The sword attack in Sweden
I'm sure most of you have heard about this already.
Sword-wielding man kills 2 in Swedish school attack
Truly horrifying and disgusting... I've been meaning to write about this earlier, but so far words have failed me...
Of course, initially there was much less information than we have now but as was I reading up on the specifics surrounding this terrorist-attack, the connection was obvious: Trollhättan is one of the most segregated cities in Sweden and the attack was perpetrated in a predominately immigrant neighborhood.
It's also evident that the attacker deliberately targeted a school with lots of pupils from ethnic minorities and the police concluded that it was racially motivated, based on what they found at the killer's apartment. One victim was a Somali immigrant and other victims are also likely to be Muslims. Media reports suggest the 21-year-old attacker had far-right sympathies and he may have frequently visited white nationalist forums as the suspect's accounts on Facebook and YouTube suggest he had a keen interest in Hitler and Nazi Germany. I mean, look at this:
There have been racist attacks in Sweden in the past, over the last month or so there have been several arsons against refugee establishments for example. Back in the 90s there was the notorious Lasermanen "the Laser Man" who targeted those who were perceived as foreigners. There have surely been more but this one is going to haunt this nations psyche for years to come.
The rhetoric and the hate that is flowing right now even in the mainstream media is absolutely what has triggered this tragedy. Although I certainly wouldn't limit this to race. People are inherently antagonistic towards other groups of varying differences and inherently favorite to groups they associate with. Race is one of the more obvious divisive lines, but by no means the only one. Even if you remove the race issue, people will still divide into other subgroups. And now as the refugee pressure is increasing on Europe, I'm afraid I'm not seeing this problem being mitigated any time soon.
On a more cynical note, have you noticed something in the general reactions of the public? I mean...
Right-wing attack: "The poor man was provoked by the 'liberal establishment'. He's a lone wolf. He's a psycho."
Islamist attack: "OMG it's the armed wing of all Muslims!"
Double standard much?
Sword-wielding man kills 2 in Swedish school attack
Truly horrifying and disgusting... I've been meaning to write about this earlier, but so far words have failed me...
Of course, initially there was much less information than we have now but as was I reading up on the specifics surrounding this terrorist-attack, the connection was obvious: Trollhättan is one of the most segregated cities in Sweden and the attack was perpetrated in a predominately immigrant neighborhood.
It's also evident that the attacker deliberately targeted a school with lots of pupils from ethnic minorities and the police concluded that it was racially motivated, based on what they found at the killer's apartment. One victim was a Somali immigrant and other victims are also likely to be Muslims. Media reports suggest the 21-year-old attacker had far-right sympathies and he may have frequently visited white nationalist forums as the suspect's accounts on Facebook and YouTube suggest he had a keen interest in Hitler and Nazi Germany. I mean, look at this:
There have been racist attacks in Sweden in the past, over the last month or so there have been several arsons against refugee establishments for example. Back in the 90s there was the notorious Lasermanen "the Laser Man" who targeted those who were perceived as foreigners. There have surely been more but this one is going to haunt this nations psyche for years to come.
The rhetoric and the hate that is flowing right now even in the mainstream media is absolutely what has triggered this tragedy. Although I certainly wouldn't limit this to race. People are inherently antagonistic towards other groups of varying differences and inherently favorite to groups they associate with. Race is one of the more obvious divisive lines, but by no means the only one. Even if you remove the race issue, people will still divide into other subgroups. And now as the refugee pressure is increasing on Europe, I'm afraid I'm not seeing this problem being mitigated any time soon.
On a more cynical note, have you noticed something in the general reactions of the public? I mean...
Right-wing attack: "The poor man was provoked by the 'liberal establishment'. He's a lone wolf. He's a psycho."
Islamist attack: "OMG it's the armed wing of all Muslims!"
Double standard much?