"I'm dreaming of a strong, brave nation that will defeat this nightmare called multiculturalism. This ugly bubble that our enemies live in, will soon enough burst into a million little pieces. Our lives are entwined in a very harsh times. These are the days, that will forever leave a mark on our nations future. I have strong belief in my fellow fighters. We will fight until the end for our homeland and one true Finnish nation. The victory will be ours." – Olli Immonen a Finnish Parliamentarian from the Finns Party (the former ”true” Finns). (https://www.facebook.com/olli.immonen.3?fref=ts )
That’s yet another far-right statement given yesterday by a member of the Finns Party. A statement that sparked vigorous discussions in the local social media - ranging from defending the freedom of speech to promoting far-right ideology, including comparisons to the coward deeds of Anders Breivik. Well in their best scenario those discussions, may smoothen the radically different views for the future of our small nation, but in their worse dimension they might continue the current trend of deepening radicalization. To be honest I am afraid of the latter and that’s because such polarizing statements are continuously coming from higher and higher layers of our society and reach wider and wider audience. At the same time the local authorities seem to be reluctant to react. On top of the economic difficulties all these create populist-friendly environment which overshadows our presence and future with dangerous trends from the past – such as radical nationalism, xenophobia, racism, discrimination and so.
Dear Mr. Immonen, let’s not forget that the cultural heritage of the civilized mankind, including Finland, is multicultural outcome of productive human collaboration. Just for example the Finnish alphabet was brought to Finland by Agricola from Germany, the numbers we vastly use are Arabic (1,2,3...) and Roman (I,II,III...) and the once mighty Nokia was largely international company. Furthermore the quick digitalization of our everyday life gets people and ideas closer together in an instant and in my view makes statements like yours, really difficult to understand in a creative for the nation and the contemporary trends manner. Also such statements may result in damages for the international reputation of our small nation, especially after they come from a Parliamentarian from the governing coalition.
P.S. (16.10.2020) Referring to the mentioned in the heading trends, I could mention that in the 2019 Finnish Parliamentary Elections, the Finns (the former True Finns) came again second with 17,5% of the votes, as their new chairman Mr. Jussi Halla-aho got the best ever result of 30 527 votes in the Helsinki district, which bypassed the previous 1999 record of Mr Sauli Niinistö (the current Finnish President) with 77 votes. Then Mr Olli Immonen, the chairman of Suomen Sisu (a far-right indirect branch of the Finns), was re-elected for a 3rd consecutive term, with 5856 votes, in the smaller Oulu district...
P.S.2 (3.10.2023) Now we are already into the frame of the next Finnish President elections and taking full responsibility of what I have written and quoted above I want to continue, that yet again we live in very difficult times, where on top of the downhill economic cycle and the Ukrainian war, Humanity for the first time of its written history starts facing the challenge of being outsmarted by its own invention AI - a process having the potential of even existential threat to us Humans, if MISHANDLED or simply meant to happen..*.? And since I've tried to address the matter in several of my writings and presentations ever since 2018, I want to state that I would be ready to work with anyone of the current presidential candidates, including but not only Mr Jussi-Halla-aho. Look given the Collingridge dilemma and its pacing problem we already live in uncharted territory of missing legislation and in particular areas the AI is already above human capabilities (Chess, Go, particular areas of medical diagnostics etc) as the process seems to keep axcelerating...Well according to me a natural BUT worsening human reaction to the pace of the technological change would be and already is - resisting it with old-time concepts (ex nationalism, racism, populism, xenophobia etc...), which only gives the pacing problem more space and decreases our chances to cope, flourish or may be even survive...
P.S.3 (8.10.2023) About knowledge, science and education...look at least P.S.(3,5)***