In Defence of the Vilified Gutmensch
“Gutmensch” (literally, “goodperson”) is an invention of the German-speaking extreme right — but what does it actually mean? (Hint: it’s duckspeak.) What kind of a person can even conceive that this is an insult, and why should we care?
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In German, and more recently also in Dutch, there has cropped up this curious habit of offending somebody you dislike by calling her a goodperson — a “Gutmensch”. It is really not meant as a compliment: it’s willingly spiteful and malicious, and it’s supposed to hurt. Well, ouch.
The word, in German, is an invention of late yuppiedom, first spotted around 1989. But what is it actually supposed to mean? I dived into the underbelly of society (aka Social Media) and came up — seriously gasping for breath but nevertheless firmly pinching the nose — with some interesting points of view. These Gutmensch-haters are gloriously unaware of their Orwellian blackwhithing: confidently and without any trace of self-irony they flip-flop good and bad until the ethicist, in desperation, stands herself on her head trying to get some perspective on the case.
This is just a very short anthology: a Gutmensch is a fluffy bunny, a cotton-wadded brain (Wattehirn) who gives one a mental sugar shock (mentaler Zuckerschock), alternatively he is a dewy-eyed innocent, an ingenue (Naivmensch) or a…
