With National Rally having stormed to victory in the first round of France’s legislative election, commentators are once again asking: why do ‘far Right’ parties keep winning votes in Europe? (I put ‘far Right’ in quotation marks, as I realise the designation is contested.)
Left-wing academics view the ‘far Right’ the same way early European explorers viewed the native people they encountered – as primitive, dangerous and in need of ‘civilising’. They have come up with all manner of convoluted and implausible answers to the question above. It must be austerity. Or income inequality. Or ‘disinformation’.
Notice how ideologically convenient these answers are: they’re essentially the Left’s favourite hobby horses. Leftists already want action on austerity, income inequality and disinformation, so they just kind of assume those things are behind the rise of the ‘far Right’. Why is the ‘far Right’ on the rise, you ask? Turns out it’s because we haven’t been doing everything the Left wanted to do anyway.
The preceding answers don’t make much sense either. Why would people concerned about austerity and income inequality vote for the ‘far Right’ when they could just vote for the Left, which is much more focused on those issues? And why would people be more susceptible to ‘disinformation’ than to the supposedly correct information that’s constantly broadcast through all mainstream media?
The real reason the ‘far Right’ is on the rise is very simple: immigration – particularly Muslim immigration. Of course, Left-wing commentators refuse to believe this because it would mean their own preferred policies are the root cause of something they claim is an existential threat to democracy.
The fact that immigration – and not austerity, income inequality or ‘disinformation’ – is behind the rise of the ‘far Right’ can be seen very clearly in the case of Denmark.
Like most of Western Europe, the small Scandinavian country had seen large-scale immigration from the Middle East and North Africa, which prompted the formation of several ‘far Right’ parties. At the 2015 election, one such party (the Danish People’s Party) came second with 21% of the vote. At the next election in 2019, the Social Democrats (the country’s main Left-wing party) ran on a platform of immigration restrictionism and support for the welfare state. It won the most votes and was able to form a government with the other Left-wing parties. At the most recent election in 2022, the two ‘far Right’ parties got only 6% of the vote.
This example shows that the ‘far Right’ ceases to be an important political force when centrist parties adopt immigration restrictionism.
All those parties have to do is not pursue a policy that radically changes the country’s demographic composition and makes housing increasingly unaffordable. But they can’t help themselves: for some inexplicable reason, they just have to keep letting people in.
If the Left really wanted to neutralise the ‘far Right’, they would pursue the same strategy as the Danish Social Democrats. Since they choose not to, it’s hard to take their hand-wringing over ‘threats to democracy’ seriously.
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Don’t even give it credence by publishing such utter nonsense Daily Sceptic …come on editor sort it out
Nothing to discuss here, IPSO whatever the Feck it is, has just rendered itself irrelevant, ridiculous and not fit for purpose – get rid!
It’s an important issue. If you want to remain ignorant about it, then don’t read it, and allow the rest of us the choice of whether to remain ignorant about it or not.
“important”….go on…
What’s “important”is that we are being lead in to WW3 intentionally…
What’s also “important” is the relentless assault on free speech.
There’s no life rule saying one can only find one thing at a time important.
This article is more about “gender identity” than free speech
If it wasn’t for “a man who claims to be a woman”.. This article wouldn’t even exist…
No one was saying there was…………
Ignorant about “gender identity” are you having a laugh..
It’s been rammed down our throats on a daily basis for the past 25 years…. Not sure about you, but I’m done with the bs… You keep giving it attention if you want, but that won’t achieve anything at all….
“ignorant”…..blimey..
Not ignorant about “gender identity”, ignorant about the IPSO ruling. Nobody is forcing you to know anything about IPSO if you don’t want to know.
If the Spectator prints the ruling on its website stating that indeed Mr Dawson is a woman, will it be guilty of misinformation? After all, as Michael Grove says: “Dawson may have a gender recognition certificate but no piece of paper, whatever it may say, can alter biological reality. Parliament may pass laws, but they cannot abolish Dawson’s Y chromosome.”
It does get very confusing.
I agree. It’s DS clickbait. The press doesn’t matter anymore. We get balance from within the Network Society
the Phrase “A Man Who Claims to Be a Woman” is Discriminatory
It’s an interesting idea that speaking or writing a phrase that corresponds to reality constitutes “discrimination”. But what do the Clown-Wolders really mean by “discrimination” in a case like this? What they mean is that some people still insist on noticing reality, and that that must not be allowed. Thus we’ve reached the stage where speaking the truth is heresy.
Indeed…..right think, is the only think.
Nothing new. Once upon a time you could have lost your life for stating that you don’t see any evidence of the existence of a God.
We just haven’t evolved as much as we think we have.
If journalists are not allowed to say that Juno Dawson is “a man who claims to be a woman”, then they should say that Juno Dawson is “a man who claims to be a trans woman”, which cannot be proved to be inaccurate, as it is literally impossible to distinguish a trans woman from a man pretending to be a trans woman.
How about they just ignore it …
Not everyone has your “Close your eyes and it might go away” attitude.
“Trans woman” is gibberish.
What would a trans goldfish or trans tulip be?
Nevertheless it’s a reality that some men claim to be trans women.
War Is Peace.
Freedom Is Slavery.
Ignorance Is Strength.
Truth is Thoughtcrime.
What will such types do, when it becomes completely obvious, that all those self same types lied about the Covid Vaccinations.
If saying “a man who claims to be a woman” is discriminatory, what should one say to describe a man who claims to be a woman?
Exceĺlent question but easily answered: it’s “a man-without-a-certificate-from-the-state that claims he’s a woman.”
Telling the Truth Now a Crime
Both parents onboard with ‘transing’ their 18 month old son who now thinks he’s a girl called ‘Violet’. WTAF?
Child abuse takes many forms and this is just one. Take that child off these terrible parents!
https://x.com/Artemisfornow/status/1866104931867877385
I wonder how many Britons are suddenly realising they live in a totalitarian state in which something called a “Press Watchdog” has the power and authority to dictate what can and cannot be said.
So…. If I put on black makeup and claim to be black, would a journalist be found guilty of discrimination if they described me as a “white person who claims to be black”?
Ali G…
It doesnt matter how rarified and abstracted a culture becomes. In the end the body is still the final arbiter. You will learn that in the horror to come. Imposture won’t help pretence won’t help. You will either have the spunk or you won’t. Keep your nutsack full as a bulwark against the coming attack. No cheeky little wanks. If you feel the strain is too much then grip the base of your penis and give two squeezes. After a few weeks the desire will disappear completely.
Has anyone read any of Juno Dawson’s works? Would the phrase “a man who claims to be an author” be ok?
It isn’t rocket science. Why do you think that all the nasty major corporations of this world are pushing this agenda? Do you think it is because they care about minority groups? And so why are they actually pushing it. It is just to make you feel itchy and irked in certain places whilst they carry your possessions off. Either you tune into the real game or you don’t. We live in merciless times you can’t afford to be all over the place and stupid.
It is very easy to become a fuckwit, especially in our time. How about the spirit that rebals against becoming a fuckwit. I mean a genuine impulse to avoid that fate.
Membership of IPSO is not compulsory. Spectator should leave and like Guardian, Evening Standard, Financial Times be free of it.
The phrase ‘ you are factually correct but not politically correct’ originally came from Stalin’s Russia
Shame Gove didn’t push to get the “gender” lies and nonsense scrapped when he was in a position to do it.