“Stinging nettles operating from bunkers, get ready! It’s time.”

Stinging nettles operating from bunkers, get ready!

It’s time.

You know how it goes: be as mean as possible, no comments on the substance. Gender, looks, background, that’s it. Be chauvinistic. Sexist. Nationalistic. Primitive.

Make sure you incorporate manipulation and lies. Grammar is not important, love are country. Insult. Be vulgar.

Ready, set, go!

Recently, there has been a surge in hateful comments. Also under my posts. This is clearly happening because the European elections are coming up, and a certain faction of politics is eager to post comments from a bunker. With clear instructions.

What is the objective? To provoke hatred, or at least a certain degree of doubt. If only these comments offered valuable criticism that I could learn from, but instead I can only brush them aside. And report them, of course. Because I am not inclined to work in this manner. Because there is no point in explaining anything to the authors. They are not interested. In fact, this has nothing to do with me, the issue is much wider. But perhaps it has something to do with them… Because if their feelings are genuine, life probably isn’t easy for them.

This week, the agenda of the European Parliament’s plenary session included a debate on combating the normalisation of far-right and far-left discourses including antisemitism. To be frank, efforts to ensure a balanced approach by considering “the far right and far left” are overly simplistic.

Extremes, by their nature, carry various nuances. Not everyone is a fascist, although they may harbour a certain degree of hostility, nationalism, paranoia. A more accurate, more realistic title would be “the normalisation of the populist discourse by right-wing hardliners”. The new right wing. The one embodied by Janez in Slovenia, Viktor across the border, and Donald overseas. But the problem is that the normalisation of discourse automatically leads to its acceptance, resulting in a situation where the pace of our action is dictated by dangerous populist demagogy,­ at least in some areas.

Unfortunately, in recent years, such normalisation has not only taken place at the level of the discourse of anonymous people, but increasingly also in politics. Even in the European Parliament. I have addressed colleagues on this matter, and you can watch the recording below. In order to score cheap political points, representatives of the moderate centre-right are increasingly forming alliances with their more extreme colleagues, and this is reflected in many things. From attempts to tear down environmental legislation to the deliberate incitement of fear, discomfort and nationalism.

They aim to stir up feelings of hatred to offer a solution to the problem they created themselves. Although the levels of intensity vary across the globe, the tactic is the same. In parallel with normalising and accepting extremes and hostility, the media, the judiciary or political rivals are conveniently portrayed as enemies of the state (read: the bunker). This way it is easier to deal with them and to strengthen own power. In order to come to power or stay in power. In pursuit of their own interests and those of their cronies.

It is up to us, those of us in the centre, who are aware of these facts, to reject such rhetoric upfront and not make any concessions to paranoid populists in our policies and actions. While the normalisation of discourse is concerning, the normalisation of embracing hostility, nationalism and ideology built on lies in (European) politics is even more problematic.

Regrettably, the values of decency and truthfulness no longer serve as restraints for these people. They simply take advantage of the opportunities available to them. And target-oriented commentators operating from their bunkers, sorry, online, have become one of the main modi operandi.

We must not normalise this. We must not accept it. We’re dealing with opportunists who know very well what they are doing. They work for various people and to achieve various objectives, but not to benefit you. Unfortunately.

You can keep attacking and slandering me, I know you will. But I will nevertheless work harder than your online and political mentors in search of solutions that will not least serve you. I accept you as human beings (let’s just assume you are), but I do not accept your hostility.

– Irena