Sweden

[[File:Location Sweden.svg|thumb|right|195px|Location in northern Europe.]]
{{countrybox|Sweden
|flag = Flag_of_Sweden.svg
|pop = 	10,549,347
|GDP =444,585
|GDPPC =47,667
|life =80.9
|dev =0.904
|dem =9.5
|cor =9.2
|edu =0.975
|rel =16.5
}}
{{cquote|You'd think the cold would keep all the idiots out.|||Clint Eastwood, ''Gran Torino''}}
'''Sweden''' is (for [[Europe]]) both a large and cold country, located in [[Scandinavia]], which becomes livable via slow-onset fast-exit summers that actually regularly achieve Mediterranean temperatures.<ref group=note>Counting from Uppsala, which is a pretty good, central measuring spot — not too far north in the mountains, not too far south, but kinda sorta in the middle, {{wpl|Uppsala#Climate|you see|.}}</ref>

Sweden is a constitutional monarchy and a parliamentary democracy. As of 2023, the Swedish prime minister is {{wpl|Ulf Kristersson||.}} This [[welfare state]] is usually considered a stronghold of [[social democracy]] and the [[Nordic model]]. Sweden consistently ranks in the top 10 in the [[United Nations|UN]] Human Development Index,<ref>{{wpl|Human Development Index|Wikipedia's nice summary}} of said report.</ref> among {{sl|So, how's their pinko socialist welfare capitalism treating them?|equally competitive placements in a variety of other rating systems}} as well. Sweden, being a chummy country, borders other chummy countries as well. [[Norway]] (to the west and the north), [[Finland]] (to the east), and [[Denmark]] (to the south, across the {{wpl|Øresund Bridge|Öresund bridge|).}}

Sweden is also a relative fortress of [[atheism]], [[humanism]] and [[secularism]].<ref>{{wpa|Importance of religion by country}}</ref> It is not like, say, [[Mississippi]].<ref>{{wpa|List of U.S. states by religiosity}}</ref> Or even [[Iran]].

Being a Swede on the internet has to be a pretty wild ride, what with both the left and right using your country as the go-to example of being either a flawless [[utopia]] (it's not) or a [[failed state]] brimming with rapefugees (it's not).<ref group=note>They must be talking about {{wpl|Sweden, New York||.}}</ref>

==So, how's their pinko socialist welfare capitalism treating them?==
To quote directly from Wikipedia's article on Sweden;
{{quotebox|
Sweden maintains a [[Nordic model|Nordic social welfare system]] that provides [[universal health care]] and tertiary education for its citizens. It has the {{wpl|List of countries by GDP (nominal) per capita|world's eighth-highest per capita income}} and ranks highly in numerous metrics of national performance, including quality of life, health, {{wpl|Education Index|education|,}} protection of {{wpl|Freedom in the World|civil liberties|,}} economic competitiveness, {{wpl|Gini coefficient|equality|,}} {{wpl|Legatum Prosperity Index|prosperity}} and {{wpl|Human Development Index|human development|.}}<ref>{{cite news |first=Kavitha A. |last=Davidson |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/21/democracy-index-2013-economist-intelligence-unit_n_2909619.html |title=Democracy Index 2013: Global Democracy At A Standstill, The Economist Intelligence Unit's Annual Report Shows |newspaper=[[The Huffington Post]] |date=21 March 2013 |access-date=27 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://hdr.undp.org/en/media/HDR_2013_EN_complete.pdf |title=2013 Human Development Report |publisher=United Nations Development Programme |accessdate=28 July 2013}}</ref><ref name="OECD Better Life Index">{{cite web|title=OECD Better Life Index|url=http://www.oecdbetterlifeindex.org/#/11111111111|publisher=OECD Publishing|accessdate=27 August 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.legatum.com/article/Legatum-Prosperity-Index-Global-prosperity-rising-while-US-and-UK-economies-decline|title=2013 Legatum Prosperity Index™: Global prosperity rising while US and UK economies decline|publisher=Legatum |accessdate=17 September 2014}}</ref><ref name="wefcomp">{{cite web|url=http://www.weforum.org/issues/global-competitiveness |title=Global Competitiveness Report 2012–2013 |publisher=World Economic Forum |date=5 September 2012 |accessdate=9 June 2013}}</ref>}}

Something, something, they're not doing too bad. Something, something; time will tell how ''[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/bOrhnWgOFGg/hqdefault.jpg Donald Trump's Pleasure Paradise]'' is going to toss and turn America in those same rating systems cited above… Eep.

==Fiscal policy – what both the left and the right got wrong about Sweden==
So, part of the right believes that Sweden is on the verge of collapse due to their social expenditure, and part of the left believes that Sweden shows that the government can spend any amount on the welfare state without deleterious effects. Which group is right? Neither.
Even before the [[COVID-19]] pandemic, very few countries had a surplus on their government budget surplus (i.e. Spending less than it collects). One of them was Sweden.<ref> https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/224.html</ref> Even during 2020, the Swedish deficit was only 6% of the country'a [[GDP]], with projections of a surplus as early as 2023.<ref>https://www.statista.com/statistics/375664/sweden-budget-balance-in-relation-to-gdp/</ref> For comparison, the US fiscal deficit for the same year was almost 20% of the GDP, and the deficit will remain higher than 5% in the foreseeable future.<ref>https://www.statista.com/statistics/269961/budget-balance-in-the-united-states-in-relation-to-gross-domestic-product-gdp/</ref> According to the credit rating agency S&P Global Ratings, Sweden also has a maximum AAA credit rating since 2004. Only [[Switzerland]], [[Norway]], [[Singapore]], [[Denmark]], and [[Canada]] have had this rating for longer,<ref>{{wpa|List of countries by credit rating}}</ref> so investors don’t think (and probably don’t need to worry) about a default, as the right believes.

It has not always been this way though. During the 1990s, Sweden's economy was indeed on the edge, with banks collapsing, a sharp drop in the GDP, the devaluation of their currency and unemployment. As a result, the {{wpl|Swedish Social Democratic Party}} was forced to liberalize the economy, severely cut spending (including cuts in social security and pensions), and consolidate a harsh fiscal policy which, though painful, didn’t destroy Sweden's welfare state as the left had feared, but actually made it sustainable.<ref>[https://www.government.se/49b737/contentassets/0ce7849e6b834f928eef1c795affe89e/an-account-of-fiscal-and-monetary-policy-in-the-1990s An account of fiscal and monetary policy in the 1990s]</ref><ref>[https://www.tresor.economie.gouv.fr/Articles/8ff87be3-e406-4db3-b985-6da39ce8dbdc/files/20cf5f07-8478-48e2-8abc-26034abaa9c8 Lessons for today from Sweden's crisis in the 1990s]</ref> Since then, Sweden's social democrats have gradually moved all the way toward [[Third Way]] centrism, and arguably, over time the contrast between the Swedish model and other European models has shrunk, this also being a larger trend for Nordic countries.

==Exports==
[[File:Köttbullar at IKEA Xihongmen (20150423114159).JPG|thumb|right|250px|Swedish meatballs from IKEA.]]
They 
make
 made Saabs and Volvos and 
sell
 sold them to safety-conscious Americans.<ref group=note>We're specifically talking about the car divisions, both companies remain very well alive.</ref>

IKEA, the furniture chain/restaurant, is based in Sweden. Famous for having a floor layout that amounts to a giant maze and people commonly getting lost in the stores.

The town of {{wpl|Husqvarna}} (now spelled Huskvarna) produced the following, among other things (all built by separate companies named after the town):
*Chainsaws, lawnmowers and gardening equipment
*Motorcycles
*Firearms
*Sewing machines

===Swedish cinema===
{{wpl|Ingmar Bergman}} made some fine movies. So did {{wpl|Ingrid Bergman||.}} You won't find much sex in any of their movies. At least not much pleasurable sex. For instance, in ''Cries and Whispers'', a woman took the drastic step of [[masturbation|masturbating]] with a glass shard so that her husband would lose interest in her. '''(!!!!!)'''

In 1967, as an answer to Bergman's highly symbolic and stylized [[films]], director Vilgot Sjöman made a film titled ''Jag är nyfiken'' (English title, ''I am Curious''). The 3½ hour film was in the style of [[French]] New Wave films from the late 1950s and early 1960s. Sjöman later recut the film into two films — ''I am Curious (Yellow)'' and ''I am Curious (Blue)''. In ''Yellow'', the lead actress is shown kissing her boyfriend's penis, which led to [[censorship]] in many places around the world, including in [[Massachusetts]]. It also led to a dramatic uptick in the number of [[porn]]o films produced in Sweden. As John Candy would later say in the 1984 movie ''Splash'', some of the world's finest nudie films had come from Sweden.

===Miscellaneous===
[[File:Nordstan Öst.JPG|thumb|right|300px|Nordstan, one of northern Europe's largest shopping malls.]]
Snus — those stamp-sized pouches filled with dried [[tobacco|snuff]] that help nicotine addicts get through long stretches in no-smoking areas — originated in Sweden in the early 19<Sup>th</sup> century. (Pronounced ''snoos'', not ''snooze'' or ''snuss''.)

Other exports include:
*Volvo
*{{wpl|ABBA|Pop}} {{wpl|Ace of Base|groups}}
*
Saab
 
Dongfeng
 National Electric Vehicle Sweden<ref group=note> It's [http://cleantechnica.com/2015/08/24/rebranded-saab-national-electric-vehicle-sweden-dongfeng-sign-strategic-cooperation-agreement/ complicated] to say the least.</ref>
*Ericsson
*Swedish meatballs
*Caramelldansen
*Knäckebröd
*JAS-39 Gripen
*Absolut Vodka
*Regular Ordinary Swedish Meal Time
*[[The Golden One|Nazi]] [[PewDiePie|YouTubers]]
*[[Heavy Metal]] and ''tons'' of other metal genres<ref group=note>Along with [[Norway]] and [[Finland]], Sweden enjoys its own metal scene, as part of the Scandinavian scene, widely considered to be one of the world's greatest metal scenes.</ref>
*[[Notch|Minecraft]]
*And yeah, the meatballs are not as good as you might've heard before; you know the foods suck when a food that represents the whole country is the meatball.

Sweden claimed to be neutral during World War II. For the Swedish government, this meant doing everything to stay out of war, like selling iron ore to Germany and allowing German troops to travel to occupied Norway in preparation for operation Barbarossa. It also meant pleasing the allies, by providing information on the axis and allowing Norwegian partisans to train in Sweden. Later throughout the Cold War era, Sweden spied for the USA and secretly regarded them as their true ally, while officially remaining neutral and fairly friendly toward communist leaders.

==Stockholm syndrome==
{{main|Stockholm syndrome}}
Stockholm syndrome is a supposed psychological phenomenon in which the victim of prolonged abuse/crime displays support for or sympathy with the perpetrator(s). The original term was coined in an analysis of behavior exhibited by hostages (kept for five days during a [failed] bank robbery in Stockholm in 1973) and referred to the square where the bank was located; since most of the rest of the world has never heard of Norrmalmstorg, it was formalized and popularized as 'Stockholm' syndrome.

==Geography==
[[File:DIMG 5456 (4735649602).jpg|thumb|right|300px|Swedes celebrating ''Midsommar''. Goddamn [[Paganism|pagans]].]]
===Stockholm===
Stockholm is the capital and largest city of Sweden. A 750-year-old city, famous for the handing out of the 4 [[Nobel Prize]]s with the peace prize being handed out in Oslo, Norway. It is well known in [[science]] and the [[art]]s.

===Göteborg===
Göteborg, Gothenburg or Goteborg, is the second largest city in Sweden and a notable producer of angst driven pop music, {{wpl|SKF|spinny things|,}} herring, and bad puns. It's located on the west coast in Sweden, it's also the front side of Sweden. North [[Europe]]'s biggest amusement park Liseberg and biggest shopping mall Femman lies in Göteborg.

===Malmö===
Malmö is the third biggest city in Sweden. The Öresund bridge runs between Malmö and [[Denmark|Danish]] capital Copenhagen.

===Norrland===
Almost everything north of Stockholm, roughly half the country. Save for a few cities along the coast, there aren't many people, but there is an abundance of timber, iron ore, and [[Renewable energy#Hydroelectric energy|hydroelectricity]]. The far north is also the home of Sweden's indigenous population, the [[Sami]] people.

==Culture==
[[File:Vasa museum Vasamuset Stockholm Sweden (148).jpg|thumb|right|275px|The ''Vasa'', the only fully intact 17<sup>th</sup> century ship that has ever been salvaged.]]
ABBA<ref group=note>To be accurate, ABBA was only 75% Swedish. One member was half-Norwegian and half-German. But, that's not her fault.</ref> was 
greatly overrated
 <u>great</u>.<ref group=note>Although you have to wonder if they would've gained the same level of fame if they had been as drunk in concert as they were [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRF__3FWIp4&feature=related when they made their 1970 TV debut as a group.] (And how the hell did the get Reuben Kincaid from ''The Partridge Family'' and Frank Gorshin to play the sheriff and his deputy?)</ref> And so are hot tubs.

It is also quite interesting to note that this part of the region which gave us those great [[pirate]]s, pillagers, rapists and looters — the Vikings — managed to turn itself into one of the great [[liberal]] democracies of the world.<ref>[https://i.imgur.com/papUWoz.png Then and Now]</ref> This is because Swedish Vikings contented themselves with peaceful exploration and trade in Eastern Europe, plus statebuilding in what's now Russia and Ukraine. They called themselves ''Rus''' rather than Vikings and gave their name to [[Russia]].<ref>Wladyslaw Duczko. [http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hEawXSP4AVwC&pg=PA10&dq=&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false ''Viking Rus: Studies on the Presence of Scandinavians in Eastern Europe'']</ref>

===It's a woman's life in the modern Sweden===
Sweden is also often ranked as the country that is the most hospitable to [[women]],<ref>[http://www.marieclaire.com/world-reports/news/international/best-country?click=main_sr The World's Best Country for Women], ''Marie Claire''</ref> despite the bleak imagery of Stieg Larsson's immensely popular {{wpl|Millennium series|Millennium Trilogy|.}}<ref group=note>Its original Swedish title translates as "Men Who Hate Women," and involves a fair amount of characters that do just that.</ref> Among the advantages for women:
*Swedish men do more housework than anywhere else in the world — 24 hours per week.
*Swedish society does not frown on women who are sexually assertive.
*Sweden was the first nation to pass a parental leave law, which now allows up to a one-year leave.
*The [[Lutheranism|Lutheran]] Church in Sweden was one of the first organized religions to permit female priests.
*One-third of all Swedish police officers are women.

What is less known outside Sweden is the country's role as an international hub of [[TERF]] ideology, with the [[Swedish Women's Lobby]] playing a key role in exporting TERF ideology globally via their international arm, [[Women's Platform for Action International]]. Gender studies scholars Karlberg, Korolczuk and Sältenberg argued that the rise of [[anti-gender]] and anti-trans rhetoric in Sweden is part of a broader process of "insidious {{wpl|Democratic backsliding|de-democratization}}," a set of discourses and practices that erode liberal democracy by marginalizing already vulnerable groups.<ref name=Karlberg>Karlberg, E., Korolczuk, E., & Sältenberg, H. (2025). Insidious de-democratization: Conceptualizing anti-gender politics in Sweden. ''Journal of Gender Studies'', 34(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/09589236.2024.2446345</ref>

==So, about that far-right smear campaign...==
{{cquote|What has he been smoking?|||{{wpl|Carl Bildt}}<ref>https://twitter.com/carlbildt/status/833219648044855296</ref> on [[Donald Trump|Trump]]'s false depiction of Sweden<ref>Daniel Marans, [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/donald-trump-sweden-terror-lie_us_58a8f397e4b045cd34c263d3 Donald Trump Appears To Make Up Sweden Terror Attack], ''[[Huffington Post]]''</ref>}}
''[[Alex Jones#Infowars|InfoWars]]'', the [[alt-right]], and [[Donald Trump|Trump]] have all been active in a 10+ year-long attempt to falsely portray Sweden as being somehow "near collapse" or "on the brink".

The [[irony]] being that: actually, [[Alex_Jones|Alex]] and co., Sweden is not exactly doing badly compared to [[Texas]] (or to the US, generally). In fact, Sweden is doing pretty OK compared to just about the entire planet,<ref>https://goodcountry.org/index/overall-rankings</ref><ref>http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2816%2931467-2/fulltext</ref><ref>http://www.thelancet.com/pb/assets/raw/Lancet/infographics/sdg/sdg_w600.jpg</ref> by most metrics no less. You're welcome, Alex.

The fictional Swedish collapse is generally attributed to something like: Sweden being [[White genocide|ravaged by a tsunami]] of [[Eurabia|Middle-Eastern/African]] [[Islamophobia|Islamist rapefugees]], swarming in day and night — by the boatload — on an open invitation from some [[Vague|vaguely defined]] [[Liberal|bleeding heart liberal]]/"[[Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white|anti-racist]]"/[[SJW]] majority.

The highly respected ''{{wpl|Sveriges Radio}}'' (something akin to the ''BBC'' of Sweden) has adressed this phenomenon in short:

*[http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=6624307 'Sweden bashing' peaked during 2015 migration wave]
*[http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=6630452 Police: There are no 'no-go zones' in Sweden]
*[http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=2054&artikel=6631052 Life in one of Sweden's 'particularly vulnerable areas']

Any skeptic who keeps running into these oft-repeated lies should be made aware that, unsurprisingly, the ''InfoWars''/''[[Breitbart]]'' narrative on Sweden is basically [[fake news]] (see [[Operation Swedistan]]).

===No, Sweden is ''not'' the rape capital of Europe===
[[Wingnut]]s commonly point out that Sweden's [[rape]] statistics are the highest in Europe and the second-highest in the world,<ref>[https://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/08/11/swedish-prof-hot-weather-not-rapey-migrants-driving-swedens-place-as-the-rape-capital-of-the-world/amp/?source=images "swedish prof: Hot weather, not rapey migrants driving Sweden's place as the rape capital of the world"] on [[Breitbart]]</ref> and assert that Sweden accepting higher numbers of immigrants is [[Correlation does not imply causation|clearly the cause of this]]. However, the real reason Sweden's rape statistics are so high is because the Swedish police are required to classify all reported rapes, even if later investigation is unable to provide sufficient evidence for prosecution.<ref>https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/crime-sweden-rape-capital-europe/</ref>

Furthermore, a case involving multiple instances of rape count each incidence rather than the single case, so the total number is "bloated" in comparison to other countries. Then factor in that police actually investigate the claims without [[Rape culture|going out of their way to humiliate victims any further]], and a higher percentage of rapes will be reported in the first place. Also, Sweden has a very broad definition of rape and so actions which may not be considered rape in other countries get classified as such, and this legal change happened relatively recently.<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-19592372</ref>

Rape is prosecuted regardless of whether the victim presses charges.<ref>http://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1008713631586</ref>

==Other==
*A Swedish spruce tree has lived at peace for nearly 10,000 years. This spruce is the oldest known tree in the world.<ref group=note>It's actually a clonal tree; the oldest individual tree is still a bristlecone pine in California. If we are counting clonal colonies, there's a 500,000 year old clonal colony of aspen trees in Utah.</ref> It has been alive since before the [[Young Earth creationism|creation of the world]] in 4004 BCE and even survived [[Noah's flood]]!<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7353357.stm Swedes find 'world's oldest tree'], [[BBC]] News</ref>
*[[Fred Phelps]] hated Sweden and claimed [[God]] did too.<ref group=note>But let's be fair. Ask anybody in Sweden about Fred Phelps and they'll say what most Americans would say: "Fred who?"</ref>
*Sweden was the first country to outlaw [[corporal punishment]], spanking and other forms of physical child abuse disguised as child rearing. Depending on your definition of outlawing, this happened in 1957, 1966, or 1979.<ref name="Durrant 1996">{{cite book |last=Durrant |first=Joan E. |editor1=Frehsee, Detlev |display-editors=etal|title=Family Violence Against Children: A Challenge for Society |date=1996 |location=Berlin |publisher=Walter de Gruyter |isbn=978-3-11-014996-8 |page=20 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8IyJkWAAXjkC&q=%22swedish+ban+on+corporal+punishment%22 |chapter=The Swedish Ban on Corporal Punishment: Its History and Effects}}</ref>
*Oh yeah! Sweden also legalized [[same-sex marriage]] in May 2009.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7978495.stm Sweden allows same-sex marriage], [[BBC]] News</ref> Woohoo!!

==See also==
*[[Sweden Democrats]]
*[[Nils Heribert Nilsson]]
*[[Olof Palme]]
*[[Thirty Years War]], the conflict that temporarily turned Sweden into 
a regional power
 an empire.
*[[Notch]]
*[[Greta Thunberg]]

==Externa länkar==
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8_7yPocGPg Swedishness] on [[YouTube]]

==Noter==
{{reflist|group=note|2}}

==Referenser==
{{reflist|2|80%}}
{{nationbox}}

[[Category:European countries]]
[[Category:Member states of the European Union]]
[[Category:NATO member states]]
[[Category:Sweden| ]]

Categories: European countries, Member states of the European Union, NATO member states, Sweden