sympathy for the devil

Once again, on the news (TV2) last night (my days of not watching TV is fading) Danish minister of integration Rikke “sympathy doenst count and I wouldn’t piss on you if your face caught fire” Hvilshøj was being interviewed, in front of her yellow brick villa in the charming surburb of Greve, about yet another case of a troublesome deportation from Denmark of a kosovo-albanian mother of two. I didn’t get all the details of the case in question, and that isn’t the point here either. The minister answered with the exact same phrases as when 15 year old sri-lankian orphan Rem, about three weeks ago was faced with deportation. The public debate got heated over his situation, and to no surprise he was granted permission to stay. Which he absolutely deserved, as does the kosovo-albanian mother of two.

However, the cases constitutes a problem, that in particular points back at the media-machinery. The TV2 reproter, Cecelie Beck, kept hammering the minister with one question: “Is it humane? Is it humane? Is it humane?”, to which Rikke “sympathy doesn’t count and I wouldn’t piss on you if your face caught fire” Hvilshøj answered, as always, that one law, one rule, applies for everyone, and that theres is no room for single-cases. Bullshit I say. Every case of a potential deportation is a single case, and the answer just shows the government lack of political will and tendency to treat these issues with the generalizing approach: One size fits all.

On the other side of bad news for a good story, sits 600 iraqian rejected asylum-seekers in Danish asylum-centers in total limbo. Politicians from the opposition is trying ease the pain for them, by introducing law-proposals that will allow them to work while they await a verdict, while the absolute horror, I think, goes totally unnoticed: Not one politician, or media, and in particular TV, seems to point out the dilemma of sending 600 iraqians home to a country in which Denmark is very active in war.

But the case is clear: sympathy doesn’t count. Close the door.