No, he does not allow himself to be made "kirre" by interviews and public appeals, said the Chancellor in his individual session with Maybrit Illner. The stoic program can hardly be formulated more concisely than this: do not let oneself be made kirre, do not let oneself be aroused and agitated, no matter what comes. If you want to understand why Olaf Scholz drips everything in the communicative situation and thus also with Illner, you have to let the Kirre vocabulary linger for a moment. The question is: How does the chancellor experience himself when communicating? He gave insights into this at Illner under the heading "War, crises, coalition – how well does the chancellor lead?"
Christian Geyer-Hindemith
Editor in the arts section.
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Scholz understands public communication as a therapeutic process. He experiences objections, criticism or even inquiries as a threat to psychological hygiene. As a result, communication is a defensive concept for him. Attempts to open new barrels must be averted. Contexts that only lead to complications must be averted. The need for maximum submissions must be averted. Rather, in a legal manner, it is about a communicative minimalism that moves only on secure terrain, ignores everything else and offers the opponent (i.e. potentially all listeners and viewers, but certainly the moderator) no flanks through chatter. On distraction, Scholz says: "So little is not talked at all. This is my third time on your show. That's much more than you've seen from previous chancellors."
Just don't let it get out of the concept
But there is little that can be said in many words. Buttoned-up does not violate the rules of etiquette of a talk show, and no one can be obliged to give precise answers there. Scholz exploits this circumstance to keep irritations at bay. Press conferences – again and again the chancellor uses them as irritating vocabulary in Illner's case – prevent exactly this: to stay with oneself. Press conferences, as Scholz is understood, are like interviews and public appeals, but also like discussion rounds, potential ways to become kirre.
In such infrastructures, therefore, it is better to remove the conjured zeitgeist values of the authentic and spontaneous. Any communicative search movement must also be banned. It is crucial to bring your seven senses together so as not to let yourself be thrown out of the concept. In case of doubt, answer just off the point if the matter contains potential for disruption – this moment of internally guided communication is part of the structural change that the public has to undergo at Scholz. In this respect, the saying of Scholzomat refers to a psychic apparatus that runs cleanly in the internal relationship.
Better unwind mantras than appear kirre
Outwardly, this means: just don't let yourself be provoked. And just don't jump over held sticks. Conceptual stupidity can be expedient in this respect. Question: Why did President Zelenskyj only recently publicly regret that he always had to put pressure on Scholz? Incidentally, Scholz replies, "our talks are always very friendly, so I can't really report what the pressure is supposed to be." Better to unwind one mantra after another ("my actions are well coordinated, well weighed") than to appear kirre.