Politically Incorrect
Type of site
Political blog
Available inGerman and English
OwnerStefan Herre; Christine Dietrich; Michael Stürzenberger; unknown others
Created byStefan Herre
URLwww.pi-news.net (German)
CommercialNo
LaunchedNovember 11, 2004 (2004-11-11)
Current statusOnline

Politically Incorrect (commonly abbreviated PI) is a mainly German-language counter-jihad[1] political blog which focuses on topics related to immigration, multiculturalism, and Islam in Germany and Western societies. A condensed version of the weblog is available in English.[2] The blog is one of the oldest German far-right sites, which has been spreading hate speech against Muslims and migrants in Germany.[3] The content is amplifying the fear of Islam.[4][5]

PI self-declared goal is to bring news to a wider public attention which it perceives to be ignored or suppressed in what PI declared as "the mainstream media" due to a pervading "leftist political correctness".[6] The site has no imprint or legal details; the editors and authors are disguised.

According to Der Spiegel up from April 2021 the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution (Verfassungsschutz) classifies PI as "verified as extremistic" („erwiesen extremistisch“) and is observing the PI-activist.[3] The blog's local news bureau in Bavaria, though, is investigated by the Bavarian Office for the Protection of the Constitution.[7]

History

Politically Incorrect was founded in 2004, soon after the re-election of George W. Bush, by a German teacher named Stefan Herre "to do something against Anti-Americanism"; its popularity surged in the wake of the Muhammad cartoons controversy the following year.[4] It is one of the most successful German blogs,[4][5] receiving several tens of thousand visitors each day and ranking among the thousand biggest German websites in terms of traffic.[8] The site ranked ninth in March 2013 among German blogs in terms of public resonance in virtual social networks.[9] The blog is interactive, allowing visitors to leave comments within a certain time limit.

Herre has also been on the board of advisors of the organisation Stop Islamization of Nations (SION),[10] and participated in the 2007 international counter-jihad conference in Brussels.[11]

Reception

The blog has been widely criticized by German media for inciting Islamophobia and equating Islam as a whole with Islamic extremism.[4][5] The blog's internet shop sells items with the slogan "Islamophobic and proud of it".[4] Herre says his Islamophobia is without shame: "Phobia is fear, and I'm afraid of Islam."[4]

The SPD politician Sebastian Edathy, a spokesman for the party on interior affairs, views Politically Incorrect as a vehicle of right-wing populist agitation.[12] It is not observed, however, by the German Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution which sees it as differing from right-wing extremism in its support of a democratic order and basic rights, as well as its pro-Israel stance.[4][13] Even so, the Munich local group which cooperates with the German Freedom Party is monitored by the Bavarian branch of the office since April 2013.[7]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lee, Benjamin (4 September 2015). "A Day in the "Swamp": Understanding Discourse in the Online Counter-Jihad Nebula" (PDF). Democracy and Security. 11 (3): 248–274. doi:10.1080/17419166.2015.1067612. S2CID 62841363.
  2. ↑ "PI English". Politically Incorrect. Archived from the original on 26 July 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  3. 1 2 Wiedmann-Schmidt, Wolf (2021-04-29). "Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz stuft islamfeindlichen Blog »PI-News« als »erwiesen extremistisch« ein". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 2021-12-27.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Reinle, Dominik (17 December 2007). "Angst vor dem Islam – und stolz darauf". WDR (in German). Archived from the original on 12 October 2013. Retrieved 11 October 2013.
  5. 1 2 3 Stefan Niggemeier (25 October 2007). "Freier Hass für freie Bürger". Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Archived from the original on 12 June 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  6. ↑ "About us". Politically Incorrect. Archived from the original on 4 August 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  7. 1 2 "Verfassungsschutz beobachtet Die Freiheit und "PI"". Hamburger Abendblatt. 12 April 2013. Archived from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 17 June 2013.
  8. ↑ "Pi-news.net Site info". Alexa Internet. Archived from the original on 3 September 2011. Retrieved 7 August 2011.
  9. ↑ "Deutsche Blogcharts für den März 2013". Deutsche Blogcharts. 4 April 2013. Archived from the original on 10 June 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
  10. ↑ "Stop Islamization of Nations (SION) Calls on UN to Protect Christians of Syria". Press Release from PR Newswire. Reuters. 2012-01-20. Archived from the original on 2013-12-02. Retrieved 2014-12-21.
  11. ↑ "Counter Jihad Brussels: 18-19 October 2007". International Civil Liberties Alliance. 20 October 2007. Archived from the original on 24 October 2022.
  12. ↑ Edathy, Sebastian; Sommer, Bernd (2009): "Die zwei Gesichter des Rechtsextremismus in Deutschland. Themen, Machtpotentiale und Mobilisierungsressourcen der extremen Rechten", in: Braun, Stephan; Geisler, Alexander; Gerster, Martin (eds.): Strategien der extremen Rechten. Hintergründe, Analysen, Antworten, VS Verlag, ISBN 3-531-15911-9, pp. 53–54
  13. ↑ Rath, Christian (26 July 2011). "Nicht einheitlich verfassungswidrig". TAZ. Archived from the original on 23 April 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2013.
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