Monday, September 15, 2008

A Call to Globalize the Local

Regular readers will be familiar with TheLocal, a Swedish website featuring news in English. We often use it for an information source, since it covers most significant Swedish news.

SIOE Sverige, however, is not happy with the level of commentary to be found at TheLocal’s reader forums. It has issued a call for action, and sends an English translation:

Call for Action!

Anyone reading our newspapers would come away with a very distorted understanding of Sweden the way it has become today. In some cases some organizations and individuals propagate deliberate distortions. We have all in our own ways contributed in various venues to set the record straight with a hope that a reversal of current policies will be achieved. We are now asking for a directed action to counter distortions being made by one of our more visible media forums. We ask that those of you who can write in English please register as a user in the Discuss Forum of TheLocal.se and TheLocal.de.

TheLocal is an online newspaper which provides Swedish news in English and the German counterpart TheLocal.de provides German news in English. These sites have a large readership. The forums on these newspaper sites are infested with native sons and expatriates who are bent on the destruction of the social fabric of our country and of Europe in general. Because these forums are highly visible we call you to action to correct the deliberate distortions.

The administrators of TheLocal.se and TheLocal.de are diligent in their moderation. Users must register and wait a 24 hour period before they are allowed to post. Posts are written in English and must comply with basic rules of etiquette. Violations of those rules will result in users having their UserIDs banned and IP addresses blocked to the User Forums. Users can register here for TheLocal.se and here for TheLocal.de, and forum threads can be read here for Sweden and here for Germany.

While TheLocal has many threads that could use well constructed replies by our readers we are suggesting the following as a starting point:
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“SWEDEN 2035”

This thread begins with a well thought out description of Sweden in the future.

“The year is 2035. I am an old man. My knees are weak and wobbly and my heart beats irregularly. I know that my days are counted. But before I die I decide to visit my first love- Sweden. It has been years since I breathed the fresh air of the Swedish clean towns and walked the street drooling over beautiful blondes.

I sit in the aeroplane and listen to the mellifluous voice of a flight attendant who says,” As we all know we do not serve alcoholic drinks on Swedish planes so please enjoy our huge collection of juices, lemonades and teas and Turkish coffee.

And before the aeroplane starts off from the loudspeakers I hear the voice of the pilot who says, “Our dear passengers I am going to recite sura Fatiha and ask God to give us a safe flight.”

Join us in our effort to correct the record by countering posts made by those who are greasing the rails on Europe’s path to destruction.

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