The thing about Europe: it’s the actual land of the free now
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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).
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.
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American obsession with money is weird when you think about it. Money is only useful when the human creativity, ingenuity, effort, etc. you want is for sale. Billionaires think their bunkers will save them after they make the world go to shit, but nobody is going to take care of these helpless bastards when there is nothing for their money to buy. Then there is the fact that money often ruins intrinsic motivation, which is why, for example, looking at the work of great artists and composers from the past, it’s clearly evident which works were commissioned vs. which ones were truly inspired work. A lot of open source software is inspired work that can be used without the limitations of paid software. Anyone using the arr stack with Jellyfin, for example, knows there’s no paid service that offers a superior experience. People with a loving and supportive family are wealthier than Elon Musk, who despite his net worth reeks of desperation for any superficial attention he can get. America is supposedly a “wealthy” country, but any country with a government that actually cares about its people and ensures they have a social safety net, clean food to eat without 1000 toxic additives, etc. is infinitely more wealthy than the USA.
When you look at GDP per hour worked then Western Europe is at about the same level as the US. It is just that Europeans work a lot less then Americans, hence they earn more money.
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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.
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Paywall? https://archive.is/Tq3KD
France should take the statue of liberty away from us tbh
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I hope so, because in a decade of subscribing to that magazine I've often seen variants of the "worker rights are bad for the Economy" pitch in their articles and they were dead serious about it.
I take your point. The economist is anti union and pro free trade, but the last 3 sentences of this particular columnist are anti Trump and spoken truthfully.
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France should take the statue of liberty away from us tbh
It’s now a monument to how things used to be
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Already was. While the us was occupied with cosplaying as freedom freaks and destroying countless democracies for the sake of freedom, europe actually became free.
It's a different idea of freedom. In the US it's about freedom to X, in the EU it's freedom from X.
For example, in the US you have the freedom to say just about anything you want. In the EU you're free from people making you unsafe by misinformation, lies, etc. In the US you're free to take pictures of anything you want that can be seen from the street. In Germany you're free from having pictures of your property posted online without your consent. The result is that Google's Street View covers everything in the US and almost nothing in Germany. In the US people or companies are free to take public information and hold onto it or publish it as they see fit without interference. In the EU, you're free from having that information out there forever beyond your control. You're free to demand that it be deleted under certain circumstances.
In the end, the European way is more about regulating things. It asks what kinds of things prevent people from living their lives freely and without worries, and tries to regulate those things. The American way is more about removing every regulation and rule possible and saying the end result is freedom so it must be good.
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American obsession with money is weird when you think about it. Money is only useful when the human creativity, ingenuity, effort, etc. you want is for sale. Billionaires think their bunkers will save them after they make the world go to shit, but nobody is going to take care of these helpless bastards when there is nothing for their money to buy. Then there is the fact that money often ruins intrinsic motivation, which is why, for example, looking at the work of great artists and composers from the past, it’s clearly evident which works were commissioned vs. which ones were truly inspired work. A lot of open source software is inspired work that can be used without the limitations of paid software. Anyone using the arr stack with Jellyfin, for example, knows there’s no paid service that offers a superior experience. People with a loving and supportive family are wealthier than Elon Musk, who despite his net worth reeks of desperation for any superficial attention he can get. America is supposedly a “wealthy” country, but any country with a government that actually cares about its people and ensures they have a social safety net, clean food to eat without 1000 toxic additives, etc. is infinitely more wealthy than the USA.
People with a loving and supportive family are wealthier than Elon Musk
And they'll never have to wonder if they're truly loved for themselves or because they're rich. At a certain level of wealth, you'll never know for sure if someone likes you for who you are vs. your wealth. At Elon's level of wealth, he can't even trust that his family is being honest with him.
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Paywall? https://archive.is/Tq3KD
I'm waiting for the haters to give negative comments about the title and article.
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I'm waiting for the haters to give negative comments about the title and article.
Look back at my posting history. There's no shortage of bad or dumb comments. But also a lot of good ones. I tend to focus on those.
Well reasoned responses, even if they don't agree, I read and engage with. -
I take your point. The economist is anti union and pro free trade, but the last 3 sentences of this particular columnist are anti Trump and spoken truthfully.
The Economist are about as pure Neoliberal as it gets, whilst Trump and his minions are Fascists which is an ideology were the State sits above Money in the hierarchy of power (though, unlike in Democracy, the State under Fascism is not controlled by citizens), which is exactly the opposite order of what Neoliberals defend, so they're enemies.
What they both agree, however, is that the common people with their vote should not control the highest power in the land.
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"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.
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It's a different idea of freedom. In the US it's about freedom to X, in the EU it's freedom from X.
For example, in the US you have the freedom to say just about anything you want. In the EU you're free from people making you unsafe by misinformation, lies, etc. In the US you're free to take pictures of anything you want that can be seen from the street. In Germany you're free from having pictures of your property posted online without your consent. The result is that Google's Street View covers everything in the US and almost nothing in Germany. In the US people or companies are free to take public information and hold onto it or publish it as they see fit without interference. In the EU, you're free from having that information out there forever beyond your control. You're free to demand that it be deleted under certain circumstances.
In the end, the European way is more about regulating things. It asks what kinds of things prevent people from living their lives freely and without worries, and tries to regulate those things. The American way is more about removing every regulation and rule possible and saying the end result is freedom so it must be good.
I think it's more that in Europe there's freedom for citizens, in the US there's freedom for corporations.
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Paywall? https://archive.is/Tq3KD
the bar for what is considered free now is just lower
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People with a loving and supportive family are wealthier than Elon Musk
And they'll never have to wonder if they're truly loved for themselves or because they're rich. At a certain level of wealth, you'll never know for sure if someone likes you for who you are vs. your wealth. At Elon's level of wealth, he can't even trust that his family is being honest with him.
At Elon’s level of wealth, he can’t even trust that his family is being honest with him.
Well… his trans daughter probably is.
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It’s now a monument to how things used to be
Like in a retirement home in Greece.
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Paywall? https://archive.is/Tq3KD
So much land of the free that you go to jail for smoking weed in most EU countries.
"There are thus no European Rasputins pumping untold millions into political campaigns"
There's plenty of them, that's how most elections are won here too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Berlusconi
Europe is as "free" as russia or usa or china: as long as you conform and do as authorities say you are free. Try to cross that line (like protesting against the genocide in palestine) and the government will beat and arrest you.
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Paywall? https://archive.is/Tq3KD
Anglo leftists will be like: "No." Because hatespeech and racism is only good when they do it. And many EU countries ban hatespeech.
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So much land of the free that you go to jail for smoking weed in most EU countries.
"There are thus no European Rasputins pumping untold millions into political campaigns"
There's plenty of them, that's how most elections are won here too.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silvio_Berlusconi
Europe is as "free" as russia or usa or china: as long as you conform and do as authorities say you are free. Try to cross that line (like protesting against the genocide in palestine) and the government will beat and arrest you.
Imagine going to jail for breaking the law! How dare Europe call themselves free when they uphold societal rules like that?!
Are you intentionally trying to mislead by intentionally not understanding laws?
America isn’t free because you can’t kill a healthcare exec without being imprisoned!
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Anglo leftists will be like: "No." Because hatespeech and racism is only good when they do it. And many EU countries ban hatespeech.
wat? nobody on the left supports hate speech.