Comment: It is truly sad to read about how some immigrants face racism in this country on a daily basis.
What is surprising in the HS story below is a comment by Perussuomalaiset (PS) MP Tom Packalén. A policeman by profession, Packalén claims that Finland isn’t a racist country. “When comparing the size of Helsinki for example there is very little racist violence compared with other countries,” he said.
Isn’t it interesting how it is always NOT the victim of racism that is playing down this social ill in Finland?
Pakalén’s denial and that of other people could reflect the low social position that immigrants have in Finnish society. Since immigrants are not important, a good way of robbing them of their identity and a better place in society is by denying any serious problems in that community. In other words, denying racism could be a way of rejecting Finland’s cultural diversity.
Do you agree?
Thank you JusticeDemon for the link!
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Afrikkalaisperheen lasten rattaista löytyy koiran kakkaa, 18 vuotta Suomessa asunutta, töissä käyvää naista käsketään palaamaan kotimaahansa. HS kysyi toukokuun alussa lukijoiden rasismikokemuksista Suomessa. Siitä lähtien toimitukseen on saapunut useita kirjoituksia rasismista.
There is no racism in Finland.
Obviously mere reports sent to a newspaper by alleged victims constitute no evidence of any misconduct by the indigenous population. There is no evidence that the dog’s turd ever existed (you know what liars these Africans are) or if it did exist, then there it was probably put there by another African. If it was put there by a Finn after all, then this was legitimate freedom of expression by a true patriot provoked beyond the limits of reasonable restraint by an evil crypto-communist immigration policy, and we have to ask what the African family was doing in Finland in the first place. No African family in Finland = no dog’s turds in their pushchair – you can’t argue with that logic.
The article and most of the readers’ comments focus on the passivity of bystanders when alleged incidents of this kind occur, but clearly tutkia ja kansalaisaktiivi (a euphemism for a middle-class socialist who has never had a real job) Sirkku Varjonen has failed to understand that we Finns are naturally reserved and do not interfere in the affairs of others. Looking the other way and pretending not to notice such events is part of our Finnish culture, which Varjonen (a shady name if ever I heard one) obviously does not respect and seeks to destroy by introducing dangerous foreign influences. It is obvious from any intelligent exegesis of Luke 10:25-37 that the Arab from the Shomron was an early recruiting sergeant for Al Qaeda seeking to… (contd. p. 94)
Packalén is right on one minor point: ANYONE looking or sounding different can be the target of such mischiefs. For instance, I recall reading every now and then cases of Finnish couples who relocated to the other end of the country because of a new job and their children got harassed, simply because they spoke the Finnish of a different region, to the point of committing suicide because they couldn’t standing going to school anymore. This being said, while Packalén is correct that the victims’ ethnic background is a side-issue, he failed to address the Finns’ general intolerance towards anyone who differs from THEIR own idea of normality. I’ll emphasize the OWN IDEA aspect, because whenever someone does things differently, their ethnic background is assumed to be the reason, rather than the possibility that there can be more than one way to perceive reality or to accomplish a task. Myself, I’ve stopped counting the number of times a random Finn started their remonstrance by saying “I don’t know how they do things in your back of the woods but, here, in Finland we …” and refusing to hear that their own version of The Truth is not the only valid Finnish choice, until another Finn would show up and point out that they, too, perceive things the same way as me or do things the same way as me, which would confuse the hell out of my accuser and make them go “Oh, really? You do it that way too? Well, anyhow, *I* do it this way and I don’t like it when others do it differently…”