The End of Politics As We Knew IT

Today I have to let off a it of steam. I just read that 18% of German voters would vote for Horst Schlämmer as their next Bundeskanzler (chancellor).

Now what all non-Germans have to know is that Horst Schlämmer is a fictional person created by comedian Hape Kerkeling. Horst is a local journalist who is a well-known TV persona - and who will star in a new movie coming to your local cinema this August (pre-elections). This movie seems to be something like a half-documentary (Borat style) movie showing how Horst is a candidate for the next Bundestag (parliamentary) elections.

So - first the Americans voted an actor into presidency (Reagan), then Italians voted for Berlusconi as their president. Now Germans would like to have a fictional comedy journalist with bad teeth and ridiculous hair as their next Kanzler?

I am really a fan of Social Media and Virtual Worlds - but it seems some people can not see any difference between TV, Internet and reality anymore. Is the current situation really not serious enough? Is the recession really so laughable that we could just hand over our country to a comedian?

I don't fear Horst Schlämmer. What I do fear though is the expressed lack of confidence in politicians and therefore in democracy. Maybe it is time to scale back the virtual elements in comms and politics?