Title of Paper: Sweden: when hate becomes the norm

Date of Publication: 2013

Author (s): Katrina Hirvonen

Claim of the paper: The internet, serving as an ‘echo chamber’ for extremist groups, is making its way into providing more

votes for the Sweden Democrats. Thus, making hate and resentment the norm, and restricting accommodation of immigrants.

1) First main idea: This article zooms in on the protests at a center at Vallentuna that shelters unattended minors. But ever since

the concept has been promulgated, there was defiance and disapproval on the subject. This comes as a result of anti-foreigner

antipathy and estrangement. (Hirvonen, 2013)

A) Supporting Details: Protests were clearly advertising objection and resentment towards accommodating foreigners in

Vallentuna, a middle-class suburb. Letters were being sent to the newspaper, petitions were put in motion, meetings were

sought. Too much effort has been put into kicking the foreign minors out of town, from abusive calls to vandalism.

Nevertheless, the center opened. But that didn’t cease nor put an end to the aggression and bitterness coming from the people

of Vallentuna. (Hirvonen, 2013)

B) Second main idea: The internet is representing an ‘echo chamber’ for like-minded people, to convey their racism without ever

being held to account, ultimately normalizing hate and extremists’ opinions. (Hirvonen, 2013)
 Supporting Details: To be apt to discern and make sense that the internet is serving as an agent for compatible people to share

their comments on the subject, she investigated internet sites that were mushrooming throughout the years with articles and comments

backing and supporting the same idea. The first website is one of the largest, which advocates counter-jihadism, the second is the most

forthrightly neo-Nazi of the sites perceived, depicting far-right anti-immigrant and white female chauvinist views. The third and final

website is itself ‘the online newspaper for the Swedish Resistance’, its aim is characterizing an antidote to the political correctness of

the Swedish media. All these websites contributed in fortifying extreme and outrageous opinions, and made them feel like their

perspectives are the standard (Hirvonen, 2013)

C) Third main idea: Harsh, resentful and bitter comments, also presented as hate speech, is now a well-known strategy for

expressing one’s disapproval to a certain subject. Nevertheless, these hate fueled comments will sometimes go too far and push

too many boundaries to convey an opinion. (Hirvonen, 2013)

Supporting Details: The author tried to deliver as much examples as she could to clarify people’s strong disapproval to these

foreigners being accommodated in their country, social media posts, taking matters into their own hands by throwing eggs at specified

care centers for immigrants. This comes as a result to them feeling threatened by the immigrants’ presence, especially the theory of

Eurabia, which has spread amongst all Swedish people, thinking that the main purpose of the afghani’s people arrival to their country

is to islamicize it. (Hirvonen, 2013)

-Weaknesses in the article: The third part of this article shows too much of the hateful and harsh side of free-speech, showing

resentment and violent comments at its best, but went too far at one point. But throughout the whole article, this delivers the idea that

people are unwelcoming to other ethnicities and religions. Also, author is not defending the immigrants as much as she’s depicting the

hate. Furthermore, the author focuses on the fact that Swedish people are biased and rely too much on stereotypes, but failed to

emphasize the fact that Sweden and plenty of other European countries and civilization are also victim to this hideous crime,

stereotypes and generalization.