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1. First and foremost, your categorization of Sweden as this whitewashed, homogenous, and agrarian place could not be more wrong. May I remind you that 14.3% of Sweden's population is foreign born, which exceeds the American foreign born population. Some of the most prominent Swedes in contemporary society are Bosnian Muslims, Syrian Muslims, and Africans. The Swedish football team is made up of players with last names such as Svensson and also names such as Imbrahimovic, Bahoui, and Durmaz. You have neighborhoods such as Rinkeby. Furthermore, the vast majority of Swedes live in Stockholm, Göteborg, and Malmö. Sweden, as a collective society no longer has much of a rural identity. The identity is thoroughly cosmopolitan, urban, anti-fascist, and anti-racist. Spend five minutes in Södermalm and you will see that Sweden is much more than the blonde, blue eyed stereotype that Americans believe it to be. Furthermore, unlike conservative Americans, who detest and admonish immigrants that do not fit "traditional American values" the Swedish embrace the contributions of immigrants of all races and faiths. This is evidenced by the meteoric rise of Zlatan Imbrahimovic, one of the world's best footballers and a Bosnian, albeit non practicing, Muslim.
Furthermore, you lack a comprehensive understanding of Scandinavian history. Let's stick with Sweden. The Sweden of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries actually fit the stereotype you incorrectly affixed to contemporary Sweden. Heavily rural and generally poor, the rise of socialist and communist parties to prominence in the 40's and 50's led to a meteoric rise in living and education standards across the country. With economic barriers to education and job training lifted and working class wages protected and raised, Sweden quickly achieved general economic parity. Sweden has since been a fixture at the top of lists measuring economic mobility and income equality thanks to programs of the SAP and Vänsterpartiet. Sweden and Scandinavia has led the world in measures of gender equality and sexual equality. This pattern has worked in similar fashion across Scandinavia.
2. Now about Switzerland. You stated there has never been a mass shooting in Switzerland. This is patently false.
Zug Massacre September 27th, 2001 (Zug, Switzerland)
Mezau Shooting February 27th, 2013 (Menzau, Switzerland)
Furthermore, your information regarding Swiss gun culture is patently false. While the government still issues guns to those currently serving their military service, they are no longer required to keep their weapons at home, instead giving them the option to store their weapons at the local barracks. The majority of those of service age are keeping their weapons at these barracks rather than at home.
In addition, after these shootings, the Swiss government decided that all ammunition for government owned weapons is kept at the barracks and is heavily regulated. So while the Swiss government allows people to keep their government issued firearms at home, they may not keep the bullets for these weapons there.
So please keep telling us how your "European stereotypes", which are detached from reality, are true.
- So 14% of Sweden is not homogenous? That means 86% is almost exactly what I described them as. That is far, far different from the United States demographics, which you ONLY included foreign born people into. Creative accounting at it's best.
- For clarity, I did not mean that Sweden or Minnesota are agrarian cultures today, rather that their culture comes from those agrarian roots.
- Have you ever been to Sweden? My experience living there was far different than what you're portraying. The vast majority of the Swedes I encountered in my six months there felt exactly the same way about foreign immigrants as the people of any other country on earth do. Which is to say they most certainly did not embrace Bosnian Muslims, Syrians & Africans, but rather tolerated them so long as they didn't come en masse, which was a constant source of worry.
- Pointing to their soccer team as having foreigners is nonsense. It's like me saying Americans like Michael Jordan, thus racism doesn't exist.
- As for Switzerland, I stand corrected on the two spree shootings.
- Regardless, Switzerland has the 3rd highest per capita gun ownership in the world & one of the lowest gun death rates in the world year in & year out. This illustrates the point. The Swiss have guns coming out of their ears & virtually no gun crime.
- I've seen nothing to suggest that the majority of Swiss men are voluntarily storing their assault rifles at the barracks as you claim. Please document this assertion as every recent article I reference refers to the men keeping their automatic weapons locked in their closets. The idea of it runs contrary to the idea of being minutemen, which of course is the point of keeping those assault rifles in their homes.
- The Swiss recently changed their gun laws, and no longer sell excess armaments/explosives to to public, nor do they issue ammo for their Govt owned weapons any longer. That doesn't mean you can't buy ammo for those weapons, it just means the Govt doesn't issue the ammo any more.
- Your entire post is minutia, designed to distract from, but not debate, the points I'm making. Sweden is a largely homogenous country that has a culture conducive to their version of socialism. The United States does not. That's exactly the same way that Switzerland is a largely homogenous country & has a culture conducive to mass gun ownership. The United States does not. Not all countries, nor all cultures, nor all forms of socialism are the same.
You do realize that the United States only became a world economic power and super power in general due to combination of FDR's semi-socialist work programs that primed the US to capitalize on the industrial needs of America's armed forces in WWII, right?
Or perhaps you yearn for a return to the gilded age where corrupt tycoons dominated American life and exploited the American people vis à vis monopolies such as Standard Oil.
The most prosperous time in American history across the income spectrum was the 40's, 50's, and 60's. This time was marked by high union membership, high income taxes, and the lowest income inequality in American history. Go figure.
I believe that's exactly where we're headed actually. The Democrats & Republicans are seeing to it. Now, we're seeing a much more insidious version of it though where the corporations don't have to worry about the Govt breaking up their monopoly, because they have purchased the monopoly from the Govt & the Govt has made said monopoly the law. Examples being the pharmaceutical industry. If we could buy our meds on the open market, we wouldn't need insurance to cover it. Instead big pharma, which spends more on lobbying than any other industry in the US, including banking, oil or military-industrial has bribe dour politicians via lobbying money, campaign contributions & board of director jobs after leaving public office to create a legal monopoly for them. They have made it a felony to purchase your meds at the best price. You, by law have to purchase them from the corporate sponsors that paid for the monopoly. Namely Merck, Pfizer, et al. The prices are so completely absurd, that it's forced us to need insurance. Another corporate industry that our politicians were paid by their corporate partners to make a legal monopoly. Now, by law we must purchase health insurance from chosen partners in the legal, insurance monopoly industry. Health Insurance companies spent billions lobbying for the Affordable Healthcare Act & are now recording record profits thanks to their new monopoly. The AGW hoax, which is a massive taxation scheme in disguise is mostly funded by the heirs of the Standard Oil fortune. Look at the network of foundations, think tanks, non-profits, endowments all flooding money to the scientists who support the desired outcome & you'll see the majority have the name Rockefeller behind them in some form.
I resent all the stereotypes of women on Fox News. I mean, look at Greta Van Sustren. She's not there for her looks. She is clearly a diversity hire, I mean, she's a Scientologist so she has no right to complain about their annual "War on Christmas" edition.
I resent all the stereotypes of women on Fox News. I mean, look at Greta Van Sustren. She's not there for her looks. She is clearly a diversity hire, I mean, she's a Scientologist so she has no right to complain about their annual "War on Christmas" edition.
What % of people work those kinds of hours & have this strong work ethic? Certainly not the people in my neighborhood. We have a bloated, permanent underclass that act as a massive anchor to the rest of society. There was a time, prior to the advent of our social programs that those people had to choice but to get busy & raise themselves up from that position in life. Now, we have generations of family's that have never worked, never paid their own rent, never paid for their own food, never paid their own utilities, never graduated high school, etc.
For the bold - yeah we do. Sadly we do have a lazy set of punks. That's a slice of the problem, no doubt about that.
However, just because you're poor doesn't mean you're lazy. I think the age in America has passed where those who work surely have a decent standard of living. There are people making $12-$15 an hour and struggling to make ends meet.
"Let me say, from my little sheltered town somewhere that doesn't see real dynamics of national economics, ecological destruction, or global politics..."
I'm a rather independent millennial and I'd debate her any time on so many of these issues. I can't stand Obama (or Bush, or Clinton, or Bush), but she did not "eviscerates Pres. Obama and the left" just because she gave a speech to a receptive audience.
Who claimed she eviscerated anyone?
I want to see the progressive liberal counter to her. As badly as everyone is commenting here about this young lady; can you imagine a liberal 22 yo chick whining about everything this one called down?
Go on and laugh at her; where were you at 22? I would love to see the proffered debate; ever been on a stage in front of that many people and try to put your point across? It's daunting as a musician; I can't imagine having to give a monologue in front of those who do it for a living.
Be glad there are some youngsters who aren't mindless liberal drones. And I do mean mindless. I know of too many middle aged drones who open their mouths and BS spews forth. They accuse me of being "a conservative" for not holding their hands and singing Kumbaya. In other words, I don't see eye to eye with them. What I say gets knee jerk reactions.
Nobody cares about poor Rafael Ted Cruz, it is all about The Donald now, he is the face of the Republican party.
For the time being. But I don't think that many people seriously want the Donald as our President. This is still silly season.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CincyIU29
Pretty much after every point you could hold up a Swedish flag and then briefly correct her about how socialist Sweden is happier, better educated, higher GDP per capita, higher average wage, minimal wealth inequality, etc...
On Sunday, the southern Swedish city of Malmo saw the fourth grenade attack in under a week as the a hand grenade was detonated in a car park in the district of Värnhem in the morning, local media reported.
The attack came after a blast on Friday in the Solbacken neighborhood, which occurred less than 12 hours after another explosion in the residential area of Limhamn in the west, and two days after a car bomb attack that injured a man outside a community center in the south.
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Police said they believe this week’s explosions are linked with the court sentencing of three young men on July 10 for their roles in the Christmas Eve bombing in Rosengard – the city district which has been dubbed by media as Sweden’s “most notorious refugee ghetto.” The Financial Times reported that nine out of 10 in Rosengard have a foreign background.
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