Nov
14th
2015
Paris · 4:27am Nov 14th, 2015
Fuck fucking Dammit! What in the fuck? What the hell, man?
And is it cold that I'm already considering the political implications of this? And what is anyone supposed to do about this? Literally all I can think of is to send a letter to my congressman or something about how we're frankly probably going to need to pick up the slack on the number of refugees we take in. The professional xenophobes are going to make hay out of this, I promise you.
Any swing far to the left always prompts a corresponding swing far to the right. It's about to happen Europe, and it already is happening in a lot of places. The time for next crusade is now.
3541299 I don't know about that first one. The rise of the tea party in the US hasn't brought the hard left out of the woodwork; it's just shifted the Overton window (I mean the range of socially acceptable political opinions) so far the right that centrist corporatism looks like welfare-state socialism to a good percentage of the country (because god damn does the right hate Obama, who, by the standards of the rest of the free world, is a staunch capitalist).
In the same way, depending on popular European sentiment about the relationship between the refugees and these attacks, the European left may have to be more cautious in the future in how it talks about Middle Eastern foreigners. I vividly remember how America reacted to 9-11, and it wasn't pretty from any angle.
3541376 Fiction is ABOUT the world, sucka. Art hurts because it's real. There is no escape.
Professional xenophobes get their day because fools rush in.
3541331
No, it doesn't work like that. The cycle is always shit-reform-backlash, and the first isn't really part of the cycle, just the starting point. There's no such thing as a reform by going far to the right, because the right is against reform by definition. Being right prompts reform, being left prompts backlash. You can see this in the US after World War I, after the Sixties, and a few others.
3541331
Yeah, seen from this side of the pond he's a centre-right corporatist. European centre-right politicians would be left or far left in the US I guess.
The left will still have a say over here, if anything just look at Germany where all the crises of the last decade actually has had a positive effect on the left's results in elections. The current far-right nutcases there who get all the screentime are in no way representative of the political mood and still aren't supported by any notable percentage of the population. I don't know where the UK has drifted to though... somewhere out to Tory lalaland.
Now my precious little Denmark has drifted far to the right.
Currently I'd support us being annexed by Germany. At least we'd then get some remotely competent politicians here instead of the bumbling amateurs we have.
3541544 Could you be more specific with those examples, though? My memory of the early 20th century is hazy due to not existing yet, and I don't know my history because I can't read.
3541680 Seeing someone say Denmark has shifted right is so surreal to this particular American. Our populist left idealizes the Nordic socialism model. Socialized health care, socialized education, gun laws, labor laws, all that. Meanwhile our right wing presidential candidates are promising that, if elected, they'll implement a flat tax of around 15% (exact number depends on the candidate) and change the constitution to make gay marriage illegal.
3542082
The far right in the US is... well... I don't think there actually is a term in any European country for their political position.
The Nordic socialism is what has made Scandinavia great, that's true. Norway and Sweden are still mostly holding onto it, even though it's been eroded by nationalism and corporatism, but not to a serious degree.
Denmark however got a conservative(more like neocon)/nationalist government in 2000 that was in power until 2010. Then we got a 'red' government that did a New Labour on us and tried to outflank the conservatives on right-wing economics. Now we have the conservatives/nationalists back again for at least five more years. Problem now is: The conservatives only made third place in the elections with 22% while the nationalists got 29%.
Now I realize that our right-wing is rather cuddly compared to yours, but it's a big deal for this little country. The effects are becoming visible now. The wealth gap is widening rapidly, banks don't have more regulation than before the crash (except for having being guaranteed a bailout should it happen again), social services are being cut. The latter is happening at a frightening pace.
The government is heavily subsidizing privatisation of infrastructure, healthcare and de-funding childcare and the free educational system as quickly as they can get away with. There is a whole bunch of detrimental laws waiting to be pushed through parliament - and they'll jump on the opportunity Paris is offering them. Get them through while everybody's attention is elsewhere.
It really couldn't have happened at a more opportune moment anyway: the government is finalising the largest weapons deal in Danish history: fighter jets for about 6-7 billion dollars. That is a HUGE amount of money for this little country. But they are telling us they can't find any money for social services anymore.
The real tragedy though isn't that they didn't have a mandate for most of this (they've broken nearly every election promise so far) but that still 52% of the populace would vote for them again!
So that's why I'm saying that Denmark has shifted right and are accelerating in that direction. It's far-right for Scandinavian conditions, yes. But our prime minister doesn't make any secret about his admiration for the US and its system. And you know it's become worrying when Chancellor Merkel of Germany openly expresses her concerns over the Danish right-wing's success in the recent elections...
3542272 Oof. Reading that, I'm having trouble even pretending to be nonpartisan. Privatizing infrastructure? And what are the jets for?