On nationalism

[oakfarm]

The following is stupid - more about that later - but writing about my stupidity might help me or maybe even you with your stupidity. I realized that one don't really realize how proud you are of one's country until the day you can't be proud of it anymore. I assume foregens will judge me for being, Swedish. If they think I’m from a country that has it’s best days behind it. The criticism against Sweden used to be the dysfunctional immigration and integration policy. Now it is the response to covid-19 that grows criticism. Well, it’s not that simple, there are people who praise Sweden too. Here's an article with the Nobel prize winner in chemistry 2013, Michael Levitt, who think Sweden and Germany are doing the right thing: The covid-19 epidemic was never  exponential. (Then it’s always fun to point out that tons of Nobel prize winners have made disturbingly bad statements, so one shouldn't always trust them. Another story.)

Now to why it silly of me to think I like this. I think we can blame neoliberalism for not being as prepared as we could have been for the pandemic. Chile was the first country that tried neoliberalism, but I would never judge a Chilean person for coming from the country that started neoliberalism. I, however, totally expect foreigners to judge me for being Swedish. Oh, Chile, according to one documentary I have seen, plus one lesson I had in high school. Chile was the first country there a communist party won a democratic election and after the right wing military coup they chosen neoliberalism since it was the as far from communism you could get. And here one can also add that in both immigration and pandemic response, there are populist regimes that needs Sweden to fail. Needs Sweden as a cautionary tale. That adds to those things. Another story.

Comments

[justphoenix]

I realized that one don't really realize how proud you are of one's country until the day you can't be proud of it anymore.

Such a mood. From an outsider though, it seems like Sweden's doing at least some things right. There's a good social safety net, abortions are easily attainable?

[tarasacon]

Sweden’s approach would be fine if everyone was equally vulnerable, but the elderly and the poor (often migrants) are the ones with higher risk and more deaths. As such, it stinks of eugenics and that makes me cringe.

BUT automatic sick pay, good sources of information, and trust/transparency between the government and citizens, those are good things and make Sweden’s approach more feasible than it would be here in the US. Here the government is lying and too many people are not getting their information from science-based sources. And with no, or limited, sick pay, people keep going out.

So your country is doing some things well and some things I find problematic. My country is doing many things I find problematic.

[tarasacon]

It probably helps that your entire country has a population similar to New York City. Looking at the entire country, USA to Sweden is ~33 people/square kilometer to 23 people/square kilometer. But comparing NYC to Stockholm, it’s 38,000 people/km2 vs. 4,800 people/km2.

Even in your biggest city there’s a lot more room for people to keep their distance. The scale of things makes a difference. :)

[cactus_rs]

Stockholm on a normal day feels far less crowded than NYC on a normal day, for sure. And I trust Swedes to follow government orders and do the right thing and not act a damn fool more than I trust Americans...

source: am a Swede of American extraction 😂

[oakfarm]

I do hope it will help, one think it should. Agin you have done your research.

[oakfarm]

There are things I am sure the government has done right. Like dubbed the numbers of ICU-beds. That I was impressed by. And it is a new situation, hard to know what is right.