We are currently receiving many inquiries about a quote that supposedly comes from Margarete Bause.

Fake quotes keep appearing on the internet and on social media platforms.

Something said is quickly taken out of context or something is invented, illustrated with an old photo and sent out onto the World Wide Web. So anyone who finds a quote on Facebook, for example, should check whether what is supposedly said is actually true.

This is what Margarete Bause writes on her Facebook page:

+++ ATTENTION FAKE +++
A fake quote from me has been circulating on the Internet since last week. Although the image used is over a year old and the quote is full of spelling errors, it has spread rapidly. The result: wild insults and threats against my employees and me.

The real tragedy, however, is that this is not an isolated incident. Dozens – if not hundreds – of false reports like this are spread every day. With minimal effort, right-wing blogs create a never-ending flood of propaganda on the Internet. Their goal: to stir up prejudices and spread hatred and agitation.

And the seeds are growing: in this case alone, more than 2,000 people were willing to share an amateurishly edited and obviously incorrect image and thereby fuel the hunt against Alliance 90/The Greens and me. On the one hand, this shows how brutalized the political discourse is, but on the other hand, it also shows how willingly people can now be exploited for hatred and agitation.

None of this is a new phenomenon. Fueled by right-wing populists and right-wing extremists, the political discourse has been shifting and radicalizing for years. Where there were loud cries and warnings not even five years ago, many now shrug their shoulders indifferently. Hatred, agitation and misanthropy have become so commonplace.

Like the frog in the pot, many people don't notice the constantly rising temperature even when it starts to bubble and simmer around us. Just like a month ago when the Federal Criminal Police Office published new figures on violence against refugees and people were pleased that arson attacks on asylum seekers' homes were decreasing - after all, there were only one every other day.

For my part, I don't want to continue to see how a loud minority drives politics and our country forward. For this to succeed, you don't need any heroic deeds, no great courage and not a lot of time. All you have to do is open your mouth. Because as Kofi Annan rightly said: “All evil needs to triumph is the silence of the majority.”

Fake quotes on the internet

Ms. Bause is not the first to be directly affected by fake quotes on the Internet.

Fake quotes – especially from politicians – have been circulating for years. It wasn't until July that a fake quote from Horst Seehofer or one remembers the long tradition of the Ostertag series.

According to his own statements, Uwe Ostertag is a (full-time) troll and knows how to take up current topics and knit quotes from them that would definitely pass as “real”.

He also had to answer for this in court .

Trolls like Ostertag have a relatively easy time spreading fake news on the Internet because they often enjoy the status of anonymity and do not even state that it is satire or made-up quotes.

So remember: think first, then click!Winking smiley And check alleged citations thoroughly.


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )