Christian Drosten about Friedrich Schiller

Many people regard Christian Drosten, a virologist at Berlin's famous Charité, where Robert Koch discovered the tuberculosis bacterium in 1882, as Germany's Anthony Fauci. Drosten is probably the most well-known German scientist due to his coronavirus research.

He had the PCR test for the coronavirus ready by the beginning of March and completed it recently by a parameter on viral load. This parameter will allow medical people to further judge the risk that a positively tested person presents to further spread the infection.

In March, Christian became known and famous to the greater public for his podcasts. He explained the pandemic to laypeople in the most descriptive and scientifically accurate way.

Every year, on Friedrich Schiller's birthday - the poet and studied physician was born in Marbach on November 10, 1759 - prominent public figures give a Schiller speech at the German Literature Archive ibid.

Speakers so far included artists, authors, economists, and politicians. This year, Professor Drosten held the discourse, and the event occurred virtually due to the corona pandemic. Here is a video recording of Christian Drosten's speech. What follows is a translation of his most remarkable statements:

"Of all people, you invited me - a virologist - to give the traditional speech on Friedrich Schiller's birthday. In doing so, you have made an extremely unusual choice - undoubtedly one that demonstrates openness and genuine courage to take risks."

"I can also see the curiosity behind this invitation. Curiosity to leave familiar territory. And curiosity about something new, unknown, and perhaps even uncomfortable. I find this appealing, also because curiosity is precisely what has always driven other researchers and me anyway."

"Schiller and I have one thing in common: we studied medicine. We also left practicing medicine behind - albeit with different motivations and goals. He was drawn to literature, I to medical research."

"My interest as a researcher is directed towards gaining useful scientific knowledge. I want to conclude based on experiments, observations, and studies that everyone can verify. I do not pursue any political intentions in my work. It is up to the authorities to cast scientific recommendations into executive orders or laws."

"Neither do I want to explain Friedrich Schiller to you that legions of literati and historians have done since long thoroughly and convincingly, nor do I want to win over him for myself or put him in front of my cart. But I do want to deal with him."

Schiller's Freedom

"In the core question of what Schiller means to me personally and to what extent his life and work are relevant to us today, we will not be able to ignore the leitmotif of his work: freedom. But we will also have to talk about responsibility because both elements are complementary for me."

Three Dimensions of Freedom

Continuing, Drosten distinguished three dimensions of freedom. First, there is the freedom of science itself. Nobody gives Drosten a direction or demands that he should not pursue specific questions or topics, whereas Schiller had to fight hard for the freedom of his word. He was threatened with a writing ban and forced to flee.

For Drosten, the second essential element of freedom concerns how he gains scientific knowledge. A researcher is exclusively committed to the facts - the scientific experiment, observations, and conclusions. The intellect, collegial exchange, and constant struggle for resilient progress in knowledge count. At the same time, a researcher must always face the challenging scientific debate about his work. This way of working makes him independent of third parties' possible expectations and interests. This process occurs worldwide according to established rules and the same high standards. 

For the philosopher of Enlightenment, Schiller, freedom also meant using one's intellect. He was certainly not someone who had simply passed on the ideas of others. The freedom of thought was a pleasurable challenge and obligation for Schiller. In return, he was personally prepared to accept hardships, flee, and start all over again, as the latter scientists are often obliged to do.
                                                                            
Finally and thirdly, Drosten enjoys the freedom to share his research results with others without hindrance. We shall progress in research only when findings are shared, discussed, reviewed, disproved, or further developed. For society to benefit, researchers must communicate their results understandably and transparently.

Information and Guidance

"In the pandemic, I, like many other scientists, see it as my duty to provide information and guidance. The better we all understand the virus and the pandemic, the sooner we will make the right decisions for our behavior. How do we stop the rapid spread of the virus? How do we manage not to overload our healthcare system? How can we avoid infections and severe disease progression up to death?"

"The pandemic is not an inevitable fate. We determine through our behavior whether the situation worsens or improves. Either way, each of us makes his or her contribution. That's why I believe that science-based information of the public is as important a strategy in the fight against the virus. as the development of a drug or vaccine."

Freedom and Society

"This brings us to the second central point, 'What do we do with all the freedom that we value so highly? What do we derive from it for our dealings with other people and society as a whole?'"

"In answering these questions, Schiller seems to me to be particularly topical. For Schiller, personal freedom cannot succeed in isolation from society. For freedom to be created and maintained for all, people must stand up for each other and take responsibility. The better this works, the less need for intervention from above."

"The pandemic has shown how relevant this principle still is. The more I  behave responsibly as an individual of my own free will, the less reason I give the authorities to intervene in social life. But the more thoughtless and selfishly I act, the more the authorities must restrict my freedom to effectively protect the community, i.e., the well-being of other people."

A Pandemic Imperative

"But what does responsible action mean? According to Schiller, is it enough to make people aware of their free decision to do the right thing only out of inclination and without external pressure? Will they participate voluntarily?"

"Or do we, according to Immanuel Kant, need a rather strict reference to duty and responsibility? A kind of pandemic imperative: 'Always act in a pandemic as if you had tested positive and your counterpart belonged to a risk group'"

"My role and my contribution as a scientist consists of explaining the methods of my field of expertise, showing the limits of scientific studies, and classifying what fact is and what is fiction. And, of course, I feel obliged to take corrective action and call a spade a spade. In doing so, I must translate the language of science into vivid but still coherent images and analogies that are catchy for everyone."

Scientists and Public Opinion

"If you, as a scientist, get involved, you are immediately in the middle of the broad public opinion battle of the coronavirus pandemic. Scientific results are not objectively and coolly dissected like in the circle of experts. They are discussed in terms of their political, social, and personal impact and evaluated with a high degree of emotion. This occurs around the clock at high temperatures in the spin cycle of social media."

"As a scientist, I have the job of communicating unpleasant truths regarding the coronavirus. The virus is there. It does not negotiate and does not compromise. It is the task of us virologists to make this truth, supported by scientific knowledge, heard again and again in public. The scientist is responsible for drawing a realistic picture rather than the desired one."

"How can we deal with this uncompromising opponent? We must take responsibility for ourselves and others in the spirit of Schiller. In practical terms, we observe distance rules and limit our mobility and contacts as far as possible."

"Currently, the restrictive measures enacted by policymakers are still too often judged based on the status quo. The virus's exponential growth potential is only considered by parts of society. Accordingly, the measures are often branded as excessive or premature; the occurrence of infection appears less threatening. Accordingly, many people are skeptical about further restrictive measures."

The Gain of Scientific Knowledge

"Another challenge arises from the limited public understanding of the logic behind gaining scientific knowledge. Original theories and assumptions can prove to be wrong. For people not used to this, it is sometimes difficult to understand, especially if - as is now the case with the pandemic - they hope to obtain valid information on which to base their actions."

"For political decision-makers, our scientific activities are a real imposition. Political action follows a fundamentally different logic. It aims to create framework conditions that are sustainable in the long term. The fact that political decision-makers had to constantly improve or correct the measures based on new scientific findings - just think of mouth-and-nose protection - was not always well received. But such course corrections were foreseeable and obvious. If there is something new, you have to adapt your assessment accordingly. This is the way science works."

Scientists, Politics, and Society

"We as responsible scientists must actively explain this development process to politics and society if we want them to trust and support us. This is what drives me in my communication efforts. I want people to be informed. Recourse to this information puts them in a position to participate actively in discussing what is necessary and required in each case. Thus they help to shape the fight against the pandemic. The opportunity to participate will hopefully ensure broad social acceptance."

"The same applies to all major global challenges of our time: If we want to preserve our freedom and well-being, we must take the trouble to take the entire society with us. We must also prepare complex issues for the general public and provide appropriate information."

Take a Stand with Facts

"At the same time, we must not stand by and watch when facts are ignored, twisted, or shortened. If science is politicized, instrumentalized, or its standards violated, we must take a stand with verifiable facts."

"And this by no means only applies to infection research in a pandemic. It applies to all fields of science that address urgent problems with decision-making pressure and far-reaching consequences, such as climate research, which deals with another treacherous development on a global scale."

"Therefore, for free science, reliable communication is a social obligation. It is the duty that arises from freedom, which Friedrich Schiller reminds us of today on his birthday."

"Let me conclude my speech by returning to Friedrich Schiller because he has another important piece of advice for us scientists and our work. It is about how we raise our voice and in what attitude we make our contribution."

"Each of us is called upon to act out of duty and responsibility. The inclination and the desire belong inseparably to it. And even if Kant admonishes us that man should not obey his reason out of joy alone: He may well do so. Therefore, the joy of knowledge may also drive our responsible actions in the present situation. From this, I am sure Friedrich Schiller would also wear a mask."

"I will leave it at that."

"Preserve the freedom and joy of thinking. Show responsibility. And above all: Stay healthy."

Trouble started when Bettina Schulte, cultural editor of Freiburg's Badische Zeitung, wrote a review titled:

 Why has Drosten not understood anything about Schiller?

"In what times are we living when virologists are allowed to talk about the poet Friedrich Schiller? Sure: The son of an officer from Marbach studied medicine and worked as a military doctor for two years before he fled to Thuringia to escape from his sovereign, Duke Karl Eugen, and exchanged the scalpel for the pen forever."

"Christian Drosten did not address this issue in his twenty-minute Schiller speech. Instead, he, who has become 'virtually' famous overnight with his Corona podcast, picked the topics' freedom' and 'responsibility.'

"Drosten is less interested in Schiller's intellectual freedom than in his own concept, i.e., freedom of research. The virologist repeats his credo in a downright prayerful manner. As a researcher, he is obliged only to his own interest in knowledge and nobody else. That is beautiful and also very reassuring to hear. Drosten, who has repeatedly complained about being misunderstood, also wants nothing to do with politics. The researcher researches, the politician acts."

"It is as simple as that. As simple as that?"

"The virologist is convinced that Schiller would have worn a mask. What else? Don Carlos can mumble the famous sentence "Sire, geben Sie Gedankenfreiiiuheit!" well with mouth-nose protection. Christian Drosten didn't understand a thing about Friedrich Schiller - and the German Literature Archive threw itself at the bosom of the zeitgeist with this speaker."
*Sorry, Frau Schulte: In Goethe's drama Don Carlos, it was not the eponymous hero but Marquis Posa who demanded King Phillip II of Spain, "Sire, give freedom of thought!"

"And then Drosten moves smoothly from the 'freedom of thought' to the (ethical) 'duty to give orientation' and to the (political-moral) appeal to 'stand up for one another. 'Keyword: responsibility. A stricter interpretation finally leads to the 'pandemic imperative': 'Act as if you were Covid-19 positive.' Does Mr. Drosten mean to say that we should all put ourselves in permanent voluntary quarantine?"

Bravo Bettina. Did you aim to be funny? There were several letters to the editor. Here is the one I wrote:

When I read the title of Bettina's review, I had expected a lot and was disappointed by its superficiality and attempted satire.

Did the author read Christian Drosten's lecture at all, and if so, did she understand it? Even Goethe had his difficulties with the concept of freedom: "Freiheit ein schönes Wort; wer's recht verstände.”* That is why I was impressed by the surprising statements of a medical doctor about Schiller, both in content and form.

*On Egmont's question, "Who guarantees freedom to the Dutch?" Duke Alba, Spanish Governor of the occupied Netherlands, answered, "Freedom is a beautiful word. Who understands it correctly?" 

Our federal president awarded Christian Drosten the Federal Cross of Merit, although not for his speech.

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Hip Surgery

Talking about diseases is annoying and a killer of any good conversation. So, you are welcome to ignore this blog about my hip surgery at Loretto Hospital in Freiburg last Monday afternoon.

I didn't want to have done anything anymore to my body at my age, but the operation became unavoidable. I have been struggling with my joint since 2007.

On October 23, a Friday afternoon – bad things always happen on the weekend - the pain in my right leg suddenly became unbearable on my way home, so I could barely make it to my apartment. Over the following long weekend, moving around in my apartment, supported by a walking stick, I completed my medical record, prepared my patient file, informed my orthopedist, and contacted my health insurance.

The following Monday, at 8 a.m., I took a taxi to the nearby Loretto hospital. Still, when I announced my desire to be taken in charge, the lady at the reception of the orthopedics department told me," If you have pain, you must go to the outpatient clinic."

When I insisted, a doctor came from behind, "This week, there are school holidays in Baden-Württemberg. I am alone in the department. Let the receptionist give you an appointment." She offered me to come to a first examination on October 28, at 2 p.m. This was early.

The x-ray showed the devastating condition of my right hip that I discussed with Dr. Rütschi, the specialist who is not only well known in Freiburg as the master of artificial hips. People come to the Lorettokrankenhaus from all over Germany to get defective joints replaced.

Rütschi, the *real stable genius, looked at his schedule hanging from the wall, found a slot that had become free due to the Corona pandemic, and said, "I'll fit you in." He then determined the date of my surgery for Monday, November 16. This was late, but the earliest date that I could get.

On the one hand, many people afraid of going to a hospital in times of Corona have their surgery canceled or postponed, thus opening slots for other suffering people like me. On the other hand, during the following two weeks, Red Baron lived in a mounting feeling of angst that the replacement of his right hip might be postponed due to hospitalizations of Corona patients. Their number was and still is steadily increasing as new cases surge in Germany.

Eventually, my tension dropped when I underwent my entrance examination at the Lorettokrankenhaus on November 12. They wouldn't let me suffer four long hours for nothing? And so it was.

I entered the hospital on November 15, a lazy Sunday afternoon, but suddenly on Monday morning, Dr. Rütschi entered my room with the shocking message, "We have to postpone your operation. Your blood value is not good enough yet. Maybe in the afternoon. "At home, I had brought down my haemodilution-value to 1.4 on Saturday morning, assuming that the INR would have decreased to 1.0 valid for an average person by Monday morning. The medical people administered vitamin K to accelerate the degradation of the blood thinner.

Eventually, at 1 p.m. - my hair covered by a thin net - the anesthetists rolled me into the vestibule of the operating room … around 4 p.m. I awoke in the recovery room. 

My new hip

I could move my torso. Around me, in the dim light, I distinguished four other people on stretchers and waved to them. I could not sense my lower body, though, and felt bent legs with my soles firmly posed on the stretcher. In reality, my legs were fully stretched as I saw for myself.

Me and my walking buck

After the first night with my new hip, I had a good feeling, for the pain was quite bearable. Five days after surgery, I only notice postoperative pain in my leg when I walk, leaning heavily on a Gehbock (walking buck). This support is safer than a walker with wheels. The annoying part is that one has to carry the buck before the body, displacing it when advancing.

The coming Monday, I shall be transferred to a REHA, a rehabilitation clinic in a Freiburg suburb, for three weeks. For re-learning walking, the method of choice is crutches but suffering from balance problems, Red Baron has ordered a Hochrollator, i. e., a high walker with arm supports. Placing the forearms into them while walking will relieve weight from the body on my legs.

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Borderlines

During the recent election campaign, Red Baron learned about PoC and the Thin Blue Line flag. Until recently, I only knew about a red line that should not be transgressed. 

Kellyanne Conway,
"The Thin Blue Line flag is flying HIGH at President Trump's rally in Wisconsin! "

Looking for an explanation of the blue color, I found that the thin blue line stands for the borderline between chaos and order, reflecting the blue uniforms of law enforcement.

In" Letters from an American," Heather Cox Richardson reported," On October 24 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, Trump held a rally, not in front of an American flag, but in front of the Thin Blue Line flag, a black and white American flag, with a blue stripe running across its middle. The creator of the new flag, Andrew Jacob, insists, "the flag has no association with racism, hatred, bigotry…. It's a flag to show support for law enforcement—no politics involved."

"But white supremacists waved the flag at the 2017 'Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, and it has come to symbolize opposition to the Black Lives Matter movement. Its adherents talk about 'socialism,' 'law & order,' and 'illegals.' According to Jacob, 'The black above represents citizens… and the black below represents criminals.'"

"Flags matter. They are the tangible symbol of a people united for a cause." 

Here are two other examples of flags that matter:

Why is he carrying an assault rifle? Isn't a six-shooter sufficient for self-defense?

And God said to Noah (Genesis 9:14-16), "Whenever I bring a cloud over the earth, then the rainbow will appear in the cloud. And I will certainly remember the covenant I made between me and you [Noah] and every living creature of every kind, and never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the rainbow will occur in the cloud, and I will certainly see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of every kind on the earth."

Due to our past, we Germans have an ambivalent relationship with flags. Initially, the order of the colors on the bunting already posed a problem, then the use of flags in wars became predominant, and eventually, a break with tradition was unsuccessful.

During a sleepless night in 1900, the Bohemian-Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a masterpiece about a flag.

 The Lay of the Love and Death of Cornet Christoph Rilke von Langnau 

In the battles fighting the Turks on the Balkan, the eighteen-year-old Cornet should be carrying the flag in front of his comrades. But one day, he was late for the roll call.

And with the sly breath, stammer horns in the yard:

Gather, gather!
And trembling drums.
But the flag is not there.

But the flag is not there. 
Calls: Cornet!
Raging horses, prayers, shouting,
Curses: Cornet!
Iron to iron, command, and signal;
Silence: Cornet!
And once more: Cornet!

And out with the roaring cavalry.
But the flag is not there ... 

Eventually, Christopher Rilke von Langnau finds a horse but not his helmet ...

... and it is like a cry: he rides over everything and pasts everything, even his comrades. And also, the flag revives, never was it so royal; now they all see it, far ahead, and recognize the bright man without a helmet and recognize the flag ...

And then the flag starts to shine, stands out, becomes prominent and red... their flag burns in the middle of the enemy while they chase after it.

Christopher Rilke von Langnau is deep in the enemy, all alone. Horror has made a circular space around him, and he is holding, in the middle of it, below his flag that is slowly blazing.

Slowly, almost thoughtfully, he looks around him. There are a lot of strange, colorful things in front of him. Gardens - he thinks and smiles. But he feels that eyes hold him, and he recognizes men and knows that they are the pagan dogs - and throws his horse right into them.

But, as the men behind him are closing up, there are gardens again, and the sixteen round sabers that leap at him, beam after beam, are a fest, a laughing water art …

So misled and so sad. Just saber fodder.

Red Baron learned that PoC stands for "Person of Color"; sometimes BPoC (Blacks and People of Color) is used, more rarely BIPoC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color), emphasizing blacks and indigenous people. We don't know these abbreviations here in Germany, although, swashing over from the States, racist topics are currently discussed.

Still, one has to distinguish between two debates in Germany. The dispute over whether Berlin's Mohrenstrasse should be renamed is a debate about" racism.". According to its proponents, Mohr is a deeply colonialist and racist term, while the opponents of renaming it regard it as nonsensical and oblivious to history. Read more background information in my previous blog.

The other debate in Germany is devoted to "race," which is to be removed from legal texts because its concept is contaminated by National Socialism and is unscientific.

In the debate on the elimination of the term "race" from Article 3 of Germany's Basic Law, the Hamburger, Senat, i. a., the government of the state of Hamburg, proposes a solution: "Race" is to be replaced by the word "racist." The Senat wants to introduce this proposal to the Bundesrat, Germany's upper house (corresponding to the US Senate). Article 3 would then read, "No one may be discriminated against or favored because of their gender, ancestry, language, home, origin, faith, religious or political beliefs or racial bias."

Isn't "No one may be discriminated against or favored because of their race, gender, etc." less verschwurbelt (convoluted) than the new text?

These developments don't surprise the emeritus linguist Rudi Keller. He considers it hopeless to linguistically solve the deeply rooted problem of racism: "racism does not disappear by introducing new words. After all, this does not invent a new category but merely a new term for one and the same attitude. Anti-Semitism can't be eradicated by 'fiddling with language.'"

Racism will always exist, but there is an important aspect when racism becomes salonfähig*, i.e., you can openly talk about and live your racism, being made socially acceptable.
*as in Nazi Germany

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Remember Remember the 9th of November

Of all those blogs out, there is only one I follow. The blogger is a professor emeritus from Chicago, Jerry Coyne. He has thousands of followers, while my blog only has 19. Jerry, the cat and duck lover, is highly prolific, for he sometimes writes up to five blogs a day. 

The daily top runner is named "Hilly Dialogue," presenting a photo of a cat called Hilly somewhere in Poland who always has something to say or kvetch about. Jerry also gives a chronological list of events for the specific day in his daily blog. Read what he has noted down for November 9. 

Click the picture to start the video.

Red Baron wrote a synopsis of the November history and elaborated on one of the darkest moments in German history

November 9 truly is a historic date for Germany.

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Blue Cheeseheads

Early in Germany at 6 a.m.

The German people shared the excitement of watching the presidential election outcome and were deprived of their nights of sleep. The "Is he gone?" felt like the Groundhog Day movie in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania (sic!).

Now on Saturday, November 7, at 5:25 p. m. CET CNN made the call with Joe Biden leading in four battle states and counting. 

This means that POTUS should start packing, although there is some fear that the National Guard must be called in to escort him out of the White House. Let that nightmare be fake. A Biden spokesman confirmed that if Biden wins and Trump refuses to concede, "The United States government is perfectly capable of escorting trespassers out of the White House."

 

For me, the real winners of the election campaign are the people of Dane County, a square dark blue island in a reddish sea. The result for the State of Wisconsin was close, but the votes of Madison and its surroundings flipped it. This is why Stephen Colbert "nobled" the people of Wisconsin as blue Cheeseheads.

When one of my correspondents in Madison, former AYF resident director professor James Steakley sent me the above graphic on Thursday morning, I immediately posted it on the Freiburg-Madison-Gesellschaft Facebook site. It went viral with more than 300 visits by Friday morning. 

And even better, the local newspaper Badische Zeitung (BZ) took up the post the same morning:

On Saturday, Florian Kech titled his weekly satirical column in the BZ, "Biden ist uns was schuldig (Biden Owes Us Something)." 

"As we know by now: last not least Joe Biden won the important swing-state Wisconsin due to the votes (75%) in our partner city Madison. Unbiased election observers from Martin Horn's Oval Office at Freiburg's town hall claim that this result is clearly linked to our city's positive influence. Hence, it would be neither surprising nor too much to ask that in one of his first official acts, our man in the White House moves the US Embassy from Berlin's Brandenburg Gate to Freiburg's St. Martin's Gate." 

 While in the States, the words healing and bridging trenches dominate the news here in Germany, commentators keep harping on the theme of how the Good-Bye president has damaged democracy in the US. 

The people of Wisconsin have shown that the rule by and of the people still works in their State. Just look at the voter turnout. Judging from the depth of the color. Who is the first MN or WI?

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