Sweden told people to open their hearts to immigrants 10 years ago. Its U-turn has been dramatic
Sweden told people to open their hearts to immigrants 10 years ago. Its U-turn has been dramatic
Sweden's reputation for openness and tolerance is changing as the government adopts an increasingly hostile and restrictive stance on immigration.
KEY POINTS
- Sweden is often viewed as a liberal utopia in Europe, known for its stable economy, high quality of life, and open and progressive society.
- But its center-right coalition government — which is propped up by the nationalist and right-wing Sweden Democrats party — has adopted an increasingly restrictive stance on immigration.
- The country is trumpeting its lower numbers of immigrants, but economists say the economic benefits are debatable, with growth and productivity among the factors to consider.
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Sweden is often viewed as a liberal utopia in Europe
I thought it was often viewed as a place with a stark landscape full of constant murders and detectives with clinical depression.
As an Californian/Swede, it's bizarro-land where people are nice to you, the exchange rate is almost hilariously good (if you work for dollars) and people don't seem to want to take your money nearly as much.
Also the people are gorgeous and friendly, though the extreme politeness takes a lot of getting used to.
I know very little about actual Swedish culture, but I do love the Law of Jante in neighboring Denmark and Norway.
It can be summed up as: "You are not to think you're anyone special, or that you're better than us."
Americans could use a little Law of Jante.
Agreed, and there's a lot of that.
It does go a bit far and cause tall-poppy syndrome.
But it's not too bad, and America has something similar, personally I love my daughter being brought up here because you see young girls walking around almost alone, and they're not afraid, you don't see that in America because obviously they'd be terrified of being attacked. Here the fear is just gone, they feel safe to be independent.
Same law for Sweden
Having lived and worked in several countries, I think the concept of Jantelagen is rooted in the Protestant Reformation more than it being a specifically Nordic thing. Not only does it fit well with the general premise of the Protestant worldview, all countries that were early converts seem to have ingrained that particular perspective (under various names) in their collective cultures.
Also the people are gorgeous and friendly, though the extreme politeness takes a lot of getting used to.
Do you mind elaborating a bit on this? I'm interested to hear.
I'm American so for here I'm super loud, obnoxious, awkward and even rude, but that's because we're conditioned to be outgoing and friendly, while Swedes are far more reserved and communicate in subtlety.
Also there's a "right way" to do everything, and you just need to know it, I'm still learning.
I'm really feeling my autism here.
Their #1 export is band logos I can't decipher.
I figure that's fair since I can't understand what they're singing most of the time when they sing in that growly metal voice.
You watch those shows too? ;)
Some of them anyway. I really liked the Kenneth Brannagh Wallander series. The original books are good too. There's a Swedish TV version, but I've never seen it.
I did watch most of Wallander and a number of the Nordic Noir shows, but they got depressing and killed off my favorite people :p
Because it's an utopia that allows so many people to write books about bleak crimes.