Peter Sloterdijk vs. Jurgen Habermas: A Society ofAcademicSpectacles?

[Johannes Schneider]

Yoshie Furuhashi wrote:
> Johannes wrote:
> >Its the latest intelectual debate in Germany. Last year we had the Walser
> >debate. More or less its the old-fashioned Bonn republic liberals against
> >the now fashionable neo-conservatives from the Berlin republic.
>
> Egad, the evil of two lessers!  (Just the sort of controversies that give
> Jim Heartfield a steady livelihood -- not that I begrudge him his good
> fortune, though.)  Are there any German intellectuals worth reading -- I
> mean our contemporaries?  Any recommendations?
I dont think I am an authority on this one. I barely find time to study the
dead white men.
> BTW, what's the Walser debate?  Another debate that shows the evil of two
> lessers?
More or less you got it. Martin Walser is one of the best known German
novelists. In the 70ties he was close to the Communist party. In the 80ties
and 90ties he moved to the nationalistic right.
Last year he was the winner of the 'Friedenspreis des deutschen
Buchhandels'. In his acceptance speech he complained, that the holocaust is
still remembered publicly in Germany. ( OK, thats a little bit polemical ).
In the end his speech could be summed up by saying that the Germans will
never forgive the Jews because of the holocaust.
When the late President of the Jewish Central Ignatz Bubis protested he was
more or less isolated. The debate showed how much the mainstream of German
public opinion has shifted to the right making anti-semitism acceptable
again.
If you are interested the most important contributions are documented here:
http://www.lrz-muenchen.de/~jgk/Walser-Bubis-Kontroverse.htm