I appreciate this perspective, that the xenophobic tide might be turning in Europe. Friends traveling there tell me they find strong conservative feelings everywhere and that Europeans find themselves more altered by immigration than Americans feel we are.
I guess this all might turn out differently if we still had a professional Foreign Service on the case? Real estate agents and weekend News Hosts can only be expected to do so much.
Not sure about that though. Truth is it’s too soon to tell. But as the column argues, it would be a useful experiment if upcoming European candidates trying to head off far right takeovers would hold high the anti-corruption banner. It seems to be working so far.
Thanks for enlightening me of Nixon's madman cosplay and I had to look up satrap.
The US right slams immigrants through special interest groups financed by billionaires. And as we saw in Athens, Georgia, that may be running out of steam. However, US bigotry has an even more gleeful target: LBGTQ and trans. They won't shut up about it, even though the danger of hearing a drag dude tinkling in the stall next to you is so slim, even AI can't find examples. Does Europe have the same line of attack? We know some former soviet satellites just outright kill gay folks, but is there a Europe wide campaign to make these people polotical hate targets?
Jack, I’m not an expert, so this is just my impression, nothing more. I think maybe - except for in countries on the mean-spirited far right - there’s more of a legal framework for baseline LGBT/Trans rights, led by the great bête noir of the far-right, the European Union, than here in the US. Over time, I imagine those rights have just become socialized in.
In much the same way as here, though, there are sharp regional differences. In Europe, opinions vary from the more socially liberal (and accepting) northwestern and Nordic countries to the more conservative Balkans, just as they do from the Pacific Northwest to the southeast in the United States.
And I think you’ve given me another opportunity to argue for the replacement of far right governments across Europe, because they are generally the places where harsh rhetoric and bad policies are most prevalent, places like Hungary under Orbán and Poland under Kaczyński during the previous PiS government. The PiS, for example, actively cast “LGBT ideology” as an external threat.
It would be good to hear from European readers on this.
I appreciate this perspective, that the xenophobic tide might be turning in Europe. Friends traveling there tell me they find strong conservative feelings everywhere and that Europeans find themselves more altered by immigration than Americans feel we are.
I guess this all might turn out differently if we still had a professional Foreign Service on the case? Real estate agents and weekend News Hosts can only be expected to do so much.
Not sure about that though. Truth is it’s too soon to tell. But as the column argues, it would be a useful experiment if upcoming European candidates trying to head off far right takeovers would hold high the anti-corruption banner. It seems to be working so far.
Another great write-up, Bill. Keep 'em coming!
Thanks for enlightening me of Nixon's madman cosplay and I had to look up satrap.
The US right slams immigrants through special interest groups financed by billionaires. And as we saw in Athens, Georgia, that may be running out of steam. However, US bigotry has an even more gleeful target: LBGTQ and trans. They won't shut up about it, even though the danger of hearing a drag dude tinkling in the stall next to you is so slim, even AI can't find examples. Does Europe have the same line of attack? We know some former soviet satellites just outright kill gay folks, but is there a Europe wide campaign to make these people polotical hate targets?
Jack, I’m not an expert, so this is just my impression, nothing more. I think maybe - except for in countries on the mean-spirited far right - there’s more of a legal framework for baseline LGBT/Trans rights, led by the great bête noir of the far-right, the European Union, than here in the US. Over time, I imagine those rights have just become socialized in.
In much the same way as here, though, there are sharp regional differences. In Europe, opinions vary from the more socially liberal (and accepting) northwestern and Nordic countries to the more conservative Balkans, just as they do from the Pacific Northwest to the southeast in the United States.
And I think you’ve given me another opportunity to argue for the replacement of far right governments across Europe, because they are generally the places where harsh rhetoric and bad policies are most prevalent, places like Hungary under Orbán and Poland under Kaczyński during the previous PiS government. The PiS, for example, actively cast “LGBT ideology” as an external threat.
It would be good to hear from European readers on this.