I was never lefty but I used to think western Europe was some kind of a promised land where everything is better than in my post-commie shithole. It made sense because my first contact with the west was a trip to Austria in the early 90s when I was a kid, and the difference was absolutely stark the moment you crossed the border. I saw the first clean public bathroom in my life, and Vienna was beautiful, not falling apart like my hometown.

A couple decades passed, I traveled more, I got to look around, and hooo boy, fuck all of that.

Shitlibs always say xenophobia and nationalism are just ignorance and they go away with more contact. It turns out that's just another truthism completely divorced from reality, just like "diversity is strenght".