When the world gets closer.

We help you see farther.

Sign up to our expressly international daily newsletter.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch
Germany

Frightening Similarities Between Pegida And Radical Islam

For many in these very different extremist camps, it all begins with a "lying media."

Frightening Similarities Between Pegida And Radical Islam
Ulrich Clauss

-OpEd-

BERLIN — At the beginning, many people in journalistic circles reacted with dismissive grins, if at all, to the handful of so-called "Monday demonstrators' who gathered in some German cities. It was the beginning of 2014, and Putin had just annexed Crimea.

Left-wing and right-wing conspiracy theories fused to form a self-appointed, propaganda-loving "freedom movement" that was pro-Kremlin and branded every other opinion a "press of lies." Of significance too were constant references to the "mainstream media."

But when journalists were murdered in Paris earlier this month, the grinning stopped. The path from word to deed can be frightfully short. The origin of the expression, "press of lies," illustrates that in exemplary fashion. A "press of lies" — particularly in the expression's full form, a "Jewish-Marxist press of lies" — was used by Nazi Germany"s Reich Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels to defame the critical press.

And just as the route from word to deed was short back then, the line between, on one side, propaganda that attacks a pluralistic culture of opinion and, on the other, acts of violence against its infrastructure and authors is frighteningly thin.

It's now not just a few dozen Vladimir Putin apologists spouting the "press of lies" slogan but also thousands of people in Dresden and elsewhere. From the Putin apology grew a flat rejection of the federal government and parliamentarism.

It's not necessary to consider the Islamophobic Pegida movement and the flourishing contempt of media and politics in its wake massive in order to fear the phobia of pluralism that it engenders.

Great harm will come from failing to see this movement for what it is. The world exists only through our perception of it, and that perception is mainly transmitted via the media. It therefore follows that the media is the target of populists and ideological fanatics who have broken away from the reality of a pluralistic media landscape.

Insofar as that goes, the ideologues within Pegida who are hostile to pluralism look very much like their most critical opponents. Radical Islamists also espouse terms like a "press of lies."

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Green

Forest Networks? Revisiting The Science Of Trees And Funghi "Reaching Out"

A compelling story about how forest fungal networks communicate has garnered much public interest. Is any of it true?

Thomas Brail films the roots of a cut tree with his smartphone.

Arborist and conservationist Thomas Brail at a clearcutting near his hometown of Mazamet in the Tarn, France.

Melanie Jones, Jason Hoeksema, & Justine Karst

Over the past few years, a fascinating narrative about forests and fungi has captured the public imagination. It holds that the roots of neighboring trees can be connected by fungal filaments, forming massive underground networks that can span entire forests — a so-called wood-wide web. Through this web, the story goes, trees share carbon, water, and other nutrients, and even send chemical warnings of dangers such as insect attacks. The narrative — recounted in books, podcasts, TV series, documentaries, and news articles — has prompted some experts to rethink not only forest management but the relationships between self-interest and altruism in human society.

But is any of it true?

The three of us have studied forest fungi for our whole careers, and even we were surprised by some of the more extraordinary claims surfacing in the media about the wood-wide web. Thinking we had missed something, we thoroughly reviewed 26 field studies, including several of our own, that looked at the role fungal networks play in resource transfer in forests. What we found shows how easily confirmation bias, unchecked claims, and credulous news reporting can, over time, distort research findings beyond recognition. It should serve as a cautionary tale for scientists and journalists alike.

First, let’s be clear: Fungi do grow inside and on tree roots, forming a symbiosis called a mycorrhiza, or fungus-root. Mycorrhizae are essential for the normal growth of trees. Among other things, the fungi can take up from the soil, and transfer to the tree, nutrients that roots could not otherwise access. In return, fungi receive from the roots sugars they need to grow.

As fungal filaments spread out through forest soil, they will often, at least temporarily, physically connect the roots of two neighboring trees. The resulting system of interconnected tree roots is called a common mycorrhizal network, or CMN.

Keep reading...Show less

You've reached your limit of free articles.

To read the full story, start your free trial today.

Get unlimited access. Cancel anytime.

Exclusive coverage from the world's top sources, in English for the first time.

Insights from the widest range of perspectives, languages and countries.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

You've reach your limit of free articles.

Get unlimited access to Worldcrunch

You can cancel anytime.

SUBSCRIBERS BENEFITS

Ad-free experience NEW

Exclusive international news coverage

Access to Worldcrunch archives

Monthly Access

30-day free trial, then $2.90 per month.

Annual Access BEST VALUE

$19.90 per year, save $14.90 compared to monthly billing.save $14.90.

Subscribe to Worldcrunch

The latest