Virtuous Terror, or Who Defines the Boundaries of Freedom of Speech (Reflecting on the Works of Thilo Sarrazin)

Abstract

The article is devoted to the analysis of the latest books of Thilo Sarrazin, the author of social and political and publicistic bestsellers, famous in Germany, which caused extensive public discussions and rejection of Sarrazin’s ideas, mainly on the level of ruling elite and mass media. The author raises sensitive issues about the current state of freedom of the press, speech, opinion, religion in Germany. In his opinion, instead of real freedom, the state implements a kind of a model of “new ideology”, the consolidation of which is facilitated by modern media. In fact, it is a form of new, ideological “virtuous terror” which thoroughly regulates what it is correct or incorrect to speak about and discuss publicly. Norms of acceptance or rejection of certain ideas imposed by the ruling elite are appeared in the form of a kind of taboo, which Sarrazin designates as “axioms of virtuous madness”. They are ambiguously perceived in society, however, due to the general position of media this fact is ignored, and the spread of “oppositional” to the official line views is often blocked.