Sweden makes a right turn. We have mentioned many times to what extent the Swedes seem to live in a fantasy world of nanny-state dependency which sucks the drive, courage, and initiative out of all but their most ambitious - who often leave the country. Nanny state ponzi schemes only work with growing populations, which they do not have. Plus their voters seem to have no awareness of how wealth is created. Plus they are headed towards becoming a Moslem country in a few decades. This event may be a sign of sanity. There's a Swedish lovely on the right, posing sans burkha.
Speaking of Europe, an interview with Dalrymple at Brussels Journal. One quote:
Paul Belien: Mr Dalrymple, you are a well-known analyst of the cultural disease of our society. What do you see as the main problem?
Theodore Dalrymple: The underlying problem is a lack of purpose, a lack of feeling of belonging to anything larger than one’s own little life. This gives rise to quite a large amount of social pathology.
PB: Does this have to do with immigration? Does the problem lie mainly with second generation immigrants? Or do we find the same problem among our indigenous population, the young people, as well?
TD: I think it is our indigenous population which suffers from a lack of purpose. They have no religious belief. Quite a large proportion of the population does not derive any selfrespect from having to work for a living because some people are no better off if they work than if they do not work. They also have no cultural and intellectual interests. Therefore they do not feel they belong to any larger project than their private lives.
PB: Isn’t it paradoxical that this is happening in a time where people tend to study longer and be at school longer than any time before in history?
TD: What I am saying is not true of everybody, of course. I am talking about a section of the population. However, and unfortunately in Britain anyway, the so-called educational system has become a means of reducing youth unemployment, rather than providing people with either vocational training or intellectual and cultural capital which is of use to them throughout their lives. So the vast expansion of tertiary education in Britain – the government wants fifty per cent of the population to go to university – is just another means of disguising unemployment.
Islam proselytizing on the Internet. Bird of Paradise wonders where the forceful Christian response is. My guess is that many Christians just cannot get too excited about the idea of debating the merits of different religions, these days. Maybe we need some C.S. Lewises of the internet. On second thought, we could use some more of him, anywhere.
