10/09/2026
On Sunday, the far-right AfD won the state election in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, with 43.8% of the vote – by a wide margin. A few days before the election, former Chancellor Angela Merkel said that people needed to be "a little courageous" to "fight for democracy."
❓But one may wonder: 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗲𝘅𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗻𝘀 𝗱𝗼? 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝘄𝗮𝘆 𝘁𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗽𝗼𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘁𝗲?
We spoke with Mirta Galesic, who co-leads the 𝗖𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗱𝘀 research group at the Complexity Science Hub and who studies how people and human collectives form their beliefs.
𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝘀 👇👇👇
1️⃣ 🚫 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻’𝘁 𝗵𝗲𝗹𝗽: Elaborate arguments, excessive emotionality – especially negative emotionality (such as angrily correcting others) – or any kind of “in-group/out-group” rhetoric (“us” versus “them”) only does harm and, in turn, provokes even more hostility.
2️⃣ 🤝 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁: To reduce hostility in public spaces and increase the chances of constructive conversations, it is not only sufficient but also most effective to simply express your own opinion. For example: “I agree with that.” or “I have a different opinion on that.” If you can also bring in a little humor, that helps, too. One additional point: Counterspeech is more effective when citizens organize so that there is not one lonely voice but several at the same time.
3️⃣ 💡 𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝘀 𝗯𝗲𝘀𝘁: “Stating a simple opinion works because it helps others to better perceive what the majority thinks without causing much backlash. In online spaces, extreme voices typically prevail and it is easy to think that one is in the minority with more moderate views. But if more citizens simply state what they think, what they agree with and disagree with, without arguments and fights, this helps others to see what the social norm is,” says Mirta.
Social norms have a strong influence on how people speak, dress, behave, etc. When people believe they are in the minority, they are more likely to keep their views to themselves and even adapt to others, which further drives the spiral of silence.
𝗪𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗱𝗲𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗿? Mirta’s insights are based on a study analyzing data from Twitter/X in Germany from 2015 to 2018, published in PNAS Nexus in November 2025. Together with CSH Associate Faculty members Jana Lasser and David Garcia, as well as Alina Herderich, Joshua Garland, and Segun Aroyehun, she studied hate and counterspeech during the so-called migrant crisis in Germany, the time that set the political stage for many of the developments we see today: https://academic.oup.com/pnasnexus/article/4/11/pgaf369/8324867
More about Mirta: https://csh.ac.at/mirta-galesic/
More about the Collective Minds research group: https://csh.ac.at/research/research-topic/collective-minds/
