The thing about Europe: it’s the actual land of the free now
Europe’s very real problems don’t look so bad by comparison
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Nice article, I like how it is basically a list of things about Europe that aren't that great but then ends with "But in their own plodding way, Europeans have created a place where they are guaranteed rights to what others yearn for: life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
Yeah... For now. It's a fatal mistake to think what's going on here in the US hasn't already been spreading.
As an American it's wild to me that there are people in other countries who have seen what he did in his last term, are seeing what he's doing now, seeing the effects of that, and thinking to themselves "I want that in MY country!"
They're not; I don't think far-right followers are closely following American politics or even know that Trump is a far-right leader. What Trump ripoff fans do think is "I want those undesirables out of my country," and while Europe is more egalitarian than America in many ways Europeans are in general pretty racist. I'll probably get downvoted to hell because this is c/Europe (maybe not), but I mean take a look at this shit:
According to a study in 2018 by Leipzig University, 56% of Germans sometimes thought the many Muslims made them feel like strangers in their own country, up from 43% in 2014. In 2018, 44% thought immigration by Muslims should be banned, up from 37% in 2014.[26]
And this is in 2018, with Muslim migrants taking up less than 7% of the population. And before anyone says anything about crime, that's rightwing propaganda and exactly what I'm talking about. Migrants, Muslim or not, aren't more likely to commit crimes and immigration isn't linked to increased crime rates. It's not a surprise at all that the far-right is making headways in Europe to be honest.
Ask how many Berliners are worried about Swabians taking over the city and you'll hear a similar answer, including the "stranger in their own city" part. You'd also be surprised how much friction there is between people with Turkish background and fresh Arab arrivals.
Or, differently put: You can't just pick out a random signifier, such as "Muslim", and expect the numbers to tell you much. In particular because you'll hear the answer "yeah let's not invite any more Muslims" from many Muslims. Those being Turks saying "we don't want Arabs and their clan structures here, don't want Germany to become bumfuck Anatolia".
It's also important to distinguish anti-immigration vs. anti-immigrant sentiment. Especially in the East with its overall low percentage of foreigners (which, yet, grew much faster than it ever did in the west so people had less time to get used to it), it's often "we don't want more" in unison with "we really like Hasan he's the only one raising the village's flag on Sunday, the only place where you can go, and he makes really good food".
Lastly, you don't have to do your own analysis, here. You jumped from "feels like a stranger in their own country when seeing a Turkish marriage", which is an a priori, subjective, judgement, to "is racist". That's not how things work, people are perfectly capable of feeling one way at one time and then say "well that was one time and I'm happy for the couple". What you're looking for are the numbers for (geschlossenes) rechtsextremes Weltbild ((closed) right-extreme worldview) as well as measurements of various forms of gruppenbezogene Menschenfeindlichkeit (group-focussed enmity).
Try this study. (There's an "English summary" link there, full version is only available in German. The FES is a foundation independent of, but associated with the SPD (SocDems, at least on their good days))
Or, differently put: You can't just pick out a random signifier, such as "Muslim", and expect the numbers to tell you much.
It's a good shorthand that allows us to see what, say, Germans think of an archetypical Other.
It's also important to distinguish anti-immigration vs. anti-immigrant sentiment. Especially in the East with its overall low percentage of foreigners (which, yet, grew much faster than it ever did in the west so people had less time to get used to it), it's often "we don't want more" in unison with "we really like Hasan he's the only one raising the village's flag on Sunday, the only place where you can go, and he makes really good food".
My dude don't try to convince me that "ban Muslim immigration" and "we really like Hasan" are compatible statements except in a "he's one of the good ones" kind of way. "We don't want more" can only come from someone who believes immigrants are a problem that needs to be solved.
I won't try to convince you because you seem to be hanging onto a narrative in face of being given a thorough study of what you're interested in.
"hidden" racism in german is so awful. They be talking about some minority and how chill everything is and then comes a but,... and you just already know the discussions has gone to the dogs.
Well, 13h in with now being 5:30 PM in most of Europe and judging by the number of upvotes and downvotes on your post (13 to nil), I would like to think that your expectations on unwillingness to admit to Racism in Europe by lemmie crowd that frequents c/Europe, have not been proven.
Pleasantly surprised tbh.
I disagree. Hungary and Poland going utterly authoritarian came before America. If anything, they are parallel processes going on in Europe and the US.
Nah.. Europe's countries still have their own laws so you can't just "take control of europe" like Trump took control of the US. You can't just appoint a European leader that just destroys everything the predecessor has done.
