I've heard racism describe as America's "original sin," and I think there's truth in that. Once upon a time, I thought that America was racist, and the rest of the world not so much so.

Then I lived in Berlin in 1972-73, and I found that Berliners hated the southern Europeans they called "Turks" (no matter what country they came from), and they worried about the "Turks" taking jobs from taxpaying Germans - although the southern Europeans did jobs that native Berliners didn't want to do, I guess I could understand German workers worrying about losing jobs in a recession while "Turks" were still employed. Much of the attitude about "Turks" was racism, but part was a legitimate worry about instability of employment that may (or may not) have been caused by immigrants.

I went to England in 2002, and I always had thought that England was the home of noble, liberal thinking. My preconceptions were shattered from the moment I arrived at Heathrow and found that a good number of the immigration and customs officials were foreign-born, just like in the United States. I found that London was the most ethnically diverse city I have ever encountered. But all was not well - I found working-class, UK-born Londoners who were resentful of the presence of foreigners. Part of their response was indeed racist, and part was legitimate worry about the threat to their employment in hard times.

So, the BNP has capitalized on these legitimate fears (which are admittedly laced with racism). The talk show hosts in the US capitalize on the same fears (which are also laced with racism). Because the BNP and the US talk show hosts are fascist, we liberals tend to discount the fears (and the racism) of the masses, and that's a dangerous thing. Like it or not, we liberals are guilty of elitism, because we have failed to listen to the concerns of the working people. As a result, the fascists have found our Achilles heel.

We'd better take heed.

-Joe-