On Freedom, Debate, and the Murder of Charlie Kirk

As my esteemed reader surely knows, on Wednesday in the United States, Charlie Kirk, the founder of the conservative youth organization Turning Point USA, was shot. The identity of the shooter is not yet known for sure, although one suspect, Tyler Robinson, has been named and arrested. Based on images released to the public, he appears to be a young white man.

The weapon used in the murder has apparently been found, but the shooter’s identity has not been established—or at least it has not been disclosed. Instead, engravings were found on the bullets in the gun, expressing transsexual and antifascist ideology.

On this basis, it has been suspected that the shooter’s motive was left-liberal or at least ideological in nature. Nevertheless—or perhaps precisely for that reason—President Donald Trump has urged his famously right-wing conservative supporters to respond peacefully.

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For my part, I see that although the violent ending of a human life is already in itself an extremely serious crime, the saddest long-term consequence of the murder is its effect on freedom of speech, and through that, on the future of American society. This is because Charlie Kirk was known as someone who was willing to engage in public debate with people whose worldview differed radically from his own.

Thus, despite belonging to the most conservative end of the political spectrum, he maintained cross-party debate in a country where the lines of polarization between people have tightened considerably in recent years. And as a result of this activity, he was killed—instead of rising to become a nationwide political figure.

The risk in this situation is that, as a consequence of the murder, other people who bravely voice their views—that is, those who take part in societal discussion—will also fall silent out of fear, thereby narrowing the dialogue between extremes even further. At the same time, the polarization of American society will deepen, and in the worst case we may end up in a situation where the political movement in power at the time—or at least its supporters—are left without the healthy societal criticism they need.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Unintended Consequences of Modern Value Shifts
Freedom of Speech in Danger
Finland Will Thrive with Any US President, Trump Survived the Assassination Attempt

Library Scrubs Queer Creator’s Character from Moomin Exhibit

"Wokeism" does not appear to have ended in the United States yet, according to a news report from Hufvudstadsbladet relayed by MTV3. A picture of the character Stinky was removed from an exhibition dedicated to the inhabitants of Moominvalley and their creator Tove Jansson, held at the Brooklyn Public Library in New York, due to allegations of racism. According to a spokesperson for the library, the aim was to create an environment where everyone feels welcome.

In reality, Stinky has nothing to do with racism. He is simply a somewhat annoying character from the stories, created at a time when there was no discussion of racism in Finland—Tove Jansson’s homeland—because the population was racially homogeneous. Stinky’s black color does not allude to any skin tone; it was simply a color the artist felt suited the character.

Well, what can one say to that? Perhaps that the Brooklyn library doesn’t seem to be showing much respect for the artistic work of Tove Jansson — the creator of Stinky, and herself a member of both a sexual and linguistic minority. But surely they couldn’t actually be homophobic... could they?

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Finnish Trans Woman Speaks Out on Transgender Rights in Sports
An African and an Iranian Immigrant Educated a Woke-Blinded Deputy Mayor
A Finnish Deputy Mayor Wanted to Ban an Old Board Game from Children

Stupid and Fruitless Blustering by South Africa's Ambassador Ebrahim Rasool

The United States has ordered South Africa's ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool, to leave the country by Tuesday. This decision stems from Rasool's statement characterizing the MAGA movement supporting President Donald Trump as a product of white supremacy. According to him, the MAGA movement emerged as a response to the multiculturalization of the U.S. population.

This blustering was of course stupid and fruitless. On the other hand, if you have given with a spoon, you cannot demand with a ladle. In other words, if a person is stupid, you cannot expect him to act reasonably. 

Of course, Rasool's behavior may have been related to his religion. Muslims around the world are known for blustering about anything and everything - and suffering severe consequences, as demonstrated by the terrorist attack carried out by Hamas on October 7th 2023 and the resulting destruction of the Gaza Strip.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, being more pragmatic, has announced that the ambassador will return to his home country and expressed his desire to repair relations with the United States. After all, the U.S. is South Africa's second-largest trading partner, and losing that relationship would mean hard times, especially for the country's poor Black majority.

It remains to be seen how relations between the countries will evolve. Will good relations and trade ties be restored, or will South Africa drift into a state similar to other Sub-Saharan African nations?

In this context, it is interesting to observe the population trends of the country's white minority over the years. In short, the population decreased from 5.2 million in 1995 to 4.5 million by 2022. However, the trend has not been linear, but includes some periods of growth, although the past decade has shown a decline again. This does not bode well for the country's future.

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Resisting Putin’s Foolish Dreams
South Africa: life without a culture of maintenance
Should forbidden questions be answered or not?

Who Tried to Abduct a Two-Year-Old Child from Their Grandmother?

An unknown man attempted to abduct a two-year-old child from the child’s grandmother in Helsinki, Finland. The child had been sitting on a bench at the railway station until the grandmother noticed the man's intentions and quickly took the child into her arms.

After his failed attempt, the man fled the scene, and the police patrol that arrived was unable to locate him. However, a description of the suspect was obtained, and he was captured on surveillance cameras.

The suspect is estimated to be around 170 cm tall, of average build, and a young man dressed in dark athletic clothing, a black jacket, and Adidas tracksuit pants. A distinctive feature was his bob haircut.

Each of you can also reflect on the skin color and religion of the person who attempted to abduct the baby based on these characteristics, even though they were not mentioned in the news. As a hint for this reflection, I will tell you that the average height of young Finnish men is over 180 cm and their eye color is usually blue.

After reflecting on this, dear readers, you may also consider which area of politics is relevant in this (and many other) cases. And what could be done about it in Finland and other Western countries?

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Police Ban Public Fight Between Neo-Nazis and Street Gangs in Finland
Immigrants, Gangs, Decisions, and Self-Interest
Is the UK's Democracy Facing an Existential Crisis?

People with Middle Eastern and North African inheritance identify themselves as non-Whites

The US government classifies people with Middle Eastern and North African (MENA) inheritance as white in official statistics. Therefore, any potential disparity – whether positive or negative - concerning these people remain hidden. 

In a research report published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA was examined in two different experiments. 

In the first one it was studied how MENAs and other Whites perceive the racial status of MENA traits such as ancestry, names and religion. The results showed clearly that both MENAs and other Whites consider MENA related traits as MENA rather than White.

In the second analysis it was figured out how MENA individuals identify themselves. When given the option, most MENA individuals self-identified themselves as MENA or as both MENA and White. This was especially typical to second-generation individuals and Muslims. 

It was also found out that MENAs who perceive more anti-MENA discrimination identify themselves with MENA identity. Thus, racial hostility seems to strengthen group identity among people. 

Northern Europe, and especially Finland, was for a long time almost free of people with Middle Eastern and North African ancestry. The situation changed suddenly in year 2015, when a high number of people from Iraq appeared to Finland as a side stream of Syrian refugees due to a poorly considered statement by the Prime Minister of the time.

Namely, the PM of the time – Juha Sipilä – said that he will provide his house to refugees for temporary living. That was in Iraq interpreted largely as an invitation to Finland, and a mass migration of people looking for higher standard of living started.

Today, it is quite obvious that Iraqis in Finland consider themselves different from other people. They concentrate on separate neighborhoods, and have not shared religious ceremonies with the long-time Muslims with Tatar ancestry in the country. 

In Finland people are not officially divided to different races. Some statistics, however, are made according to the first language or country of birth. They show very poor integration of Iraqi immigrants in the Finnish society - including high rates of sexual and other violence crime. That is in stark contrast to Tatars, who are today an integral, well living and invisible part among inhabitants of the country. 

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
Increase of violence by youngsters in Finnish towns
Should forbidden questions be answered or not?
American black population more vulnerable to the Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2

Riots in Sweden: what next?

Sweden has had the most liberal immigration policy of all EU countries. As a result, the country has a notably large population of people with their roots in developing countries, some of the world´s highest records of sexual crimes and poor results in PISA-tests. 

During the few recent days many Swedish towns have faced incredible riots with police being violently  attacked and its vehicles damaged. The unrest started as a Danish right-wing politician announced he would burn Quran, and Muslims responded again as Pavlov´s dogs, and started their violent behavior against the Swedish society as expected.

It remains to be seen what happens now in Sweden as the riots have been more serious than ever before. Are they able to find and punish those responsible on the damages? Will they narrow the freedom of speech and expression? Or will they change their immigration policy, and perhaps effectively return criminals and people without a residence permit to their home countries?

And most importantly: will any of those actions - if conducted - change anything? Or has Sweden gone over a kind of a borderline of no return, and will continue towards a highly polarized society, where people and their neighborhoods are divided by religion, language and skin color?

Previous thoughts on the same topic:
The arrival of caliphate citizens must be prevented
Rape statistics in Finland and Sweden are breaking prejudices