Scandinavia and the World
Scandinavia and the World

Comments #9282302:


Smalltalk 2 12, 4:33am

I think there is a certain clarification that needs to be made here. Finns don't hate the swedes or Sweden. That relationship is much the same as with any neighbouring countries. We like taking the piss out of each other and people think of the Finland vs. Sweden hockey games the same way the Germans and Dutch think of their football games. I repeat, Finns don't hate or resent the Swedes.

It is the FennoSwedes (who despite their delusions are not considered Swedish by the actual Swedes or anyone else for that matter) who are resented by SOME people and one only needs to look at the comments on this post to see exactly why.

The FennoSwedes, or as they think of themselves the svenskatalande bättrefolk, are one of if not the most privileged minorities in the world. Yet they act as if they are an under appreciated or even oppressed minority. The Swedish speaking minority has never been oppressed or mistreated and have in fact received privileged treatment. All you have to do is point out the disparity between entrance places in institutes of higher education reserved for Swedish speakers compared to the number of native Swedish speakers and the privilege is quite clear. In some institutes this is actually so bad that for example the Swedish speaking Svenska handelshögskolan is treated as a complete joke by all other universities, because they will admit anyone who speaks Swedish no matter how unintelligent. Seriously, even professors of other business schools make fun of them. But of course this is not a privilege, it is called positive discrimination.

Then there is the not so small matter of mandatory Swedish classes in school. This is actually a much bigger issue than many outside Finland understand. Finnish is already a minuscule language not spoken outside Finland, so in the modern world learning other languages is an absolute necessity and the Swedish speaking minority of 5% of the population require all the rest to learn yet another minuscule language, because they can't be a***d to learn the language spoken by over 90% of the population in the country they are living in. In the case of almost everyone, this is an utter waste of time and a distraction from actually useful languages. Please remember that no-one is saying that Swedish shouldn't be taught at all, just that it shouldn't be mandatory. Additionally, the language most kids are taught isn't even actual Swedish but the bastardized version spoken by the FennoSwedes. So this ridiculous policy which exists for the sole purpose of pumping up the already inflated ego of a minority of the minority FennoSwedes is actually harmful to the education of the majority population.

All the rest of the Finns want is equality of opportunity and the freedom to choose which languages to learn. This doesn't seem like a ridiculous demand, but somehow it is seen as threatening the FennoSwedes, who get away with playing the discrimination card, because they are a minority.

I should also point out that most Finns will not bother their head with the privileged position of the FennoSwedes when they don't have to interact with them, but can get quite annoyed when someone is DEMANDING that they should speak Swedish. Actual swedes are always perfectly happy to converse in English with Finns, or gestures if no common language is found.

So, Finns disliking the Swedish language has actually very little to do with the Swedes.