Klöckner: "In a democracy, people are allowed to talk nonsense, too"
Bundestag President Klöckner warns against hastily branding dissenting opinions as extremist. Those who forgo arguments become "intellectually lazy," she says.
Archive image · Photo: Tobias Koch, Deutscher Bundestag / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Bundestag President Julia Klöckner (CDU) has called for more tolerance of other opinions. "We have to put up with it when someone thinks differently," the 53-year-old told the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, dpa reported. "We also shouldn't immediately label everything as extremist or a threat to democracy."
Political debates quickly turn into professions of belief, Klöckner criticized; moral stance then counts for more than argument, which leads to irreconcilable positions. "But anyone who forgoes engaging with arguments becomes intellectually lazy." Only by dealing with details can people develop their own views further, she said. Democracy also means reaching out to one another.
"Our democracy does not prescribe a single opinion," Klöckner said. Debates can "certainly be an imposition": "In a democracy, people are allowed to talk nonsense, too."