Resistance

GERMAR RUDOLF, RESISTANCE IS OBLIGATORYHence, dogma and criticism stand opposed to each other as antipodes.In our case, this is the State opposed to revisionism; or in otherwords the Enemies of Science on one hand versus Science on the other: Dogmavs. Critique Statevs. Revisionism Enemies of Science vs. ScienceThe U.S. political scientist Fareed Zakaria illustrated this oppositionof science to dogma very succinctly in his book The Future of Freedom,particularly in the chapter “A Short History of Human Freedom:” 74“Science, after all, is a constant process of challenging authorityand contesting dogma.”And by the way, in his book Zakaria explained that democracy andthe rule of law are two very different and distinct institutions. Becausewhen the majority represses minorities in a state, this may be done withdemocratic means, but they are certainly not the means of a governmentof laws. Only when limits on the majority’s exercise of power are imposedby law, thus making the repression of minorities impossible, canwe speak of a nation under the rule of law. I mention this because, whenI point out that today’s Germany is a dictatorship, I am often confrontedwith the claim that this cannot be true because it is evident that Germanyis a democracy. However, the question of whether Germany is a democracyor not has nothing to do with determining whether it is a dictatorship.If a democracy, even with overwhelming majority and approvalof wide sectors of the population, passes laws against expressing certainviews, and thereby persecutes a minority, regardless of how small a minority,then we are obviously dealing with a democratic dictatorship.The word “dictatorship” is derived from the Latin dictare, whichmeans “to prescribe.” And this is exactly what the Federal Republic ofGermany does: It prescribes in its penal law what the citizen must considerto be true, and it persecutes the minority that expresses other opinions.For this reason the Federal Republic of Germany is a democraticdictatorship; but regarding this issue it cannot be considered a nationunder the rule of law.My chemistry colleague Dr. Peter Plichta has also emphasized science’sbasic underlying hostility toward dogma. With the results of his74Fareed Zakaria, The Future of Freedom, Norton & Co., New York 2004, p. 41. Zakaria is editorof the U.S. magazine Newsweek International and former chief editor of the magazine ForeignAffairs, organ of the U.S. think tank Council on Foreign Relations; cf. FareedZakaria.com.63