Thilo Sarrazin - racist hero

This summer we saw the ugly face of racism in the US with the rise of the "tea-baggers".  Now racism is being mainstreamed in Germany after a member of the Bundesbank - Thilo Sarrazin - let loose against "Arabs" and Turks living in Germany in an interview with the culture magazine Lettre International:  

"A large number of Arabs and Turks in this city, whose number has grown through bad policies, have no productive function other than as fruit and vegetable vendors," he said.

"Forty per cent of all births occur in the underclasses. Our educated population is becoming stupider from generation to generation. What's more, they cultivate an aggressive and atavistic mentality. It's a scandal that Turkish boys won't listen to female teachers because that is what their culture tells them", he said. "I'd rather have East European Jews with an IQ that is 15pc higher than the German population," he said            

Sarrazin was disciplined by the executive board of the Bundesbank for his comments, but he instantly has become a hero among both conservatives and right-wing extremists in Germany.  A comment at the Web site of the neo-fascist Junge Freiheit sums up the sentiments of many on the right:

Einen wie ihn braucht Deutschland, damit es ein von christl. Kultur und Werten geprägtes Land bleibt u. keinem Steinzeitislam in die Hände fällt! (Germany needs someone like him, so that it can remain a country based on Christian culture and values and doesn't fall into stone-age Islam!)

Sarrazin is also a hero and the number one topic on the popular hate blog Politically Incorrect.  The repulsive right-wing blogger Gudrun Eussener has taken time out from espousing her "birther" theories concerning Barack Obama to take up the cause of Thilo Sarrazin. She is joined in this just cause by the neo-Nazi NPD, who express their respect for the banker on the party's Web site: 

so muß man ihm doch Respekt zollen für seine ehrlichen und der Wahrheit sehr nahe kommenden Worte hinsichtlich der Überfremdungsproblematik deutscher Großstädte. (One has to respect (Sarazzin) for his honest words that are close to the truth concerning the takeover of German cities by foreigners.)

You would think that "respectable" media outlets would distance themselves from Sarrazin and his racist remarks, especially if they are celebrated by neo-Nazis amd right-wing hate groups such as Politically Incorrect.  But surprisingly Sarazzin is being heralded as a brave "truth teller" even by respectable newspapers such as the Frankfurter Allgemeine.  FAZ columnist Jasper von Altenbockum pours lavish praise on Sarrazin for his "civil courage" - the man is nothing less than a "true hero" for categorizing an entire race of people living in Germany as sub-human baby-factories (HT-Politblogger).  

Just as the tea-bag "movement" in the US revealed that racism is alive and well in the United States - even after the election of an African-American as president -  so does the reaction to Thilo Sarrazin's comment expose a serious problem in Germany.  A poll shows that 51% of Germans agree with Sarrazin's comments.

UPDATE:  Sarrazin has written a book!  The NPD has published a glowing review. 

         

Comments

[hattie]

David: You might think about passing this info on to the Southern Poverty Law Center.

[albert cornelis]

you guys are so stupid, completely blind for the big problems in islamized societies: everything is destroyed by those turkish and arab bastards and their dirty islam. Keep on living in your wacko dreamworld, we have the right to defend our country our freedoms our welfare

[Katy]

Daniel Bax wrote a fine comment on the issue in the TAZ, available in English at www.qantara.de/webcom/show_article.php/_c-476/_nr-1239/i.html

[M.]

Arabs and turkish are not bastards and Islam is a good religion, for ones who really wants to know it. But what this people, many of them, are doing when they emigrate, is not right. Respect your rules at your home and if you went to another "home", then respect their rules.

[Lumpini]

It an unfortunate development of our contemporary political culture to define everything that is beyond a white-washed mainstream as "racist". Mr. Sarrazin merely got the statistics right, and simply because the majority of politicians is simply not brave enough to tell the facts. If 2/3 of Turkish man in Berlin leave school without any degree (!), this is a very significant sign that should be taken serious (and only 8% of Turkish males will leave with an A-Level). This is the case with no other group of immigrants. This is an inconvenient thruth, but telling an inconvenient story doesn't make one a racists.
To add, I was reading in an African newspaper today (the Ethiopian Herald), that opossition by the Republicans towards the politics of Obama is caused by a racists attitude and the unwillingness of American whites to be lead by a black man. As you can see, the club of racisms is simply a tool to dry out any plitical debate.

[David]

Sarrazin said that the majority of Turks and Arabs in Berlin have low IQ's and were only good for selling fruits and vegetables. How is that NOT racist?

Furthermore, his comments were celebrated by right-wing extremist groups - including the neo-Nazi NPD.

In Canada and the US we have many Turkish and Arab immigrants. Many of them get degrees and go on to become engineers, managers, teachers, etc. Do they come from a different gene pool?

[Martijnterhaar]

Sarazin's comments are basically a rehash of that old salon racist favorite, The Bell Curve. From an interview he gave to the Dutch magazine De Groene Amsterdammer it also seemed like he hadn't really looked into the science. He thinks that the statement '80% of IQ is determined by genes' means that 80% of the IQ of an individual is determined by his or her genes. But what it really means is that 80% of the variance in the intelligence of a population can be attributed to genetic factors. Which is something completely different (see http://psych.colorado.edu/~carey/hgss/hgssapplets/heritability/heritability.intro.html and the links therein.)

[German cizizen and tax payer]

There is not any racism by this social democrat. He just states facts and statistics about all the problems Germany has with Muslim Immigrants that care less for education, are more often without a job, receive more welfare, commit more crimes, practice more incest in forced marriages in families, and simply cost the society significantly more than they contribute. All facts! The major problem: they become more and more by higher birthrate and still high migration.

[David]

I agree with Stephan Kramer of the Jewish Council in Germany:

„Ich würde Herrn Sarrazin den Eintritt in die NPD empfehlen, das macht die Gefechtslage wenigstens klarer und befreit die SPD“, sagte Kramer.

[EZ]

Re: German cizizen and tax payer: "I agree with Stephan Kramer of the Jewish Council in Germany" -

I also agree with Stephan Kramer, but I hate to point out that Stephan, if he walks at night in a dark alley with a kippah is, ironically, most likely to be attacked by the very same groups that are under discussion here - young immigrant Arabs and/or Turks who adhere to Islam.

[EZ]

Sorry my previous past was re David's post not German citizen.

[Welt Judenfrei werden]

Moslems sind wie Schweinen!
Holocaust ist Myth!

[Caga Regras]

Something Mr. Sarrazin got rightly: I would rather have a bunch of Jews than a crowd of average Germans and Turks to run a civilized country. A high IQ is everything!

Also, anyone noticed how Mr. Sarrazin would look like Herr Himmler if he had his hair cut shorter?

[Piotr]

Guys, you're talking nonsense. As far as I know, he did not raise any ethnic arguments, only relegious ones, so how can he be a racist? He expressed his views on Asians, East-Europeans etc - where is racism in it?
He just openly stated a fact, supporting it with logical arguments: islam as a religion goes generally against the basic values of Western societies and cannot be integrated with these. There are exceptions of course, a minority of moslems who integrate well, but for the MAJORITY it is a big problem.
You cannot have a consistent society where one big group openly questions all the basic values: this always leads to a conflict, and the weak ones, less determined, have always lost in the history of man kind, and so will Europe lose unless it awakes. Everyone is welcome to be our guests and settle here, no matter what their race is, as long as they accept our values, our system. If they do not, let them stay home. And our system is not very complicayted to that, eg. in Saudi Arabia: open mind for different views, no official religion, respect for women, respect for various minorities.
Is it so hard to understand?

[Douglas Quaid]

@Piotr. Tak! The usual reaction to suffocate an open debate about problems, migration is usually done, very effectively, calling the person a nazi, racist, anti-Semite. And to compare, like one talkbacker did, Sarrazin with the loon and closet Klansman Glen Beck... cheap, very cheap.

[Sir Vival]

Since Mr. Sarrazin's book was officially published in Germany today, I guess I can say that not very many people actually read it yet. Therefore it is absurd to render a judgment about his statements. Especially since he mostly gathered already well known facts. What upsets most people are his conclusions. If you are educated and familiar with economic and cultural facts in Europe you will be able to at least follow his train of thought. You don't have to share his opinion. But you should deal with it in an educated manner.

As a teaser: Did you ever ask yourselves how much of today's technology was invented in islamist oriented countries? Sure, they all know how to use a cell phone. But...

[NAM resident]

I partially agree with Sarrazin. The same thing happens all around the world. In the US and Canada, I respect and appreciate immigrants from East Asia and Eastern Europe. Europeans blend in/fit in very well due to a common values as the locals, and Asians although do not fit in as well as Europeans, they work hard and provide good work force, plus the crime rate is not likely to rise from those immigrants.

I don't want to point fingers to specific immigrant groups, but some just do not realize they are in other people's country and if they want to settle down, they better do accept the laws and morals in this country.

In the Canadian immigration guide, it clearly stated "Under the law, the Equality of Women and Men are protected, our openness & generosity do not extend to BARBARIC cultural practices." It's sad to see "honor killings" still happen nowadays, and in North America(trust me, they often hit the news).

In addition, you can never doubt a specific group of people's intention, or else they'll just call you "racist", even though they have been here for 3, 4 generations. It is upsetting to see people over extendedly use the word "racist" under most circumstances.

[Hans Mass]

He is no racist.

70-90% of Germans supports him = Migrants, left and right wings, old and young ones.

Just the one who are responsible for the problems try to defame his reputation for transparent reasons. "They" are populating it.

[Hans Mass]

Especially left socialistic/green imprinted ones try permanently with attachments like "right" and "racist" to bring Sarrazin in an odd corner. But thats just propaganda.

No serious one in Germany believes that, just the responsable ones.

In the meantime there are jokes about that the accuser themselve used the SAME statements, articles and more - but in his case, they complain. double standard...

[David]

@Hans,

It is indeed a disturbing development if "70 - 90%" of Germans agree with Sarrazin's crude racial theories. I thought this chapter had been closed for good.

And aren't "the responsible ones" speaking out against Sarrazin just the representatives elected by the people?

[Jon]

Thilo Sarrazin is not a "racist hero." He is a German hero. If his ideas are not followed, and Germany continues to allow unbridled Third World immigration, it will cease to exist as "Germany" within a few decades and will merely be another Arab country along with Syria, Iraq, and so on, with an oppressed German minority. Read news about him at http://www.thilosarrazin.com .

[jack]

Everybody defending the immigration to Germany, go ask Turks in Turkey what they think about the Turks who immigrated to Germany, you will shut up almost instantly, they do not respect our laws, our rules, our culture, most of the teenagers are aggressive and just hang around in the cities and bother other civilians, they often get calm when they grew up but they still do not speak German or get educated ... they think about it this way: if you get children you get enough money from the government, why do anything? we have germans thinking that way too, but we do not need even more ppl thinking that way, it's enough if we have a large number of stupid germans!

[Chas]

The question we have to ask is why the first thing the German government did after "reunification" was to induce massive Jewish immigration from the former USSR until today they have many more than they ever did before. Up from 5,000 in the 1960's to well over 300,000 today. The answer is obvious. The Germans do not control their own future. They might as well still be occupied. Oh wait, they still are! Secondly, why are these Jews everywhere, when they get power, the loudist voices insisting on flooding all white countries with third worlders to the point where the indigenous cultures are brought to extinction? Is it perhaps that it's easier for Jews to dominate multicultural countries than homogeneous ones? Hey, many or the brainwashed out there will call me a racist, like Pavlov's dog you've been trained well but this has to be looked at closely. How do 2 or 3 % of the populations guide their host nations destinies?

[Ian_rw]

Artikel 5 Grundgesetz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
Jeder hat das Recht, seine Meinung in Wort, Schrift und Bild frei zu äußern und zu verbreiten und sich aus allgemein zugänglichen Quellen ungehindert zu unterrichten. Die Pressefreiheit und die Freiheit der Berichterstattung durch Rundfunk und Film werden gewährleistet. Eine Zensur findet nicht statt.

OK... just what did he do wrong???
You may not agree with him, but his right to express himself is guaranteed in law.

You can't can his ass for exercising his rights...
Just how far have we come???

[David]

Einzige Frage ist, warum hat es bei der Bundesbank so lange gedauert?

Redefreiheit ist keine Arbeitsgarantie.

[William]

God bless this man for speaking the obvious truth even as it is not only unpopular but dangerous to do so. In a position such as his that is esecially brave of him, but the reality of what he says is self evident and the proof is in the result of open immigration of undesireable people into (once) beautiful countries of Western and Central Europe. It may anger many to hear someone speak with so much common sense and with courage enough to call observable reality what it is, but he is not alone and the tide is turning against the ones that make excuses for the destruction of our countries.

[Norberto]

Who is Sarrazin ? Strange name for a German, where is he from ?

Speaks good of Jews, hates Muslims and Arabs, works in finance, my question is: is him a Jew like other 'nationalists' like Wilder and Clegg ?

[insight]

Germany invited Turkish citizens to help rebuild the country after WWII. Now that the dirty work is over, the Aryans want to kick the Turks out again. I think all "people of inferior races" living in Germany should get the hell out of the country before concentration camps and the Hitler salute become mainstream once more - it's not a question of "if" but "when".

[Rolf Schuler]

In no way, Sarrazin is a racist. I just finished his book (which has reached the 8th edition already), and I can witness, that there is no racism at all.
But he is predicting, that a low education grade will reduce the general economic and cultural level of a population, and he shows, that immigrants from Turkey and other countries from the Near and Middle
East have a significantly lower education and many of them are unwilling for integration.

That's not racism, it's just a campaign against stupidity.

[aaliya weinberg]

I agree for Germany it's a matter of When
Rater than IF in order to get rid of the none Aryan population ... I lived in Germany for 20 years cannot say the average German is very educated the average is pretty dumb and ignorant .

[Milovan Rafailovic]

I just finished reading his book in German. This guy is right on the mark. According to him, the countries like the United States, Canada and Australia that don't have a welfare system like Germany get the immigrants who want to work and get ahead in life while Germany gets the bottom of the barrel. The Muslims in Germany don't want to work, they don't believe in eduducation, keep their women in servitude, have a lot of children and are violent. Some of those families get three, four thousand euros a month without work. Why work then?