//Collective narcissism may have played a role too//
//We also thought we’d benefit economically from our popularity, much like the US did in preceding centuries//
//Were we naive? Perhaps. Most of the refugees who stayed at our home were men in their 20s. They didn’t talk much. Some never even said “thank you”. One seemed to feel genuinely sorry for us because we have three daughters and no sons. Another asked, apropos of nothing, whether my wife was “a Jewish girl”. We tried not to read too much into these experiences, limited as they were. But they did suggest that the relationship between Germans and refugees would not be as easy and straightforward as the enthusiasts had suggested.//
//Last month the head of the migration office admitted that up to 400,000 people had not applied for asylum. Which means we have no idea who they are or where they are from. It wasn’t supposed to happen like that//
//But the spirit of the Willkommenskultur – taking in people randomly, exuberantly, without getting to know them and establishing a meaningful relationship – doesn’t feel right any more.//
But we get criticised and castigated if we voice any of these opinions. The 3 stages of truth.
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
Arthur Schopenhauer.