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German politicians don't talk about the virus like other nations. Here's what it means
Jun 2, 2020
Throughout the pandemic, governments across the world have been using military comparisons and metaphors to describe their containment of the coronavirus outbreak. Germany, unlike most other countries, has avoided using any such language. Dagmar Paulus, from University College London, explores why this might be and what impact it's having on Germany's coronavirus outbreak.
Many political leaders around the world have reached for the imagery of conflict to describe the coronavirus pandemic. In France, President Emmanuel Macron said his nation was at war with an invisible enemy. Over in the US, President Donald Trump positively revels in the idea of being a “wartime president”. In the UK, Prime Minister Johnson has spoken of the virus as an “enemy” and even said that “we must act like any wartime government” to protect the economy.
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But in Germany this kind of language is not circulating. The virus is not an “enemy”, and the process of containing it is not a war. Perhaps there’s a tendency among German politicians to avoid war metaphors for historical reasons. There may be a feeling that it does not go down well nationally and internationally if German political leaders speak about war, even metaphorically.
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