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Comment by koik | Hacker News Reader

To me it seems that a topic that is both popular and a taboo is bound to cause issues, one way or another.

There is little competition for taboo topics in politics, so those who lean into them become a kind of a monopoly for these issues. They don't need to play nice to compete, because they are the sole provider.

In Germany, immigration is the most popular issue and also a taboo. AfD has a complete monopoly on it. They get away with the baggage because for a large share of voters, the alternative just does not exist.

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AfD also self-censors. They frame the whole anti-immigration debate as anti-Muslim/asylumseeker, but if you read between the lines they are making arguements that apply to pretty much everyone who isn't German.

So they frame the anti-immigrant debate as if they are fighting to kick out the Syrian asylum seeker who hasn't worked a day since he arrived in 2015. But in truth, they are basically saying, "we don't want too many foreigners, especially ones that don't look German". This applies to pretty much all the legal immigrants in Germany.

I'm not sure restricting immigration or being selective who is especially bad and pretty much every country does it to some extent. It's other stuff associated with that like buddying up with / getting paid by Putin, trying to overthrow democracy and the like that is more of a problem.

Nations should act in the interests of their people. Not everyone else.

What are the interests of their people?

Nations are a race to the bottom in 2026. We find more divisions, on purpose, than things to bring us together.

Politicians and capitalism figured out that division is engaging for the loudest people, which is profitable.

Using nationalism, the flag, etc are very very useful tools for politicians, capitalism and bad actors. Nobody wants to be say they aren't a patriot.

Israel, right now, is claiming to be acting in the best interests of its people. Would Palestinians agree? Race to the bottom logic, we will destroy ourselves before we give up our flags, it seems.

As developed nations destroy the environment, where are the people who had no say in that supposed to go? Who bears that responsibility? It certainly won't be the developed nations, which will act in the best interest of their people and deny entry to the climate refuges their citizens created with the latest plastic garbage that became cool on TikTok.

> Would Palestinians agree?

Do you think that the leadership in Gaza acted in the best interests of its people?

If they had, Gaza would’ve looked very differently today.

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