sind, könnten wir als unsozial bezeichnen. Das träfe dann auf die öffentlich-rechtlichen Medien zunächst genauso zu wie auf privatwirtschaftlich organisierte Medien. Freibeträge oder Gebührenerlass bei den öffentlich-rechtlichen Medien können sozialen Ausgleich schaffen. Anders bei den sogenannten Printmedien, die ja auch immer mehr versuchen, sich zumindest ein wenig den Touch zu geben, auch so etwas zu sein, wie soziale Medien. Nur wenige Zeitungslesende fragen sich noch beim Bäcker: kaufe ich heute eine Zeitung einer verantwortlichen Art, 2€+X oder doch ein Graubrot in dünnen Scheiben?
Wenn sich dann jedoch herausstellt, ein Mitherausgeber, Dr. Josef Joffe von „Die Zeit“, warnt einen Firmenchef vor kritischer Berichterstattung und schreibt bis vor kurzem weiter Kolumnen in einer Regionalzeitung „Der Tagesspiegel“, früher lokal genannt der Spitzel, dann sind die Selbstreinigungseffekte der notwendigen, unabhängigen Presse nicht mehr hinreichend. Die veröffentlichte Meinung weniger Personen darf nicht mit der öffentlichen Meinung der Vielen gleichgesetzt werden.
Bei den Römern hieß es noch „panem et circenses“. Aus gebt ihnen „Brot und Spiele“ ist für viele Lesende schon Brot oder Spiele geworden. Neue soziale Medien brauchen wir und ja Jungs & Mädels macht was mit Medien, vielleicht Mediensoziologie. 
https://www.die-zeitungen.de/forschung-studien/zeitungswerbung/