I do not want to feel afraid of the scared anymore
Is it just me or does people seem more angry and dissatisfied nowadays. Everything from officials, toddlers, Bertil on facebook or Mohammed in Norrby. Even though we live in one of the best and most beautiful countries in the world with a 205-year peace behind us, it is as if something ominous is growing. Some go so far as to talk in terms of civil war and it is not even the craziest. The craziest thing is that there are people who likes and worship these thoughts. I read that people are preparing for crisis and war, but it is not the Russian anymore that is the only threat to our peace. The immigrant has seriously sailed up as a serious threat to the Swede. Usually, angry people with semi-racist traits is easy to dismiss like madmen. The problem is that we can no longer just wipe them off and scroll on, because they have proven to pose a real threat to everyone's safety.
People behind the screens undergo a full-scale radicalization process becoming at least as dangerous as those graduating from a salafist kamikaze school in the Middle East. Recent terrorist attacks in the Western world show very clearly what can happen when the border is crossed and how dangerous it is with authorities that fuel these people's hatred. Namely, authorities set the agenda and tone, whether recognized by the individual or not. For many of these potentially dangerous people, it is not from where the civil war comes, but when. A sensible stable person realizes that of course there is no civil war around the corner, but for the less stable it can be used as motivation to do something on their own.
You have to wonder how we got here. A manifestly unsuccessful integration policy and a strong reluctance among ordinary Swedes to interfere with immigrants themselves is one reason. WVS's cultural map also contributes to an explanation of why we have such huge cultural clashes. The map clearly shows that the majority of those who immigrated to Sweden have recently moved from one extreme of the map's spectra to another. That Sweden is also an extreme is something worth considering. Parallel to that, we have an extremism whose love affair with social media seems to be missing. Both radical Islamism and the extreme right have reaped great success by diligently using social media and manipulating their algorithms and so to people. There are plenty of texts and documentaries that prove this.
All this darkness and yet I have not come to the worst. That ordinary people, decent people contribute to this incredibly destructive development. That influential people from all different walks of life throw gasoline on a fiery and deadly fire. We read, we share, we write, we follow and we laugh. We talk about instead of and build our own perceptions based on someone else's worldview, illusion and agenda. I do not want to portray myself as better than anyone else, I have certainly sometimes contributed to a more polarized climate and have been a useful idiot to someone with questionable agendas.
But we have to press pause and reflect. We must be able to discuss difficult issues without further stigmatizing and polarizing. If there is no way we can invent it. A way that allows us to talk about honor violence, the challenges of immigration, the climate issue, racism, the veil, etc. in a way that does not play extremists in the hands and makes them potential mass murderers. We are obliged to take that responsibility in our conversation tone and conversation climate. If we do not do this, we may at worst contribute to creating the next terrorist. The anxiety of the mere thought is dizzying but also motivating for self-reflection of our choice for the way forward. For no one wants to feel that through their platforms and actions they contribute to creating the next Anders Behring Breivik, Taimour Abdulwahab, Anton Lundin, Rakhmat Akilov or Philip Manshaus, and I do not want to feel afraid of the scared anymore.
