In the autumn of 2006, Slovenia faced a new political reality. After a \u00adviolent incident occurred between two men of Slovenian nationality, one of whom was actually part of a gipsy community, the citizens and the mayor of the municipality where the incident took place put such \u00adpressure on the government that it eventually decided to move the entire gypsy family to another location. Explaining its drastic move, the \u00adgovernment declared that their safety was being threatened. So, instead of protecting the family\u2019s constitutional right to enjoy their own \u00adproperty, the government tried to find them a new place in order to \u00adcontrol the situation\u2014all in vain, since people across Slovenia violently protested each and every time the state officials declared they had found a proper place for the gipsy family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Slovenes like to say they have nothing against gypsies, homosexuals, and people of other nationalities or practicing other religions. This is only partially true. There were no excesses of this magnitude in the past, and surveys have shown that fear and intolerance towards others increased after the \u201cgreat\u201d shift from Socialism to a democratic political and capitalist economic system. Still, one need not read results of opinion polls to realise that the cultural climate in Slovenian society has gradually changed over the past fifteen years. All you have to do is look around. The influential Slovenian filmmaker Vinko M\u00f6derndorfer was insightful and critical enough to forecast the possible transformation of Slovenian \u00adsociety into a culture of fear a couple of years before, with his film Predmestje <\/em>(Suburbs, 2004).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cRigid\u201d Mind<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Frank Furedi links the modern phenomenon that is the culture of fear to the emergence of everyday risk, to lack of self-control and a quest for personal safety on a daily basis, although this fear is not \u00adnecessarily the product of a real danger.^{1<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 1 <\/a> - Frank Furedi, Culture of Fear: Risk-taking and the Morality of Low Expectation <\/em>(London and Washington: Cassell, 1997).<\/span> According to Barry Glassner, the USA are \u00adliving in a paradoxical situation: \u201cThe more things improve, the more \u00adpessimistic we become.\u201d^{2<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 2 <\/a> - Barry Glassner, The Culture of Fear: Why Americans Are Afraid of the Wrong Things <\/em>(New York: Basic Books, 1999).<\/span> In general there are two elements that propel the culture of fear: first, a wide income gap between lower and upper social strata and second, the sensationalist press. A type of \u00adcognitive structure, which nurtures people\u2019s fear and prejudices against others, can also come into play; it is called the \u201crigid\u201d mind. Eviatar Zerubavel formed the concept as one of three elements in his typology of \u00adcognitive minds: rigid, fuzzy and flexible. He defines the rigid mind as an \u201cunyielding, obsessive \u00adcommitment to the mutual exclusivity of mental entities.\u201d^{3<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 3 <\/a> - Eviatar Zerubavel, The Fine Line: Making Distinction in Everyday Life<\/em> (Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press, 1991), 34.<\/span> A rigid-minded \u00adindividual is characterised by a black and white perception of \u00adreality\u2014things are good or bad; beautiful or ugly; true or false. Members of a rigid-minded cognitive community are obsessed with raising \u00adcognitive boundaries between communities to preserve their own identity. The rigid mind may appear in benign form, though \u00adunfortunately we too often witness its malign form, when its \u00adprotagonists intentionally aim to destroy any foreign element perceived as a source of cognitive pollution in their cultural environment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Predmestje<\/em> is a film about the Slovenian culture of fear and the way people may react when they feel endangered by other \u00adnationalities. Vinko M\u00f6derndorfer, born in 1958, is a well-known Slovenian writer, poet, stage manager, and radio, television and film director. As an artist, he \u00adsuccessfully transfers to the screen some of his own experiences and his dark vision of the future development of Slovenian society. During the past fifteen years, Slovenian society has gradually shifted towards a \u00admodern culture of fear and rigid mind.^{4<\/sup><\/a><\/span>} 4 <\/a> - Sabina Autor and Roman Kuhar eds., Porocilo skupine za spremljanje nestrpnosti <\/em>(Ljubljana: Mirovni institut, 2001); Vlasta Jalusic, \u201cXenophobia or Self-protection? On the Establishement of the New Slovene Civic\/Citizenship Identity,\u201d in Mojca Pajnik ed., Xenophobia and Post-socialism (Ljubljana: Peace Institute, 2002), 45-72.<\/span> The financial gap between social strata has been deepened, poverty has increased, the younger generation takes refuge in private life, insecurity amongst older population is on the rise, and so are islamophobia, homophobia, etc. The Slovenian nation, once in a minority position, is now faced with a different situation. In the past, it \u00adsuccessfully developed a cultural strategy to protect its national identity. Now that it has gained political independence, the strategy proves to be far less appropriate, if not downright noxious, in establishing a \u00adrelationship based on equality and the acceptance of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n