Five Things: Germany, Iowa Trolls, Parasocial Media, Hegseth, Bees
It's Sunday. Read this now.
Hello and welcome back to Five Things!
So this weekend something really weird happened. We only had one kid at home. Our son (k2) went on vacation, our younger daughter (k3) went to Berlin to visit our oldest daughter (k1), while our youngest daughter (k4) stayed at home. The house feels so empty. I miss them all dearly, but it is also really nice to have just one kid to focus on. Especially when she rather wanted to do her thing and meet a friend.
We also bought way too many groceries, because normally our fridge has been emptied right after filled it…
Grab a coffee and read these Five Things before you do what you do on a Sunday!
Germany Has Lost What It Did Best
A year into Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s tenure, his approval ratings are low and the coalition government he leads is roundly disliked. Capitalizing on widespread discontent, the far-right Alternative for Germany is rising in the polls, inching closer to power. To make matters worse, America, in a Trumpian tantrum, has announced a withdrawal of troops from the country, endangering its bedrock geopolitical relationship. All the features that defined Germany’s recent past — political stability, social cohesion and Atlanticist foreign policy — are under threat.
Yet underlying all these problems is a more profound one. The German economy, once known for its efficiency, orderliness and stability, is in a terrible mess. It’s not just that the numbers are dire, though the country has basically been in a recession for three years. Or that every week or so, another famous old company announces thousands of layoffs.
Actually, I think Germany is too well off to realize it is in decline. We prefer to elect leaders who promise no change and that works until everyone is fed up and works for the other guys, the then actually do something, until everyone complains that they are doing too much, and then the other guys get into office again on the promise of not doing anything. And now the populists from the right and the left offer easy solutions, which also won’t help. Oh, and the business leaders are looking for their paycheque, nothing else. They all fumbled on innovation and digital transformation and now they look like they are stuck in the late 90s.
But still, we are the third biggest economy in the world, because Japan is not doing so great, either.
Online Trolls Harassed Her Six-Year-Old. That Was Only the Beginning
In a shitposting world, Draper isn’t afraid to shitpost in response. He’s defended criticism of his business, saying people just need to “have a sense of humor” about it. And not all of his merchandise is provocative. Raygun had also made that “Smile like Audi” shirt — the one Kamdyn was sporting in her photo with Crooks.
So, it makes sense that when Emily was spiraling about online bullies, she would reach out to a brand that she saw as fighting for her side. She sent the shop a DM, asking for help. Mike Draper replied personally to set up a call.
What came next was a plan.
First of all, internet trolls are assholes. Secondly, Iowa is a wonderful state with friendly people and Raygun is just Raygun. What a story.
Social Media Is Now Parasocial Media
In 2026, many major social media platforms feel icky because we are in the full throes of the third stage of enshittification. Today’s social media platforms are no longer centered around sociable activities. Instead, most platforms offer us a broadcast medium and invite us to learn how to game the algorithms so that we too can create assets for the major corporations (Cotter, 2019). Since scale is valorized in this platform economy, we are encouraged to curate ourselves in pursuit of fame and attention. We can still, in theory, create content for our 15 friends, but it’s not clear that they will see what we post. To actually be seen, we must work it.
Of course, for many people, it’s not clear whether working it for the algorithm is worth it. For many people, the benefits of joking around with friends on social media doesn’t feel worth the potential privacy risks, reputational risks, and social risks. Scrolling is easier. Sending funny videos to friends via text message feels safer than reposting.
Great paper, spot on. I am spending less and less time on social media and this explains why. I do miss the old Twitter, that was good fun while it lasted. And blogs, blogs where wonderful. Now we have Substack, which is okay, but feels different.
Made in the USA
Extreme though Hegseth may be, he is a recognizable type: a jockish, puerile white man, a boy you knew in your public high school, if you went to one. He is the Jersey Shore as much as he is Kansas, Florida, Texas, and Oregon. You may recall him as the guy who shoved queer kids into trash cans in the cafeteria and said things about girls like “You’d need a crowbar to get her legs open.” As an adult, Hegseth is a man whom people have described leaving a bar, shit-faced, chanting “No means yes!” and “Kill all Muslims!” He is what the world thinks some Americans are, the bleakest caricature. But like the violence in the administration’s videos, Hegseth is real, and he is American, which means we have no choice but to ask what to do with him, and what to do with ourselves.
A cabinet full of sociopaths and evil clowns. No dystopian novel could have come up with this storyline and yet it is our reality and it is shaping the world.
‘They surprise me every time’: bees can use tools to solve problems, study finds
The bees were given an adapted version of an experiment that, 100 years ago, first demonstrated chimpanzees could work out how to retrieve an out-of-reach banana by stacking boxes. Since then, various other primates, elephants and crows have joined an elite cohort of species known to be capable of this level of insight and spontaneous problem solving.
In the latest research, bees were shown to be able to roll a polystyrene ball to a specific location and climb on to it in order to access an artificial flower on a low ceiling. The findings challenge the longstanding assumption that insects operate purely on instinct and mindless trial-and-error learning.
Bees are amazing. And so is honey. What a combo.
That’s it. Have a great Sunday! If you missed last Sunday’s edition of Five Things, have a look here:
— Nico