Scandinavia SUCKS

[bhavv]

Id like to visit Norway and grope Snerk.

 

[Tee Kay]

Get a room already you too.

 

[bhavv]

Would love to!

 

[Atticus]

Here's an article from today's paper (in Finnish).

During the years 2000-2015 in US&A police killed 5600 citizens on duty. (Based on the project Fatal Encounters, since apparently there isn't official statistics on the issue). Fatalities in Finland during the same time interval: 5.

Populations aren't of course equal, 5,5 million in Finland and 320 in US, but even if you take that into account (with multiplier 58), the numbers would be 5600 against 290, almost 20 times more.

This is also noteworthy. In 2013 the total amount Finnish policemen fired a gun: 6.

Also, I want to offer this as a counterweight for the article linked in the OP, where the guy apparently didn't event try to understand the foreign cultures, just complained how they aren't similar to what he's used to.

Bottom line: Scandinavia #1!

 

[gay_Aleks]

That, or the Finnish cops have a Blue Code more tighter than the CIA.

 

[Kyriakos]

Here's an article from today's paper (in Finnish).

During the years 2000-2015 in US&A police killed 5600 citizens on duty. (Based on the project Fatal Encounters, since apparently there isn't official statistics on the issue). Fatalities in Finland during the same time interval: 5.

Populations aren't of course equal, 5,5 million in Finland and 320 in US, but even if you take that into account (with multiplier 58), the numbers would be 5600 against 290, almost 20 times more.

This is also noteworthy. In 2013 the total amount Finnish policemen fired a gun: 6.

Also, I want to offer this as a counterweight for the article linked in the OP, where the guy apparently didn't event try to understand the foreign cultures, just complained how they aren't similar to what he's used to.

Bottom line: Scandinavia #1!

A decent and often used counter-point is that US still has a lower lethal violence rate per capita than the middle of the Colombian jungle, or Iraq.

 

[Farm Boy]

When comparing rates of police violence per capita it is somewhat useful to tune into the underlying environment they are responding to. Michigan Avenue doesn't catch the same amount of bullets per resident that the South Side does. Just to keep in mind one of the far ranging effects of poverty.

 

[Lohrenswald]

The critic's notion was that USA never can get as low crime rates as Finland because USA has black people, right?

 

[Traitorfish]

Yeah, Cutlass hit the nail on the head on page one:

Welfare states work best among a homogeneous people, and the kind of diversity and mistrust we have between groups in America means we could never reach a broad consensus on Nordic levels of social spending.

This is just racism, and an appeal to racism. What the people using it is saying is, 'the US can't do welfare well, because we have too many blacks'.

 

[warpus]

Atticus, from the article you linked to

I don’t say things I don’t mean.

Oh man.. That's one thing I hate hate hate about North American culture.

People asking me "How are you?" and not really caring how I am. I wish they would stop, because half the time my instinct is to tell them exactly how I am. And then I remember that this is Canada and that they don't really care.

 

[Agent327]

Here's an article from today's paper (in Finnish).

During the years 2000-2015 in US&A police killed 5600 citizens on duty. (Based on the project Fatal Encounters, since apparently there isn't official statistics on the issue). Fatalities in Finland during the same time interval: 5.

Populations aren't of course equal, 5,5 million in Finland and 320 in US, but even if you take that into account (with multiplier 58), the numbers would be 5600 against 290, almost 20 times more.

This is also noteworthy. In 2013 the total amount Finnish policemen fired a gun: 6.

Also, I want to offer this as a counterweight for the article linked in the OP, where the guy apparently didn't event try to understand the foreign cultures, just complained how they aren't similar to what he's used to.

Bottom line: Scandinavia #1!

Hm. Finland not being Scandinavian Scandinavia can still suck.

 

[Atticus]

The article in the OP had a go at Finland too, so I'm using it's definition.

When comparing rates of police violence per capita it is somewhat useful to tune into the underlying environment they are responding to. Michigan Avenue doesn't catch the same amount of bullets per resident that the South Side does. Just to keep in mind one of the far ranging effects of poverty.

I don't count it as a defect that less poverty is the reason for the less police violence.

Oh man.. That's one thing I hate hate hate about North American culture.

People asking me "How are you?" and not really caring how I am. I wish they would stop, because half the time my instinct is to tell them exactly how I am. And then I remember that this is Canada and that they don't really care.

There's customary "how are you"s here too, but less, I guess.

I recently was looking for a person at work and happened to ask two American visitors if they'd seen him. It's odd how sorry they were about him not being there. Their "sorry"'s were so abundant that it started to feel like they're talking down to a child.

Althgouh, I have to admit that most Americans I've seen irl have been pretty normal. It looks like it's just their customer service mode that's annoying.

 

[Farm Boy]

The critic's notion was that USA never can get as low crime rates as Finland because USA has black people, right?

One could be stupid and use black as code for poor, since they correlate in the US, but if they structured the thought the way you just did, they'd just be pretty stupid, no?

I don't count it as a defect that less poverty is the reason for the less police violence.

I agree. Where's the wealth coming from and how is it tapped?

 

[Agent327]

The article in the OP had a go at Finland too, so I'm using it's definition.

People who 'have a go at' aren't usually too peculair what thye're having a go at. So they may actually miss their target while having a go.

 

[Atticus]

I don't know all the inferior non-scandinavian idioms. (Scandinavia #1!)

I agree. Where's the wealth coming from and how is it tapped?

Basically, I'd think, from the more rich people's pockets.

 

[Angst]

The critic's notion was that USA never can get as low crime rates as Finland because USA has black people, right?

Now it's been a while since I read it but he basically said that A) The reason Scandinavia is great is because we don't have race problems and that B) The reason Scandinavia sucks is because we only have one race and that's boring. And something else more seriously negative about our crime rates/public safety in the vein of B that I don't remember. He wants his cake and he wants to eat it too..

And Atticus, thanks for the Finland article, I'm enjoying it right now.

 

[Farm Boy]

Basically, I'd think, from the more rich people's pockets.

Actually, I don't know. It's just wiki, which is basically bumpkis, but it's putting Finland's poverty rates as higher than the US's. Don't have the patience or skill to accurately tease out if that's differences of measurement, the differences of applicable social safety nets, the differences of culture, the likelihood of the povertous to be packed in like sardines in cities of conveniently out of sight in the countryside.

 

[warpus]

Althgouh, I have to admit that most Americans I've seen irl have been pretty normal. It looks like it's just their customer service mode that's annoying.

Here in Canada our use of pleasantries is sometimes over the top. At least from what I've noticed.