'Profil', the Austrian weekly news magazine, founded in the early 1970s and moulded after the model of German Der Spiegel and U.S. Newsweek, has chosen to take a tougher stance in the discussion on the Austrian social security system.
This week's cover, strategically placed in the week of the Austrian National Holiday, Oct. 26, makes a very clear statement: "So ungerecht ist Österreich. ... Hausfrauen, Erben und Untätige werden belohnt." Yours truly has a built-in linguist who reacts very strongly to sentences like this one. There is an equation made; people who do not work because they inherited property (for which they were not taxed properly, thanks to the Austrian taxation system) are put on one level with humans who supposedly are neither working nor willing to work, namely housewives, and, hm, who is an "Untätiger"? Maybe a bum who dropped out of the system of employment and in consequence is no longer even willing to take up regular work. This is the equation; so far so bad.
But the verb 'belohnt' implies that action should be taken; if an unjust system is giving rewards to the 'undeserving' then the implication is that these people should rather be punished. The title also mentions "Leistungswillige"; obviously those should be rewarded. So, money should be taken from the poor, like from mothers who dropped out of employment for lack of child care and decent part time jobs, and be given to the needy WASPs? Well, some of the money for the needy slick urban professionals, like Profil journalists could be coming from wealthy heirs, that's understood. It might not be enough, so some definitely should be taken from workless, maybe homeless people?
Ich glaube, es erübrigt sich jeder weitere Kommentar. Ich habe der Profil-Redaktion in einem Mail, das nicht für die Öffentlichkeit bestimmt ist, meine Meinung zur Kenntnis gebracht; als nächstes werde ich mein Abonnement kündigen.
Was bleibt, sind Wut und Enttäuschung, dass ein Medium, das meinen geistigen und politischen Werdegang begleitet hat, nun nicht mehr Zeitgeschehen kommentiert oder Missstände aufdeckt, sondern neoliberale Propaganda betreibt, zur Spaltung der Bevölkerung und zum Hass auf andere, in zwei von drei Fällen auf solche die weniger haben, beiträgt.
Once again, the soundtrack is Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young: Don't let it bring you down, it's only castles burning. – Sadly so. But there still is 'Heimat' around; und der Geist weht wo er will.
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