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When I initially read your reply I was going to suggest perhaps the homogeneity of Scandinavia might be a contributing factor. There is less of "us vs them" wh
by hangonhn 11y ago
When I initially read your reply I was going to suggest perhaps the homogeneity of Scandinavia might be a contributing factor. There is less of "us vs them" whereas in the UK and the US, there are many different groups of people, most of them are conquered people. In those cases, it's quite easy to see why there's such a sharp contrast. However, upon greater reflection, China also has very harsh sentences and a strong desire for revenge and China is pretty homogeneous so my initial theory doesn't make sense. One thing I wonder about is whether Scandinavia is the norm or the exception. To someone like me, a Chinese-American, harsh sentencing and "good vs evil" is the social norm, even if it's incredibly naive. I am now really curious as to what lead to the difference.
- wobbleblob 11y agoI think your premise is wrong. Scandinavia isn't as homogeneous as you think, and the UK and US aren't as diverse as you think. I can only assume China isn't as homogeneous as you think either. What it is, is that we are all conditioned to recognize a lot of diversity in what's familiar to us, while communities of strangers seem more or less the same to us. I remember how relatives from the US visited a central European capital, and were surprised how little diversity they saw. To them Hungarians, Germans, Slovenes, Poles, Russians, Turks, Roma, Bulgarians, Greeks etc seemed all pretty much the same. I remember how I first visited a couple of north American major cities and was surprised how little diversity i saw. To me they seemed all pretty much the same.