Sweden Tomfoolery

POST-MODERN/ENLIGHTENMENT SWEDE: NO SUCH THING AS ‘SWEDISH VALUES’…….

It’s easy to say when you hate the nation state.

Yeah, values are time related, it’s just that there are plenty of cultures which want to remain in the dark ages, or never even approached that period.

“If anything is Swedish it’s alcoholism.”

Hans Rosling: ‘No such thing as Swedish values’

Hans Rosling: ‘No such thing as Swedish values’

Hans Rosling combats global ignorance by bringing data to life. Photo: Jörgen Hildebrandt/Gapminder

Published: 13 May 2015 09:06 GMT+02:00

Hans Rosling, Sweden’s own globetrotting celebrity statistician, offers his thoughts on ignorance, connectivity and why there’s no such thing as Swedish values.

[…]

Discussions of what constitutes “Swedishness”, therefore, leave Rosling uneasy.

“We don’t live in Sweden. Tiden är vårt hem. Time is our home,” he proclaims, citing the title of a 1991 play by Swedish playwright Lars Norén.

“We live in this time. Time is more important than place. Our values are not place-based, they are time-based.”

While values like equality, tolerance, and transparency may often be associated with Sweden’s reputation abroad, Rosling argues such values aren’t actually Swedish.

“There is no such thing as Swedish values. Those are modern values,” he says.

More here.

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