[Entropy Squared]

I've met several Swedes while traveling abroad who were also outside of their home country. I always asked them what it was like to live in Sweden (politically) and noticed almost all were too afraid to talk about it, even though they should have been safe doing so outside of Sweden. It struck me as a conditioned response.

I finally found one willing to talk. She said every person is completely dependent on the state and if you are denounced for making a politically incorrect statement your life is over. It sounded pretty Soviet to me.

[driftless2]

"willing to talk"

Many Euro countries have laws against saying nasty things about protected groups. Speaking your mind about Muslims in many Euro countries can actually land you a prison term. This proves that when liberals take over, fascism shortly follows. And believe me, liberals in the U.S. would like to be able to do the same things.

[wetphoenix]

~I finally found one willing to talk. She said every person is completely dependent on the state and if you are denounced for making a politically incorrect statement your life is over. It sounded pretty Soviet to me.~

In fact it wasn’t as bad with the Soviets. Since about mid1950s government has largely ignored citizens’ personal life and it was quite tolerant to dissent, unless one has pushed over the limit.
It was actually a major cultural reason behind a Chinese-Soviet split at the time.
All of the above is certainly not the case for Sweden as far as schools instructs their pupils to spy on their parents if they are politically correct at home or not.