For a moment I thought it was a Purim spiel. The Guardian devoted an entire story last weekend to the claim that I was being investigated by both the Press Complaints Commission and the police. The Bedfordshire police. My crime apparently lay in what I had written on my Spectator blog about the massacre of Udi and Ruth Fogel and their three children, 11-year-old Yoav, four-year-old Elad and three-month-old Hadas, who had their throats cut at home in the Samarian neighbourhood of Itamar while most of them were asleep.[..]
My impression that I had wandered on to the set of a surrealist Bunuel film deepened with an attack from a quite different direction. According to the anti-Islam site, Jihadwatch, I was in hot water because I had referred to the Fogel family murderers as depraved Arabs, whereas I should have referred to them instead as depraved Muslims. And the reason I had not done that was – wait for it- that I suffered from “lingering” political correctness. Don’t tell the Guardian: it might get in the way of the hate. How I became a hate ‘suspect. (Melanie Phillips på Israelsk TV:)
I Mellemøsten ændrer alt sig, muligvis for at kunne forblive det samme. Svensk debat om det flytter sig heller ikke så meget, at det gør noget. Jan Guillou har denne pragtsætning i sit seneste opus: “Det enda vi vet säkert är att just palestinierna ligger främst i den arabiska strävan mot demokrati.”
“Frailty, thy name is woman!” – en postkommunistisk heltinde
Jeg ville have forsvoret, at jeg skulle få noget at gøre med Stieg Larssons krimier på første hånd, jeg husker ham fra hans Expo tid, det var rigelig svensk kommunisme til mig. Men da jeg nu er i Sverige og det magede sig sådan at der også var et TV apparat der sendte i går aftes Luftkastellet der blev sprængt tænkte jeg, at jeg måske ville overleve at føje mine svenske venner.
Millenium filmene er ikke billigproduktioner. Filmen var flot lavet og spækket med gode skuespillere, og jeg var trukket ind i den fra starten. Problemet var mere, hvad det hele egentlig handlede om. Larssons heltinde Lisbeth Salander er en overordentlig sammensat figur, selvom Noomi Rapace spiller hende i én eneste toneart og uden at fortrække en mine. Hun er politisk korrekt skikkelse (jeg ved godt, det hedder “karakter”, det er derfor jeg ikke skriver det), så derfor er hun i enhver henseende et offer for overgreb og uretfærdighed – sindbilledet på en moderne, politisk skolet svensk kvinde. Hun er voldsoffer, offer for statsligt overgreb og naturligvis også seksuelt misbrugt. Dertil har hun lesbiske, anorektiske og autistiske tilbøjeligheder og træk. Ikke så underligt at hun ikke trak på smilebåndet i hele to timer. Ikke én gang lignede hun en nogenlunde almindelig ung kvinde, selv Bergman har næppe så dybfrosne personer. I filmens første halvdel er hendes hoved bandageret efter et skud, i den anden halvdel er hun udklædt som en overvintret punker med hanekam og næseringe. Larsson skulle have forestillet sig hende som Pippi Langstrømpe som voksen. Det har krævet en vældig god fantasi.
Da det hele var overstået, måtte jeg Google plottet. Jeg har stadig ikke forstået det, men jeg må vel se fortsættelsen på søndag. Disse tre Larsson krimier har indtjent en milliard kroner til Kommunistisk Arbejderforbunds Umeåafdeling, eller hvem der nu ender med at få dem. Temmelig ubegribeligt. Den gennemsnitlige krimilæser må være kvikkere i opfattelsen end jeg selv er. Måske man skulle holde sig til kommisær Maigret spillet af Jean Gabin, en gubbe Salander ville elske at hade, selvom man dårligt kan se Gabin for sig voldtage unge, traumatiserede punk-kvinder…..
Diversity leads to a drop in trust
An article in the most recent edition of social science magazine Mens & Maatschappij (Man and Society) claims that the greater the ethnic diversity in Amsterdam neighborhoods, the lower the sense of well being of its residents. The article claims that “a higher number of non-Western immigrants leads to a reduced sense of security and well-being among residents. A larger number of Western immigrants leads to an increased trust in the quality of life and future of the neighborhood”. The article is written by three researchers basing their conclusions on existing data bases.
The provided summary of the abstract reads, “This research investigates whether Robert Putnam’s (2007) well-known findings on the negative influence of ethnic diversity on social cohesion hold in Amsterdam. In the present study neighbourhood trust is the measure of social cohesion. Using data from the ‘Living in Amsterdam’ monitor ( Wonen in Amsterdam, 2007 ), multilevel analysis shows that neighbourhood trust is lower in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods. Furthermore, the percentage of first generation non-Western immigrants and second generation non-Western immigrants is also negatively related to neighbourhood trust. The percentage of second generation non-Western immigrants affects neighbourhood trust more strongly than the presence of first generation non-Western immigrants. In addition, the effect on neighbourhood trust differs for various non-Western ethnic groups. Neighbourhood trust is higher in neighbourhoods with a large percentage of immigrants from the Dutch Antilles and trust is lower in neighbourhoods with a higher presence of Moroccans.” Study Claims Non-Western Immigrants Reduce Trust in Amsterdam Neighborhoods. (Robert Putnam: E Pluribus Unum: Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century The 2006 Johan Skytte Prize Lecture, pdf.)
