Since I have more time to post because I am perma hosped (due to a butthurt person who entered a battle of wits unarmed and has more spare tornbucks than braincells; jokes on them, to me torn is a debate game with an attached gym&crime minigame), and due to Stephen's thread that suggested a more diverse post landscape, I decided to make a new thread.
While my country's politics are not really well known internationally, I'd like to talk about a phenomenon here that you might have some insights in from your very own perspectives.
As in many other countries concerted efforts of far-right groups to influence and frame the public debate, combined with big societal and international changes, led to people being scared and yearn for simpler times that never existed.
The far-right AfD (housing conspiracy theorists, holocaust deniers and openly racist criminals, supporting russias invasion and having ties to terrorists, murderers and insurrectionists, denying climate change and wanting to tax the poor while cutting taxes for the rich and getting rid of regulations for corporations) is getting more and more support, especially by those who'll suffer under their tax plans (the poor and badly educated ones). But also by middle class folks that yearn for simple answers, who ignore the parts they heavily oppose because the AfD promises solutions for a topic that especially makes them scared. And people who are disappointment in politics, etc. etc., you know the drill quite well I guess.
My question is: The current center-conservative chancelor tries to address some of the talking points of the far-right, undoubtedly in the attempt to reclaim them in a less extremist way and to address the fears and concerns of the aforementioned AfD supporters. I am extremely uncertain though if this is a promising tactic or not. It might legitimize the far-right and make the chancellor look half-assed for not going the full way the AfD claims to do (which is not feasible anyhow, not financially nor legally). Or it might indeed placate people and make them feel seen, helping them to slowly step away from the extreme positions they were herded into.
What do you think? Can this help? Or what do you think are the best measures to combat the polarization of society and bring the wingnuts home?