Comments expresses the opinions of the writer.
It is a problem that extremisms devastate our debates. They polarize. They scare. They often distort reality and establish narratives that cannot withstand thorough scrutiny. They are also often aggressive towards outgroups.
The only advantage is that they can occasionally raise and shed light on issues that no one else wants to talk about. Although this sometimes makes it even more difficult to talk about these issues, as many simply don’t want to think like them.
But most of us don’t get our worldviews from them. Therefore, their damage potential is often limited.
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Worse is when those parts of the audience that should be reasonable turn around in their angry descriptions of reality. Then there will be less and less stable ground on which the majority of the population will be able to resist.
Sweden may now appear to be in such a situation again. This is sad, as what we often call the “corridor of opinion” – that is, the range of opinions that it is socially accepted to have – seems to widen.
The examples are numerous after the last elections in the neighboring country, where the Swedish Democrats became the second largest party.
A few days ago, Swedish writer Henrik Arnstad told a French reporter that there are many indications that Swedish democracy has been abolished. Not less. These are the kind of statements I expect from a Donald Trump not accepting the election results. But perhaps there is nothing else to expect from Arnstad, who previously wrote about Fascist firewood.
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The small newspaper Dala-Demokraten wrote after the election that Swedish parents raised a generation of Hitler Jugend out there in the cottages. Hitler Youth, in fact. And that SD’s “wet dream of ethnic cleansing” has come true.
I’m sorry Lena Kallenberg, but something like ethnic cleansing is happening in Europe. In the eastern parts of Ukraine. And your childish exaggerations are a spit in the face of anyone who experiences them.
It is also a bit depressing to hear the newspaper’s chief editor, Göran Greider, tell Expressen TV that he welcomes an economic collapse so that there will be a halt to the new government’s strict immigration policy.
Espen Goffeng
Community discussion, author, podcaster and qualified lecturer. In the podcast “Goffeng på letting”, which he creates together with Tankesmien Agenda, he talks about everything that moves between heaven and earth in society.
Former editor-in-chief of Svenska Dagbladet Ivar Arpi is written in texts with images of the entrance to Auschwitz. It is certainly a step on the road to fascism and Nazism. Arpi has forgotten what these movements can lead to, he writes. Because the Holocaust “always shines with absence in his texts”. While the image of the railroad under the famous entrance gate to the worst camp in the history of the world lies vaguely in the fog.
Erik Stephansen: We can’t just hide made-up stories under the rug
Chief editor Anders Lindgren of the largest Swedish newspaper writes about the creation of a defense line. “On Monday we wake up in a new Sweden,” he writes. And this is true up to a point. In the text he does not forget to insert Alternative for Germany, Victor Orban and Putin. And the accompanying drawing is a swastika in Swedish colors by a German satirist.
Yes, there are elements in the Swedish Democrats that are ugly. No doubt. Just a few days ago, Rebecka Fallenkvist was fired from the group after making harsh statements about Anne Frank. This is the same lady who seemed to raise her hand in the fascist salute during a televised broadcast on election night. She is a good example.
But SD constantly cleans. They become more tolerable over time. Whenever an angry local politician appears expressing unsustainable opinions, the person is removed. Like Fallenkvist. He is good for the public. But it’s also good for SD’s reputation over time. The anger (if that were a word) on the other side only escalates and no one is escorted out the back door for that reason.
Here you can read more of Espen Goffeng’s comments
There are two problems here for people like me who vote slightly to the left of the center. First, it is hardly a good strategy to make the Swedish Democrats look like the sane side in the debate. When sensible Sweden dries up, SD doesn’t have to do anything but wash a little deeper.
As Dagsavisen commentator Jo Moen Bredeveien points out, this tactic doesn’t work:
“The Swedish left has consistently called the SD neo-Nazis and their constituents racist. You can say a lot about this rhetoric. But the following may be worth saying: it didn’t work.”
He’s right. This is counterproductive. Refers to a union clerk:
“It doesn’t work, this one. We have been saying this for some time. ”
And it may have to say that, as many Fagforening-Sverige members vote SD.
Read more from the Norwegian debate
The other question is where to go to get a sensible analysis if this is the future. The examples above were written by people who complain about polarization and harsh words. They have little credibility in their concerns if they continue to refer to one in five Swedes in this way.
Irish poet and politician William Butler Yeats wrote of “when the center can’t hold up”.
Here we see how it goes in Swedish.
