The far right is on the rise across Europe as a new generation of young, web-based supporters embrace hardline nationalist and anti-immigrant groups, a study has revealed ahead of a meeting of politicians and academics in Brussels to examine the phenomenon.I have to admit I was shocked at the rabid savagery aimed at protesters of the Iraq invasion during Bush's reign of terror. The delight at going to war.. any war... after 9/11. The belittling of the humanity of the citizens of Iraq, Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan, etc etc. The bizarre embrace of torture with assurances it wasn't really torture and besides the detainees were islamofascists and Jesus would have approved. The suggestion that using nukes really wouldn't be so horrible. We have our own American Taliban and Nazis right here, despite our best efforts in education and exposure to other cultures.Research by the British thinktank Demos for the first time examines attitudes among supporters of the far right online. Using advertisements on Facebook group pages, they persuaded more than 10,000 followers of 14 parties and street organisations in 11 countries to fill in detailed questionnaires.The study reveals a continent-wide spread of hardline nationalist sentiment among the young, mainly men. Deeply cynical about their own governments and the EU, their generalised fear about the future is focused on cultural identity, with immigration – particularly a perceived spread of Islamic influence – a concern."We're at a crossroads in European history," said Emine Bozkurt, a Dutch MEP who heads the anti-racism lobby at the European parliament. "In five years' time we will either see an increase in the forces of hatred and division in society, including ultra-nationalism, xenophobia, Islamophobia and antisemitism, or we will be able to fight this horrific tendency."
They must hatch like toadstools, surrounded by bullshit and darkness. Sunlight is the only cure.
2 comments:
When I think that John "The Walrus" Bolton (and you thought it was Lennon, but look at Bolton's mustache!) was once our Ambassador to the UN, I am amazed that we escaped the Junior era without nuking the whole world. I think Dubya wanted to. I *know* some of his advisors wanted to, including Bolton, who was in a position to provoke it. I'd like to think that cooler heads within the administration prevailed, but I can't think of any... at all... so I'll have to attribute it to the grace of His Noodly Appendage.
Goo goo g'joob!
We heard the drums for war, and heard the talk by Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Bolton, and Cheney. The neocons wanted to use their nukes soooooo bad. They had these cool weapons, see, that would make them the most powerful badasses in the world!11!1 Use them on Iraq! Then Iran! Who cares if our gasoline glows in the dark!
But they didn't get to, and now they're all grumpy and writing books and stuff.
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