I think mostly what our relative buglessness in this region does is make us extraordinarily ill-equipped to deal with the reality of 90% of the world. *g*
I've been thinking a lot about Scandinavian isolationism, lately, what with this being an election year and the anti-immigration party Sverigedemokraterna being on the rise (it makes me almost physically ill every time I think of actual people voting for them - they're also the only party in Sweden to be anti abortion rights and the only party to be vocally homophobic, and they make me so furious I want to scream), and being in the process of reading Lena Sundström's book Världens lyckligaste folk (The Happiest People in the World) about the development of the insanity that is the current xenophobic/racist/fascistoid state of things in Denmark. It's an excellent and funny and upsetting book, and I'm not just saying that because I have a major crush on Lena Sundström (item #7 in a href="http://isagel.dreamwidth.org/182821.html">this post). My local paper is making an explicit political statement by running it as a serial (I also have a crush on my local paper). Anyway, these issues are at the forefront of my mind a lot these days, because of local Swedish politics, and I feel like I end up talking about them all the time, so feel free to hit me when I get annoying.
Oh, look. I googled Sundström's book to see if there might be an English translation I could rec (there isn't), and the very first link that showed up is a YouTube clip of a radio debate about it posted by someone calling themselves "SverigesFramtid" (Sweden'sFuture), where all the comments are about how she is a "disgusting Asian" and should "go back to Korea" (which makes total sense when she was adopted by a Swedish couple at age two). Why am I not surprised? Also, I really loathe how "PC" has become an insult to use against anyone who believes in equality and human rights.
no subject
I've been thinking a lot about Scandinavian isolationism, lately, what with this being an election year and the anti-immigration party Sverigedemokraterna being on the rise (it makes me almost physically ill every time I think of actual people voting for them - they're also the only party in Sweden to be anti abortion rights and the only party to be vocally homophobic, and they make me so furious I want to scream), and being in the process of reading Lena Sundström's book Världens lyckligaste folk (The Happiest People in the World) about the development of the insanity that is the current xenophobic/racist/fascistoid state of things in Denmark. It's an excellent and funny and upsetting book, and I'm not just saying that because I have a major crush on Lena Sundström (item #7 in a href="http://isagel.dreamwidth.org/182821.html">this post). My local paper is making an explicit political statement by running it as a serial (I also have a crush on my local paper). Anyway, these issues are at the forefront of my mind a lot these days, because of local Swedish politics, and I feel like I end up talking about them all the time, so feel free to hit me when I get annoying.
Oh, look. I googled Sundström's book to see if there might be an English translation I could rec (there isn't), and the very first link that showed up is a YouTube clip of a radio debate about it posted by someone calling themselves "SverigesFramtid" (Sweden'sFuture), where all the comments are about how she is a "disgusting Asian" and should "go back to Korea" (which makes total sense when she was adopted by a Swedish couple at age two). Why am I not surprised? Also, I really loathe how "PC" has become an insult to use against anyone who believes in equality and human rights.