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Comment by sheraz | Hacker News Reader

I see why you and many others living outside of the region would think that. Sweden is very good at only extolling her perceived "virtues" and sweeping the rest under the rug. Waaaay under the rug.

There is a real moral and intellectual superiority among many Swedes that I find deeply distasteful. From environment to politics to how to bag your groceries, and yes--even close a door properly, the "Swedish way" is always promoted as the only "right way."

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From my US perspective, I don't think anyone here believes that Sweden (or any other Scandinavian country for that matter) is some kind of wondrous utopia of social democracy without its own problems. What is going on is more of a growing sense of despair and frustration as we see other Western countries moving forward with social progress as we remain stuck in the 20th century, unable to figure out even the basics. Having a conversation regarding the "disposable culture" would not even be a blip on the radar in our political environment (mind you, this is an environment in which one of the main political parties has put forth a candidate who publicly stated that climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese[1]). So, to see other countries discuss issues such as these is both literally and figuratively a foreign concept.

[1] http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2016/jun/...

I'm with you. I see all kinds of progress and basic needs met in these other democracies. In the U.S., the situation is brutal for a lot of people with most political activity intentionally ignoring every real problem and solution we have to focus on side issues or outright superficial ones. That the corporate media makes money on the status quo and shapes its presentation accordingly means activists might never be able to get the solutions to enough people. I've pretty much given up on getting America in shape. Evaluating alternatives where their people at least try on a regular basis.

Out of curiosity where do you live? Perhaps this is a regional thing but down here in Skane people are very humble about being Swedish, almost as if they are ashamed of some sort of history.

They certainly wouldn't describe something as "the Swedish way" unless it was something about how the police are ineffective due to bureaucracy or something similar.

In general, Swedes are pretty self-depreciating people. But, down there, people might be just ashamed of being from Skåne :)

It seems a lot more complicated than either your view or the grandparents. If you watch Fredrik Lindströms "Världens Modernaste Land" it explores the question of the conflicting Swedish self-image pretty well (and the history of how it became what it is today), but I wouldn't know how to summarize it in a Hacker News comment.

I really things swept under the rug more than in most other countries? If there really is such a huge issue I imagine there must be dozens of topics that are completely ignored in Sweden, and at the same time I have a hard time understanding how any reasonably well functioning society can ignore several important areas without more direct effect on the economy?

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