If we are to avoid Nazi mentalities to take over, citizens need to be able to express their deeper inner concerns

Sir, I refer to Richard Milne’s “Rise of populists poses dilemma for Nordic mainstream” February 14.

As a son of a polish citizen who had to suffer concentration camps for almost five years, I am as far away as can be with sympathizing with Nazis. And of course I see with disgust anyone “pictured with Nazi memorabilia or uttering racist comments”. But Sir, that does not determined them to be, in any way, “uniquely awful”.

To argue so just opens the door to the exercise of dangerous political hypocrisy while closing the door on the possibilities of citizens to express their usually not at all bad meaning, deep concerns.

For a citizen, in a fairly small society like Sweden to be worrying about immigrants does not make him a bad citizen… it makes him just a citizen worrying about immigrants. Is that so hard to understand or is that what some do not want to be understood?

Sir, the repression of citizens’ feeling and worries, is precisely the best fertilizer for movements that can be taken over by Nazi type mentalities. Healthy societies need to be able to discuss, to ventilate, everything that bothers them, not only what’s political correct to discuss. 

A personal PS: My mother was Swedish. 93 years old, she passed away last Friday. On Thursday night, two not at all Swedish looking immigrants, vociferating in a totally foreign language, transported her home. I have rarely met a person more open to treat all without any kind of distinctions than my mother, but had she not the right not to feel totally at ease?

@PerKurowski

To solve its immigration concerns, in harmony, Europe needs to free itself from all preachy political correctness

Sir, I refer to François Heisbourg’s “France cannot indulge the xenophobes on immigration” August 28.

Heisbourg writes: “The question of immigration, a visceral issue… is driving a wedge between EU populations and their governments, between member states and indeed between the EU itself and the values on which it was founded.”

And in order to bridge the gap he suggests EU “a response to the immigration crisis that lives up to rather than falls short of its values…most EU member states… are not providing the systematic right of asylum to which war-refugees are entitled under international humanitarian law or by common decency.” “Europe’s leaders need to live up to our responsibilities as humans and as neighbors, assume part of the burden, and talk straight to the electorate.”

What straight talk is he talking about? That the deliberate conflation by demagogues of immigration, the refugee exodus, the spread of Islam and jihadi terrorism is as emotionally powerful as it is factually spurious”, and that therefore Europeans have no moral right to feel humanly uneasy about immigration?

That is precisely the type of holier than thou political correctness, a Neo-Inquisition, that serves as growth hormone to extremist movements.

If anything politicians who want to build bridges, need to share the concerns, not negate their existence or outright condemn their validity; all in order to then proceed to openly discuss what can be done. For instance, should there be a limit to how many immigrants Europe can accept the next-decade, and if so, what number… 10 million, 100 million or no limit at all?

My age group, and those older of course, have basically seen world population triple during our lifetime. One way or another, that sole fact tells us there are some changes going on that, for good or for bad, were perhaps not embedded in our values.

If you think I am just another political incorrect who is against immigration, I invite you to visit my:

http://theamericanunion.blogspot.com

PS. On the other side of the pool, where would Donald Trump be, if he had no political correctness trampoline to jump on?

Let people vent their concerns!

@PerKurowski