Fokus Magazine: A Shift Towards Controversial Narratives?

Fokus magazine seems to have taken a controversial turn towards racial biology themes. Anna Hellgren reviews a column that isn't about lupines.

COMMENTARY. Remember Fokus? Once a nerdy nursery for ambitious long-form writers in the political center, it has now become an edgy publication whose most notable recent achievement is marginalizing Johan Hakelius's influence in the media.

Well, persistence pays off. If no one listens, just push harder.

In March this year, columnist Anna Nachman lamented that no one took Katerina Janouch's lies and exaggerations about Swedish refugee immigration seriously. Implicitly, we would have avoided a Sweden in immigrant-criminal disarray.

But as everyone knows, it takes more than lukewarm "we told you so" resentment to stand out – especially in a public sphere where the Sweden Democrats are considered government-worthy.

Thus, it's time for Nachman to wield the heavy bazooka: racial biology. She does so with flair in her latest column, titled "Not All Diversity Enriches – Invasive Species Threaten Our Own."

She is careful to note at the end of the text that plants are not people, but just reading the introduction makes it clear what it's really about (spoiler: it's not about motorcycle gang-affiliated Sweden Democrats). "Non-European ladybugs and lupines are displacing our Swedish flora and fauna. Similarly, our society is threatened by new violent cultures."

The purpose of the text is not to problematize the allure of gang culture.

The article then provides detailed descriptions of the tyranny of harlequin ladybugs and lupines – both once brought here by misguided goodwill – in nature. They take over places, invade, and even torment children. Despite this, some people like them, just as some appreciate socially harmful human phenomena: "In the eyes of many young people, gangsters are as impressive as a swarm of harlequin ladybugs, or as delightful as a slope of lupines in the sunset, where they sparkle in their Gucci caps with bags full of money."

The purpose of the text is not to problematize the allure of gang culture. It is to dehumanize, to alienate – and to portray a certain type of people as inherently evil. An invasive species, she asserts, cannot be tamed or controlled except with extremely harsh measures. For those who want to be really sure, only eradication remains.

Aside from the cheerleaders' giggling gratitude, the point of texts like this is, of course, to provoke people enough to respond. As a bonus, it contributes to a brutalized public discourse, lowering the threshold for the next racial agitator.

So congratulations on the attention. Hope it feels really, really good.

Anna Hellgren is an editor and critic on Expressen's culture page.