>amazing diversity among "whites", as well as similarites to "non-whites".
I'm not sure why you persist with this laughable line of argument. I have yet to visit Sweden but I hope to eventually as I have free lodging with family friends. I am quite sure they would get a good chuckle from your assertions.
1. Sweden is not the same as Denmark/Finland, it's not homogenous at all anymore, in that sense it's very similar to the UK
2. Social trust is still relatively high in Sweden (because of inertia) but it's eroding very quickly with increased heterogeneity and crime.
There's nothing racist about pointing this out, it's just a fact. Homogenous societies have much higher trust. I don't think this is racial, I think it's cultural.
When you have a very large inflow of people from completely different cultures, mostly with little education and without any ties to the host country, that will obviously create tension, and trust between people of the same culture, that speak the same language, is of course higher than between complete strangers, like a protestant Swede and a Muslim from Syria. Or even a Christian from Syria.
Sweden used to be a very safe country, with little crime and little inequality, and a homogenous culture. Now it's very quickly turning into a very unsafe place, with increasing inequality as immigrants form a huge underclass, while the upper middle classes have profited from exploding house prices, and the rich getting much much richer.
In many locations a majority of children don't speak Swedish at home, school results are plummeting.
Sweden has gone from a country where few people locked their doors to a society where the police recommends you to not wear jewellery in public, women are advised not to walk home alone and home invasions are booming. The well-off build safe rooms and hide in gated communities.
Not only is this contention wrong [1], it is completely arbitrary. Ethnicity isn't just how you want to draw lines to prove some point. Sweden has multiple ethnicities within what you call "Swedish white, non-Hispanic". This is observed, most obviously, through different dialects and cultures. Swedes that border Norway are different than Swedes that border Finland.
The term "Swedish" as used in this headline likely implies to many more than just this pedantic and America-centric definition of nationality. It's fair to bring up that point.
I think the problem your friend is doing it that he/she thinks people will draw conclusions from his identity.
I'm Swedish. But it doesn't mean that I'll defend Sweden in a war against Norway. I have very little more in common with the Swedes who lives on the border to Norway then the Norwegians who live on the border to Sweden. However, I'm Swedish - I grew up there and I have my cultural heritage from there. That's not wrong - it's just fact
Don't forget to mention the racism that is getting bigger and bigger here in sweden. I am a native swede my self and i know how we talk and think. The swedish democrats are real proof of how the whole population is starting to show its true face.
If you are white sweden will be great, but if you are anything other than white you will be in a quite cold hell where people do not like you.
Yeah, I don't think people in the US worry about white supremacy in Sweden so much. But racists in the US like to play up their so-called "pure" heritage by co-opting Scandinavian culture.
I know you meant no ill by saying it, but I have seen the claim of homogenity in the Swedish population brought up in several discussions over the past months and being Swedish myself it does sting a bit. Sweden has a long tradition of accepting refugees, wherever they may come from. Along with Germany, we are currently receving far more than other EU countries and many more are expected over the next few years due to the current unrest in the world.
Sweden being all-white, all-Scandinavian is an outdated image. Many cultures thrive together here, bringing new food and traditions. Almost thirty percent of the current Swedish population is foreign-born or have foreign-born parents. Studies show that the average Swede has become increasingly positive to immigration.
I am certain that if something is holding back the progress of Internet connections, it's not minorities. If this post can change the image of Sweden as "all-white" in just one person on HN, typing it will have felt very worth the time.
huh well. stuff like this just makes me very insecure at times.
My partner is Swedish but she was born in Hungary I'm currently a resident of Australia but originally from India and plan to move to Sweden sometime later. Both of us speak Swedish are fairly integrated into the culture.
Maybe you're implying that only x% of the population must be born outside, non-ethnical Swedes.
As a Swede I'm not sure there's any base for this claim, other than that we now have racist politicians who make populist statements like this one without shame, referring to cherry picked data at best.
Generally, if you're going to make racist statements, at least try to back them up with some data and/or source.
I think that's missing the point. Sweden has been an overbearing consensus culture with relatively limited room for debate or differences in opinions or values beyond the superficial.
Minorities like the Roma have been permitted to exist, but they've had zero place in the public sphere.
In Sweden:
Swedish citizens really are the victims and their society has become too PC. It's not like here in the US.
If you hang a Swedish flag outside of your house you are automatically deemed a racist by your community. ANY semblance of pro-sweden is viewed as unfair by the immigrant community because they aren't swedish, because they aren't included. They've create a culture of everyone is a victim, citizens and immigrants.
It's really a fucked up situation. A situation I hope never comes to the US.
reply