4 ms·

Funny story: Years ago I (an American) was in Stockholm having a picnic lunch in a park with a couple of Canadian colleagues. As we were eating and talking a (

Funny story: Years ago I (an American) was in Stockholm having a picnic lunch in a park with a couple of Canadian colleagues. As we were eating and talking a (presumably) local man sitting nearby overheard us and started throwing coins at us one by one. When asked what he was doing, he started yelling at us in pretty good English "you stupid ___king Americans need to get the ___k out of Sweden". He went on in some detail about how arrogant Americans are (I generally agree) and meddlesome our military is (also true). Meanwhile, my colleagues were aghast and kept protesting "but we're Canadian, eh!" That's when I learned how much (some?) Canadians hate being called Americans. These articles never seem to discuss xenophobia and how it can't be so overt if you want it to be the SV of X.

asdff 5y ago
There are racists everywhere.
- INTPenis 5y ago
  That was most likely what we here in Sweden call an "a-lagare", in other words an alcoholic.
  - anonAndOn 5y ago
    That was my impression, as well.
screye 5y ago
It is fairly common for the internet to ignore the kind of alienation felt by immigrants in an (intentional or accidental) ethno-state. We hear more about racism in the US, UK and similarly 'diverse' countries because there are more interactions that enable that. We hear of religious tensions in India and France because both countries have enough diversity for discussion/conflict to be a possibility. In ethnically homogeneous countries, you get drowned out before you even realize it. The part that often gets ignored, is that it has very little to do with the human development of said country. Scandinavia and East Asia have the same or even greater propensity for racism as the common offenders. They just don't have enough interactions for it to get surfaced.
- laurencerowe 5y ago
  Scandinavia, or at least Sweden and Norway are pretty diverse places now. Sweden's population is 20% foreign born and Norway's 17%, compared to 14% for both the US and UK. (Finland and Denmark are much lower at 7% and 8%.)
hnarn 5y ago
Are you saying that xenophobia is a rampant problem in Sweden and that this chance encounter with an obviously mentally unstable individual somehow proves it? Tied with the Netherlands, I doubt there are any countries in the EU where it's easier to be an American than Sweden.
- anonAndOn 5y ago
  These SV of X articles always talk about the technology infrastructure, the venture capital, the universities, the mega-corps, the number of start-ups, etc. but I have yet to see one that mentions any sort of ethnic diversity as a key ingredient. Stockholm might be the Silicon Valley of Sweden, but unless it is attracting (and keeping!) global talent, it will never punch above its weight and compete with the actual Silicon Valley.
  - hnarn 5y ago
    Your basis for the conclusion that Stockholm is not "attracting and keeping global talent" is that some random person once was very rude to you? Or is this a general experience you've heard from other people?
    - anonAndOn 5y ago
      SV's success is largely built upon immigrants. Does TFA mention foreigners? Neither does any other SV of X article I've seen.
      - walshemj 5y ago
        Not really SV is built on defense funding from the 40's onwards - widespread h1b is much later
        anonAndOn 5y ago
        Why stop there? What about Dave and Bill's shed in '38? Or maybe it was Leland opening the university in 1891? Surely that was the start of Silicon Valley? Actually, it was probably Rock and the Traitorous Eight in '57 as the genesis of Silicon Valley. And you might be familiar with some of these US immigrants, none of whom were H1b's: Jerry (yahoo), Sergei (google), Pierre (ebay), Elon (paypal).
alkonaut 5y ago
> how it can't be so overt if you want it to be the SV of X. This anecdote could happen precisely anywhere in the world with N=1...
- anonAndOn 5y ago
  ... and may be a major reason why there is only N=1 SV.
  - alkonaut 5y ago
    Because there are zero disturbed people? Is that really what makes SV unique? I thought it was the universities (talent) paired with all that capital or something.
    - anonAndOn 5y ago
      >universities (talent) UC Berkeley, one of the two marquis colleges in the area, is sometimes jokingly referred to as UC Beijing. Any guess as to why?

asdff 5y ago

There are racists everywhere.

INTPenis 5y ago
That was most likely what we here in Sweden call an "a-lagare", in other words an alcoholic.
- anonAndOn 5y ago
  That was my impression, as well.

screye 5y ago

It is fairly common for the internet to ignore the kind of alienation felt by immigrants in an (intentional or accidental) ethno-state. We hear more about racism in the US, UK and similarly 'diverse' countries because there are more interactions that enable that. We hear of religious tensions in India and France because both countries have enough diversity for discussion/conflict to be a possibility. In ethnically homogeneous countries, you get drowned out before you even realize it. The part that often gets ignored, is that it has very little to do with the human development of said country. Scandinavia and East Asia have the same or even greater propensity for racism as the common offenders. They just don't have enough interactions for it to get surfaced.

laurencerowe 5y ago
Scandinavia, or at least Sweden and Norway are pretty diverse places now. Sweden's population is 20% foreign born and Norway's 17%, compared to 14% for both the US and UK. (Finland and Denmark are much lower at 7% and 8%.)

hnarn 5y ago

Are you saying that xenophobia is a rampant problem in Sweden and that this chance encounter with an obviously mentally unstable individual somehow proves it? Tied with the Netherlands, I doubt there are any countries in the EU where it's easier to be an American than Sweden.

anonAndOn 5y ago
These SV of X articles always talk about the technology infrastructure, the venture capital, the universities, the mega-corps, the number of start-ups, etc. but I have yet to see one that mentions any sort of ethnic diversity as a key ingredient. Stockholm might be the Silicon Valley of Sweden, but unless it is attracting (and keeping!) global talent, it will never punch above its weight and compete with the actual Silicon Valley.
- hnarn 5y ago
  Your basis for the conclusion that Stockholm is not "attracting and keeping global talent" is that some random person once was very rude to you? Or is this a general experience you've heard from other people?
  - anonAndOn 5y ago
    SV's success is largely built upon immigrants. Does TFA mention foreigners? Neither does any other SV of X article I've seen.
    - walshemj 5y ago
      Not really SV is built on defense funding from the 40's onwards - widespread h1b is much later
      - anonAndOn 5y ago
        Why stop there? What about Dave and Bill's shed in '38? Or maybe it was Leland opening the university in 1891? Surely that was the start of Silicon Valley? Actually, it was probably Rock and the Traitorous Eight in '57 as the genesis of Silicon Valley. And you might be familiar with some of these US immigrants, none of whom were H1b's: Jerry (yahoo), Sergei (google), Pierre (ebay), Elon (paypal).

alkonaut 5y ago

> how it can't be so overt if you want it to be the SV of X. This anecdote could happen precisely anywhere in the world with N=1...

anonAndOn 5y ago
... and may be a major reason why there is only N=1 SV.
- alkonaut 5y ago
  Because there are zero disturbed people? Is that really what makes SV unique? I thought it was the universities (talent) paired with all that capital or something.
  - anonAndOn 5y ago
    >universities (talent) UC Berkeley, one of the two marquis colleges in the area, is sometimes jokingly referred to as UC Beijing. Any guess as to why?