Resignation Rules

Unfree Speech in Sweden Part III

Continuing from yesterday's post, our Scandinavian correspondent Rune concludes his translation of the interview with Jonathan Friedman in Jyllands Posten:

	"And chaos can come anyway? Are we heading for an explosion?"
	"I think so. By several reasons. Just the economical side won't hold up for long. Sweden has fallen from a top placement to a 17th spot on the list of the world's richest countries. The Welfare State is in deep crisis. The taxes are pressuring people down - think of the USA where tax progression is nowhere like here, but even so manage to take the bigger part from the wealthy few. In Sweden the tax comes mainly from the bottom. And the tax basis is eroding by the day. Money flees abroad, and people without education and resources comes in. Thus the state is forced to indebt itself massively. The newly arrived are marginalised and the lower public employees, teachers e.g., are made lower class. On the side, a gigantic black economy grows forth and is tacitly accepted. And the immigrants do not contribute to the economy - on the contrary. Even in the US, where the welfare expenses are much smaller than here, has it been shown by a Harvard economist that immigrants are a net expense for society. It is, by the way, typical that in the USA it is the blacks that most ardently oppose immigration - it is those whom are threatened on their livelihood, it is their jobs the immigrants will compete for."
	Towards financial crisis
	"And yet there is sign of a rebellion amongst the people, against the high taxes for instance?"
	"No and people still pay a larger price for a poorer service. But it won't continue. Western societies, I think, move towards a deep financial crisis. And the only ones who don't see it is the political class, because precisely this class never had it better. In that sense, it reminds some of the Roman Empire's last 100 years."
	"That sounds a bit much"
	"Yes, but one shouldn't be blind for the larger historical lines. The Age of the Movement of People which is so much spoken of these years, was precisely the result of society round them broke asunder, and people were forced to wander. Exactly as today."
	Life at different levels
	"And one is forced to ask: how will it end?"
	"I don't know. But I have some inklings. A society, as the one sketched in the movie Blade Runner is closer than you imagine. A society where life is lived on different levels. And where the steps between the different levels are guarded by heavily armed police. In Los Angeles, you already see housing projects which spans the slum areas. And you build circular benches so as the bums can't sleep on them. It takes so very little before our ordered society breaks down. Takes such a thing as Rosengården in Malmø [large and nearly 100% immigrant community] - if the municipality suddenly have no further money to pour into it, then it's slum in five years. Or less"
	"In certain way an old fashioned class society?"
	"Yes it is very unfashionable to speak of classes. But seldom has it been more pertinent. Much more actual than in the 1970'sh when everybody talked about it. The class society is having a comeback, and many are moving downwards - but a place like Sweden is quite unable to relate to or address this. In English it's called "downward mobility". It is characteristic that there is no likewise Swedish term."
	"Is there anything to be done?"
	"I, for one, have my doubts anything will be done. Modern politicians all over the west speak as if there is only one way. They have the same economical advisers which tells them the same things over and again. Management theories have long since won its place in the political arena, the power of positive thinking rules the process. It seems almost like resignation rules."

This is the conclusion of the article, but Rune adds his own two cents' worth:

Ok I think he went a bit overboard there with Rome and the historical comparisons. But the things he has to say about Sweden and freedom of speech are interesting and, sadly, not in the least exaggerated - on the contrary. Just one thing I recently learned. When voting in Sweden you pick your voting card from the political representatives outside the voting booths, and then walk across the hall to the voting booth and select which candidate you want to vote for - only there inside the booth where you select the party candidate are you hidden from view. This means everybody can see which party you are going to vote for, and in a society like Sweden where social control is very widespread this creates an atmosphere where certain political parties are heavily discriminated against. Even in Denmark with much less social control, phone polls inevitably give a lower number than Election Day for certain parties critical of immigration because people don' t like to admit, even to a nameless faceless pollster on the phone, they vote for such. Imagine the control in Sweden where your neighbour and working buddies can see which party you vote for - and especially as there have been several cases where people have been fired from their jobs on the sole reason that they were members of disliked, but legal, political party.

And he adds this:

Here is Jonathan Friedman's definition of political correctness: "Politically Correct is when arguments are reduced to either a Good or a Bad category. Arguments are condemned on moralistic grounds and never logically analysed. The free discussion disappears and is exchanged for association tricks. What is said becomes less important than defining those who say it as belonging to a specific group. The important thing is who has lunch with whom, who speaks with whom, who is where at which time."

Professor Friedman is correct when he says, "…in the USA it is the blacks that most ardently oppose immigration - it is those whom are threatened on their livelihood, it is their jobs the immigrants will compete for." But it is also true that the established, legal Hispanic immigrants oppose amnesty and an open southern border. They know that the flood of illegals from Mexico is causing their wages to drop, and makes it likely that they will be tarred with the same brush when the inevitable reaction ensues.

When resignation rules, when "undocumented immigrants" flow into our country with virtually no impediment, then we will be facing what Sweden faces today. Assimilating the immigrants would be politically incorrect, so whole cities become immigrant barrios. If the enclaves of the unassimilated include outposts of the Great Islamic Jihad, then we are on the road to dhimmitude.

_____________________________________
(More of Rune’s translations in upcoming posts)