Mined terrain - How the war for words is changing our society

There is turmoil. Almost everything that until recently was considered firmly established, self-evident and secure is being called into question. And it has consequences: cancelled opera productions, films with warning labels, books purged of the N-word, editors, cartoonists and academics dismissed. Mohrenstraßen should no longer be called that, and the idea that there are only two genders has never really applied and certainly no longer applies since there are people who also publicly categorise themselves as male and female and therefore define themselves as non-binary. A letter worm that once began with LGBT has now arrived at LGBTQIA*. The discussion about so-called identity politics is spilling over into our everyday lives. Protests are forming against it, and people are already up in arms about gendering. Conservative commentators provide the verbal cudgels for this: "language police", "thought control", "cancel culture". The danger is: a reign of rigorous moralists through virtue terror. The opportunity is: a society that is more sensitive, mindful, reflective, considerate and tolerant of itself and its minorities. We have to decide, both individually and as a society as a whole: what is our stance on this?