Stephanie Marsh suggests there is a darker side to Austrian culture. The Fritzl case is proof. Well of course there is. There is a darker side to every culture.

Australian generosity and mateship can descend into boorishiness and violence. But newspaper reports about Ivan Milat and the backpacker murders are not the place to learn about Australian culture. Every nation has its share of racism. Every nation has its share of monsters.

Austria is not alone in these things, and suggesting it is, as this Times article indicates Marsh’s book does, is a kind of racism itself.