Looks like Europe is finding it more and more difficult to deny the obvious facts American conservatives have been haranguing them about for at least a decade.
Especially: import the Third World, become the Third World.
Jürg Müller, director of Swiss think-tank Avenir Suisse, told CNN that the country was feeling the strain of recent population growth driven in part by its economic successes. “You see the tensions on housing markets, infrastructure… access to lakes… it feels for many people too crowded.” The SVP “have taken this feeling and transformed it into this initiative,” he said.
...
Müller contends that support for the referendum is motivated less by xenophobia than people’s concern that the population is growing at an uncontrolled rate.
However, the website of the pro-cap campaign appears to draw on anti-Muslim rhetoric to make its case.
“Problems with asylum seekers from Muslim countries. Studies show that certain migrant groups are many times more criminal than the rest of the population,” one section of the website reads.
Elsewhere on the website, a photo of a woman with her head covered holding up a Swiss passport appears under the subheading “Loss of culture and identity.” The same page describes “creeping Islamization” and concerns over harassment of women at a Swiss swimming pool carried out, it claims, by French nationals of North African origin.
The SVP declined to speak with CNN for this story.
“It is utterly xenophobic. Ultimately, it makes scapegoats out of foreigners, as if they’re the answer to all of society’s ills. It is dangerous because it is deceitful,” Delphine Klopfenstein, a Green member of parliament, told Reuters.
I don't know much at all about what's going on in Switzerland. But the Greens are reliably wrong--about everything. Let's take a look at Klepfenstein's claims:
[1] "It is utterly xenophobic"
[2] "Ultimately it makes scapegoats out of foreigners..."
[3] [It pretends] "...as if [foreigners are] the answer to all of society's ills"
[4] "It is dangerous..."
[5] ..."It is deceitful."
Typical leftist bullshit.
Consider [1]: To cut to the chase, Klopfenstein is actually saying that any such policies are inherently "xenophobic." Which is obviously false. Such policies can be advanced purely on the basis of objective facts. Probably she's also trying to suggest that advocates of the measure are motivated by xenophobia. Which could be true--but if their claims are true, then there is no reason to think they are so motivated. This is, again, typical leftist bullshit. If Smith commits a crime, and so you want Smith in jail, and Smith is black, then you are a racist, racist. This is some idiotic mixture of the view that any, say, black person, say, going to jail for any reason is inherently racist...and the view that all whites are always motivated by racism. It's as confused as any such thing can possibly be.
Now, klopfenstein's claim could be true...I don't know anything about Mr. Mueller and his group. But we know enough about the Greens to know that she's probably just full of shit. Mueller gives sound reasons in support of his view. When someone gives sound reasons in support of their view, then, barring some knowledge of hidden motives, we have no grounds on which to attribute such motives to them.
General and important: the left is built largely on "the hermeneutics of suspicion"--as a result of being built so much on the foundation of Marx and Freud. Hence their propensity to poison the well and spew red herrings and ad hominems. They always go immediately for character assassination, because a deep and important part of their worldview tells them that people--but especially their enemies--are always lying, always motivated by the lust for power and domination. This is some of the pseudoscience at the heart of their worldview...
Anyway:
Mueller is right about both these things:
[a] "Certain migrant groups are many times more criminal than the rest of the population"
[b] Mass migration from alien and incompatible cultures threatens the home culture. Islam is notably incompatible with European liberalism and Western culture. And (though this really belongs in [a]), contributes to a massive increase in harassment of women. As does, especially, migration by North Africans.
Since Mueller's claims are all true, Klopfenstein's attribution of hidden motives to him and his group is gratuitous, ergo indefensible.
What we have here should be familiar to Americans: conservatives stating unpleasant facts, and leftists responding with bullshit accusations of prejudice. The hard facts are incompatible with leftist ideology...so they must be false! Er...as if the left really believed in truth and falsehood... Well...they must be bad, anyway...
Consider [2]: Again: could be true, but we're given no reason to think it is. And it probably isn't. We'd have to see the specifics of the campaign and the relevant measures, I suppose...but, again, given [a] and [b], this isn't scapegoating--it's stating facts.
As for [3]: Obvious straw man. We don't even have to know the particulars. There is no way they're trying to make foreigners responsible for tooth decay and increased gas prices. I'm certain that no one is saying that excessive immigration from the Third World is causing all Switzerland's problems...in fact, Mueller et al. are making it pretty clear which problems they're causing...
[4]/[5]: I separated the claims--which illicitly helps the Greens here. Yes, deceit is typically dangerous...but this isn't deceitful. Again, it's true. The deceivers are the Greens...and not only is their deceit dangerous, but their preferred policies are dangerous, too. Bringing in mass numbers of foreigners from incompatible cultures is dangerous. Leftists refuse to acknowledge this. They have a vision of the world according to which everyone is equal because everyone is a blank slate. Bring such foreigners in, and they will become Swiss. Poof! Magic... The left denies facts so commonly because its principles and beliefs are so obviously false and stupid.
Look. Almost no one is against bringing good people into their country from anywhere on Earth. The point is, really: people from some countries and groups have to be vetted more carefully than those of others. If you pick a random Somali to bring into your country, you're probably bringing in trouble. You might not be. But you probably are. There's a much smaller chance of this if you bring in a random German or Estonian. These are just facts. Conservatives tend to face these facts. Leftists tend to deny them. That's what it really comes down to.
