Germanic fiction: pilot shoots down passenger aircraft - TV audience decides "not guilty"

When the blogster read the Frankfurter Allgemeine article's "Schirach's Terror on TV", it* stopped in its tracks because the name "von Schirach" is historically significant.  Not many can claim someone of their family was a war criminal.

The "Terror" on TV was on a different subject, a that of the proverbial civilian airliner highjacked by a terrorist and heading for a fully occupied soccer stadium. An air force pilot shoots down the plane in the absence of a shoot down order, only to be  - this is Germany, after all - indicted for murder.

The original theater play is about the trial of the pilot who took matters in his own hands after his command did not come to a decision for a whole hour.

Turned into a TV movie, the German (and Austrian and Swiss) audience is then asked to vote, and comes out handily with a not guilty verdict, with over 80% in each of the countries.

The live vote is then topped off in traditional Germanic TV fashion by a talk show to rehash everything and to offer closure.

Next, OpEd writers put on their ethics and legal face and went to work. The 15 to 20% of viewers who voted "guilty" get admonished for being amoral, the 80+ are declared as not populist.

The blogster went to work, researching the legal situation, collecting bits and pieces of information on the play, and so forth. Of course, the play is based on 9/11. It is also based on a decision of Germany's highest court that declared a law passed in 2005 allowing the downing of a civilian airliner by the military unconstitutional. 

Before the blogster could have a go at the play and its TV incarnation, Germany's judge took everybody to task.

The theatrical trial verdict is trashed: of course, the action was illegal.

And that's only the start of the five page column. As with all columns of Germany's judge, find someone with very good German skills, bring out the popcorn and enjoy.

It is not every day that you will find a mainstream German paper allowing a judge to write gems like this: Brainfucking the esteemed viewers in the most shabby manner.**

* Again, gender neutral. 
** Die lieben Zuschauer werden nach Strich und Faden verarscht.