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Swedes' perceived rudeness 'isn't racially motivated'
http://www.thelocal.se/35830/20110829/ ^ | 08/29/2011 | Ruben Brunsveld

Posted on 09/01/2011 1:11:46 PM PDT by WesternCulture

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To: NorthStarStateConservative
You see it in Appalachia. The old Highlander families MOVE AT NIGHT. That's 'cause it's none of your business and go away. Don't bother them.

The Scottish Highlands were once peopled by a people created out of an amalgam of Irish warriors and Norse Vikings.

They all moved here.

It's not often appreciated just how incredibly like the Scandinavians the Scots are.

21 posted on 09/01/2011 3:52:59 PM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Hodar

“I grew up in a Norwegion area - the author is spot-on. Even when visiting lifelong neighbors or friends, the intent was that if no one answered the door on the second knock; you quietly left. The assumption was that your friend was either sleeping, entertaining someone, or wanted to be left alone”

- This is how we Scandinavians behave.

A citizen of India I once did some business with once told me this was something he liked about Sweden; people respected each other’s space.


22 posted on 09/01/2011 4:59:55 PM PDT by WesternCulture
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To: 1234; A knight without armor; AIM-54; Allan; american colleen; AndyPH; anguish; AzSteven; ...
Ping to the Swedish Ping List.
23 posted on 09/01/2011 7:22:07 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson (Swedish Ping List master)
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To: Winstons Julia; WesternCulture
My great-grandfather emigrated from Sweden. I got a chance to visit his town in Sweden. The people were cold and seemed unfriendly.

My grandparents emigrated from Sweden (western Sweden, in northern Bohuslän). I have stayed at the Henriksson family farm, which my cousin now runs, and they were friendly enough and welcoming. I have spent many weeks in Sweden, and I was treated OK by most people. I do know the language some, and that helps.

Yes, Swedes are more reserved and private than Americans, and I think they look down on Americans to some extent, based on the stereotype they have. But when they actually can spend time with a real American--hej, people are people.

Now... in order to be more Swedish, I’m rude to everyone.

Good policy! Then when they discover you're actually a nice person, they're pleasantly surprised! ;^)

24 posted on 09/01/2011 7:34:39 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson (Swedish Ping List master)
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To: WesternCulture
Respecting each others privacy is highly valued in Sweden. You do not stick your nose where it does not belong and do not interfere with the business of others (at least not openly).

You know, reading this about Swedish culture gives me a little more insight into my own character. This is kind of how I am! And my Swedish grandparents had a big role in raising me.

25 posted on 09/01/2011 7:39:06 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson (Swedish Ping List master)
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To: WesternCulture

It is common among us Scandinavian-American Lutherans to joke about “God’s frozen people.” I guess there’s some truth to that!


26 posted on 09/01/2011 7:41:55 PM PDT by Charles Henrickson (Swedish Ping List master and Swedish-American Lutheran)
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To: tarheelswamprat

“The famous quote attributed to her that “I want to be alone” was really a misquote. Her actual statement was “I want to be left alone”.”

- Nice having intelligent people respond to what I post here on an average thursday.


27 posted on 09/01/2011 8:54:24 PM PDT by WesternCulture
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To: WesternCulture; Winstons Julia
Actually the Swedes are a closed people, in the sense that any kind of even slight casualness is frowned on. In the US, UK etc. people may talk of their families at work, but in Sweden it is taboo. it is taboo to talk of anything personal except to the closest of the close.

Mr. Din is right that they were rude when

Waiting in line, a young blonde mother dropped one of her baby’s possessions.

I asked my wife to retrieve it, by now assuming the mother wouldn’t take kindly to me.

She didn’t say thank you.

28 posted on 09/02/2011 3:28:06 AM PDT by Cronos (John 6:61-64: Jesus rebukes those who think the Eucharist is just a symbol/metaphor, repeats: Jn8:15)
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To: Verginius Rufus

read the article — he said they spoke English throughout....


29 posted on 09/02/2011 3:28:42 AM PDT by Cronos (John 6:61-64: Jesus rebukes those who think the Eucharist is just a symbol/metaphor, repeats: Jn8:15)
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To: SaraJohnson; junta

What are you talking about Din’s racism or “whitey knows his place” — he doesn’t say anything like that, just that he thought people would be warm and friendly, evidently he didn’t read up on Swedish culture.


30 posted on 09/02/2011 3:30:19 AM PDT by Cronos (John 6:61-64: Jesus rebukes those who think the Eucharist is just a symbol/metaphor, repeats: Jn8:15)
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To: Cronos

Thug is trying to intimidate based on race, nothing more. Of course he like anyone else just knows that anti-racism which he crows about is nothing more than being anti-white. To hell with him and the people that side with that thug. He could have just said the Swedes were rude then went home to his paradise on Earth which has no evil whites.


31 posted on 09/02/2011 6:13:20 AM PDT by junta ("Peace is a racket", testimony from crime boss Barrack Hussein Obama.)
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To: muawiyah
One of the Old Norse sagas is called the Orkneyinga Saga and deals with the Norse family that ruled the Orkney Islands. The cathedral in Kirkwall, the main town in the Orkney Islands, is dedicated to St. Magnus, a Norse chieftain who was murdered by his cousin and afterwards considered a martyr. I think the Orkneyinga Saga is available in a Penguin translation.
32 posted on 09/02/2011 6:21:01 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: Cronos

I know...I was just kidding. It would be unreasonable for a foreigner in Sweden to expect a Swede to be able to speak any foreign language beyond English, German, or French.


33 posted on 09/02/2011 6:23:00 AM PDT by Verginius Rufus
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To: junta
how exactly is Din "trying to intimidate based on race"? No intimidation here, just a person who can't understand Swedish culture and thinks they are rude.

He could have just said the Swedes were rude then went home to his paradise on Earth which has no evil whites. --> he could have, but he wondered if it was because he was brown. He was wrong, but he wondered. AND, "his paradise" is the UK, which has quite a few whites and quite a few evil ones (and evil browns, blacks, yellows, red and purples ;-P)

Of course he like anyone else just knows that anti-racism which he crows about is nothing more than being anti-white. -- how exactly is this being anti-white? He talks about how his wife helped a young mother and didn't get a thank-you in return. THAT is plain rude

I've traveled with brown and black and Oriental friends in Italy, Spain, Poland and Slovakia and if you do something nice, like give up a seat to an elderly person or help someone, they WILL thank you -- mostly it will be in the their native language, but they WILL thank. It is common courtesy.

Why this young mother did not thank, I don't know -- I have an acquaintance in Gothenburg who is an East Indian and quite dark and he has experiences to the contrary. Of course, he LIVES in Gothenburg as opposed to Din who was a tourist.

I personally don't think the Swedes are racist at all, may be they are rude (I don't know), ruder as a people than others, I don't know.

Or, the other point could be if the Dins were wearing Moslem gear (I wonder), or that they, being Pakis, looked like the Kurds who plague Malmo (my East Indian friend is too dark to be a Kurd!)

34 posted on 09/02/2011 6:24:03 AM PDT by Cronos (John 6:61-64: Jesus rebukes those who think the Eucharist is just a symbol/metaphor, repeats: Jn8:15)
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To: WesternCulture

Of course he never speaks Punjabi around people that don’t understand it...


35 posted on 09/02/2011 6:26:35 AM PDT by Republic of Texas (Socialism Always Fails)
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To: Verginius Rufus
Not so unreasonable. There is a stereotype of Swedes among most Europeans -- the English, Poles, Spaniards, Germans etc. who I've met think that all Swedes speak English perfectly with no trace of an accent and speak it as well as their own native tongue.

That's been my limited experience too, and perhaps these folks expected the same. But you are correct that one should not expect all to speak English well -- some non-English speaking Europeans who speak very good English are still embarrassed to speak to a "native speaker", thinking their English is not good enough

However, again these guys spoke English -- we don't know if they were speaking the bad English which is prevalent in Britain these days with an atrocious accent "innit?"

36 posted on 09/02/2011 6:30:23 AM PDT by Cronos (John 6:61-64: Jesus rebukes those who think the Eucharist is just a symbol/metaphor, repeats: Jn8:15)
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To: Republic of Texas

good catch. But, since the dude seems a Paki, he may have spoken Urdu.


37 posted on 09/02/2011 6:40:14 AM PDT by Cronos (John 6:61-64: Jesus rebukes those who think the Eucharist is just a symbol/metaphor, repeats: Jn8:15)
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To: Cronos

You go around calling people “racist” you are a thug, end of conversation, have a nice day.


38 posted on 09/02/2011 6:48:17 AM PDT by junta ("Peace is a racket", testimony from crime boss Barrack Hussein Obama.)
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To: Cronos

Of course he like anyone else just knows that anti-racism which he crows about is nothing more than being anti-white. — how exactly is this being anti-white? He talks about how his wife helped a young mother and didn’t get a thank-you in return. THAT is plain rude

I’ve traveled with brown and black and Oriental friends in Italy, Spain, Poland and Slovakia and if you do something nice, like give up a seat to an elderly person or help someone, they WILL thank you — mostly it will be in the their native language, but they WILL thank. It is common courtesy.

Why this young mother did not thank, I don’t know — I have an acquaintance in Gothenburg who is an East Indian and quite dark and he has experiences to the contrary. Of course, he LIVES in Gothenburg as opposed to Din who was a tourist.

I personally don’t think the Swedes are racist at all, may be they are rude (I don’t know), ruder as a people than others, I don’t know.


Given that your and your friend’s experience of Swedes conflicts with Din’s protrayal, did it occur to you that Din might be a Paki racist who is lying about or denigrating Whites and their culture (dhimmies) in Sweden?

In every black or brown person, a white racist sees a sub-human criminal. In every white person, a brown or black racist sees a sub-human racist.

Who died and gave Din the position of racial superiority to judge and condemn the Swedes? He has plenty of hate against women and people of other races in his own heart and in his own tribe before he starts taking on a stance of racial and cultural superiority over whiteys in Sweden or anywhere else in Europe.


39 posted on 09/02/2011 6:55:12 AM PDT by SaraJohnson
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To: junta
Where exactly did Mr Din in his article here call anyone "racist"?

He wonders why his family were stared at -- then says "oh we're a different color" -- that's what people do, as long as the stares were not hostile, big deal. However, he never said it was racist

Then, he says: "superb cultural heritage of Sweden" -- hardly sounds racist

Yet, he points out two things:

  1. On the tram I offered an adjacent seat to an elderly woman accompanied by her husband; she didn’t acknowledge me and moved down the tram.
  2. Waiting in line, a young blonde mother dropped one of her baby’s possessions. I asked my wife to retrieve it, by now assuming the mother wouldn’t take kindly to me. She didn’t say thank you.

The first probably was a misunderstanding, but the second seems plain rude

He doesn't scream or even say it was definitely racist, he just points out his experience

He doesn't go around calling people "racist"

40 posted on 09/02/2011 7:00:47 AM PDT by Cronos (John 6:61-64: Jesus rebukes those who think the Eucharist is just a symbol/metaphor, repeats: Jn8:15)
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