I asked Finnish colleagues what they thought of the situation in Sweden - and not just the latest events, but how the country has turned evermore violent and dangerous for the past 20 years. They told me quite unapologetically: “Well, the Swedes opened their borders wide to all kinds of people from wildly different cultural backgrounds coming from really troubled countries and the Finns haven’t. Now they have the problems those people brought with them and we don’t.”
I’m starting to think there’s some truth to this. But as a foreigner, whenever I go to Finland, the reverse - the lack of cultural diversity, the sea of whiteness and the absolute lack of non-Finnish-sounding names - is equally unsettling, rather stifling and feels genuinely bizarre sometimes.
As a Swede, I sometimes wonder if I would feel more at home moving to one of the other Scandinavian countries - because I don’t really feel at home here anymore.
Of course you can, you just have to not maintain an exclusive society, because an exclusive society depends on excluding others, and when the “others” can’t be excluded anymore, that’s when the full blown racism kicks in. Knowing that people see racism as some inevitability rather than a deliberate system of oppression created and imposed by individuals who benefit from its existence (if to varying degrees) is pretty fucking terrifying.
The idea that there was no crime before immigration, or that the Finns (or Nordic people in general, who all maintain a similar society and are facing similar issues with racism now that they can’t maintain their white supremacist exclusivity anymore) are innocent little lambs who have never committed a crime before the brown people arrived is not only absurd, it’s pretty racist and disgusting in its own right.
They love to laud themselves as the best most developed most progressive countries, but the reality is they’re just a couple of decades, if not a century behind the rest of Europe when it comes to integration (this does not equal equity or equality, just integration), and are following exactly the same route as the other countries have - capitalist government and the media that supports it need a scapegoat (who they’ve rigged the system against so they’d have to struggle by default, living in poverty, feeling excluded, attacked for their race) to shift blame and attention to, while they continue to exploit the people of their country (the fact that there are Nordic billionaires easily contradicts any claim to socialism they might raise, and you don’t need to look far to thoroughly debunk it altogether).
The fact that you’re an immigrant and are seriously considering there’s some truth in this racism is pretty fucking sad and scary, but mostly goes to show just how powerful the propaganda is (and how similar it is in all countries, which is probably why it hits a nerve with you even though you don’t live there).
Except you can, but it requires to let go of any ideas related to cultural purity or isolationism, while simultaneously not getting cold feet when it comes to turning back people who clearly can’t possibly integrate.
While I personally believe that immigration is both humane and necessary for the aging western economies, I think it’s safe to say that the purely optimistic, citizenship first and questions later mentality has proven a failure.
Without rules and a culture that demands assimilation instead of parallel existence in a separate microcosm, the new citizens have difficulties identifying with the new social order they are moving into, and naturally little respect for it either. Not to mention that by corralling immigrants into ghettos the formation of parallel structures is encouraged and the native population alienated.
While I personally believe that immigration is both humane and necessary for the aging western economies,
Oh, wow. Instead of solving the problem where people don’t consider it plausible to have at least 2 children, let’s bring in more people from poorer countries.
Without rules and a culture that demands assimilation instead of parallel existence in a separate microcosm,
Yeah, see, it’s fine to have separate microcosms for any sane society. Just some are toxic.
It’s simply about education and, yes, not letting in people you don’t want.
I asked Finnish colleagues what they thought of the situation in Sweden - and not just the latest events, but how the country has turned evermore violent and dangerous for the past 20 years. They told me quite unapologetically: “Well, the Swedes opened their borders wide to all kinds of people from wildly different cultural backgrounds coming from really troubled countries and the Finns haven’t. Now they have the problems those people brought with them and we don’t.”
I’m starting to think there’s some truth to this. But as a foreigner, whenever I go to Finland, the reverse - the lack of cultural diversity, the sea of whiteness and the absolute lack of non-Finnish-sounding names - is equally unsettling, rather stifling and feels genuinely bizarre sometimes.
I guess you can’t have the best of both worlds…
As a Swede, I sometimes wonder if I would feel more at home moving to one of the other Scandinavian countries - because I don’t really feel at home here anymore.
So then don’t go to Finland, then you won’t be unsettled. Follow me for more common sense tips.
LOL. It’s unsettling for you that people’s names and faces don’t entertain your weird fetish?
Go to Kenia and compare, I think it’ll be even less diverse.
China hella Chinese
Of course you can, you just have to not maintain an exclusive society, because an exclusive society depends on excluding others, and when the “others” can’t be excluded anymore, that’s when the full blown racism kicks in. Knowing that people see racism as some inevitability rather than a deliberate system of oppression created and imposed by individuals who benefit from its existence (if to varying degrees) is pretty fucking terrifying.
The idea that there was no crime before immigration, or that the Finns (or Nordic people in general, who all maintain a similar society and are facing similar issues with racism now that they can’t maintain their white supremacist exclusivity anymore) are innocent little lambs who have never committed a crime before the brown people arrived is not only absurd, it’s pretty racist and disgusting in its own right.
They love to laud themselves as the best most developed most progressive countries, but the reality is they’re just a couple of decades, if not a century behind the rest of Europe when it comes to integration (this does not equal equity or equality, just integration), and are following exactly the same route as the other countries have - capitalist government and the media that supports it need a scapegoat (who they’ve rigged the system against so they’d have to struggle by default, living in poverty, feeling excluded, attacked for their race) to shift blame and attention to, while they continue to exploit the people of their country (the fact that there are Nordic billionaires easily contradicts any claim to socialism they might raise, and you don’t need to look far to thoroughly debunk it altogether).
The fact that you’re an immigrant and are seriously considering there’s some truth in this racism is pretty fucking sad and scary, but mostly goes to show just how powerful the propaganda is (and how similar it is in all countries, which is probably why it hits a nerve with you even though you don’t live there).
Except you can, but it requires to let go of any ideas related to cultural purity or isolationism, while simultaneously not getting cold feet when it comes to turning back people who clearly can’t possibly integrate.
Which is kind of hilarious since Finland has a much higher murder rate than Sweden.
While I personally believe that immigration is both humane and necessary for the aging western economies, I think it’s safe to say that the purely optimistic, citizenship first and questions later mentality has proven a failure.
Without rules and a culture that demands assimilation instead of parallel existence in a separate microcosm, the new citizens have difficulties identifying with the new social order they are moving into, and naturally little respect for it either. Not to mention that by corralling immigrants into ghettos the formation of parallel structures is encouraged and the native population alienated.
Oh, wow. Instead of solving the problem where people don’t consider it plausible to have at least 2 children, let’s bring in more people from poorer countries.
Yeah, see, it’s fine to have separate microcosms for any sane society. Just some are toxic.
It’s simply about education and, yes, not letting in people you don’t want.