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Comment by paganel | Hacker News Reader

There's a general malaise throughout this continent of Europe that neither these journos nor most of the (quite financially well-off) computer programmers from forums like this one are willing to look up straight in the face. The 40% AfD vote in Eastern Germany is just a local manifestation of that, the truth is that us, the normies, people are royally scared about our (financial and not only) futures have been left almost no-where else to go. And the squeeze on the energy we consume is a big factor behind all that.

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>There's a general malaise throughout this continent of Europe

The continent is remarkably resilient, we just love to complain. The fact that we're handling a de facto war with Russia, an energy crisis, a trade crisis and about half a dozen other crises with merely moderate amount of pain is a sign of strength, not the opposite. Five years ago people were claiming we'd freeze to death.

And I'm saying that as a German who can't stand the AfD as much as anyone else, the fact that they sit at 40% in our poorest region of two million people (where a third has emigrated over the last two decades) maybe shouldn't send you into a panic. That's Germany's version of rural Alabama. Turns out we're not exceptionally immune to populism in times of stress.

AUR (our local extremist party here in Romania) is also at 40%, the thing is that the powers that be have stopped having elections here because of that. Don’t act like this it will last, because it won’t, the wealthy regions in countries like Germany ard the exception by now, not the norm.

> have been left almost no-where else to go

I’m pretty sure that there are political alternatives to afd’s ethno-nationalism, climate change denialism and Putin-worship

There are? Which ones? Are they going to make our lives livable?

Is supporting a racist, science-denying, authoritarian and xenophobic party which views Germany's European neighbors and allies as threats to its prosperity going to do so? When has strident ethno-nationalism delivered more livable lives to Germans?

I'm just not convinced with this "no alternative" narrative for supporting political movements which leverage hate and conspiracies. Be honest with yourself and own your opinions and views instead of claiming victimhood and blaming the political landscape for not offering you alternatives and forcing you to passively adopt a bunch of ugly views and positions.

I keep worrying that right around the time the USA wakes up from this madness and restores the proper names of Lake Ontario and the Gulf of Mexico, Europe is going to be like “hold my beer.”

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