THIS STORY WAS UPDATED
As the troubled dust settles over Friday’s vote in parliament that kept Perussuomalaiset (PS)* Juha Mäenpää’s immunity from persecution, the arguments for or against have little or nothing to do with freedom of speech but expose white supremacist privilege.
Even if the Finnish constitution and integration program speak of a two-way process, in practice, it is only a one-way street.
Bengt Holmström, a Finnish economist who received the Nobel Prize in economics in 2016, said it all two years ago in an interview in YLE.
“It’s good for them [migrants],” he said. “By the same token, it would let them move up the [social] ladder, and it would not irritate Finns so much [because foreigners have done little to nothing to build the country’s social welfare system that has taken white Finns decades].”
While Holmström says that the best way of integrating newcomers and their children in Finland is social inequality, others say it less directly but mean the same thing.
Turku University assistant professor Markku Jokisipilä is another “learned” Finn who defends white Finnish privilege to the core. It became evident after Friday’s vote in parliament, concerning Mäenpää’s parliamentary immunity.
A year ago, Mäenpää labeled asylum seekers, which is code for Muslim in the PS vocabulary, “an invasive species.”
Without even weighing how offensive the PS MP’s words are to migrants and minorities in Finland, Jokisipilä believes that the incident could encourage greater self-censorship among MPs.
“It remains to be seen whether there will be a list of topics that cannot be talked about with the same openness and critical thinking of other topics,” he said in Turun Sanomat.
He also suggested in the interview that there were different types of cultures. Since this was the case, politicians and people, in general, should be able to criticize different cultures or ethnic groups.
One matter that I have never understood, when reading the mindset of people like Holmström and Jokisipilä, is why is it ok to speak in a demeaning manner of migrants and minorities, who don’t have the same privileges and power they enjoy?
Why wouldn’t anyone try the same crude and offensive expressions with women?
Indeed, such women are white, and all hell would break loose as we saw with the Jukka Hankamäki misogynist publication fiasco of “Truth inciters.”
The reaction to Hankamäki’s publication, which was taken down from the Internet two days after its publication, does not imply that there is full gender equality in Finland.
FINNISH WHITE PRIVILEGE #71
Hate speech, as the Mäenpää case shows, is not only an example of white Finnish privilege but its supremacy over non-white people. White Finnish privilege has such deep roots in our society that we have people like Holmström, Jokisipilä, even political parties like the PS, openly endorsing status-quo social inequality.
Disagree? Listen to the excuses for Mäenpää’s racist invasive species outburst by MPs of the PS, National Coalition Party, and Christian Democrat parties. Some of these included: “[Mäenpää] chose his words incorrectly, it was a gag, a joke, a slip [of the tongue], a bad joke, those who don’t understand [what he said] have no sense of humor.”
Yes, true. It may be “a joke” to some in parliament, but I doubt that it is for those people whom Mäenpää labeled in the most hostile and demeaning manner.
See also:
- Defining white Finnish privilege #1: I have it and you don’t
- Defining white Finnish privilege #2: Third culture children versus “pupil with immigrant background”
- Defining white Finnish privilege #3 No history, no doctrine, no heroes and no martyrs
- Defining white Finnish privilege #4 Holding the short end of the stick
- Defining white Finnish privilege #5 It’s ok to be a racist
- Defining white Finnish privilege #6 Not having a voice and the media
- Defining white Finnish privilege #7 A definitive guide
- Defining white Finnish privilege #8 Underrated and less intelligent
- Defining white Finnish privilege #9 Mohammad Ali’s insight
- Defining white Finnish privilege #10 I can victimize and make up any story I like about migrants because I’m white
- Defining white Finnish privilege #11: Case Teuvo Hakkarainen
- Defining white Finnish privilege #12: Case Tom Packalén
- Defining white Finnish privilege #13: Case Matti Putkonen
- Defining white Finnish privilege #14: Losing sight of the real issue
- Defining white Finnish privilege #15: Case Halla-ago on the PS
- Defining white Finnish privilege #16: Rosa Emilia Clay and my history versus yours
- Defining white Finnish privilege #17: The Perussuomalaiset and our civil rights
- Defining white Finnish privilege #18: Labeling others according to your prejudice
- Defining white Finnish privilege #19: My rape statistics about your group
- Defining white Finnish privilege #20: Labeling Others to strengthen “us” and “them.”
- Defining white Finnish privilege #21: Who can be a Finn?
- Defining white Finnish privilege #22: From racist, fascist to a politician without memory
- Defining white Finnish privilege #23: Greater police powers to monitor migrants and minorities
- Defining white Finnish privilege #24: Becoming a heartless accomplice in wars and people’s suffering
- Defining white Finnish privilege #25: This land is my land, this isn’t your land
- Defining white Finnish privilege #26: Are you an ethnic Finn?
- Defining white Finnish privilege #27: White versus Other media
- Defining white Finnish privilege #28: Are you an ethnic Finn (Part 2)?
- Defining white Finnish privilege #29: Your family is worth less than mine
- White Finnish privilege #30: Whitewashing and racializing the news
- White Finnish privilege #31: The Soldiers of Odin and the Finnish media
- White Finnish privilege #32: The white Finnish police and “them”
- White Finnish privilege #33: Appropriating our narrative to maintain the status quo, amass more power and privilege
- White Finnish privilege #34: Building a political career on privilege and nativist nationalism
- White Finnish privilege #35: Case Sampo Terho and the ministry of (dis)culture
- White Finnish privilege #36: Hate speech and censorship
- White Finnish privilege #37: The master of near-everything
- Defining white Finnish privilege #38: Cultural appropriation and racism are quaint discussion topics between white Finns
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #39: The Hollywood ending of racism that will never happen in Finland
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #40: To whitewash or to disenfranchise
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #41: An Islamophobic politician and gender equality
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #42: Labeling and shaming
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #43: White versus dark skin
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #44: Defending Nazis’ rights to march is ok as long we agree on the common enemy
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #45: Do blondes have more fun?
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #46: Teuvo Hakkarainen = white racism and sexism
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #47: President Sauli Niinistö’s “culture inside four walls”
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #48: Allow me to smear your religion so mine can shine
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #49: When white privilege backfires
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #50: Caving in to white narratives
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #51: The police are the defenders of white power and privilege
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #52: Having no privilege is dangerous
- White Finnish privilege #53: Plan Finland’s unplanned pregnancy campaign #ProtectBlackGirlsToo #Whatofme
- White Finnish privilege #54: Disguising your racism, bigotry, and prejudices effectively
- White Finnish privilege #55: It’s that time of the year – Christmas!
- White Finnish privilege #56: How Islamophobic is Finland?
- White Finnish privilege #57: Finland’s “hostile environment” against migrants
- White Finnish privilege #58: How the police, media and politicians fuel Finland’s hostile environment against Muslims and migrants
- White Finnish privilege #59: In this country, you are guilty before proven innocent
- White Finnish privilege #60: Oulu, OULU! Awaken and sniff the racist coffee.
- Exposing Finnish white privilege #61: #NoRacismInUniversity #WeAreNotSkinColour
- Exposing Finnish white privilege #62: On free speech and scared white men
- Exposing Finnish white privilege #63: Silence and acting dumb are the swords of institutional racism
- Exposing Finnish white privilege #64: The cancer of institutional racism in Finland
- Exposing Finnish white privilege #65: Racism exists because our society profits from it
- Exposing Finnish white privilege #66: Abdirahim Husu Hussein and dealing with racist passengers in a racist environment
- Exposing Finnish white privilege #67: Pirkka-Pekka Petelius’ apology exposes deep-rooted white Finnish supremacy
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #68: The party that injects Finland’s Islamophobia with steroids and other hate-enhancing drugs
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #69: At the dentist – do you speak Finnish?
- Exposing white Finnish privilege #70: At the dentist’s and where are you from?
