Politically Incorrect (blog)

This article is about the political blog. For the concept, see political correctness. For other uses, see Politically incorrect (disambiguation).
Politically Incorrect
Type of site
 Political blog
Available in German and English
Created by Stefan Herre
Slogan(s) Counter-jihad · Against the Mainstream · Pro-American · Pro-Israel · Against the Islamisation of Europe · For Fundamental and Human Rights
Website www.pi-news.net (German)
www.pi-news.org (English)
Alexa rank 765 (Germany)
16,489 (global)[1]
Commercial No
Launched November 11, 2004 (2004-11-11)
Current status Online
One of the largest German blogs[2]

Politically Incorrect (commonly abbreviated PI) is a mainly German-language Counter-jihad[3] political blog which focuses on topics related to immigration, multiculturalism and Islam in Germany and Western societies. A condensed version of the weblog is available in English.[4] The blog's self-declared goal is to bring news to a wider public attention which it perceives to be ignored or suppressed in the mainstream media due to a pervading "leftist political correctness."[5] It describes itself as pro-American, pro-Israel, in support of fundamental rights and human rights and opposed to the "Islamisation of Europe".

Politically Incorrect is one of the most popular German political blogs in terms of readership.[1][2] It has been widely criticized by the German media for creating fear of Islam,[2][6] while it enjoys some support in the conservative press opposed to Islamism.[7][8] The Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz) has consistently placed the blog within the Islam-critical spectrum, assessing its activities as protected by the freedom of speech.[9][10] The blog's local news bureau in Bavaria, though, is monitored by the Verfassungsschutz of this state.[11]

History

Politically Incorrect was founded in 2004, soon after the re-election of George W. Bush, by a German teacher named Stefan Herre "to do something against Anti-Americanism"; its popularity surged in the wake of the Muhammad cartoons controversy the following year.[2] It is one of the most successful German blogs,[2][6] receiving several tens of thousand visitors each day and ranking among the thousand biggest German websites in terms of traffic.[1] The site ranked ninth in March 2013 among German blogs in terms of public resonance in virtual social networks.[12] The blog is interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments within a certain time limit.

Reception

The blog has been widely criticized by German media for inciting Islamophobia and equating Islam with Islamic extremism.[2][6] Various German newspapers have in turn been accused of waging a "media campaign" against the website despite polls showing the concern of German people over the rise of Islamic fundamentalism.[8][13] The blog's internet shop sells items with the slogan "Islamophobic and proud of it".[2] Herre says his Islamophobia is without shame: "Phobia is fear, and I'm afraid of Islam."[2]

The SPD politician Sebastian Edathy, a spokesman for the party on interior affairs, views Politically Incorrect as a vehicle of right-wing populist agitation.[14] It is not observed, however, by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution which sees it as differing from right-wing extremism in its support of a democratic order and basic rights, as well as its pro-Israeli stance.[2][15] Even so, the Munich local group which cooperates with the German Freedom Party is monitored by the Bavarian branch of the office since April 2013.[11] The move has been criticized as an attempt at curtailing speech on Islam and possibly politically motivated on the part of the ruling CSU which competes with the Freedom Party for the conservative vote in the state.[16][7] Following the decision by the Bavarian office, Hans-Georg Maaßen, the president of the Federal Office, reiterated its position that the blog's activities are covered by the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of speech.[7]

In the context of several parliamentary inquiries (German Kleine Anfrage) initiated between 2011 and 2013 by the Left Party, the German government stated its view that "the overwhelming majority of PI entries made no use of classical rightwing extremist argumentation patterns, but rather was to be situated within the Islam-critical spectrum" or it gave similar answers to the same effect.[10] The launching of the series of audits by the Left Party which itself is under surveillance of the Verfassungsschutz has been interpreted by Frontpage Magazine as a means to intimidate Islam's critiques by the far left.[10]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Pi-news.net Site info". Alexa Internet. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Reinle, Dominik (17 December 2007). "Angst vor dem Islam – und stolz darauf". WDR (in German). Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  3. ↑ Lee, Benjamin (4 September 2015). "A Day in the "Swamp": Understanding Discourse in the Online Counter-Jihad Nebula". Democracy and Security. 11 (3): 248–274. doi:10.1080/17419166.2015.1067612.
  4. ↑ "PI English". Politically Incorrect. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  5. ↑ "About us". Politically Incorrect. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  6. 1 2 3 Stefan Niggemeier (25 October 2007). "Freier Hass für freie Bürger". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  7. 1 2 3 Harrod, Andrew (23 May 2013). "German Government Ramps Up Monitoring of Conservatives". Frontpage Magazine. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  8. 1 2 Kern, Soeren (3 October 2011). "German Multiculturalists Declare War on Critics of Islam". Gatestone Institute. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  9. ↑ Deutscher Bundestag, 17. Wahlperiode (5 September 2011): Drucksache 17/6910: Antwort der Bundesregierung auf die Kleine Anfrage der Abgeordneten Ulla Jelpke, Jens Petermann, Halina Wawzyniak und der Fraktion Die Linke, p. 7, retrieved 21 June 2013
  10. 1 2 3 Harrod, Andrew (18 June 2013). "German Left Ramps Up Attacks on Islam Critics". Frontpage Magazine. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  11. 1 2 "Verfassungsschutz beobachtet Die Freiheit und "PI"". Hamburger Abendblatt. 12 April 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  12. ↑ "Deutsche Blogcharts für den März 2013". Deutsche Blogcharts. 4 April 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  13. ↑ Kern, Soeren (12 January 2012). "Germany Attempts to Silence Criticism of Islam". Gatestone Institute. Retrieved 21 June 2013.
  14. ↑ Edathy, Sebastian; Sommer, Bernd (2009): "Die zwei Gesichter des Rechtsextremismus in Deutschland. Themen, Machtpotentiale und Mobilisierungsressourcen der extremen Rechten", in: Braun, Stephan; Geisler, Alexander; Gerster, Martin (eds.): Strategien der extremen Rechten. Hintergründe, Analysen, Antworten, VS Verlag, ISBN 3-531-15911-9, pp. 53–54
  15. ↑ Rath, Christian (26 July 2011). ""Nicht einheitlich verfassungswidrig"". TAZ. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  16. ↑ Harrod, Andrew E. (4 May 2013). "Silencing Speech on Islam". American Thinker. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
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