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The Roma in Roma Not Doing As The Romans
May. 19th, 2008 01:06 pmAn opinion poll of Italians found that more than two-thirds of respondents wanted to see all "Roma", that is, the gypsies, expelled from the country. That includes 30,000 who are descended from settlers in the 1400s, as well as another 40,000 who possess Italian passports. Four-fifths of respondents called the gypsies either "barely likeable" or "not likeable at all".
Now, we all know that the responses that you get in opinion polls can be heavily skewed by the way in which the questions are phrased, and we all know that possession of the passport of a country has never been much of a guarantee -- just ask the Kenyan Asians who adopted British nationality in preference to Kenyan nationality on independence, only to discover that a British passport no longer guaranteed residence in Britain (or, indeeed, Kenya). Thanks to Jim Callaghan for that piece of betrayal.
But the interesting thing about this report was the reaction of EveryOne, a "Group For International Cooperation on Human Rights Culture". Spokesman Matteo Pegoraro said that "This hostility is a result of the generally inflammatory language of the current government, as well as the previous one".
This is a frequent reaction of the liberal left when a bunch of ignorant cunts decide to attack foreigners. The hostility, you might have noticed, included the burning down of a gypsy camp near Naples last week when a mob threw molotov cocktails at it. The instigators later boasted of doing their own bit for ethnic cleansing. Does Pegoraro really think that people like this are so easily led? It's an old-fashioned belief in the power of persuasion and top-down leadership. The Liberal left think that the "ordinary people" enacting these horrors are merely misguided. The real villains are the right-wing government. The "people" are, at heart, good.
It's all bollocks, of course. Lots of people in Italy resent gypsies not because of an inflammatory government, but because lots of people, at heart, don't like strangers. Persecutions of minorities have taken place in many places at many times in history; not all of them can be blamed on inflammatory statements by whoever happens to be in power. The Liberal left really needs to realize that, at least in part, a large proportion of "the people" are intolerant bigots out of choice, not because of poor political leadership. They actually like being that way.
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Now, we all know that the responses that you get in opinion polls can be heavily skewed by the way in which the questions are phrased, and we all know that possession of the passport of a country has never been much of a guarantee -- just ask the Kenyan Asians who adopted British nationality in preference to Kenyan nationality on independence, only to discover that a British passport no longer guaranteed residence in Britain (or, indeeed, Kenya). Thanks to Jim Callaghan for that piece of betrayal.
But the interesting thing about this report was the reaction of EveryOne, a "Group For International Cooperation on Human Rights Culture". Spokesman Matteo Pegoraro said that "This hostility is a result of the generally inflammatory language of the current government, as well as the previous one".
This is a frequent reaction of the liberal left when a bunch of ignorant cunts decide to attack foreigners. The hostility, you might have noticed, included the burning down of a gypsy camp near Naples last week when a mob threw molotov cocktails at it. The instigators later boasted of doing their own bit for ethnic cleansing. Does Pegoraro really think that people like this are so easily led? It's an old-fashioned belief in the power of persuasion and top-down leadership. The Liberal left think that the "ordinary people" enacting these horrors are merely misguided. The real villains are the right-wing government. The "people" are, at heart, good.
It's all bollocks, of course. Lots of people in Italy resent gypsies not because of an inflammatory government, but because lots of people, at heart, don't like strangers. Persecutions of minorities have taken place in many places at many times in history; not all of them can be blamed on inflammatory statements by whoever happens to be in power. The Liberal left really needs to realize that, at least in part, a large proportion of "the people" are intolerant bigots out of choice, not because of poor political leadership. They actually like being that way.
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