By Jo Nova
Everywhere there are free and fair elections and a politically biased media, people will be shocked.
What does “far right” even mean when it applies to a quarter of the population?
. ..
It means name-calling is embedded in our vocabulary. Geert Wilder’s party has won 37 seats in the Netherlands election with 24% of the vote — more than any other party. There are 150 seats in total in the Dutch Parliament, so it’s not clear what the final winning coalition will look like. What is clear is that environmentalists hate it:
‘4 years of climate change denial’: Dutch environmental groups react to far-right election swing
by Ian Smith, EuroNews
Environmental groups have expressed shock and promised climate action in response to Dutch election results. Wednesday night saw the historic victory of the far right Party for Freedom (PVV).
“We are shocked,” Extinction Rebellion Netherlands says. “This outcome will likely mean a rollback of climate measures, new fossil investments, exclusion of marginalised groups, and more.”
If far-right applies to a quarter of the population, and the Greens appeal to a much smaller slice, it’s only fair they be called the extreme-left, yes?.
How many votes is it worth when a party is gifted a “label” by the media day in and day out. How many people would have voted for a “Centre Right” party who would not even consider “the far right”? It could be a 2 – 5% advantage right there.
Left leaning players cheat and deceive with language every day, and the Right let them get away with it.
We need to fight for our language, for consistent words.
So let’s mock the partisan reporters who keep calling the center Right, the far-right. “We know which way you vote”. Ask them to define their terms.
There’s a trend across Europe — Victor Orban (Hungary), Geiorgia Meloni (Italy), Sweden, Finland…
Geert Wilders’ shock victory in the Netherlands creates fear as Europe eyes another hard-right win
By Bruno Waterfield, The Australian
Once renowned for tolerance, stability, liberalism and its pro-European credentials, one of the EU’s wealthiest nations is now a seething hotbed of discontent.
If it were only the Netherlands that would be bad enough, but most of the discontents and political trends that have propelled Wilders to victory are writ large across the EU.
Congratulations to Geert Wilders and his team, and to Javier Milei who won 56% of the vote in Argentina this week too. In the latter’s case, he’s not just “far right” but fully anti-science, according to Nature — the science journal that appears to think science is defined by government funding, not by evidence.
‘Extremely worrying’: Argentinian researchers reel after election of anti-science president
Martín De Ambrosio & Fermín Koop, Nature
As part of his plan to address the country’s economic crisis, Javier Milei has promised to slash research funding and shut down key science agencies.
The result brings much uncertainty for Argentina’s science community. Milei and other members of his party, La Libertad Avanza (Liberty Advances), have pledged to shut down or possibly privatize the country’s main science agency, the National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET), as well as to eliminate the ministries of health, science and the environment.
So 56% of Argentian voters are climate skeptics:
‘A massive setback’
Milei has also called climate change is a “socialist hoax”, comments that have stirred concern in the science community. “His position is typical of a denier,” says Matilde Rusticucci, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Buenos Aires
Good to know next time someone says a skeptic is unelectable.
–Flag photo: Dutchgamer(Yusuf Babayusuf)
