The destruction of the free world started with the affair Goatfucker. This is not a joke.
The untold story on how the Brits got hacked just by single vulgar word. Big names involved.
Skillful work with half-truths and a lot of limbic stimuli was put into play in the campaign for Britain's withdrawal from the European Union. It all started with the affair Goatfucker. I am the one who noticed. Propaganda made our brains to sponge.
There have been many lies in the campaign for Britain to leave the European Union. The so-called "Lie of 350 million" was that the agencies around Brexiteers launched a slogan that claimed that Britain sends £350 million every week to Brussels in so-called membership fees. Imagine what could be in the home health service, the Brexiteers repeated.
The lie was so blatant that Conservative MP Sarah Wolaston left the Brexit camp out of shame. Gradually, the British Statistical Office, the Institute for Fiscal Studies and many other prestigious authorities corrected it. Which, of course, did not prevent one of the main faces of Brexit, Boris Johnson, from persistently repeating this B/S in the media, driving his more judicious and well-mannered rivals crazy.
Are the Brits really that stupid? The answer will not be given by the statistical office, but by an experienced propagandist. Me.
The truth about the true nature of the money flow and Britain's contribution to the EU was too complex. It contained too many interpretive twists that only a person with a certain degree of knowledge about Britain's financial affairs and what the contribution is and where the money from this contribution to Britain itself goes, and how it is linked to Britain's profits, which in turn arise from EU membership. No wonder the British now scratching their heads, having had time to think about the the EU's real impact on their economy. But that's not what campaigns are about – it's about doing something rashly and under the influence of emotions.
We all know him. It´s our uncle John from the nearby small city. He represents the majority of voters in your country.
John (opens chips in front of the TV): "Hon, some dude from no idea blabla says this dude Boris is lying. Says it´s difficult with the money in Brussels."
Edna (from the kitchen): "Say what, hon?"
John: "It's kind of tangled. I don't get that. Like the money is temporarily somewhere else, not in our country and then come back or whatever."
Edna (from the kitchen): "But Boris is a dog, isn't he, how does he make fun of the Germans. Love that guy, huh?"
Uncle John: " Boris is great. Funny lad. We want Brexit! ".
The battle between truth and falsehood was decided by the limbic system. If the truth is too complex, if it does not arouse your fear, outrage, sexual desire or emotional pleasure, it has no chance of fighting the lie. Welcome in the REALITY.
Uncle Charlie from Beattyville or Uncle John from Norfolk have their lives of the so called normies. Both have one thing in common. They hate complex news about economics and science, they read alternative sites with ticklish conspiracy theories, and they're in their fifties. Their life is quite boring and very disappointing, something went wrong.
They believe the truth does not exist, everyone today wants to screw the ordinary man, the elites are actually Marxists who want to flood the world with transgender toilets and smudges from Moslemistan. The government mocks him and talks difficult stuff. He already knows, it's the fault of the immigrants. With the knowledge of a foreign culprit, breathing is suddenly easier. At least he was told so in those unusual social media channels, who really care about him. They really, really care about the truth for the ordinary folks.
Goatfucker scandal and its role in Brexit
Let's take a look at one German ticklish affair that helped unleash a great propaganda firework in London before the referendum thanks to the traditional British resistance to everything German.
First , meet the main hero. Jan Böhmermann, born in 1981. This young non-conformist television journalist, entertainer and screenwriter has been the star of the social-satirical magazine of the German public television station ZDF called Neo Magazin Royale. Born in Bremen, Germany, he studied history, theatre and sociology, but did not complete any of these fields. He applied unsuccessfully to study acting in Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, eventually being admitted to an acting school in Hanover, but never enrolled. He has been working for the public broadcaster ZDF since 2012, where he and Charlotte Roche presented the show Roche und Böhmermann. After the creation of the ZDFneo channel, he and a team of writers and screenwriters prepared a new format for the satirical show Neo Magazin Royale, which has been broadcast continuously ever since and has propelled Böhmermann to the pinnacle of fame.
During his short tenure, he has received a number of media and journalistic awards.
His role as a satirist always brought with it controversial performances and outrage from those he made fun of in his shows. He caused his first international scandal only in 2016, when he sharply ridiculed Greek Finance Minister Varoufakis and called his program Varoufake. He followed the show of experienced presenter and journalist Günther Jauch, who presented a viral video in his show where Varoufakis raises his middle finger. The interpretation of the gesture has become a rewarding topic for sharper jokes on social media. It happened exactly in the time when Germans started to talk back why should they contribute to the payment of Greek debts through the EU.
A few weeks later, Böhmermann chose a more dangerous target for his satire. And he unleashed a bloody hell. This time, the international damage was collateral.
Chronology of the "Goatfucker" scandal
On the seventeenth of March 2016, another German program program – Extra 3 – published a mocking song about the Turkish president Erdogan on the public television of the GDR (Norddeutscher Rundfunk). It was an adaptation of the popular song by singer Nena 'Irgendwie, Irgendwo, Irgendwann'. In the song "Erdowie, Erdowo, Erdogan", Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan became a target. The song talks about Erdogan's violations of freedom of speech, the abuse of journalists, the persecution of Kurds and human rights violations, but also about the fact that he had a palace built with a thousand rooms on the site of a protected nature reserve, the chant ends with a key and for Erdogan very ignominious real historical shot in which the president is thrown down by a horse and then kicked between his legs. The two-minute video also sharply criticizes Chancellor Merkel for the so-called "Turkish refugee deal.", an agreement about the acommodation of milions Syrian Refugees fleeing Russian slaughtering of civilians.
"He has you in his pocket, so be a good girl, Angela..." and "give him money, he will build you a refugee tent ...". The song was mocking German diplomatic efforts to contain a million-strong stream of Syrian refugees in Turkey and not let them further into Europe. The situation was already out of control in the border states and there was a risk that a state of logistical emergency would soon spill over into the European hinterland. Something what the Russians totally expected and pushed forward.
The response was not to be expected. Erdogan, notorious for his egomaniacal behavior and fierce persecution of Turkish citizens even for liking critical posts on Facebook, summoned German Ambassador Martin Erdmann to Ankara on March 22 and demanded that the German government delete the video. German government refused and the Show Extra 3 has provided the video with English and Turkish subtitles, hung it on the Internet and broadcast older posts critical of the Turkish government.
The diplomatic negotiation of the German government with the Turks to stop the arrival of refugees has reached a complete stalemate. Erdogan went nuclear.
He was already blackmailing the German government in diplomatic negotiations to help him push through a six-billion-euro contribution to the EU in exchange for stopping sending Syrian war refugees to Europe. Afraid of Russian backed right-wing extremist movement, the German government has reached for bilateral negotiations with Erdogan to stem the mass influx.
And voilà! Exactly at this moment – as in the crisis with Greece – Böhmerman's provocative show came with a new content.
On the last of March 2016, Jan Böhmermann published a sketch in his show Neo Magazin Royale, ending with an insulting rhyme about Erdogan. The purpose of the output was to show the difference between satire and the crime of "offensive criticism" under section 103 of the German Criminal Code of 1871. It is an old-fashioned, long-forgotten paragraph that for some reason has gone unnoticed in German legislation for more than a century and speaks of the criminality of insulting the head or representative of a foreign state (Schmähkritik). Interestingly, Böhmermann himself (!) brought to the show the discovery of this paragraph, which had long been forgotten in legal journals under tons of dust and himself actively gave Erdogan instructions for its use. And surprise, surprise, Erdogan swallowed the bait.
Here is a complete transcript of the text from the March 31 show.
Jan Böhmermann: Welcome to Germany's number one laughing broadcast! That's us!
Ralf Kabelka: Exactly!
Böhmermann: What my colleagues from Extra 3 have done, we can't beat.
Kabelka: Forget it!
Böhmermann: And I say: Respect! Good job!
Kabelka: That's a completely different league. And also the other show "Heute", how good it is!
Böhmermann: I really like the "Heute-show". When I heard in the past that we are jealous of the "Heute-show" that Oli Welke is doing, I say: Fabulous, amazing. Kissing hand, Oli! Sincere greetings, I am your ardent fan! Every week I watch it for inspiration!
The "Extra 3" nearly unleashed World War III this week – and for that she deserves applause! Super ride! Apparently in Turkey they watch every our broadcast, even the smallest one, maybe even ours. Perhaps, dear Turks, if you are just watching, we should clarify something.
What my colleagues from Extra 3 have done, the peaceful use of humor that you have turned into big politics, Mr Erdogan – this is covered in Germany, in Europe – where freedom of artistic creation is – covered by the protection of freedom of thought and expression.
Kabelka: Article 5!
Böhmermann: What?
Kabelka: Article 5, German Constitution
Böhmermann: Article 5 of our Constitution, our wonderful Constitution! That's allowed here! You simply cannot demand that the German government download the video or have it deleted from the Internet. Something like this is allowed in Germany, and I think that's great, how civil society has just risen up this week, including Beatrix von Storch, who just a few weeks ago proposed shooting me because of the comic song we wrote about her. And suddenly he is at the head of the peloton of the fight for freedom of speech and artistic expression!
Suddenly, everyone is in agreement. This must be allowed! Je suis "Extra 3".
Kabelka: Excellent.
Böhmermann: Mr Erdogan, but there are things that are forbidden in Germany or in Central Europe. Thus: There is artistic freedom for satire and jokes – that's allowed. And we have the latter... what's the name of it?
Kabelka: Offensive criticism.
Böhmermann: Offensive criticism. This is a legal term. What the heck?
Kabelka: When you defame statesmen, people, when you use under-the-belt arguments. When you scold them and dig into their private lives, you are attacking their personal lives.
Böhmermann: You attack, you disparage. And so this is forbidden?
Kabelka: Yes, that's an offensive criticism.
Böhmermann: Do you understand that, Herr Erdogan?
Kabelka: That's criminal.
Böhmermann: Criminal? And then is it possible to demand the deletion of a thing? Of course, after the broadcast, not in advance...
Kabelka: Yes, only after that.
Böhmermann: That's a bit complicated – perhaps better on a small example. I composed such a poem – it's called "Offensive Criticism". Could we do it with that Turkish song by Nena in the background? Music please. And in the background, please, the Turkish flag. Yeah, that will do!
So my poem. So what I'm going to say now, that's not allowed?
Kabelka: Indeed.
Böhmermann: So if I do it publicly, it will be punished in Germany.
Kabelka: I think so.
Böhmermann: Okay. So, my poem "Offensive Criticism":
Offensive Criticism (a smear Poem)
Dumb as a bag, cowardly and uptight
that’s what Erdoğan the President is.
His breath smells awfully of döner kebab,
even a pig fart smells nicer.
He’s the man who beats up girls
While wearing rubber mask.
Most of all he likes fucking goats
and oppressing minorities,
Kabelka: Noo way!
Böhmermann: kicking Kurds, whacking Christians
while watching child porn.
And even in the evenings, instead of sleep,
it’s all about fellatio with a hundred sheep.
Yes, Erdoğan is totally
a President with a small cock.
Every Turk is heard to warble,
that stupid twat has got wrinkled balls.
From Ankara to Istanbul
everyone knows, that man is gay,
perverted, lice-ridden and zoophile,
Recep Fritzl Priklopil.
His head as empty as his balls,
The star at gangbang parties
until his cock burns while peeing.
That’s Recep Erdoğan, the Turkish President.
Böhmermann: As I said, this...
Kabelka: ... IS NOT!!!
Böhmermann: This is not allowed.
Erdogan's administration reacted exactly according to Böhmermann's instructions and initiated a lawsuit against a German court under Section 103 through twenty German citizens of Turkish origin. A little joke has become an international diplomatic earthquake. The German chancellor, whose diplomatic efforts to negotiate a halt to the flow of refugees and thus stop the progress of the extremist propaganda campaign in the country, could write off all her efforts in a single day. As her first reaction, she condemned the broadcast of the poem, calling it too offensive. Later, however, there was a huge wave of support for Böhmermann (freedom of the press and expression) and the Chancellor softened her statement. She invited Jan Böhmermann to a private conversation, of which Böhmermann himself said: "She cut me into fillets"
Since German law obliges the government to decide whether an action under Section 103/104 of the Criminal Code of the German Reich will be admitted to court, the German Government had to sit down. Its decision was: the action was admitted. At the same time, however, the Chancellor announced that she had launched a legislative process to repeal the obsolete Section 103 so that it would be repealed by January 2018 at the latest. The government's decision to authorize an investigation under Section 103 has been harshly criticized by the head of the rival – and coalition – Social Democrats faction in the German parliament. The entire opposition joined the criticism of the decision. From the communist Die Linke to the liberals of the FDP.
The day after the broadcast, the German television station ZDF distanced itself from the content and gave the order to delete it from the Internet Mediatheque. Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Nurman Kurtulmus called the poem "a crime against humanity." In addition, Erdogan himself privately sued Böhmermann for personal insult and defamation under Section 185 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
First, with the blessing of the government, the Public Prosecutor's Office launched an official investigation into whether there had been a violation of Section 103. In the past, however, the vast majority of cases tried under this section were dismissed or decided in favor of the defendant (and there have not been many cases in the last hundred years).
A court in Hamburg, Germany, in May issued a preliminary injunction at the request of Erdogan's lawyers, stating that offensive passages from Böhmermann's poem must not be repeated publicly by the author anywhere, or that he would be punished with a fine of 250,000 euros and six months' imprisonment.
In the grounds of the interim injunction, the court stated that the boundaries of artistic freedom and satire had been crossed and the personal rights of the plaintiff had been violated. However, criticism of Erdogan's policies and political conditions in Turkey was explicitly declared permissible by the court, and Erdogan, according to the court, must allow himself to like it as a statesman. Böhmermann's lawyer, Christian Schertz, disagreed with the court's decision, pointing out that Böhmermann had explicitly described his poem as an example of inadmissible, unlawful conduct.
Jan Böhmermann has been given police protection since April 2016 over countless threats by Erdogan's Turkish admirers in Germany. Since August 2016, he has returned to the Neo Magazin Royale show after a summer break based on the decision of the CEO of ZDF. The affair received worldwide acclaim both in the media and among politicians, artists and lawyers.
A scandal that increases the media reach had staunch supporters from the beginning
The CEO of the media house Axel Springer, Mathias Döpfner, immediately and publicly showed solidarity with Böhmermann and supported him as first media mogul in the country. Director Uwe Boll did the same, calling Erdogan a fool. The Washington Post harshly criticized the German government's approach to the Turks' demand for a trial of Böhmermann, the British Spectator announced a reward of £1,000 for a similarly offensive poem against Erdogan, Böhmermann received 24,000 signatures on a support petition in Germany, and various artists and journalists publicly engaged in his support. The case went viral.
The most interesting aspect of the whole affair was, of course, the aforementioned vulgarism, which gave everyone a legitimate excuse to "quote" while pronouncing the sweet forbidden fruit. A liberating crossing of taboos, an insult to an authoritarian leader, and on top of that – O sweetness of being – a Muslim, moreover in the form of a quote (impunity), oh my God, what more could you ask for to increase the share.
The absolute extreme among the European media in the Böhmermann affair was the British conservative Spectator, which came with an unbeliavable action.
The paper announced a competition for the best offensive poem on Erdogan, which had been immediately won (surprise, surprise!) by Boris Johnson. The entire internet went absolutely crazy.
Among the terms of the competition, it was stipulated that the competition offensive text must be a) fully defamatory b) completely obscene. The editor also wrote that he prefers posts from Germany and Turkey. According to his data, there were thousands of offensive posts, variously defaming Erdogan on a personal level. From sexual practices to allusions to his little masculinity.
The evaluation of the competition fully fit into the peak of the BREXIT campaign, and the winner was the prominent promoter of the "three hundred and fifty million lie" of Brexit, the entertaining sidekick of television shows Boris. It can be assumed that this campaign, presented as a struggle to "liberate" Britain from "an unfree dictatorship Germany with outdated laws restricting freedom of speech in favor of Muslims", helped to influence the outcome of the vote among conservative Britons as the main screw into the coffin.
Germany was insulted in the Brexiteer media, its citizens were blunted as "shitizens" (a combination of the word shit and citizen). The case was abused in a textbook way, Germany was portrayed as a state that suppresses freedom of speech, something that is sacred in the Anglo-Saxon tradition. Thus, the "Most offensive Erdogans Poem" event has become one of the strongest points of the Brexiteers' marketing plan. It has hurt Britain's traditional voters in the most sensitive place – Germany's alleged restrictions on freedom of speech.
Uncle John fell in love a few days before the referendum. "You know what Boris said yesterday about that Turkish pig? Nice job, this is how you have to deal with them. The guy has balls, I tell you. And this is how the Germans would like to dictate to us, goat fucker, love it. We want Brexit! "
And with this mega show porn vulgar firework, this serious guy in a jacket from the Statistical Office, who only stated facts, wanted to compete? Good luck.
Böhmermann broke all the taboos common in the media and did so deliberately, including by giving Turkey precise guidance on how to effectively prosecute it and set the judicial machine in motion. He wrapped the whole sketch in a warning that there is a difference between political satire (Erdowie, Erdowo, Erdogan) and deliberate under-the-belt insults (Schmähgedicht). On the one hand, he verbally drew the line between satire and insult, but at the same time he blurred it by broadcasting crude vulgarisms and insults. As a side effect – perhaps even the main effect – he unleashed a diplomatic Armageddon with a representative of a state that has no sense of humor, suppresses human rights and is pathologically touchy. And all this at the very moment when Germany desperately needed the international cooperation of this unstable statesman.
The course of the affair was so multi-layered that it did not fit into the classic schemes of entertainment – investigative – prominent scandal – government – international crisis. It contained them all at once.
Now you believe me when I tell you we must stop this madness? Mathias Dopfner, Boris Johnson, Turkey, Russia, Syria, All the media, Media, Brexiteer´s money… this was just a tiny preludium to the next conquest: America. And we did not get the message.
A chapter from my first book The Industry of Lies, published 2017 in Czech Republic.
Alex Alvarova is Canadian author, recognized authority in political marketing and public relations, a sought-after seminar leader, facilitator, and public speaker. In 2017 she wrote The Industry of Lies, a non-fiction work that introduces, outlines and fully supports a core concept: Russia used the 2013 presidential election in the Czech Republic as a trial run to perfect its hybrid-warfare aggression for altering the outcome of the 2016 US Presidential elections. In 2021, she published Feeding The Demons: The conquerors of America, a political thriller on bannonist behavioural BigTech propaganda. The story features the events of the American election 2016 and how the propaganda machine was established to destroy America. She wrote numerous expert articles on political marketing and algorithmic propaganda.