By Enrique Tessieri
A story by tabloid Iltalehti on February 28 that Perussuomalaiset (PS) party MP Teuvo Hakkarainen was widely known and had “cult status” among the Hondurans. Who knows him and where has he become a cult in a country one third the size of Finland?
What is surprising is that the news by Iltalehti was published on the same day that another scandal by Hakkarainen hit the news when he ended up drunk at the premises of the Bandidos Motorbike Club and gave a prostitute 100 euros out of pity.
The woman who got the 100 euros stated on Seiska magazine that Hakkarainen wanted to pay for sex. The PS MP had forgotten as well his brief case, which according to him, had an underwear with “yellow stains in the front and brown skid marks in the back.”
Is there a connection here? The Bandidos Bike Club and the”cult figure” story somewhere faraway in Honduras?
Migrant Tales went through four dailies in Honduras (El Heraldo, La Prensa, Proceso and Tiempo) and no Teuvo Hakkarainen came up in any search.
Moreover, I have a cousin who lives in the capital Tegucigalpa. According to him, none of his friends, who are pretty well placed in Honduras, had ever heard of Hakkarainen.
Maybe some sawmills know him but does that turn him into a cult figure?
As a diligent Iltalehti and Iltasanomat reader, ive to say and believe that both are run by P.S.
It’s amazing how they cover things up for this guy or any other P.s member, when they screw up. Sometimes i get the feeling of, maybe P.S runs the whole country and others are just powerless beside them
D4R I don’t know if they are run by the PS but they sure share some of their ideas. Ever read the headlines of Iltalehti and Iltasanomat when the first Somalis came to Finland in the early 1990s?
I would like to go to the archives and publish them on Migrant Tales. Those racist headlines would appear like the blog writings of people like Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari and others. It would turn a lot of journalists’ faces red.
Migrant Tales: D4R I don’t know if they are run by the PS but they sure share some of their ideas. Ever read the headlines of Iltalehti and Iltasanomat when the first Somalis came to Finland in the early 1990s?
I would like to go to the archives and publish them on Migrant Tales. Those racist headlines would appear like the blog writings of people like Jussi Halla-aho, James Hirvisaari and others. It would turn a lot of journalists’ faces red.
Where can i read those headlines online?? is there any website?
It’s clear that Finnish madia has a racist tendency. Just a week ago came Seiska magazine new edit, where they clearly use The N word made by hakkarainen. Why is’t so hard for Finns to understand that, the N word is offensive to dark skin tones people, and that, the word has negative history behind. People were, raped, killed and tortured while the weord being used. I mean i don’t understand why some Finns are so fond of using the N word, even the Finnish media. I guess it must be the superiority Some Finns like to have, so to look down others just to feel up lifted.
D4R
Hopefully you don’t pay for those rags.
I m surprised at your perception of bias, given the enthusiasm that IL and IS have shown for exposing various scandals and peccadillos surrounding the peruSSuomalaiset.
What I find instead is sloppy journalism and lack of balance, often motivated by an overzealous desire to carry sensationalist headlines. The example of accommodating asylum seekers in a disused hotel was particularly egregious, given that this was easily the most cost-effective option available under the specific circumstances at the time. Another example concerned an immigrant family that got a car through social services. The article failed to mention that any rural family with a severely disabled child would receive such a benefit. The headline is all that a certain type of semi-evolved troll (we get them here often enough) cares to remember, resulting in urban myths that are used by the fascists to manipulate the simple-minded.
Justicedemon. I m surprised at your perception of bias, given the enthusiasm that IL and IS have shown for exposing various scandals and peccadillos surrounding the peruSSuomalaiset.
I guess you’re right, bias is a strong word, more like slobby journlism. Im still devoloping my english skills, i sometimes use wrong term for different meaning. Justice, Thank you for correcting me.
Maybe he enjoys “cult status” amongst the gangsters of Honduras.
I also wouldn’t call the Bandidos a “Motorbike Club” but rather a Gang. They’re part of an international criminal organization. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bandidos_Motorcycle_Club
BlandaUpp
It’s called ”percentage club” by the police
The story was about sawmill maintenance training that he has been giving in honduras for years. In the story the cult reference was made in respect of that particular specialist area.
Personally i think he is just new Matti Nykanen, subintelligent but controversial. Matti gets out of jail soon, so i suppose Hakkarainen will disappear from the headlines.
It is a horrible thing that the media wrote one (1) positive story about Hakkarainen, maybe even proposing that he is a human being and not 100 % evil? They have already wrote about a few thousand stories of his mistakes and scandals. Just horrible, “maybe P.S runs the whole country”? Those real winners of the elections sitting now in opposition when the losers of those same elections sit in the government. Yeah, seems like they are running the whole country… There must be a conspiracy somewhere and institutional racism and so on… 😀
Are your kidding me?
Elven archer
Electing idiots like Hakkarainen to parliament reflects badly on our society and our image abroard. Of course PS voters don’t care about these things even though it has a negative effect on our economy. What if PS were running the country? Would he be the minister of education? Minister of sport and culture?
BlandaUpp, why don’t you just be straight and say honestly that you don’t like democracy, unless it’s a selective democracy where people YOU don’t like are first filtered out.
Farang
It’s not about liking certain people, it’s about expecting people to behave in a civilized manner on planet earth in 2012. PS politicians have shown themselves time and again with their statements and actions to be bigots unsuitable for living in the globalized world in 2012.
The irony of the PS leaders supporting the more pro-EU and pro-NATO candidate over the Gay candidate in the presidential elections is a case in point. It showed that they don’t really stand by their anti-EU agenda, leaving anti-immigration as the only leg they have to stand on.
If these anti-intellectuals are the people you want to represent us as the face of our country, the country with arguably the best education system in the world, then by all means, go ahead, but be prepared to watch us rapidly sink down the rankings in educational and technical achievements.
Nice. So you see Pekka Haavisto just as GAY candidate. What does that tell about you…
Farang
Yeah, that’s how YOU would read what I said.
“Electing idiots like Hakkarainen to parliament reflects badly on our society and our image abroard. Of course PS voters don’t care about these things even though it has a negative effect on our economy.”
So Hakkarainen needs be demonized? When there’s one story in the news suggesting the the man done something good in his life, helping the economies of the developing countries with his know-how, it is to be condemned? Because that was the question. His mistakes are known to everybody. Do you believe it it wrong for a change say something positive about him? Why?
Elven, do you really think that Hakkarainen is “helping” a developing country like Honduras. I asked around and none of my sources had ever heard of this so-called “cult figure.” Not even the main dailies of the country had written a single iota on him. Honduras is a country that is underdeveloped, rife with poverty and social injustice. It has issues with democracy. Probably the story should be: Hakkarainen feels at home in Honduras.
The question I would like to ask you is: Do you think Hakkarainen’s behavior is becoming of a Finnish MP? Is it ok to make racist statements if you are a public figure?
“do you really think that Hakkarainen is “helping” a developing country like Honduras. I asked around and none of my sources had ever heard of this so-called “cult figure.””
Maybe he’s not a cult figure, but he’s taken his know-how to there. So yes, I would call that helping. That’s the best kind of help you can give, “teach somebody to fish”.
Why are you so against it?
“Do you think Hakkarainen’s behavior is becoming of a Finnish MP?”
No, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t say he’s done something good in his life. Why do you want so badly to him demonized? One positive story about him makes you upset.
Enrique
You really are a piece of work… I raised this same question as Elven Archer here on a earlier blog entry, you never gave an answer and now repeat your mantra here.
I repeat my earlier question for you here.
Iltalehti ran the article about Hakkarainen and Honduras on their 28.2. edition. Later that day Nelonen, a channel of the competing Sanoma group ran the news about Hakkarainen’s Bandidos visit. This information is available to anyone who wants to look for it, not just sensationalise.
You can start by reading the definition of cult following.
With all that enthusiasm you’re reporting this Iltalehti article, one would think you’d actually have read it. It says right there “Jokainen sahamies Hondurasissa ja Nicaraguassa tuntee Hakkaraisen. Milloin tahansa hän tuleekin Väli-Amerikkaan, miehelle tarjotaan ilmainen ylöspito. Paikalliset ihastuivat Hakkaraisen kansanomaiseen tyyliin ja huippuluokan ammattitaitoon.”
You can take even that with the usual grain of Iltalehti salt, but still what remains is that Hakkarainen was there and made an impression.
By the same (unexisting) logic we can say your cousin and his friends feel at home with social injustice?
You are a journalist by your own words. But to me your just a sensationalist with integrity of these magazines you’re quoting, with a little Hymy in the mix.
Mirian, why is that you jump every time I press the Hakkarainen button? I have no pity for a politician who doesn’t know how to control what he says. How many immigrants live in Viitasaari by the way?
But the big question about Hakkarainen is if he does so (a) because he doesn’t know the difference or (b) because he does and likes publicity?
–By the same (unexisting) logic we can say your cousin and his friends feel at home with social injustice?
Certainly there is a difference: Hakkarainen lives in Finland and my cousin lives there because he has to.
Elven
Just for the record, I conceded this point in another thread, and said that clearly this kind of work brings out the best in him and that he should leave politics alone, because that clearly brings out the worst in him.
Actually what would upset me about this is how some people might say that ‘hey, how can he be a racist, look what he did in Honduras!’ which is pretty much what the article implied from the comments supposedly made by some Honduran. You think Enrique is being black and white about it, but in reality, the way the story was written it was very clearly creating a black or white scenario!
Why don’t you take issue with that Elven. That’s what pissed off Enrique!
Hakkarainen is not the point I am having here. We could call him subject X and it wouldn’t change my point. You are milking Hakkarainen, because you enjoy it. It is your intention to ridicule and report untruthfully that makes me jump. This whole blog entry is sensationalist twisting and misinformation, and you knew it when you wrote it. You can say you have no pity to a politician who doesn’t know how to control what he says. You have that control and choose to write this, I have no pity for you.
Why? According to Wikipedia other than finnish or sweadish speakers make up 0,9% so with a population of 7049 that ends up as somwhere around 60.
Can you tell me how do you come to the conclusion Hakkarainen feels at home in social injustice?
–You are milking Hakkarainen, because you enjoy it. It is your intention to ridicule and report untruthfully that makes me jump.
Did I put all those insults in Hakkarainen’s mouth? Did I tell him to send Somalis and gays to Åland? Did I get him drunk and forced him to go to the Bandidots MC? Did I state that I was a teetotaler but was drinking anyway on the side? Was I kicked out of a bar in summer and was too drunk to stand on my feet? Not. All these things suggest that Hakkarainen is not in control of himself and has misled voters. Are you disappointed because he belongs to the PS an he is making the party look bad?
You should ask that question to Hakkarainen, not point the finger at me.
There is a saying that you probably know and may sound like a cliché: “You get the leaders (MPs) you deserve.”
Did I deny any of those , or even mention them? You can’t make up stuff just because he is a moron.
I repeat what this problem I’m having is about:
1. Iltalehti ran the article about Hakkarainen and Honduras on their 28.2. edition. Later that day Nelonen, a channel of the competing Sanoma group ran the news about Hakkarainen’s Bandidos visit. This information is available to anyone who wants to look for it, not just sensationalise.
You ignore this and made a blog entry with a speculation about connection between these two. “Is there a connection here? The Bandidos Bike Club and the”cult figure” story somewhere faraway in Honduras?” you chose to use as a lift (nosto in finnish, don’t know if that is the correct term in english?).
2. The cult following. As a journalist you should have eye to how tabloids present their matter, and in addition Iltalehti article spesifically mentions he is known in saw industry, yet you go on some pseudo journalistic trip about searching newspapers and asking your cousin and not finding a mention of Hakkarainen. Well duh.
3. Your overall denial of any merit in what Hakkarainen did in Honduras, which makes you look stubborn to comical measure. This includes your presumption that Hakkarainen feels at home in social injustice.
Also, you haven’t answered any of my numerous questions, answering which of would make you rationalise your behaviour.
“I have no pity”
Yes, I see. So even one little positive story about the good side of mister Hakkarainen is too much for you. So you try to take away even that from him. This blog is so biased, I just can’t believe it. Mr. Hakkarainen can be friends with Pekka Haavisto. Maybe there’s a decent guy under the rough edges or at least not 100% pure evil? Did you ever think about that? And if he is not all bad, is it not a decent thing to do to report also that? To be fair, to be NOT biased? He’s getting treatment for his problems with alcohol but you just bash him when media shows his good side. The side which takes his know-how to the development countries.
“Did I tell him to send Somalis and gays to Åland?”
No, you didn’t even understand what that was all about. Teuvo could at least put a joke together linking together islam (he talked about minarets) and the gay community. Ask UN what is the islamic countries’ view about homosexuality? Check yesterdays news about that! No, you didn’t get that. You just took it as literally as you could. It was a joke and still more clever than some can even begin to understand.
“You ignore this and made a blog entry with a speculation about connection between these two. “Is there a connection here?”
Some kind of conspiracy against immigrants… what would this whole blog be without that kind of implying and “asking questions”? 12 words? 😀