Sunday, October 29, 2006

I Got My Mind Right

Centrum Mot RasismDid you know that Sweden has an official organization called “The Center Against Racism”? Are you surprised?

Sweden’s inner cities are filling up with violent unemployed immigrant youths, the country is experiencing an unprecedented increase in rape and vandalism, and the government’s primary concern is… racism.

A law-abiding Swede of the 21st century has to be proficient in the art of doublethink. What’s really going on cannot be talked about. What the average citizen desires cannot be mentioned.

Take, for example, the poor fellow in Kristianstad who placed an uncensored want ad for an apartment in his local newspaper.
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KristianstadKristianstad is a small city in the south of Sweden, on the Baltic. It is part of the province of Skåne, and has advertised itself as “the most Danish city in Sweden”. From the images available on the web, it looks to be a picture-postcard perfect Scandinavian city.

And some unfortunate person in Kristianstad committed the unpardonable sin of wanting to keep it that way.

I’ve been aware of this story since it first came out on July 27th, but haven’t been able to find a translator for it until now. At my request, the indefatigable XY has volunteered for the job, and here is his translation of the article in Expressen.se:

The Center Against Racism rages against want ad

A person has placed a want ad in Kristianstadsbladet seeking an apartment “in an area free from multiculturalism and criminality”. The Center Against Racism is critical of the publication. “This ad went straight in; we didn’t have any discussions,” says Lasse Bernfalk, the paper’s editor and publisher, to Expressen.se

The ad was published in yesterday’s newspaper. The Center Against Racism is surprised that Kristianstadsbladet accepted the ad. “I was really sad. It is tragic when these petty, mean messages are allowed to be expressed,” says spokeswoman Jolin Boldt.

She has never before heard of anyone expressing their political views in a want ad. “Either it is a person who wants to be provocative with a racist message, and that should not be published. The other possibility is that it is a nutcase,” she says.

Is sorry

Lasse Bernfalk he is sorry that the ad was published. This is vacation season, he explains. The want ads are written on the homepage and then delivered to the department for advertising.

“Many are away. The control process has not been functioning.” Now he has talked with the staff about the importance of having a discussion before ads with controversial political messages are printed. He is of the opinion that a person is not allowed to state that he wants to live in an area with fewer immigrants and low criminality.

“You can live where you want, but we should not have that kind of message in an ad. Besides, if the person wants to be without multiculture he will have to find a village very far away. Multiculture is a natural part of society.”

No reactions

Kristianstadsbladet hasn’t received any criticism from readers about the ad. “We usually get reactions from them quickly. But so far no one has said anything.”

— by Karin Olsson

There are so many notable quotes in this little article.

Multiculture is a natural part of society.

Since when? Who says so? What “multiculture” did Sweden have before 1970?

Either it is a person who wants to be provocative with a racist message [or the] other possibility is that it is a nutcase.

Those are our only choices? The man (surely it was a man!) couldn’t have possibly had any other motives? What if he just wanted to live in a neighborhood with a low crime rate, and to be able to understand the language of his neighbors? Is that “racism”?

This all puts me in mind of the classic movie Cool Hand Luke. Luke (played by Paul Newman) is an inmate of a prison camp, and there is a famous scene in which Luke — who has been brutalized and humiliated by the guards for repeated escape attempts — grovels at the feet of “Boss” Paul:

Luke: Don’t hit me anymore…Oh God, I pray to God you don’t hit me anymore. I’ll do anything you say, but I can’t take anymore.
Boss Paul: You got your mind right, Luke?
Luke: Yeah. I got it right. I got it right, boss. (He grips the ankles of the guard)
Boss Paul: Suppose you’s back-slide on us?
Luke: Oh no I won’t. I won’t, boss.
Boss Paul: Suppose you’s to back-sass?
Luke: No I won’t. I won’t. I got my mind right.
Boss Paul: You try to run again, we gonna kill ya.
Luke: I won’t, I won’t, boss.

The citizen of Kristianstad obviously does not have his mind right. But the local authorities, acting through the Center Against Racism, will soon get it right for him.

It won’t be long until he loves Big Brother. Soon he will say with happy sincerity, “I now realize that I was in error. My desire to live among my own kind was a symptom of a deep and abiding racism, which has now been extirpated from my psyche through the efforts of the State. I am grateful for the chance to make restitution to my multicultural brothers and sisters.”

*   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *   *

But is a desire to live among one’s own kind necessarily “racism”? What if you just want to be surrounded by people whose manners and customs you intuitively understand? Why is that necessarily racism?

The most peaceful, stable, and lawful societies have historically had these characteristics. Were all their citizens racists?

And what if a member of an ethnic minority has the same impulse to live among members of his own group? Is that “racism”?

Last year I wrote about a computer program called the “Ethnic Simulator” that models this very issue. The relevant section is reposted below.

One piece of evidence for the ongoing racism of the dominant white culture is persistent residential segregation. Despite numerous federal laws; despite decades of busing, set-asides, minority preferences, and civil-rights lawsuits, residential segregation by race remains, and in some locations has intensified.

The only acceptable explanation, the only one which may be discussed in polite company, is, of course, racism among whites. What else could it be?

An alternative explanation is simply that people generally prefer to live among those who are most like themselves. At its extreme, this tendency is racism: “We hate those damned [insert racial epithet here]; they’re no better than animals!” But milder versions of the same behavior are probably instinctual, and are well-understood by most people at an intuitive level. We are most comfortable among those who speak the same language that we do, who look similar to us, who have customs we can understand, and with whom we share context about many everyday matters, so that communication is easier.

Natural Intelligence has developed an application called the “Ethnic Simulator” that models the residential behavior of people in the hypothetical ethnically diverse city of Metropolis. Go here to read the details about the Ethnic Simulator and download a freeware copy of the application.

The premise of the Ethnic Simulator is that ethnically distinct groups have a modest preference to live among their own kind. In Metropolis there are five ethnic groups — Blues (the majority), Greens, Reds, Grays, and Yellows. The application allows the user to set the percentage of preference of each group for its own kind. The default is 50% — that is, each ethnic group would prefer that at least half of its neighbors to be of the same group.

For the Blues, who are in the majority, meeting that requirement is easy — they don’t even have to think about it. But the Yellows, who are the smallest minority, have to scramble to find other Yellows as neighbors.

When you run the Ethnic Simulator, it begins with a uniformly mixed population. But the preferences of the groups cause clumping to occur very quickly — within about ten years. Within fifty years distinct ethnic neighborhoods have emerged, and if you let the simulation run for centuries, large sections of Metropolis have become “ghettos” for one group or another.

Phase 0
Start
Phase 1
10 years
Phase 2
50 years
Phase 3
100 years
Phase 4
700 years
Phase 5
8000 years

Interestingly enough, if you set the preferences for the larger groups to zero (that is, they are indifferent to the ethnic origin of their neighbors), and give only the Yellows a preference (and a modest one at that), you will find Yellows clumping in their enclaves fairly quickly. The preference of the Yellows would be entirely understandable — they are a tiny minority and want to stick together for solidarity’s sake — but it produces a result that the conventional wisdom would identify as “racism”.

You can see why this result is not fit for polite discussion. If residential segregation of ethnic groups is not due to the racism of the oppressive majority group (i.e., whites), then the very pillars of multiculturalism are shaken. Talking about this would definitely be classified as “hate speech”.

But the Ethnic Simulator does not prove that racism is not the explanation, just that there is another equally plausible explanation. After all, the premise is not unreasonable. Take the issue of interracial marriage — why does it lag so far behind the percentage of the races involved in the general population? If race were not considered, one would expect 12% of white people to marry blacks, and 88% of blacks to marry whites. Does racism explain this? Or do people simply have an inborn preference for those most like themselves?

An investigation like the one described above is forbidden under the Laws of Political Correctness. You can’t talk about such things. You can’t even think about such things. If you do, the Ministry of Truth Center Against Racism will come down on you like a ton of bricks.

They’ll get your mind right. Then you’ll just sit there at your table in the sun, smiling that easy smile:

He gazed up at the enormous face. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark moustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two gin-scented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother.


Hat tip for Kristianstad story: LN.

24 comments:

Frank said...

I agree with every sentiment, except...racism. Its not clear how you define the phenomenon, although you seem to define it as hatred of the other, as distinct from preference for the like.

I would argue that it doesn't matter. You are opening yourself to the accusation of 'racism' no matter what you say or how you define racism, simply because your opponents will never be too shy to redefine it for you. In fact, by even addressing the subject at all you are opening yourself to the CERTAINTY of an accusation of racism by your opponents.

The stance that voids this is to shrug and agree..if someone wants to call you racist for addressing a rather obvious phenomenon most likely based on inate rather than learned human behaviour, then so be it. Who cares?

I grew up as a white in India. I loved living there, and I loved living there because the place was peopled by Indians and because they followed Indian customs. I also loved home-leave, when I could return to a society that belonged to me and to which I belonged. It offered me social grounding, a homeland if you will.

We know ethnic minorities who live in the West appreciate the same thing...that's why almost every 1st or 2nd gen immigrant who can afford it goes "home" as much as possible.

But we in the west are giving up our ethnic homelands. Once we do we can never get them back. It has to be stopped or we as a people will, sooner or later, cease to exist. And if anyone wants to call me a racist for fighting against that, have at it.

Baron Bodissey said...

ScottSA --

You've been reading this blog long enough to know that I have pre-emptively identified myself as a racist more than once. So that's not the point of this post.

My point here is to re-examine racism itself, to realize that it is grounded in something normal, instinctive, and good -- and it's only evil when taken to the extreme of denying the common rights of a different group, or committing violence against others just because of their differences.

"Racism" is at root simply a desire to be part of a coherent and cohesive cultural group, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Frank said...

My apologies then. The way I read it seemed to suggest a tiptoing around the issue while distancing yourself from the term. Racism involves a cohesive and coherent cultural group to be sure, but ethnicity is part of that homogeniety as well IMO.

Baron Bodissey said...

Ethnicity is a part, but only a part, of the issue.

The Serbs and the Croats have a bitter and murderous relationship, but they aren't racially distinct. They even speak a dialect of the same language.

Or take the English and the Irish as another example.

Race is only a subset of a larger issue, one factor in the matrix of culture and biology.

Add to that problem another silly issue: A Semite who worships Yahweh is called a "racist" for anything he does against a Semite who worships Allah. Doublethink is at work again here.

Frank said...

Oh I agree 100% that the term is flung about with nonsensical abandon. That's actually a good thing in my opinion because sooner or later even the dumbest slogan toting leftist is bound to see the silliness of blaming the "racist" victim for getting blown up by his religious enemy because the enemy's religion tells him to.

And I agree that ethnicity is only a part of the homogeniety issue, but it is a large part, and it is a part we still tend to shy away from in general discourse in the West. I know I do on the street...the explanitory subtext is simply too large to go into, so I effectively have the choice of keeping my mouth shut or being thought a mindless Nazi. I usually prefer the former, although I'm getting a bit better at the latter.

As you say, we like being with those who are like us. As you say, there is nothing wrong with that.

Voyager said...

This reminds me of Time Out magazine in England. Once I drafted an ad for the personals seeking a black girlfriend.

I was told they would not publish it because it was racially-specific and therefore discriminatory.

So I was left unable to find a black girlfriend through Time Out..............bit weird really having to put other girls to the trouble of responding to someone who would then have to filter responses by colour

Yorkshireminer said...

The Danes have a loverly saying “ Lige Børn leg beste” I hope I have spelt it right, I am certain the Danish readers will correct me, it is late at night and I don't have the motivation to go and get my Danish dictionary. The translation is “ Like Children play best” . Why is it that every generation has to learn again the lessons our grandparents and parent had learnt? Is it us the stupid old farts of a bygone generation who refuse to adapt, or is it our children who are so busy adapting to the changing world that they don't have the time or the ability to take on the balast of our experience.

Frank said...

Adapting to something may be a virtue or it may not be. A businessman adapting to new regulations is virtuous, but a lemming adapting to the inevitability of the cliff is not. There is no inherent Virtu in social adaptability.

hank_F_M said...

Baron

Centum mot Rasism

Do they mean there is prescription pill that cures racism?


Give it 20 or thirty years - if you support the government you can be as racist as you want, and if you don’t support the government you will be condemned as a racist no matter what your opinions.

hank_F_M said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Mission Impossible said...

voyager ... I can concur. I attempted something similar back in circa 1993 in the U.K.

I tried to place an advertisement specifying my desire to meet only Indian ladies, in a local newspaper published in Bristol. They refused the advertisement along so-called anti-racism "laws" in advertising.

Strangely, I seem to remember seeing many adverts being placed (around that time) that read -- to all intents and purposes -- as though white girls only wished to meet black males. I think one of the double-speak phrases they used read something like ... "prepared to meet white or black." Everyone knew what they really meant. Alternatively, they would swoon over their love of Reggae. The reason I felt I needed to be more explicit is because most Indian/Asian girls at that time simply refused to believe any white man would want them as a girlfriend, or more.

I ended up attending dinner-dances organized by an Asian association based in Southall (just outside London) and it was a lot of fun. I met some sexy honeys and I eventually got what I wanted. The only downside is that I had to do a lot more long-distance driving.

Douglas V. Gibbs said...

We are all racist to a point, because it is natural for someone to be more comfortable around what one is accustomed to. However, it seems to me that the most racist people in the world tend to be the ones that accuse others of being racist the most loudly.

hank_F_M said...

Baron

I know this is off subject. A different account of the history leading to the Battle of Vienna from an unexpected source.


Enjoy!

Baron

Zerosumgame said...

I strongly question the ethnic simulator.

Racial/ethnic mixing in terms of sex and marriage is greatly increasing in America, not decreasing.

The immigrants of a group may tend to live together, but for many groups -- Jews and various Asian nationalities in particular -- the generations born here have married into the general population very quickly.

Even black-white relationships, while certainly not the norm, are far more common than even just 10-15 years ago.

If anything, I would venture a guess that, free of societal prejudices, people are actually most strongly attracted to those from different groups as mates. I have no scientific evidence for this, only anecdotal observation, but in evolutionary terms, it would make sense, since nature abhors inbreeding.

Baron Bodissey said...

Zero --

You misunderstand the nature of the Ethnic Simulator.

If the Jews were the Yellows in the simulator, and you wanted to model their behavior, you would set their "preference" to zero, and then they would mix, and not segregate.

If you set it at 12.5%, even at that low preference, because of their low numbers, they would clump.

The Ethnic Simulator doesn't analyze why one group might prefer to mix and another not; it merely models what happens when such preferences are taken as given.

And the main point: the results occur without any assumption about how one group might feel about any other particular group.

X said...

That's been my experience too, oddly enough. People are attracted to anything that isn't the norm and once the initial fear has worn off the attraction can only grow. In fact I think the only reason intermarriage isn't more common is because of the continued use of racial politics discourages everyone else from associating and mixing with other people, lest someone accuse them of a racial faux-pas.

Terry Crane said...

Just a question: what about someone who migrated to be loyal to his/her new country and fully accept laws, values and behavioral patterns of civilised world, yet is born into a different race?

The problem with "multi-cuturalism" is that it is badly defined. And it is badly defined because if you define multi-culturalism properly, nobody will vote for it!

The problem is that Muslim migration rides on the backs of other people who took their responsibilities seriously and enriched their new homelands. The challenge is to separate Muslims form Jews, Chinese, Indians and other nice people who work hard, pay taxes, and raise children to become well-adapted members of civilised society.

Terry Crane said...

Btx, RACISM is a belief that a person's behavior is defined by their race rather then "culture". Someone demanding that migrans of all races fully assmilate is not a racist. then again, looks like many people support multi-culturalism because they don't want to see other races assimillating with them

You can say that MULTICULTURALISM == RACISM

Terry Crane said...

BTW, some Jews choose not to assimilate, yet you can send a provocatively dressed woman through a Jewish neighbouhood in the middle of the night. Or a drunk Christian man. Unless you so hate anyone behaving differently you can choke, that would be a safest trip possible.

You may know that a Muslim neighbouhood would be a different story.

dick said...

Regarding the ethnic simulator:

I think I can validate the premise. Here in southern connecticut, different towns are known for different communities. Not on ethnic lines. But: "this is more of an arty community". "That is more of conservative community". "This town tends to have a lot of doctors; that town a lot of attorneys". And so on.

There's no blacklisting that could have created this. It must simply have been a matter of, as you put it, people preferring to live among their own kind. In this case, attitudinal types rather than ethnic.

I'm sure that this tendency is even stronger when ethnicity becomes the criterion. Not necessarily skin color, either. When I lived in westchester county new york, it was obvious that some towns had a high proportion of irish-americans; some had a lot of italian-americans. And so on.

Thank you for pointing this out. Even with the evidence in front of me, I never grasped the implications. People will cluster into groups, regardless of whether or not barriers are erected against them.

Simon de Montfort said...

"ln" had some interesting things that he started to say about the role of the Global Economy in creating the tide of Muslim and African immigration into Europe during the last two decades. I don't think that a global economy REQUIRES immigration--certainly not on the scale of the last twenty years. There are other factors at work which explain why the elites and governing authorities in Europe will not act more effectively to protect Western civilization

So, yes, AlGore IS an idiot and a left-wing clown, and does not know scheiss from Shinola

As to the main point of the topic, I have no idea why the Western elites are committing suicide--or why most of us non-elites are letting they take away our children's future

kepiblanc said...

ln said : Why hasn't a gifted H. C. Anderson given such a successful and innovative story about human ingenious and innovative activity a nice litterary costume -- like The Emperor's Cloths?

Well, he has. Twice. Like "Konen med Æggene" (The Wife and Her Eggs) and "Hvad Fatter gør er altid det rigtige" (What Daddy does is always Right).

Your post on the Swedish "Immigration Industry" is shocking and hits the nail right on the head. Here in Denmark there isn't much immigration anymore (well, at least not Muslim), so our "Immigration Industry" quickly converted itself into a "Goodness Industry" sufficiently large to own an entire political party, "De Radikale" (The naming conventions of Danish political parties is a story that could fill a comics magazine).

LN - do you see any progress towards freedom under the your new government ?

Zero Ponsdorf said...

There's something missing here, maybe?

If it's racist simply want to live in an area with folks of your own language and culture, then is it racist for certain ethics groups live in Chinatown, or Little Saigon, et al?

Or is this one of those situations where only whites can be racists? I keep getting confused.

kepiblanc said...

Ln said: What will happen in DK if Nasser Kader will bite? Everything will be lost, or?? Back to zero?

He doesn't bite. And if he did nothing would change because he would only transfer voters from his present party - "De Radikale" - a.k.a "De Ridicyle" or "De Radigale".