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u/DerpAnarchist

▲ 24 r/AskTheWorld

Why do certain political movements feel ontologically wrong, not just politically wrong?

In Korean philosophical tradition, from Confucian naturalism, reality is the non-negotiable starting point. You study the world as it is, you position yourself within it, you act accordingly. Incompetence is shameful precisely because it means you failed to engage with reality on its own terms.

What disturbs me about movements like the German AfD isn't just bad policy, but it's something more fundamental: reality is treated as negotiable. The self, the own perceptions becomes the fixed center, and facts are arranged around it. It's a geocentric epistemology.

This is less like a political opinion I disagree with - It feels wrong the way flat-earthism feels wrong - a categorically incorrect statement about reality. Do others from different philosophical backgrounds experience this? There's no ideological disgust, it's almost ontological.

What I find disorienting isn't the offensiveness. It's watching incompetence celebrated as identity. Watching reality treated as optional.

A concrete example: Germany runs a voluntary return program called REAG/GARP — covering a flight ticket, up to €1,000 per adult, and reintegration support. Total program cost in 2024 was €8.2 million for over 8,000 people, with the EU covering the majority of that. The AfD opposes it. 'No taxpayer money for that.' But, isn't that what they want? Less foreigners? Speak about wanting to both have the cake and eat it.

Their preferred alternative are forced deportations, for which instead charter flights are booked..?? A single flight to Afghanistan for 25 people cost €335,000 in charter fees alone (€13,400 per person) in addition to the required 71 federal police officers, 2 doctors, 2 interpreters, who also needed tickets, stay and sustainment, 6 weeks of administrative and legal preparation across 12 federal states.

Charter flights to Pakistan ran €462,000 and Ethiopia €418,000. They're often booking half-empty airplanes, because usually not every person is found for whatever reason.

Same outcome with ten to fifteen times the cost. But it's punitive and gives some emotional satisfaction for a very stupid reason and that's the point. Reality is again subordinate to the performance.

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u/DerpAnarchist — 9 days ago
▲ 43 r/AskTheWorld

I’m Korean, but I’m most often mistaken for being Japanese. I personally think this might be due to my OCD and crippling social anxiety.

It leads to strange situations. For example, two weeks ago at a restaurant, a German woman assumed my mom and I were Japanese, despite us previously having speaking Korean. She kept talking about facts they have learned about the country and suggesting phrases like 'ko ni chi wa.' My mom just smiled and went along with it and i didn't say anything, because we didn't want to ruin her excitement, but it was a bit awkward and uncomfortable for us.

Because of this, I’m always happily surprised when someone actually asks me if I’m Korean first. It feels like they are seeing me for who I really am.

I have been mistaken two or three times as someone from an Soutbeast Asian country by Germans. South East Asia is a popular travel destination for German tourists and there is a sizeable diaspora here running restaurants and working in healthcare.

Does anyone else experience this? Do you think your personality or mental health affects how people perceive your background?

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u/DerpAnarchist — 16 days ago