COMMENTARY: Halla-aho and some uncomfortable truths

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By Saska Snellman
     
      In recent days journalists have had to wrestle with what kind of an attitude to take toward Jussi Halla-aho, the newest vote magnet of the True Finns. His comments on immigrants, homosexuals, and feminists are at best, not quite politically correct, and at worst, disgusting.
     Up until the municipal elections, the media was almost completely silent about Halla-aho, but this is no longer possible. Even in Helsingin Sanomat, a full-page interview with Halla-aho appeared on Sunday (see link).
     The interview has sparked anger at both ends of the spectrum. Halla-aho’s supporters feel that the story was too critical, while his opponents feel that it was too sympathetic.
     The reaction is typical for the debate culture of the age of the Internet, where extremes gain strength at the expense of traditional journalism, which strives for a balance.
     
The phenomenon has gone farthest in the United States, where the media is divided into liberal and conservative camps.
     Argumentation has been replaced by denigration of the opponents; it is no longer possible to hold a sensible discussion on issues of common interest. The phenomenon has not even spared the world of science.
     
Halla-aho is the first Finnish politician who has built his support purely on publicity generated by the Internet. He will undoubtedly have successors, so we must think of how to react to provocateurs.
     First it is a good idea to take a look in the mirror. Why would 5,000 people read Halla-aho’s blog? Has the media been silent about something that it should talk about?
      It is possible that problems linked with development cooperation and immigration, for example, have been handled with kid gloves, lest opponents get something to pounce on.
     This is not sensible, and in the age of the Internet, it is not even possible. Excessive vigilance and censorship turn against themselves. Few had probably even heard about [the hard-line nationalist organisation] Suomen Sisu before Prime Minister Matti Vanhanen went and apologised that it had published the controversial Muhammad cartoons.
     
Difficult issues must be discussed openly, but in light of real facts. For instance, crimes committed by immigrants are an unpleasant reality, but they typically result from factors linked with immigration and marginalisation - just ask Swedes who remember with horror the knife-wielding Finns who moved into the country in the 1960s and ‘70s.
     
Halla-aho proclaims that he considers Western culture more valuable than Muslim culture.
     However, Western culture is not based on language or nationality, but rather the open debate of free people, where one’s own religion is not the only thing that is proclaimed, and opponents are not only denounced. It is a search for truth, in which people listen to the opinions of others, and concede their own mistakes.
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 3.12.2008


Previously in HS International Edition:
  What does Jussi Halla-aho really want? (30.11.2008)
  Green women’s organisation considers filing criminal report against True Finns councillor Jussi Halla-aho (14.11.2008)
  Soini defends True Finns party against accusations of xenophobia (9.10.2008)

SASKA SAARIKOSKI / Helsingin Sanomat
saska.saarikoski@hs.fi