The image of Sweden and what it's been

The image of Sweden is no longer what it was a couple of years ago. Sweden as a country have gone from something a lot of people, not only socialists because of the welfare system, look up to to something entirely else. No matter what the subject nowadays Sweden is looked down upon, be it feminism that have broken all type of barriers of common sense, the government and the representatives are looked down upon as children fighting in a sandbox and more. Even the Swedish people have gotten themselves a couple of swings and in some circles it’s not even controversial to call the Swedish people things such as ”cucks”. Pictures like the one below show the extremes of what we’ve been and what we’ve become in the eyes of others.

The general public have become little more than some form of tax cattle for the large companies and politicians that run Sweden. The real question is how this could’ve happened? How could Sweden and the swedes go from a highly productive, disciplined and proud society to the Sweden of today? A Sweden where people rely more on the government to provide for them and every little setback in life is blamed on the ”society” and insufficient subsidies from the welfare.

A couple of days ago I noticed a story about a single mother and her son, who will have to spend 24 hours a day at the kindergarten due to her having to work odd hours. The only solution she could think of was for the state to provide a better solution for her and her child. There was no hint of her even asking friends and family and, perhaps as a last resort, switch careers to be able to provide her son with a stable environment. No, the solution was to sit back and wait for the government to step in.

The thing is, though, that Sweden and the swedes haven’t always been like this.

In Swedish school, you get to learn a lot about the socialist Sweden taking form somewhere before the world wars and really taking off mid-20th century, but you don’t really get to learn too much about what happened before that, the interesting bits, that is. The history is very centred around all the good the Swedish state’s done, according to itself.

Sweden has a long and bloody history of revolts against the central power, be it a king, some kind of lord or a chosen ruler. Most people know of the most common figure: Nils Dacke who led a revolt against the local bailiff. His revolt was beaten down a couple of years later by the king Gustav Vasa. I bet most swedes would struggle to come up with another revolt, but the truth is you could easily fill volumes with people in the Swedish history who have revolted against incompetence, corruption and unfairness.

The Swedish people is everything but submissive and weak-minded, when we really set our mind to it. So, if there’s anything to take from this preview of old Swedish troublemakers it is that the feeling you have, that what the current government’s doing and the track that Sweden’s on right now is wrong, is normal and something that’s in your history and genes. It’s your inner viking telling you to speak your mind.