Scandinavia SUCKS

[Lohrenswald]

Denmark is a land of 5.3 million homogeneous people. Everyone talks the same, everyone looks the same, everyone thinks the same.

Common sight in Denmark:

Spoiler :

 

[Kyriakos]

Indeed:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/55th_parallel_north

PS: Maybe that's why Scotland sucks at referendums?

Denmark cannot south of the 55th parallel

 

[Domen]

Common sight in Denmark:

Spoiler :

Rather:

Spoiler :

 

[Lohrenswald]

Also, insight from the norwegian side of things: The state get's more revenue from taxation than petroleum (at least it did in 2012, the new, right wing government might have messed everything up)

 

[Cutlass]

I dispute that. The bar is not racial, it is cultural and economic. If America was a colourblind society (i.e. blacks and whites do not view each other and themselves as a unique community) and received little immigrants, it would have been a lot easier to reach an understanding on a comprehensive welfare system, since people no longer associate whole racial groups with welfare. It is no surprise that European countries have become more economically libertarian as they became more multicultural.

A heterogenous population has massive income disparities (some groups are wealthy, and some poor, by pure chance and policy would take decades to fix it) and thus great disparities in need. Thus, that's why stereotypes about black people on welfare in the US is so pervasive; it is hard to attune policies for all kinds of people.

Serious question: Did you even read what you wrote? You literally wrote that the problem is not racism, but rather it is racism.

 

[Domen]

I've been doing a lot of research on Norway lately and the only thing that sucks so far is how expensive everything is. Everything else is pretty much awesome - except maybe the local food - nobody ever seems to say "Try the pickled herring or the famous local this or that", every single article I read is about the scenery and some about the people and the history. But never about the food. Actually, whenever it's about the food, it's usually "Try the cheap middle eastern stuff. Why not a falafel?" So I'm going to assume that the local cuisine sucks - which means that I have to try it. As for this author, do I sense some jealousy there?

If their food sucks, why don't they import some for example from Africa and help to develop their economies, instead of sucking human resources from African countries and moving these people from slums of Mogadishu to no-go zones of Stockholm? Oh wait, they don't import their products because for example their pineapples are not big and chemical enough, and their bananas are not straight and chemical enough - according to EU food norms:


Link to video.

Scandinavia sucks people from other countries - that's true. Suck products instead of people, you are not helping anyone.

 

[Tahuti]

You literally wrote that the problem is not racism, but rather it is racism.

If you think my post is racism, than you are intellectually irredeemable I fear, without trying to belittle you.

I clearly have pointed out that as long communities happen to be neatly along racial groups instead of citizenship, it is impossible to get a majority agree with a welfare system that everyone likes. If one country were to have only superrich as citizens, there would be no public demand for welfare. Likewise, conservative rural areas where people first ask families instead of government in case of financial difficulties usually are highly indifferent to public spending as well.

 

[gay_Aleks]

Common sight in Denmark:

Spoiler :

We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.

 

[Commodore]

This is kinda not very relevant. That is, not as represented here, without proper comparison. There are of course several anecdotical stories of how much UHC sucks in Denmark, but overall, it's pretty much superior to the suckage of a money drain that is US healthcare (which is what the author is implicitly comparing to, seeing as he's counterarguing Murican liberals). I mean, it's better to sail a leaking ship than swim across the Pacific if that analogy makes any sense. Go, Kon-Tiki!

This stands out to me as particularly funny, because in the US healthcare system you pay a boatload of money and STILL have ridiculous wait times. My wife had a fish bone lodged in her throat and we waited 3 hours at the ER to be seen. This was at about 2am when there was hardly anyone there too. I have also experienced long wait times at pharmacies as well when trying to pick up prescriptions. So the author of the article says we pay with money instead of time? Well it seems like we here in the US are paying both money and time where as Europeans are only paying in time. Sign me up for UHC I say.

 

[calad]

I pay less than 20% of my gross income in taxes, how about you? Or rather, how much do you expect to pay after you're done with school? And I don't have any student debt either, or any form of debt for that matter.

Different systems are better for different people. If you're single, employed and making decent money (or even half-decent), it's a no-brainer: the US is about 1000 times more appealing than Scandinavia.

If you're unemployed, unable to find a decent job, or have more kids than you can support by yourself, Scandinavian countries are far better.

Personally I'd rather live in several African countries than Sweden. And the US is just a billion times better.

Im making about a bit less than 1000€ for beign uneployed. More than 2000 euros when employed on my engineering profession. Likely around +3000€. Taxes are higher in Finland, lets say less than 25% for most of people.

I think your opinion is immature because you never likely had any real problems. It is easy to keep flag high when sun shines.

 

[calad]

According to JayMan's Blog Scandinavians are not "a homogeneous people", but rather the opposite:

Finland is homogeneous as hell. Thats why we have a lot of rare diseases here because low population and in small villages everybody are a bit blood related to each other. Thats why I am a bit sceptical of your maps.

 

[GenMarshall]

Personally, I would fair much better in a Nordic country than the US. From what I gather, upward socioeconomic movement is much easier.

 

[Grisu]

Finland is homogeneous as hell. Thats why we have a lot of rare diseases here because low population and in small villages everybody are a bit blood related to each other. Thats why I am a bit sceptical of your maps.

Thats because his map has nothing to do with the issue or with Finland being homogenuous or not. It depicts the prevalence of inbreeding (like between cousins) and says absolutely nothing about ethnic diversity of a community. Using a map with the average temperature would have been equally relevant.

 

[Kyriakos]

^(re the new prestigious map posted) TIL that in Slovakia most people are married to their first cousin

 

[Tee Kay]

I clearly have pointed out that as long communities happen to be neatly along racial groups instead of citizenship, it is impossible to get a majority agree with a welfare system that everyone likes.

That is literally racism.

The only societies in which racial group identities are more important than citizenship are those in which racism is prevelent.

Personally, I would fair much better in a Nordic country than the US. From what I gather, upward socioeconomic movement is much easier.

We know that in Scandinavia your socioeconomic status depends much less on your parents'.

I guess if you're an already wealthy skilled Randian hero from a line of wealthy skilled Randian heroes then America is for you. For just about everyone else, Scandinavia is the tops.

 

[Akka]

According to the OECD, to get the equivalent of 100 dollars worth of consumption in the US, a Dane has to spend 136 Dollars, a Swede 135 dollars, and Norwegian 156 dollars. That's a difference ranging from 35% to 56% across Scandinavia. So it's not just beer that is more expensive - everything is, and massively so.

But this study forget (or can't measure) the fact that many services are availables for free or much less expensive, and that a good chunk of mandatory expenses are simply "hidden" from stat when they have to be paid to private companies instead of being directly taxed from income.

I remember a fun discussion where people talked about the minimal amount to live, and talked about how something like 1500 dollars was not allowing for even basic life necessity in US cities.
While such amount allows for a very comfortable life in Europe.

But yeah, a culture that glorify egoism and greed is indeed a "better" place for people who are selfish, short-sighted and without social values. I guess a muscular brute also consider that a might-makes-right tribe is better than one relying on cooperation and rule of law.

 

[Cutlass]

If you think my post is racism, than you are intellectually irredeemable I fear, without trying to belittle you.

I clearly have pointed out that as long communities happen to be neatly along racial groups instead of citizenship, it is impossible to get a majority agree with a welfare system that everyone likes. If one country were to have only superrich as citizens, there would be no public demand for welfare. Likewise, conservative rural areas where people first ask families instead of government in case of financial difficulties usually are highly indifferent to public spending as well.

You're still doing it. You're saying the way to get rid of racism is to get rid of separate races. Whereas anyone who was not intellectually irredeemable knows that the way to get rids of racism is for the racists to stop being racists.

 

[Tahuti]

That is literally racism.

The only societies in which racial group identities are more important than citizenship are those in which racism is prevelent.

Than we have differing definitions of racism. To you, and probably Cutlass too, it seems to mean an acceptance of communal differences that roughly ('roughly' being important here) correspond to racial lines.

 

[Tee Kay]

Than we have differing definitions of racism. To you, and probably Cutlass too, it seems to mean an acceptance of communal differences that roughly ('roughly' being important here) correspond to racial lines.

I define racism as discrimination based on perceptions of distinctive biological+behavioural differences between peoples of different races.

What's your definition?

 

[Tahuti]

What's your definition?

To base judgments of worth on individuals on account of their race.