The philosopher Richard David Precht was a guest with Markus Lanz on Tuesday. The topic of the program was again the corona virus. Precht spoke about the chances of the crisis – and what should not happen now.
All non-systemically relevant shops and facilities are closed, tourism is closed and there are curfews: Because of the Corona crisis, we have been in an emergency for weeks. This condition is also an opportunity, said Richard David Precht on Markus Lanz’s program.
“In such situations, you get a feeling that normal life, whatever you’ve always led, may not be normal at all. This ’faster, higher, further, everything has to get more, everything has to get faster.’ ”
Richard David Precht: We have to think about alternatives
The result of the Corona crisis will not be that we break out of the growth spiral. But it enables us to think about alternatives and reassess what we really need – and what we don’t.
(Photo: CC0 Public Domain / Pixabay.de)
Precht gives cruises as an example: Because of their new image as “Corona slingshots”, no one will probably book a cruise this year. “If at some point they were gone, would we lack something existential?”
Precht bei Lanz: These four points have to change
The philosopher hopes that society will draw the right consequences from the pandemic: “I do not want to go back to the normality before the crisis in all respects.” He would like to see a change in at least four areas:
- The “economic reality of retail”: The big winner of the crisis is Amazon, but the owner-managed small businesses are losing. This problem cannot be solved with loans – rather, the system has to be changed to strengthen retail. An idea from Precht: 25 percent tax for online trading.
- Paying caregivers: “I want a kind of solidarity surcharge for these people or other agreements. You can’t briefly declare them heroes, give them a bonus, clap them off the balcony and afterwards everything is as it was before. ”
- Soccer: Football is actually unimportant, but psychologically “incredibly important”. In recent years, however, things have gone wrong, for example that the financially strongest team always wins. Basically, football is broken, so Precht demands: “Let us rethink how we can create equal opportunities in football?”
- sustainability: The corona crisis has led people to become aware of their “corporeality and mortality”. “Corona and climate change are two different topics. But what they have in common is that we suddenly notice […]how much we are a piece of nature. ”This awareness is necessary in order not to see nature as a resource and to act against its destruction.
Effective environmental protection through bans
(Photo: “wind blown # 1” from DaveBleasdale under CC-BY-2.0)
To effectively protect the environment, bans are also necessary – Richard David Precht has long held this opinion. He noticed how eagerly the population accepted the current bans and exit restrictions due to the Corona crisis.
“I don’t want fundamental rights to the same extent in the face of climate change [einschränken]. But there is already a ban on plastic bags as an infringement of my privacy that violates fundamental rights. ”Bans on environmentally harmful“ social luxury ”, such as cruises, are urgently needed. In order for people to accept such bans, they first have to understand the seriousness of the situation: “Too many people are too scared of climate change. And at Corona, a lot of people are scared. ”
What should not happen now: postpone changes
Precht wishes society to take the “learning task” of the corona crisis seriously – as soon as possible. At the same time, he warned Markus Lanz against wrong political strategies: “In the crisis, politicians say: ‘Now we have to master the crisis, now we have no time for such ideas.’ Once the crisis has been overcome, everything is first restored to what it was before. […] Then one will say that we have to consume a lot to make up for the same thing and then we will no longer talk about alternatives. ”
Utopia thinks: Regardless of political decisions, everyone can use the crisis and the large amount of time at home to make their own lifestyle more sustainable. Tips and inspiration:
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7 tips to help you consume less
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Climate protection: 15 tips against climate change
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12 practical minimalism tips that make your life easier
- 12 simple everyday things that everyone can do for the environment
The whole show by Markus Lanz is there in the ZDF media library.
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