When governments do not admit that violence is prevalent?

Fredrik Malm: "Jag har skrivit om detta tidigare, och efter Per Gudmundsons ledare i SVD idag, är det nödvändigt att återigen skriva om ämnet. Gudmundson refererar till en intervju med Ilmar Reepalu i Sunday Telegraph. Reepalu fäller i intervjun det smått bisarra yttrandet 'Det har inte förekommit några attacker mot judar, och om judar här vill flytta till Israel är det ingen angelägenhet för Malmö'."

It is very serious when a Mayor is not admitting that there is a problem of violence against a people, in this case Jews. When I wrote in support of the Jewish demonstration for Israel in Malmö that was attacked, I got a snyde comment that this was not a security problem for Sweden as a nation. I cannot disagree more. Looking the other way when violence is executed is always a problem. There are always people that think it might be OK to act in this way if such events are not forcefully denounced.

However, what Ilmar Reepalu might be referring to here is the general situation that he know of violence, for example clandestine violence, that occur which he is referring to as nonexistent. This might actually be a larger problem for Sweden than what the Jews are experiencing.

The Scandinavians are supposedly among the happiest on Earth. I would hate to wake up one day and find out that that is what Scandinavians say, because they don't dare to confront clandestine threats of violence.

Universal Human Rights?

How Different Cultures Shape the Brain - Sharon Begley - Newsweek.com: "Especially when it shows how fundamental cultural differences are—so fundamental, perhaps, that 'universal' notions such as human rights, democracy, and the like may be no such thing."

I have not seen this notion debated actually but it is important and raises important questions. Especially in the current school curriculum debate in Sweden. Sharon Begley discusses some differences in brain function between Asians and Westerners. It seems like we are born with a certain so called "hard wiring" of the brain that is malleable by culture to a certain extent. A phenomenon called neuronal plasticity.

The crucial question is if this cultural change of brain function and thus of personality represents a new type of racism? Because at the same time you conclude that there is a difference, it does not matter that it is not genetic, the problem of which culture, if any, is most superior arises. It is fairly clear that Christianity in Europe led to the development of modern science which represents a world record for achievement at the time.

However, is the management of these assets better performed by the Asians with their collective-tuned personalities? It is a little like the difference by liberals and conservatives in the West. It is perhaps a little easier to make new discoveries that break with past rituals than if you are hard-wired to the collective. At least this represents evolutionary thinking on the problem. Faster progress is possible.

The above discussion is of course not simplified with the current research on the human genome from different areas of the world. James 'DNA double helix' Watson ran into a heavy turbulence over some statements in this general direction the other year. The topic is so sensitive that it basically cannot be discussed in the open. However, it is fair to assume that small, and perhaps significant, differences exist in the neural hard-wiring of different races. Especially now when functional, culture induced, differences apparently are possible to discuss in the fine salons of the world.

So are human rights universal? Most people in the West seems to think so. They seem to work better in Japan than in China which would then perhaps be ascribed to a cultural effect. One additional problem might be that even if one culture is superior at a given time, it might not be all the time. Then there is the question if there is equal suffering in China and the West, a characteristic that is actually measurable?

Centering across the world?

RealClearPolitics - The Collapsing Global Left: "Does the smashing victory of the Conservative Party, and these other victories mean that the democratic world is suddenly embracing our conservative principles? No: not at all. But does it mean that voters, almost everywhere they can vote, are rejecting the message of the Left? Yes. Real conservatism is not winning elections yet; but the Left is clearly losing."

On and off I have been discussing this phenomenon. Centering of the most popular politics around the centre-right. I don't think it will ever go conservative as Bruce Walker, the author of the article, suggests. It will linger at the centre-right versus the center for a while.

In Sweden it is interesting what will happen when the people younger than thirty will start to influence the voting. The Pirate Party and the Greens have their majority voters in this age group.

Reading up on the Pirate Party and the international evaluations of its success, it seems like it will be important which feature of its policy will come to dominate. Civil rights or free access to the Internet. The most probable group placement for the Pirate Party in the European Parliament is the Liberals or the Greens. They claim non-alignment to the traditional right and left scale in Sweden.

If the Pirate Party (in this case what an unfortunate name) and the Greens join forces to mobilize the young in Sweden the civil rights question and the righteousness of climate thinking would amount to a formidable political force in 20 years.

Evidence for this can be found in the Eurobarometer survey 2009. Sweden, Finland and Denmark feature 71%, 69% and 68%, respectively for The Protection of Human Rights in the World. The EU27 average is 53% for this item.

For Combating Effectively Climate Change one finds for Sweden, Denmark and Finland, 79%, 59% and 53%, respectively, that are positive. The EU27 average is only 31%.