6 ms·

Curators of Sweden

29 points by bvanvugt 11y ago

johansch 11y ago
https://twitter.com/sweden/status/640601633332850688 https://twitter.com/sweden/status/640601633332850688 "Take care and remember to not have sex with racists, sexists or LGBTQ-phobes!" That has got to be worth at least 100 goodness points and should score him some young, cute and immature leftist girls. Welcome to the social do goodie economy.
- deleted 11y ago
  [deleted]
- seivan 11y ago
  You're probably getting down-voted because you're not adding anything, though I'd argue it's really hard to add anything to the discussion. Curators of Sweden are essentially hive-mind of the same types of people over and over except only at one point, we had a person who was liberal (not left-wing) and people shat their pants. Another thing to add is the most vile racist Swedes I've grown to meet are usually left-wing extreme (mainstream today) "anti-racists". You're approved as long as you agree with their narratives, until you don't and branded as an uncle Tom (though they use a different word that starts with house) and more often not also called "fascist". A perfect example of this actually happened today as a politician from Folkpartiet (The Liberal Party) got booed as she was talking on an event about supporting refugees. Her name is Birgitta Ohlsson and has fought a lot for LGBTs, refugees and to even open the borders. Swedes really watered down the word racist. Sorta like how everyone in Soviet was a fascist. Kinda funny how I've grown to tolerate the Swedish Democrats in comparison. Seeing people like Nalin Pekgul, Sakine Madon, Hanna Gadban, Sarah Mohammed and Alice Teodorescu being called racist pretty much did it for me.
  - johansch 11y ago
    Sweden certainly is in the forefront of building a modern DDR. I guess we'll see a Swedish movie similar to that of "Das Leben der Anderen" in a decade or two. Just this week the largest daily newspaper (Dagens Nyheter) decided to out the identity of an anonymous high-profile blogger (a 70 year old woman) who was critical of the current immigration scheme. The main reason they did it was as a form of punishment. This was made clear in their reporting.
    - seivan 11y ago
      Doesn't help that they refuse to expose the Stasi-archives.
    - ninjin 11y ago
      High profile blogger, author, and former journalist. I can't say that I am giving this all too much of my attention, but I think that you are leaving out a few things. They did state that they outed her after she posted the name and phone number of two journalists claiming that they had been stalking her [1]. They also argued that the political influence wielded by the blogger rivalled that of an established journalist and that it justified publishing her name. Whether or not this really justifies publishing her name, well, that is a different matter entirely. Also, I am not sure if "critical of the current immigration scheme" is an appropriate label for someone that has stated that "Those that allow this to happen to Sweden should not have a single moment of peace. Those that with open eyes and at a steady pace are betraying our country. Those that not only allow but encourage and carry out the import of unidentified murderers, war criminals, and terrorists - thus making Swedes potential victims of murder, rape, and other violence." [2] (my translation). She has the right to express those opinions, but I think that "critical", in this case, may be an understatement and that she may deserve another label. [1]: http://www.svd.se/expressen-rojer-anonym-bloggare http://www.svd.se/expressen-rojer-anonym-bloggare (Swedish) [2]: http://www.expressen.se/kultur/hon-ar-julia-caesar/ http://www.expressen.se/kultur/hon-ar-julia-caesar/ (Swedish)
      - seivan 11y ago
        Biggest indicator of their lie would be that she put out their phone numbers. Their phone numbers were already public and usually posted when they wanted to be contacted. In fact, not just once, but several times. Lets not kid ourselves here that that she wasn't being silenced with a hit-job. The things they did against her would have been harassment against any other person. She's also somewhat right. Sweden let the gas-maker for Saddam stay [0], has yet to prosecute any of the returning ISIS rapists. Not to mention lied about the numbers. SÄPO said 100, but hospital records claims of over 300 - some has gone back again after som R&R.[1] She's right to be angry at the decision makers. I don't care about her opinion itself, but she's not wrong in terms of Sweden letting murderers, war criminals and terrorists come back. Last week it turns out someone responsible for Rwanda has been living in Sweden for 13 years without any issues.[2] He got prosecuted because they won't piss off any voters by doing so. I will personally never forgive Sweden and the people in charge betraying innocent lives abroad, for not pissing off certain groups of voting cattle here. [3] I stand with Caesar even though I don't agree with her as much as you'd like to think. You have to agree she was being silenced by the 'elite'. [0]: http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/jag-jobbade-at-saddam/ http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/jag-jobbade-at-saddam/ (Swedish) [1]: http://www.svt.se/nyheter/regionalt/vast/hundratals-svenskar-har-skadats-i-krig http://www.svt.se/nyheter/regionalt/vast/hundratals-svenskar... (Swedish) [2]: http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/man-i-mellansverige-gripen-for-folkmord/ http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/man-i-mellansverige-gripen-f... (Swedish) [3]: http://www.thelocal.se/20140702/green-mp http://www.thelocal.se/20140702/green-mp
  - dogma1138 11y ago
    Well Sweden is the answer to the question: "what tumblr would look like if it was a country?"
    - johansch 11y ago
      Being in Sweden the past couple of days has been like living inside a parody. Ever since the image of that drowned boy whose father wanted to get to a richer part of Europe from a relative safe haven in Turkey, the newspapers here have been going insane, trying to top each other in terms of goodness. News are not reported any longer, only feelings.
      - seivan 11y ago
        They weren't in a safe haven. Lets not kid ourselves that Turkey is safe for kurds. I agree it's pointless emotion, when 400 000 people have already died by foreign islamic invaders and Assad. If they genuinely cared, these Swedes they would have tried to stop ISIS and/or Assad. But that doesn't generate votes only "anti-war" protests. Funny, no anti-war protests against Russia helping Assad. That's Swedes for you.
        dogma1138 11y ago
        Ironically (or not. damn you Alanis) enough if you would make a protest against ISIS in Sweden these days you'll be branded as racist for telling other "cultures" how to behave...
contingencies 11y ago
Get the head of the Swedish bar association to talk about Assange's case. Until then, I'm not reading. (Reply to below: It is precisely the fact that the head of the bar association is prepared to speak openly about the abuse of process that I requested her. Until Sweden comes to terms with its totalitarian changes, of which the Assange abuses are but one, it wins no time or empathy from me.) (Reply to second: If you consider the outright illegality and abuse of process that has been used against Assange 'a pop issue', your worldview is twisted. As for 'another issue', I hardly think twitter flourishes earn the title, which traditionally implies some ounce of gravity.)
- Cederfjard 11y ago
  I think you might be overestimating the clout and importance of the head of the Swedish bar association. Why is this such a dealbreaker to you? In any case, she has actually made some comments regarding the case. Primarily in Swedish media, but a quick search yielded a few articles such as this one: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/25/julian-assange-appeals-sweden-supreme-court-arrest-warrant http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/25/julian-assange-... > Swedish legal opinion at a senior level has swung against the prosecutor’s decision not to travel to London to interview Assange, with Anne Ramberg, head of the Bar Association, calling the current impasse a “circus”. > “It would of course after such a long time be sensible for the prosecutor to determine whether to prosecute,” she said. “The Assange story has become a less than flattering adventure not only for the English courts’ handling of the case, but also for the Swedish prosecutor.”
- johansch 11y ago
  Frankly, it seems more like you want to attach your pop issue to another issue. The "I'm not reading" bit is fun though.
cb18 11y ago
I'd imagine most other countries haven't thought of doing this, because most others countries don't have such a rigidly enforced group-think as does Sweden. Did you know that Sweden's main export is not lumber or steel but in fact white guys with beards who think they are hilarious? Sweden is also among the world leaders in exporting ISIS terrorists. Believe it or not. http://swedenreport.org/2015/02/04/more-isis-fighters-from-one-swedish-town-than-entire-usa/ http://swedenreport.org/2015/02/04/more-isis-fighters-from-o... In fact a native Swede "Islamophobia Expert" joined ISIS and is attempting to recruit others. wtf? http://www.thelocal.se/20150203/swedish-islamist-convert-in-isis-video-row http://www.thelocal.se/20150203/swedish-islamist-convert-in-... http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/251905/swedens-multicultural-center-expert-islamophobia-daniel-greenfield http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/251905/swedens-multicultur... I don't have time to look through many of these tweets, but I imagine there are a number of things the authors refrain from mentioning. I've found this blog http://swedenreport.org http://swedenreport.org to detail some shocking things that have transpired in Sweden in the past years that those tweets probably bypass. From the author's About page: [...] The purpose of this blog is to highlight some of the news stories that don’t show up under the International News-section of your newspaper, yet might be of interest for your investment decisions, understanding of politics in the Nordic region, or perhaps just your vacation plans. [...] About me: I was born and raised in Sweden, but moved to USA as a young adult in 1999. I acquired naturalized American citizenship 2007. In recent years I had to relocate back to Sweden for family reasons, only to discover that much had changed in my absence. I am not affiliated with any political party in either country. I hold a B.S. in Finance and an A.S. in Accounting from Excelsior College, New York. (I have no connection with that blog, or the author, other than having read some of it with astonishment)
- tete 11y ago
  Disclaimer: I don't really like that site either. The author of [1] sounds really biased, given the fact that he writes about how people can't read or write, while studies[2] seem to prove that it about where the US is in that regard. What does the author blame for this? "The minister of education is a man-boy who spends his time making Youtube-videos showing heart-signs" That doesn't ound like a decent analysis of the Swedish Education. Also the author seems to be overly afraid of other people and cultures coming to Sweden. "Having said that, what Sweden is doing is something completely different. The once homogenous population has been forever altered by a rapid and massive addition of people from vastly different cultures and value-systems." Comparing with the US again: It was built on that. Another quote: "As a result, personal debt of the Swedish population is at an all-time high." It is for sure not the financial crisis, the European debt crisis? I am not saying that everything that person says is wrong. I am pretty sure there are some valid points in this, but as a source it is really bad and to be fair: At least all economists I've ever met seem to prefer the US (for whatever reason) over pretty much every other country. That's a bold statement and it's not proving anything at all, but given the fact that this article is based on a very subjective of argumentation and personal experience too I hope that I may. Also I see that this blog post is a personal thing, not a study or whatsoever. I am not blaming that person for liking the US more or anything like that. I honestly hope that person gets happy there. However as a source that blog really doesn't seem to be reliable. One more thing. I highly agree with one of the last sentences on there: "But I won’t. I’ll be back in the US being mad at Obama for being a lying scumbag. Every country has its problems. " [1] http://swedenreport.org/ http://swedenreport.org/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_St...
59nadir 11y ago
If the website itself wasn't cringeworthy enough, the '#svpol' crowd showed up in the HN comments to make damn sure no one could leave with even the slightest doubt that everyone in Sweden is a complete tool.
- pavlov 11y ago
  The discussion in these comments is embarrassing (and I'm not even Swedish). Apparently the mere mention of Sweden was enough to make local politics spill over here. It's like watching a post about a weather app getting overrun by climate change denialists.
  - seivan 11y ago
    Sweden is very polarised at this moment. The @Sweden has been hijacked by left-wing extremists - which is mainstream these days enough to warrant 7 political parties to become one giant block. So... in an essence... we're becoming Americans. We have two parties.
  - CuriousSkeptic 11y ago
    It's because the local politics are rather intense in Sweden right now. The whole country is rather emotional at the moment, has been for the last couple of days. For a while now the racist parts of the population has been rather outspoken. I guess feeling that their opinions has finally been legitimized with a far-right party winning seats in parliament and all that. At the same time the rest of the population has been rather quiet. I guess not knowing exactly what to make of it. No one seems to have been prepared for it. After all, the official, and somewhat internalized, image of Swedish culture and identity has been that those opinions had no place in civilized society, and thus shouldn't be dignified with actual response. The last few days, the refugee situation seems to have been a rallying point around taking back this identity. Resulting in a few days with more then usual activity of emotional manifestations. That said, I was rather surprised to have to witness this on HN and must say I feel rather ashamed my self. On behalf of Sweden: I'm sorry you had to witness that. Edit: Down vote? Guess I should expect that for letting my own opinions on the matter shine through. But really, I was just trying to provide some context for interpreting the other posts in this thread.
unionjack22 11y ago
Sweden Yes
rospaya 11y ago
Not sure what happened in this thread and how it became about Islamophobia, racism or Sweden being a modern DDR.
- 59nadir 11y ago
  The '#svpol' people showed up and poisoned the thread. They're the people you generally avoid by not having idiots added on Facebook and not following media celebrities on Twitter. Apparently they're inescapable now, even on HN. Fortunately this link is most likely impopular, so the embarrassment is fairly limited.
  - seivan 11y ago
    Essentially anyone who doesn't share your opinion is an idiot. "I like discussion, debate, and reasoned criticism. But a lot of arguments aren’t any of those things. They’re the style I describe as ethnic tension, where you try to associate something you don’t like with negative affect so that other people have an instinctive disgust reaction to it. There are endless sources of negative affect you can use. You can accuse them of being “arrogant”, “fanatical”, “hateful”, “cultish” or “refusing to tolerate alternative opinions”. You can accuse them of condoning terrorism, or bullying, or violence, or rape. You can call them racist or sexist, you can call them neckbeards or fanboys. You can accuse them of being pseudoscientific denialist crackpots. If you do this enough, the group gradually becomes disreputable. If you really do it enough, the group becomes so toxic that it becomes somewhere between a joke and a bogeyman. Their supporters will be banned on site from all decent online venues. News media will write hit pieces on them and refuse to ask for their side of the story because ‘we don’t want to give people like that a platform’. Their concerns will be turned into bingo cards for easy dismissal. People will make Facebook memes strawmanning them, and everyone will laugh in unison and say that yep, they’re totally like that. Anyone trying to correct the record will be met with an “Ew, gross, this place has gone so downhill that the [GROUP] is coming out of the woodwork!” and totally ignored." Sorry that your safe space and bubble bursted.
    - 59nadir 11y ago

29 points by bvanvugt 11y ago

https://twitter.com/sweden/status/640601633332850688 https://twitter.com/sweden/status/640601633332850688 "Take care and remember to not have sex with racists, sexists or LGBTQ-phobes!" That has got to be worth at least 100 goodness points and should score him some young, cute and immature leftist girls. Welcome to the social do goodie economy.

deleted 11y ago
[deleted]
seivan 11y ago
You're probably getting down-voted because you're not adding anything, though I'd argue it's really hard to add anything to the discussion. Curators of Sweden are essentially hive-mind of the same types of people over and over except only at one point, we had a person who was liberal (not left-wing) and people shat their pants. Another thing to add is the most vile racist Swedes I've grown to meet are usually left-wing extreme (mainstream today) "anti-racists". You're approved as long as you agree with their narratives, until you don't and branded as an uncle Tom (though they use a different word that starts with house) and more often not also called "fascist". A perfect example of this actually happened today as a politician from Folkpartiet (The Liberal Party) got booed as she was talking on an event about supporting refugees. Her name is Birgitta Ohlsson and has fought a lot for LGBTs, refugees and to even open the borders. Swedes really watered down the word racist. Sorta like how everyone in Soviet was a fascist. Kinda funny how I've grown to tolerate the Swedish Democrats in comparison. Seeing people like Nalin Pekgul, Sakine Madon, Hanna Gadban, Sarah Mohammed and Alice Teodorescu being called racist pretty much did it for me.
- johansch 11y ago
  Sweden certainly is in the forefront of building a modern DDR. I guess we'll see a Swedish movie similar to that of "Das Leben der Anderen" in a decade or two. Just this week the largest daily newspaper (Dagens Nyheter) decided to out the identity of an anonymous high-profile blogger (a 70 year old woman) who was critical of the current immigration scheme. The main reason they did it was as a form of punishment. This was made clear in their reporting.
  - seivan 11y ago
    Doesn't help that they refuse to expose the Stasi-archives.
  - ninjin 11y ago
    High profile blogger, author, and former journalist. I can't say that I am giving this all too much of my attention, but I think that you are leaving out a few things. They did state that they outed her after she posted the name and phone number of two journalists claiming that they had been stalking her [1]. They also argued that the political influence wielded by the blogger rivalled that of an established journalist and that it justified publishing her name. Whether or not this really justifies publishing her name, well, that is a different matter entirely. Also, I am not sure if "critical of the current immigration scheme" is an appropriate label for someone that has stated that "Those that allow this to happen to Sweden should not have a single moment of peace. Those that with open eyes and at a steady pace are betraying our country. Those that not only allow but encourage and carry out the import of unidentified murderers, war criminals, and terrorists - thus making Swedes potential victims of murder, rape, and other violence." [2] (my translation). She has the right to express those opinions, but I think that "critical", in this case, may be an understatement and that she may deserve another label. [1]: http://www.svd.se/expressen-rojer-anonym-bloggare http://www.svd.se/expressen-rojer-anonym-bloggare (Swedish) [2]: http://www.expressen.se/kultur/hon-ar-julia-caesar/ http://www.expressen.se/kultur/hon-ar-julia-caesar/ (Swedish)
    - seivan 11y ago
      Biggest indicator of their lie would be that she put out their phone numbers. Their phone numbers were already public and usually posted when they wanted to be contacted. In fact, not just once, but several times. Lets not kid ourselves here that that she wasn't being silenced with a hit-job. The things they did against her would have been harassment against any other person. She's also somewhat right. Sweden let the gas-maker for Saddam stay [0], has yet to prosecute any of the returning ISIS rapists. Not to mention lied about the numbers. SÄPO said 100, but hospital records claims of over 300 - some has gone back again after som R&R.[1] She's right to be angry at the decision makers. I don't care about her opinion itself, but she's not wrong in terms of Sweden letting murderers, war criminals and terrorists come back. Last week it turns out someone responsible for Rwanda has been living in Sweden for 13 years without any issues.[2] He got prosecuted because they won't piss off any voters by doing so. I will personally never forgive Sweden and the people in charge betraying innocent lives abroad, for not pissing off certain groups of voting cattle here. [3] I stand with Caesar even though I don't agree with her as much as you'd like to think. You have to agree she was being silenced by the 'elite'. [0]: http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/jag-jobbade-at-saddam/ http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/jag-jobbade-at-saddam/ (Swedish) [1]: http://www.svt.se/nyheter/regionalt/vast/hundratals-svenskar-har-skadats-i-krig http://www.svt.se/nyheter/regionalt/vast/hundratals-svenskar... (Swedish) [2]: http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/man-i-mellansverige-gripen-for-folkmord/ http://www.expressen.se/nyheter/man-i-mellansverige-gripen-f... (Swedish) [3]: http://www.thelocal.se/20140702/green-mp http://www.thelocal.se/20140702/green-mp
- dogma1138 11y ago
  Well Sweden is the answer to the question: "what tumblr would look like if it was a country?"
  - johansch 11y ago
    Being in Sweden the past couple of days has been like living inside a parody. Ever since the image of that drowned boy whose father wanted to get to a richer part of Europe from a relative safe haven in Turkey, the newspapers here have been going insane, trying to top each other in terms of goodness. News are not reported any longer, only feelings.
    - seivan 11y ago
      They weren't in a safe haven. Lets not kid ourselves that Turkey is safe for kurds. I agree it's pointless emotion, when 400 000 people have already died by foreign islamic invaders and Assad. If they genuinely cared, these Swedes they would have tried to stop ISIS and/or Assad. But that doesn't generate votes only "anti-war" protests. Funny, no anti-war protests against Russia helping Assad. That's Swedes for you.
      - dogma1138 11y ago
        Ironically (or not. damn you Alanis) enough if you would make a protest against ISIS in Sweden these days you'll be branded as racist for telling other "cultures" how to behave...

contingencies 11y ago

Get the head of the Swedish bar association to talk about Assange's case. Until then, I'm not reading. (Reply to below: It is precisely the fact that the head of the bar association is prepared to speak openly about the abuse of process that I requested her. Until Sweden comes to terms with its totalitarian changes, of which the Assange abuses are but one, it wins no time or empathy from me.) (Reply to second: If you consider the outright illegality and abuse of process that has been used against Assange 'a pop issue', your worldview is twisted. As for 'another issue', I hardly think twitter flourishes earn the title, which traditionally implies some ounce of gravity.)

Cederfjard 11y ago
I think you might be overestimating the clout and importance of the head of the Swedish bar association. Why is this such a dealbreaker to you? In any case, she has actually made some comments regarding the case. Primarily in Swedish media, but a quick search yielded a few articles such as this one: http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/25/julian-assange-appeals-sweden-supreme-court-arrest-warrant http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/feb/25/julian-assange-... > Swedish legal opinion at a senior level has swung against the prosecutor’s decision not to travel to London to interview Assange, with Anne Ramberg, head of the Bar Association, calling the current impasse a “circus”. > “It would of course after such a long time be sensible for the prosecutor to determine whether to prosecute,” she said. “The Assange story has become a less than flattering adventure not only for the English courts’ handling of the case, but also for the Swedish prosecutor.”
johansch 11y ago
Frankly, it seems more like you want to attach your pop issue to another issue. The "I'm not reading" bit is fun though.

cb18 11y ago

I'd imagine most other countries haven't thought of doing this, because most others countries don't have such a rigidly enforced group-think as does Sweden. Did you know that Sweden's main export is not lumber or steel but in fact white guys with beards who think they are hilarious? Sweden is also among the world leaders in exporting ISIS terrorists. Believe it or not. http://swedenreport.org/2015/02/04/more-isis-fighters-from-one-swedish-town-than-entire-usa/ http://swedenreport.org/2015/02/04/more-isis-fighters-from-o... In fact a native Swede "Islamophobia Expert" joined ISIS and is attempting to recruit others. wtf? http://www.thelocal.se/20150203/swedish-islamist-convert-in-isis-video-row http://www.thelocal.se/20150203/swedish-islamist-convert-in-... http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/251905/swedens-multicultural-center-expert-islamophobia-daniel-greenfield http://www.frontpagemag.com/point/251905/swedens-multicultur... I don't have time to look through many of these tweets, but I imagine there are a number of things the authors refrain from mentioning. I've found this blog http://swedenreport.org http://swedenreport.org to detail some shocking things that have transpired in Sweden in the past years that those tweets probably bypass. From the author's About page: [...] The purpose of this blog is to highlight some of the news stories that don’t show up under the International News-section of your newspaper, yet might be of interest for your investment decisions, understanding of politics in the Nordic region, or perhaps just your vacation plans. [...] About me: I was born and raised in Sweden, but moved to USA as a young adult in 1999. I acquired naturalized American citizenship 2007. In recent years I had to relocate back to Sweden for family reasons, only to discover that much had changed in my absence. I am not affiliated with any political party in either country. I hold a B.S. in Finance and an A.S. in Accounting from Excelsior College, New York. (I have no connection with that blog, or the author, other than having read some of it with astonishment)

tete 11y ago
Disclaimer: I don't really like that site either. The author of [1] sounds really biased, given the fact that he writes about how people can't read or write, while studies[2] seem to prove that it about where the US is in that regard. What does the author blame for this? "The minister of education is a man-boy who spends his time making Youtube-videos showing heart-signs" That doesn't ound like a decent analysis of the Swedish Education. Also the author seems to be overly afraid of other people and cultures coming to Sweden. "Having said that, what Sweden is doing is something completely different. The once homogenous population has been forever altered by a rapid and massive addition of people from vastly different cultures and value-systems." Comparing with the US again: It was built on that. Another quote: "As a result, personal debt of the Swedish population is at an all-time high." It is for sure not the financial crisis, the European debt crisis? I am not saying that everything that person says is wrong. I am pretty sure there are some valid points in this, but as a source it is really bad and to be fair: At least all economists I've ever met seem to prefer the US (for whatever reason) over pretty much every other country. That's a bold statement and it's not proving anything at all, but given the fact that this article is based on a very subjective of argumentation and personal experience too I hope that I may. Also I see that this blog post is a personal thing, not a study or whatsoever. I am not blaming that person for liking the US more or anything like that. I honestly hope that person gets happy there. However as a source that blog really doesn't seem to be reliable. One more thing. I highly agree with one of the last sentences on there: "But I won’t. I’ll be back in the US being mad at Obama for being a lying scumbag. Every country has its problems. " [1] http://swedenreport.org/ http://swedenreport.org/ [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_Student_Assessment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programme_for_International_St...

59nadir 11y ago

If the website itself wasn't cringeworthy enough, the '#svpol' crowd showed up in the HN comments to make damn sure no one could leave with even the slightest doubt that everyone in Sweden is a complete tool.

pavlov 11y ago
The discussion in these comments is embarrassing (and I'm not even Swedish). Apparently the mere mention of Sweden was enough to make local politics spill over here. It's like watching a post about a weather app getting overrun by climate change denialists.
- seivan 11y ago
  Sweden is very polarised at this moment. The @Sweden has been hijacked by left-wing extremists - which is mainstream these days enough to warrant 7 political parties to become one giant block. So... in an essence... we're becoming Americans. We have two parties.
- CuriousSkeptic 11y ago
  It's because the local politics are rather intense in Sweden right now. The whole country is rather emotional at the moment, has been for the last couple of days. For a while now the racist parts of the population has been rather outspoken. I guess feeling that their opinions has finally been legitimized with a far-right party winning seats in parliament and all that. At the same time the rest of the population has been rather quiet. I guess not knowing exactly what to make of it. No one seems to have been prepared for it. After all, the official, and somewhat internalized, image of Swedish culture and identity has been that those opinions had no place in civilized society, and thus shouldn't be dignified with actual response. The last few days, the refugee situation seems to have been a rallying point around taking back this identity. Resulting in a few days with more then usual activity of emotional manifestations. That said, I was rather surprised to have to witness this on HN and must say I feel rather ashamed my self. On behalf of Sweden: I'm sorry you had to witness that. Edit: Down vote? Guess I should expect that for letting my own opinions on the matter shine through. But really, I was just trying to provide some context for interpreting the other posts in this thread.

unionjack22 11y ago

Sweden Yes

rospaya 11y ago

Not sure what happened in this thread and how it became about Islamophobia, racism or Sweden being a modern DDR.

59nadir 11y ago
The '#svpol' people showed up and poisoned the thread. They're the people you generally avoid by not having idiots added on Facebook and not following media celebrities on Twitter. Apparently they're inescapable now, even on HN. Fortunately this link is most likely impopular, so the embarrassment is fairly limited.
- seivan 11y ago
  Essentially anyone who doesn't share your opinion is an idiot. "I like discussion, debate, and reasoned criticism. But a lot of arguments aren’t any of those things. They’re the style I describe as ethnic tension, where you try to associate something you don’t like with negative affect so that other people have an instinctive disgust reaction to it. There are endless sources of negative affect you can use. You can accuse them of being “arrogant”, “fanatical”, “hateful”, “cultish” or “refusing to tolerate alternative opinions”. You can accuse them of condoning terrorism, or bullying, or violence, or rape. You can call them racist or sexist, you can call them neckbeards or fanboys. You can accuse them of being pseudoscientific denialist crackpots. If you do this enough, the group gradually becomes disreputable. If you really do it enough, the group becomes so toxic that it becomes somewhere between a joke and a bogeyman. Their supporters will be banned on site from all decent online venues. News media will write hit pieces on them and refuse to ask for their side of the story because ‘we don’t want to give people like that a platform’. Their concerns will be turned into bingo cards for easy dismissal. People will make Facebook memes strawmanning them, and everyone will laugh in unison and say that yep, they’re totally like that. Anyone trying to correct the record will be met with an “Ew, gross, this place has gone so downhill that the [GROUP] is coming out of the woodwork!” and totally ignored." Sorry that your safe space and bubble bursted.
  - 59nadir 11y ago