The Black Sheep of Switzerland
Being the ‘black sheep’ of the family has taken on a whole new meaning in Switzerland. A poster campaign by the Swiss People’s Party, the largest in the Swiss lower house, depicts three white sheep atop the Swiss flag kicking out a black sheep. The poster, which calls for "more security," touts a plan that would deport foreigners if one of their family members is found to have committed a violent crime, a drug offense, or benefit fraud. Critics have called the poster clearly racist, some alleging it hearkens back to Nazi-esque practices. Ueli Maurer, president of the Swiss People’s Party, argues it isn’t racist at all and simply means "people or incidents which trouble us." Despite the uproar and the defacement of many of the posters now seen throughout Switzerland, a spokesman for the party says response to the posters has been "unbelievably positive" and evidence of "just how necessary our campaign is." Resident foreigners and foreign workers constitute approximately 20% of the Swiss population, however acquiring citizenship is extremely difficult.
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Bad Taste or Good Sense? by NastyPrincess
OK, so the poster sounds like it was done in bad taste, but all one has to do in the USA is look at an editorial cartoon every now and then to know that bad taste is often common when trying to make a statement. The louder and more outrageous the statement, the more attention it draws to the problem.
However, even as a more liberal minded person, I see nothing wrong with deporting "the whole" and not just "the one" when it comes to violent crime. As an EMT, I see violent crime amongst our resident foriegn population quite often…so often in fact, that several of our repeat offenders have nicknames like "The Corona Brothers" and when we take them to the emergency room, we don’t have to tell the ER staff who they are, what their birth dates are or where they live. The ER staff just rolls their eyes. Our EMS crews see the same people over and over again, which means that our country isn’t even deporting "the one" or anyone for that matter. We might have policies in place for deportation, but I don’t think anyone is enforcing them.