Kun Aika On…

Kun Aika On…

Has anyone else noticed the recent series of adverts ‘Kun Aika On’ by Oikotie?

Kun Aika ON is currently a series of adverts in which a Black African man marries a white girl, a mixed marriage promotion that by itself seems laudable. However, it then portrays the man as a lazy good for nothing that spends his days boxing instead of working for a living, that is, until his wife gets pregnant and he finally concedes to get a real job.

Am I the only one left with the impression of racism and other stereotyping prejudices?

i.e. It is true that many Africans are athletically gifted and use this as a way to escape poverty and social deprivation in order to succeed in life, just as it is true that, many train combat sports such as boxing to protect themselves from physical assault by the local racists and other human trash.  However, this is not their fault.  ISIS is an imported religion-based prejudice, but racism and xenophobia are born/start at home, in the local community.

Personally, I was left with a strong impression of socially programmed prejudices and stereotypes embedded in the social and working-life cultures. The slur and victimization does not stop with African immigrants but extends to all immigrants and foreigners in this and any other country. A slur based in stupidity as much as ignorance considering these people have often moved half-way around the world, braving difficult journeys, with much uncertainty and other risks, as well as a new country and culture to better their lives. All with the pain of separation from the wrenching apart of the extended family to do it. The local dead-heads, on the other hand, have barely made it out to neighboring Stockholm or Tallinn on a booze cruise to buy cheap booze to bring home with them.

Unfortunately, racists and other xenophobic nationalists, fascists and other deadbeats form about 20 to 30 % of all societies in the western democracies. Oikotie would have done better focusing on the adaptation of local social culture and working-life for social and economic inclusion, rather than promoting such stereotypes and by that means further exclusion. The fact is, that, the problems of assimilation due to volume and rates of immigration aside, we need the immigrants as much as they need us. The cultural inter-mixing has already enriched the culinary life of local people open-minded and educated enough to explore the amazing variety of cuisines now on offer. It may even help the blue-blood problem of inbreeding that locals like to blame on Salmiakki licorice so much.

But it need not, and should not stop there any more than the local language should be used and abused as an informal border control method to serve the personal agendas of private individuals. Many jobs do not need fluent Finnish to perform effectively, though native level skills are often demanded. Applications are often ignored or rejected out-of-hand before the application dead-line at which time only is the employer legally allowed to start processing them. Closed shops, protectionism, monopolistic and other anti-competititon practices (illegal in EU law and alien to any free and open democratic society), along with Job design/requirements are other aspects that need urgent review/modification to preclude embedded social prejudices.

Respect, cultural exchange and enrichment is a two-way process or nothing at all. The degree to which cultures/cultural elements are adopted and adapted is a matter of evolution and negotiation for which, some official guidance would undoubtedly be useful for inclusion in the social contract that binds everyone that lives in the community. This is a community issue, the solution for which all should be morally or legally bound to abide. This social contract, along with the accompanying culture, values, local history needs to be included in the education system and properly taught to both indigenous peoples and immigrants.

Civil rights should be progressively earned, not assumed and presumed all at once at the tender age of 18. Consultation, however, given that kids are our future, is a pre-requisite. For example, 15-year-olds driving souped-up mopeds around on both roads and public footpaths, endangering everyone in their path as well as themselves as they speed, race and do stunts along the way. Young kids wandering around with smart-phones playing pokemon go as they cross busy streets in the afternoon whilst waiting for parents to come home from work when even their parents often don’t know how to use them intelligently. So-called adults still wantonly break the law by driving cars whilst talking on mobile phones, so it should be no surprise that some kids even ride around on bicycles whilst fiddling with their phones, the latter of which, has caused several collisions with pedestrians that I have seen, very worrisome when we realise that in the UK last year, cyclists have caused at least two deaths to my knowledge.

With all this in mind, how can we expect 18-year-olds to have the education, intelligence or life experience to participate in the political decision-making processes? And, until they are mature enough, how can we ask them to train and fight in the army if need be!? The traditional age of majority is 21, based on the maturity of physical strength, though endurance does not peak until around the age of 35. So the old school was perhaps not so short-sighted as today’s social system, and yet still, mental maturity is not reached until around the age of 25 when young adults start to get their more hot-headed urges, reactiveness and, impulsiveness under better control. How does anyone expect them to ‘react’ to images and portrayals such as that seen in the Kun Aika On adverts? The multi-media messages are subliminal in effect, and the eastern cultures call it the ‘Monkey Mind’ for good reason. As human beings, we then continue to mature as human beings for the rest of lives, depending on life experience. Traditional eastern martial arts identify maturation of this type at around the age of 42 or 43.  Education for life is a continuous process and the lessons of time and history must be accounted for.

In my view, the advert’s producers, scriptwriters and other responsible persons should be ‘hauled over the coals’ for this series of adverts, or, even sacked to make way for more enlightened new blood, perhaps even a few foreigners who are not pre-programmed with the local social prejudices.

At the very least the advert should scrapped, followed by an open public discussion to make people look in the mirror honestly and start the process of social reform rolling –  forwards!

What do you think?