Why foreigners are so often a topic in the news

[Hank W.]

. it's still very interesting that most non-Finnish looking people I meet, I don't expect them to speak Finnish. I have many black and Asian Finnish born friends, who speak perfect or very good Finnish, but still the preconception is there, despite this experience.

Lets say I tend to talk in Finnish to those "younger" than I am... older people are 50/60, but then it comes to the "funny looks"... people been here more than 10 years tend to know how to dress.. drab. And the body language is different. So they're more likely to speak Finnish. People dressing too good, or "like English totally colorblind" are more likely to be either recent off ryanair or entrenched expats. I'd say I more look at the "whole demeanor" than blindly at skin color... Or how do you think the staff on "Viking Line" bars knows after a glance if you get service in Finnish or Swedish?

[mCowboy]

Or how do you think the staff on "Viking Line" bars knows after a glance if you get service in Finnish or Swedish?

I get service in Swedish on ferries... and in English on board Finnair...

[debonaire]

I find this whole idea of doing spot checks on foreigners a disturbing trend...Obviously the intent is correct but the way of doing spot checks on specific groups is discrimating....Have the cops devised a way of branding specific groups of foreigners or are they simply doing these spot checks on the basis of a person's look and color...Doesn't that tantamount to ethnic profiling?
I would be really interested to know how the cops have planned to single out the foreigners for their spot check operations...Are they doing these spot checks on all foreigners irrespective of their color and race or they just picking up guys who look funny and wear funny clothes...Someone on this forum said that its mostly the funny looking foreigners who are sujected to spot checks for identification...Is looking funny a crime? Does it make them less of a human?And how the cops are gonna make sure that these funny looking people or other smater and so called superior foreigners are not subjected to this inhuman practice of random spot checks more than once? I mean they can be asked to show their ids at different places on the same day... or the cops gonna ask them to wear some kinda identification mark(just like the way nazis made the jews do it) in order to prevent them from showing their ids every time on being subjected to spot checks...Either way,I find it disgusting and discriminating practice which certainly outrages the dignity of a person on the basis of their looks and race...
And are these spot checks ever gonna end or its just a one time process?..There are many foreigners who have worked and lived here for decades and make Finland their home...So will they be subjected to this type of identification checks throughout their life in Finland,even if many of them have acquired finnish citizenship....but hey they look funny...

so it's ok to check funny looking/acting Finns but not funny looking/acting foreigners?

I hate that the racism card is always used, whenever there's something like this going on. I a white Finnish guy calls another race guy an idiot, the odds are that the other race guy pulls out the racism card, but it never happens the other way...
If motorcycle gangs are committing crimes, everyone looking like a motorcycle gang member will be subjected to suspicion. If the illegal immigrants mostly from Africa and middle east are the issue, those people will be subjected to suspicion. Very simple.

If you're an idiot, you're an idiot regardless of the race and color... it's not racism, it's just an opinion or sometimes a fact.

I think you didn't understand the logic behind my comments...I meant that if these spot checks are mandatory,then everyone should go trough it ,not just a specific group of people...Its definitely not ok to brand people on the basis of their looks and color...How you can say that is beyond any logic and consideration...
Racism card will always be used when a practice becomes discriminatory....Why don't you understand that we no longer live in an aparteid era...Is that too much for you to digest or are you missing it so much...I would love to see your reaction when you are subjected to these spot checks every time you move out of your home...and every time you will be asked to show your identity...Will that be a normal routine for you?
Its a known fact that terrorism mostly comes from Islamic nations...So according to your irrational logic,every other muslim in this world should be looked at suspiciously and be treated as a terrorist...No point on guessing who is the idiot here..

[Hank W.]

I get service in Swedish on ferries... and in English on board Finnair...

Well, you do fly below the "junttidar"

[Hank W.]

Well what is the wrong as keeping it so? Just because some other countries let people live like pigs in the field doesn't mean we have to blindly follow their bad examples. Or what example do we pick up next?

However I'm on the lines of the minority ombudsman in that "how it is to be performed without branding people." as well as "In addition, the checks should be based on some kind of probable cause that the person concerned is here without the necessary residence documents."...

[antstar]

Its a known fact that terrorism mostly comes from Islamic nations...So according to your irrational logic,every other muslim in this world should be looked at suspiciously and be treated as a terrorist...No point on guessing who is the idiot here..

I don't ´think its a irrational logic, just human nature, if all rapist turned out to be ginger haired men with white framed glasses then all poeple fitting this description would be avoided. It s just a sad fact that people can't look past the cover.

[mCowboy]

I think you didn't understand the logic behind my comments...

and I don't think you understood mine.

I meant that if these spot checks are mandatory,then everyone should go trough it ,not just a specific group of people...Its definitely not ok to brand people on the basis of their looks and color...How you can say that is beyond any logic and consideration...

So if Police is looking for a man with white hair and black clothes, everyone else should be checked too?

Racism card will always be used when a practice becomes discriminatory....

It's not racism if most illegal aliens come from Africa and middle east and people from those countries are then checked.

Why don't you understand that we no longer live in an aparteid era...Is that too much for you to digest or are you missing it so much...

We never lived in an apartheid era in Finland, there never was official laws regarding ethnic minorities... it was more like Finns were discriminated against during Swedish and Russian regime.

I would love to see your reaction when you are subjected to these spot checks every time you move out of your home...and every time you will be asked to show your identity...Will that be a normal routine for you?

Those people don't get checked every time, don't be stupid. And if checking IDs meant that people of my ethnicity would have a better reputation and better chances of making it in this society, I'd embrace ID checks.

Its a known fact that terrorism mostly comes from Islamic nations...So according to your irrational logic,every other muslim in this world should be looked at suspiciously and be treated as a terrorist...No point on guessing who is the idiot here..

Well it's not me, who's the idiot, since you don't understand what I'm saying. I never said that every other Muslim should be looked at. What I said was, that regardless of the race or ethnicity or any other kind of common factor, if there's problems in that group, those groups should be checked; whether it's Muslims suspected of terrorism or motorcycle gangs of violence, or people attending raves for drugs.

Based on your (irrational) logic, when bikers or ravers are checked, it's ok, but when ethnic groups are checked, that's racism. Nice going, by playing the racism card again.. because of comments like that, the racism gets more accepted among the majority instead of reduced.

[debonaire]

Cowboy,you really don't get it,do you????
From the begigning I have said that the intent is correct but the method is flawed...There has to be some probable cause for checking ids and invading peoples' privacy in public places...What sort of behaviour is this that some cops simply walk up to a foreigner and demand an id check...on what grounds and what is the probable cause behind this...Has there been some terrorist attack or the national security of Finland is under threat...
You gotta be open minded to understand this issue which at the moment you certainly don't seem to...You are mixing crime with ethnicity...How do you compare motor cycle gangs with the foreigner issue here is completely beyond logic and a seriously flawed analogy...
you are insisting on branding people on the basis of their looks and color,while at the same time you are striving hard to project yourself as some kinda superior breed of foreigner...You ,along with other funny looking foreigners should also be subjected to id checks...There should not be any exception to the rule no matter if you are an American or a Somalian...Thats the whole point which you completely seem to ignore...
If the cops plan to brand people on account of their looks and ignore checking other foreigners,this type of behaviour would only lead to a division amongst the foreigners in Finland which eventually would result in racial discrimination...All I am saying is that there should not be any bias and foreigners should not be handpicked on the basis of ethnic profile for random id checks...

[mCowboy]

Cowboy,you really don't get it,do you????
From the begigning I have said that the intent is correct but the method is flawed...There has to be some probable cause for checking ids and invading peoples' privacy in public places...What sort of behaviour is this that some cops simply walk up to a foreigner and demand an id check...on what grounds and what is the probable cause behind this...Has there been some terrorist attack or the national security of Finland is under threat...

Finland is under a threat from illegal aliens who often have to resort to crime since they can't work legally. Police can walk up to anyone (incl. Finns) and demand ID.

You gotta be open minded to understand this issue which at the moment you certainly don't seem to...You are mixing crime with ethnicity...How do you compare motor cycle gangs with the foreigner issue here is completely beyond logic and a seriously flawed analogy...

So being an illegal alien is not a crime?

you are insisting on branding people on the basis of their looks and color,while at the same time you are striving hard to project yourself as some kinda superior breed of foreigner...You ,along with other funny looking foreigners should also be subjected to id checks...There should not be any exception to the rule no matter if you are an American or a Somalian...Thats the whole point which you completely seem to ignore...

I never claimed to be superior nor a foreigner. If the problem is with African and middle eastern illegal aliens, why anyone else should be subjected to random checks?

If the cops plan to brand people on account of their looks and ignore checking other foreigners,this type of behaviour would only lead to a division amongst the foreigners in Finland which eventually would result in racial discrimination...All I am saying is that there should not be any bias and foreigners should not be handpicked on the basis of ethnic profile for random id checks...

So if the problem is with one ethnic group, all others should be subjected to suspicion as well? It's not racial profiling, it's deductive logic.

If police is looking a rapist, should they also check all the women too?

You don't seem to understand that getting rid of illegal aliens is benefiting all the other foreigners, as crime decreases and Finns trust on foreigners increases.

[raskarhu]

Hei

My woman is a Finn living in Brussels, Belgium. She has studied here. She works in Belgium, she pays taxes. I am very happy for her. It's quite sad to see that some Finns don't want to give foreign students the same opportunities. I think that, as a whole, you'll never be able to calculate what the actual benefit or loss is to your society when inviting foreigners to come over to your country to study there...or to just live there...or ...

And singling out foreigners just for an ID check? Quite a discriminating practice if you ask me... But then again in Finland this is very easy: you only have some 2 to 3 percent of foreigners (and most of them are not even Black or Brown, because that seems to be the decisive element ...). If the police were to check the ID of foreigners in Brussels, they would do overtime every day!!!

Ever thought about white muslims?

Ever thought about checking the ID of American citizens? They are part of a nation that committed one of the greatest crimes in humanity of the last years. But no! Of course not, Americans are white defenders of our so civilized western Hemisphere.

I think there are bigger problems in Finland then some illegal aliens and some foreign students coming over to the nice Suomi.

KR
Raskarhu

[hackoff]

Well what is the wrong as keeping it so? Just because some other countries let people live like pigs in the field doesn't mean we have to blindly follow their bad examples. Or what example do we pick up next?
."...

Since when did you turn to a Finn ?

[Hank W.]

I don't claim to remember, but I've been told it was around three in the morning in mid-may 1970 at Naistenklinikka.

[Karhunkoski]

I'd rather we didn't get our own Belang.

[Hank W.]

I think Timo Soini already got there.

One thing people seem to forget is that Finland was an "export population" country until quite recently.
It is quite a shock when you think of it to have the traffic all of a sudden into the other direction.

[raskarhu]

I'd rather we didn't get our own Belang.

Well, I don't think you need that, you already ...
KR
Raskarhu