Incompetent rescue workers? The staged dysfunctional disaster protection

System failure of the rescue workers on site? Do helpers have to organize themselves privately and travel from far away to provide help in the disaster area on their own? It is precisely this image of disaster relief that is often conveyed on social media. But what's behind it? We recognize a perfidious communication strategy!

We are currently noticing that in many corners of social media the work of the police, rescue workers and the THW is deliberately being talked down and downplayed. On the one hand, the KatS forces (disaster protection forces) are accused of failure, on the other hand, it is sometimes claimed that they are not there at all or have even already been withdrawn.

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This became clear yesterday, Tuesday, when the Koblenz police published a posting on Facebook. This posting was about a fake emergency vehicle modeled after the police. According to the police posting, this emergency vehicle is said to have spread the message that the emergency services on site are already being withdrawn ( we have reported ).

This vehicle that the police are responding to is not an unknown vehicle. It is a car that the owners call the “peace vehicle”. This vehicle has been noticed several times in the past and has repeatedly appeared in connection with lateral thinkers and the corresponding demos. This vehicle was also traveling in the disaster area.

We recognize that these people drive around the areas on their own and also make announcements there. According to a tweet from the Koblenz police, the false report was spread over the loudspeakers that the police and rescue workers were reducing the number of emergency services.

But who is behind it? According to Lars Wienand on T-online, these are self-proclaimed “peace officers”. They were on site in a self-imposed operation. They also spread slogans and claimed, among other things, that the flood disaster could have been triggered by weather manipulation. T-Online also says that they have set up their own kind of command center in a school. We also learn from the text that these people, who are a mixture of lateral thinkers, an anti-Semite and a former colonel in the Bundeswehr, have set up their own staff group and are looking for volunteers. The organizing people are by no means unknown; they have already appeared at Querdenker demonstrations. According to T-Online, the entire campaign is being financed by “advance funds” from Bodo Schiffmann.

According to the order for operations, “uniform/field dress” must be worn where “available and permitted.” Cash can be obtained from Colonel Eder, “kindly provided in advance by Bodo Schiffmann”. This brings a key figure from the “lateral thinker” scene into play.

Unsuccessful disaster protection vs. successful para-disaster protection: The communication strategy

These and similar phenomena are now confronted with a completely different narrative. This other narrative reports that the state disaster control system is allegedly failing. The police, fire brigade and THW would be virtually non-existent or would do a poorly done and disorganized job. Especially on social media, it is spread that the main work is done by “hands-on people”.

The Osnabrück fire department also commented on this on Facebook. The fire department was irritated by the comments about civil protection and why they were accused of failing. The Osnabrück fire department explained in its posting:

We are on the way back and are a little irritated by the numerous comments that accuse the disaster control (that includes us) of general failure.
The essence of a disaster is that
a) really bad things happen
b) the helpers on site are far from enough
c) someone has to find out where help is missing and then
d) this help has to be specifically requested and brought over long distances .
So it's quite easy to go somewhere at the beginning of a disaster and find bad things and too few helpers.
Anyone who would like to actively improve disaster protection has less obvious but significantly more effective options when it comes to participating in a disaster protection organization.

Here it becomes clear that false reports are used to create an uncertainty scenario in which the KatS forces are portrayed as losers. We know the phenomenon from the past: false reports or manipulative representations and individual phenomena are strategically placed on social media. These are often contributions that deliberately and unfairly undermine trust in the media, institutions, science and politics.

People should no longer believe these institutions and their representatives or at least view their statements with skepticism. False reports not only include false content and untruths. They systematically damage trust in the press, politics, the state and science. And in this case in KatS forces. Such false reports give rise to discourses that no longer have any connection to the reality of the democratic order and its institutions. So that's one part of the strategy: a consciously drawn picture of a dysfunctional system.

And now let's look at the other side. In contrast to the image of dysfunctionality, an image of a self-organized savior emerges (mainly on social media). The image of the “hands-on” who drive to the disaster areas without bureaucracy and without any fear and simply “get involved” there.

Some of the helpers are constantly filming in the disaster area and sending the videos live on Facebook. In doing so, they also often serve the narrative of the inactive state, even if they constantly interact with professional KatS forces. However, the individual tractor driver cannot assess the overall situation; he does not know whether, in parallel with his “the state is not doing anything here,” which is clicked millions of times, not all of his forces are being used to rescue people 10 kilometers away. He just sees that “there’s no one here right now” – and spreads this message. This also shows another parallel to the difference between voluntary and professional work: journalists classify, ask questions, get information, but also confront official bodies with criticism - and ideally try to provide the best possible approximation of reality with a comprehensive presentation .

This creates images and narratives that are extremely relatable to popular anger, angry citizens, lateral thinkers and right-wing extremists: For example, motifs of saving farmers who take care of old people are celebrated. Why farmers of all people? Farmers are certainly also providing important help on site with their machines. This is completely out of the question and is in no way part of a criticism. This is simply about the communication strategy, which consciously takes up and glorifies the image of the helping farmers. This means social media communication in which farmers as a population group in particular are portrayed as the real heroes of the flood disaster. The romanticized image of the farmer is deliberately used here as a contrast to an urban, political elite that is supposedly alienated from the people. An urban elite who supposedly do nothing with their structures and KatS forces.

The fact that it is precisely parts of these supposedly out-of-touch elites who have been warning about the devastating consequences of climate change for years is ignored, as is professional and private help when it comes from the “wrong people”. For example, immediately after the disaster, the Green mayor of neighboring Bonn called on the residents of her city to help with offers of accommodation and donations in kind and money. The response was overwhelming, but it doesn't fit the blood-and-soil image of some who would rather turn their willingness to help into a divisive soup. The message: Only the “true people”, especially the “rural people” help themselves, everyone else fails. The youth organization of the NPD (Young Nationalists) also plays with this narrative. They propagate “We help where the state fails” and organize donations in the “Youth lend a hand” project.

This is a very important meaningful narrative at this point. The romanticized image of the farmer also acts as a point of contrast to an urban, political elite that has alienated itself from the people. An urban elite that is portrayed as a failure with its structures and KatS forces.

Basically, any kind of help is of course important. This should not be denied to anyone. The problem at this point, however, is that the aid is coupled with a political and sometimes right-wing extremist message. Ultimately, it's a kind of image campaign that's going on there. “We help where the state fails.” That is of course a message that is clearly brought to the fore during this fundraising campaign. This leaves out the fact that there are donations. It is omitted that there is an organized disaster response on site and that this disaster response operates around the clock. All of that is hidden here.

The problem: uncoordinated helpers, political campaigns

So we see that this is an attempt to paint a picture of system failure at different levels. I can't say how coordinated this is. However, this communication on social media ensures that self-organized helpers rush into the disaster area and can even have a counterproductive effect there. These individuals or groups may not be able to assess existing risks.

You may then put yourself in additional danger and then tie up assistants who already have enough to do. At the same time, uncontrolled arrivals can clog important traffic arteries and emergency routes. We can clearly see that a simple (and well-intentioned) “tackling” will ultimately lead to problems if it is not coordinated with the KatS forces on site. Even worse if they act as para-disaster protection and run completely alongside the official forces. Simply going there and starting is not a solution, but rather counterproductive in terms of the KatS forces. If outsiders want to help, there is no way around them being integrated into the organized structures in some way. This does not mean that they have to “submit” to the formal rescue forces, but rather that they have themselves recorded and assigned to individual operational locations (e.g. areas that have already been sighted and secured).

But that's not what much of social media communication is about. Some of the local groups apparently have no interest in being integrated into the existing local disaster protection forces. The Koblenz police then knew about a very special group. Yesterday, Tuesday (July 21, 2021), the police wrote on social media :

We know that right-wing extremists are currently posing as “local caretakers”. We are keeping a close eye on the situation and have numerous police officers on site. However, police measures always need a legal basis. As long as applicable law is not violated, we as the police have no recourse. In coordination with the technical operations management, we will take decisive action against people who abuse the situation for political purposes under the appearance of help.

The deliberately placed wedge

It is now very clear that a wedge is being deliberately set in communication on social media. Through this communication, a dysfunctional or repressive state is portrayed and a romanticized image of self-organized saviors with a political message is staged on the other side. We find a deliberately falsely romantically distorted image of self-initiated helpers. These come from the ethnic, partly right-wing extremist, but also from the lateral thinker milieu.

But of course we also find people who want to provide honest help based on these representations. We also have to make a clear distinction and evaluate the reason for the help: Do I want to help for the sake of helping or do I just want to be there to spread a political agenda? And spreading hate speech and false statements in order to unsettle or even incite people is an enormous problem. This creates a division in the population, which can also be seen in the associated discussion on social media.

For my part, I have never experienced a deliberate badmouthing of rescue workers and civil protection. This appeared to me for the first time during the flood disaster. In addition to false reports, there are also a lot of subjective views criticizing the work of the KatS forces. Of course, it is also in the nature of social media that each of us can suddenly become a broadcaster and distribute content. This is the first time this has happened on this scale during the flood water disaster in Germany.

The bad thing is: everything is on the backs of the injured parties. The people who lost everything in the floods have no use of these communication strategies.

Article image by M. Volk / Shutterstock.com