The Netherlands come first in post-WWII education in Political Correctness, but they have among the worst anti-immigration sentiments in Europe. That says a lot about current popular sentiment (it is far worse in Eastern Europe), which is generally labeled ‘far right’ by the MSM. Yet, as you know, people like Pim Fortuyn, assassinated in 2002 by a neo-moralist (Green), are in fact true liberals, not conservative nationalists.

Pim Fortuyn had maintained that “Holland is full” – racism had absolutely nothing to do with it. The gay Fortuyn also feared the sentiments of the Muslim communities that democratically campaigned against gays and liberal thinking in Holland. That’s where freedom, democracy and unassimilated cultures collide (unassimilation is extremely problematic, as Britain’s “ethnic diversity” project has shown).

It all gets very sad and dangerous when neo-con influences are echoed across the pond and into Europe – the crusade against “Islamo-fascists” and “trr’rsts”, when the real fascists are those currently trying to provoke war against Iran just because its rulers won’t submit to the imperial whims of the US.

Malta has come to face the immigration issue at a time when most of Western Europe is nearing a closure of some sort. The end is still far off, yet it is the beginning of a closure nonetheless and it ushers no paradise. Berlusconi’s fingerprinting of the Romany people is only the beginning.

Don’t expect to sucessfully preach to the Maltese at times like these. Your opinions are rejected because to the vast majority they make little sense. They come out as irrational. That is why you’re preaching to the converted.

You’re right, though, in that the goody-goody-seat is not so comfortable for you, this being Malta. It is however goody-goody throughout Western Europe – the favourite of champagne socialists and the rest of the centrists, in fact.

@ Amanda Mallia – I don’t profess to have solutions. But calling the reasonably pre-occupied ‘racists’ does not help.
We are EU members. We should make it clear at EU level that we are not ready to be burdened more than other EU countries (as the current rate per capita shows). The Greek police, for example, are notorious at breaching EURODUC, failing to register African immigrants and letting them slide off into Albania or Italy. That’s the only type of pressure they understand. What would the Italians do? Bomb us? Impose a fine through the EU Court? Or would they rather try their best to share the burden with the other big states?

http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20080807/local/120-migrants-stranded-on-drifting-boat

And my ‘goody-goody opinions’, as you call them, are not comfortable at all. Our house was set on fire while we were asleep a couple of years ago, remember? The comfortable opinion to hold in Malta is the racist one, or even better, the ‘I am not a racist but…” one.

Face facts! It is a problem to which there is no immediate solution, unless, of course, you intend to have the various watchtowers manned once again, this time to shoot these unfortunate people lest they dare approach our shores.

As to my stoning example, it was, as pointed out, just an example taken to the extreme. What I meant to say is that with increasing numbers comes democratic say, which in turn should influence the enactment of future laws.

The debate is stifled and distorted when all those who show preoccupation are labeled ‘racists’. Your goody-goody stance is a comfortable one, yet it offers no solutions – unless you manage to convert the majority perception. Yet perceptions change not because people are converted, but because they eventually die. The problem is that the perceptions of the younger generations are not getting any better. That is why I am not as hopeful as you seem to be.

Let’s not get into a dumb “Dogs versus Cats” debate.

Dogs are hierarchically based social animals; cats are not, mostly inclined to individual hunting rather than packs.

This is what makes dogs more “obedient” to those that they perceive as their more dominant pack leader.
Cats do not.
So what?

They both make great pets for different reasons. Anyone who hates one or the other should try and understand why.

Oh, and there are many who can’t control a dog and whose dog won’t obey them because they lack the necessary personality to earn its respect. They might as well have a cat, it keeps itself cleaner at least.