Jörg Lau
(b.1964) is Berlin editor of Die Zeit.
Eurozine Articles
The republic of outsiders
The outsider and non-conformist as saviour of the world: Unabomber Theodore Kaczynski took this revenge fantasy seriously, writes Jörg Lau. But what separates Kaczynski from his hero Thoreau, whose works paved the way for the civil rights movement and political ecology? [more]
The pathos of obstinacy
Civil courage and heroism
In the German discourse, "civil courage" replaces "heroism", which carries asscociations with the war ethos of earlier eras. But can civil courage truly be de-heroized? According to Jörg Lau, "people must come forward who are not afraid to 'act the hero'." [more]
Risk as religion, envy of the future
Who still marches at the forefront of progress?
The environmentalist debate of the 1970s and 80s gave rise to the theory that saw risk as the defining moment of modern society. Today, risk-oriented politics is itself seen as suspicious, writes Jörg Lau. [more]
Muslims and the decadent West
Some commentators interpret young Muslims' self-segregation as the fault of the majority, writes Jörg Lau. What motivates this alliance between liberal self-critique and Muslim religiosity? [more]
Self-esteem and self-improvement
The patriotism of the Berlin republic
In Germany, both Right and Left have shifted the patriotism discourse away from the past towards the present and the future. Following Richard Rorty's idea that patriotism is to a nation what self-esteem is to an individual, Jörg Lau welcomes the new patriotism's integrative potential. [more]
The Search for Normality Lost
Helmut Kohl and Hans Magnus Enzensberger as two representative success-stories of postwar West Germany - one a critic, one the epitome of bourgeois "normality". On the meaning, importance and development of an "average" in West Germany. [more]











