The Clash

[Martin Naef]

Kai,

 > But it seems fascism is creeping back into our societies, our middle
 > class, our conservative newspapers, heck, even one of the

You're bringing up an interesting topic. It's been on my mind for quite 
a while, looking around me and noticing what's happening.

I think there are two key quotes in your e-mail:

 > (quoted directly from the interview) "If, like me, you didn't approve
 > of leftist ideas you were immediately branded a fascist" (also from

and

 > TV anchorheads, talkshow guests and even hosts are increasingly
 > giving very simple answers to very complex problems.

There is a huge temptation to accept simple answers to complex problems. 
  The trouble is: For a long time, those simple answers from the right 
were deemed fascism, but questioning the equally simple answer "all is 
well, we just have to be tolerant" was considered a taboo.

Now that the economy is worsening, people are scared about loosing their 
way of life. That includes economic aspects, but also cultural things. 
For a long time, those fears were oppressed instead of addressed.

It needs very complex explanations why it's a good thing to mix 
cultures. Working at a very multinational corporation (we have over 20 
different nationalities in our department alone), one starts to 
appreciate it. But explain to somebody who's been serving local 
customers with his local team for 30 years why he should suddenly start 
speaking English during the meetings and get his engineering done in India.

I may be repeating myself: Don't go and protest against "fascism". Go 
and explain to the people with fears why diversity is actually a good thing.

Martin