Comments on: Are Swedes really that horrible ?

By: Pauley

Pauley — Mon, 07 May 2012 07:39:52 +0000

You’ll notice the majority of people defending Sweden are Swedes, which is fair enough, it’s their homeland, and then those who have just visisited or just move here.

After living here for a few years you will see all the shit people are complaining about here, rude, cold, soulless people who are always boasting about their shitty backward country

By: fish776

fish776 — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 05:20:49 +0000

I’m American–living in Sweden for several years. Sweden in beautiful and magical. Stop being obsessed with America, you guys…it is creepy and besides, Sweden is waaay nicer. Consider yourselves lucky.

I agree with many gripes said here about Swedes. Most things are a matter of perception and opinion–but some are just plain truth…like spit on the ground. There IS a ton of spit on the ground and it’s gross. Spit on the grass, damn. That crap evaporates and spreads airborn germs…and while we’re on the subject–please cover your mouths when you cough/sneeze too! Teach your billions of little kids to cough into their elbows. I don’t want your perpetual cold–no spank you. Not everyone can go to the DR for every little thing and take paid sick days to be spent at home watching futbol..LOL.

Whoever said that bit about people not stopping to either intervene or help out in drastic public situations was right. God forbid human interaction is required, lol. I have been appalled on many, many occasions by this, myself. If an old person needs help–HELP THEM! lol…it is your duty as a young person to at least offer…dang. You are lucky to be young and strong. If a kid is getting picked on and smacked around by much older kids…speak the hell up and help that child!! I don’t give a damn if it is your kid or not…it is your responsibility as an adult to watch over the children of your community and protect their rights to safety and fair treatment. Many Swedes DO just walk right on by with their eyes averted…la la la…pretending to see/hear nothing when they should be speaking up. It’s totally strange and I dare say–seemingly pathetic. I say *many* because I don’t know ALL Swedes…not because I have actually seen a single one intervene in these kind of situations–I have not.

A very mild example–in a line for the toilet on an SAS flight bound for Copenhagen. So it is my turn pretty soon (most likely as the line is a bit scattered due to lack of proper line forming room) I notice several VERY old people in front of me…a couple of which were literally SWEATING and bright red and panicked looking. Do you think ONE other person noticed this and let them go first? NO CHANCE. They shoved past the old people and took their turn as the more aggressive and in the name of divided lines (they *were* before them). There were kids under 5 bouncing around holding their crotches too. Did anyone let the babies go first? NO. I’m thinking…ummm…um, ok…what the hell?? Is this for real? Old people and babies can’t hold it as good as you bastards! Duuuh…So my turn came and I systematically allowed each and every old person and kid to go before me…though I had to pee badly, too. I soon caught on that the either socially inept or far too polite Scandinavians behind me weren’t going to say a damn thing about it…LOL…suckers. They could go around me to one of the other 6 toilets…and they did (mostly after I’d point them in that direction)…but this toilet right here…that was MINE…haha…and so I abused my powers of first in line for about 15 minutes. I went with the natural arrogance of my American upbringing and just went with it. It was awesome you guys. At 20 years old I thought…holy shit…check it out…No one is speaking up against me…I’m literally deciding when they can use the toilet…my power is unchallenged and supreme…I will reign just and fair…I bet I’ll totally be like…king (I’m female but who cares) of Scandinavia in like…a week. LMAO.

In a nutshell–your social skills are for shit. Don’t take my constructive criticism as just complaining about you all…I am a nice and tolerant person who is certainly not without many faults of my own…I am doing you a favor by suggesting you focus your energies more on teaching your future generations more well balanced social skills. I am a borderline introvert and, as an American, I’m all of a sudden the most outspoken person around in Swedish situations. It sucks…I don’t want to be…I want to mind my own business in a country that is not my own…quietly learn your ways and how to show that I want to respect them…but if you don’t speak the hell up in your own country when any decent person simply MUST…well…I’m not going to bed that night feeling like a coward just because taking a stand probably made me look like a loud, stupid American. How can this be avoided, anyway?

When all is said and done–this is not my country and I don’t expect it to be. If I want to feel like I am in my own country–I will go home. I’m still here.

By: trisha bracken

trisha bracken — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 14:58:10 +0000

hi have been reading all d comments, oh by d way im Irish.

only ever had d opportunity 2 visit Sweden once, Gottenburg i found ppls 2 be nice helpful, polite, i am outgoing friendly though
reserved at d same time.it was a nice experience, every countrys culture is different and when we visit we must respect, it would be a very boring world if we were all d same. oh by d way i am very proud to say that im of nordic ancestry. love 2 sweden. trica xxx

By: Estelliane

Estelliane — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 20:57:14 +0000

I have found the Swedes very friendly. I have not (yet) experienced anyone being rude to be in Stockholm. :-)

I work remotely with a Swedish from Göteborg and she has even put me in touch with one of her colleagues in Stockholm as I am in the quest to move to Sweden :D

By: Linnéa

Linnéa — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 21:02:43 +0000

I think the people that write these things just are plain morons. Even though they might have met some Swedes that are really rude doesn’t give them the right to judge us all. :P I wouldn’t know anything about the spitting though, I’ve only been to Stockholm once and can’t say I really remember anything. ;)
Maybe you just have to get to know us, and we’ll be more open :3

By: Katarina

Katarina — Sat, 25 Feb 2012 20:45:55 +0000

why does this people take it so obvious that swedes are so mean? doesn’t that make them mean to say that?

By: Gregory

Gregory — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:34:34 +0000

I am not swedish but I live in Malmö. All I can say is that Sweden is an almost perfect country. A few years ago, before the things that have happened lately with muslims especially here in Malmö, the swedish society was voted as the best society in the world. And yeah, it’s just perfect. You don’t get hated here like in other places of the world (like the US for instance) if you wear something that is not really common or if you do something that is rather uncommon. People here are very open minded (especially swedish, but immigrants too, I am in good terms with everybody, wether he/she is a christian, atheist, muslim, jewish and so on). The only thing that makes it being “almost perfect” and not perfect is that everything is so expensive here. A bread here is about 6 to 10 times more expensive than in my home country. But if you manage to work here, then you’ll get a good income too.

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 15:09:56 +0000

If you talk to a group of Swedes and tell them you’re from another country, they will most likely be nice to you. Unless you’re a complete asshole.
My experience is that some Swedes are very nice and friendly, and some are not. Just like everything else.
I’ve been in Sweden four times and I think it is a very beautiful country with a lot of beautiful girls and handsome boys. (yes I’m bi, do not judge me)

By: Sapphire

Sapphire — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:50:12 +0000

@Louise – Sorry dear, I haven’t read your whole response yet but regarding your question about minor vs minority, it is minority. I fixed it for you.

I do like the winter in Sweden :)

By: Louise

Louise — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:36:05 +0000

Hej!
I’m a swede, and it’s true that we are kind of stiff and “boring” people – IN OTHERS EYES.
when we say jokes, we say it with a straight face, which makes the whole joke only silly.
I – personally- don’t like obvious jokes like :
- two tomatoes walked over a road…etc. they are just no fun i look like this everytime i hear those : <:|
every country have their own sense of humour, and in sweden, the humour tends to be sarcasm, ironic and not so obvious jokes. we like it that way, and if you've gotten aquantainced with some swedes you should know that. everyone of you "haters" only appears blind to me.
I am a swede, and I ALWAYS say SORRY or FORGIVE ME if i bump into a person! every person I know (swedish friends) do that too.
if you're living with a swede and they tend to be sloppy and disgusting, they probably feel comfortable around you. and that they feel that you don't judge.
and that our country is cold- is not something that the swedish population can do anything about. let me tell you, we scandinavian countrys are famous for actually having seasons. when it's winter we can have -25C. (some winters, also this one didn't have any snow at all :/)
when it's spring, the snow melt and the trees gets flower buds, and such stuff. it's full of colour.
when it's summer we can have really hot ones (atleast in my eyes) the last summers It's been like 25-35 C!
and in autumn, the trees gets naked.

Swedes can appear stuck up and have that aura "i'm too good for you" but it's almost always girls in their puberty :/ they have a lot of make-up on and look arrogant. as a girl who don't wear make-up, they can even appear scary and judging to me :(
but I've been told that it's never like that! (okay, assholes exists in every country, and i've come across some here too but whatever)
I finally got to talk to this girl that always seemed to bitchstare me, and she was amazingly nice 8| we became friends, and one day I told her that I didn't like her so much before, and I was scared of her since it seemed like she didn't like me and she was like "WHAT? what are you talking about? I only stared at you because I liked your clothes.."

I am a pretty big observer too, and I somehow likes to guess the reason for people's actions…
so I would like to start to say sorry to every foreigner that have felt like they've been ignored and hated on.
because, swedes often avoids contact with people – especially foreigners. that's because foreigners (not all) can be loud and noisy. and if we're dealing with some stubborn ones they can start calling random people on the street racist. I saw foreigners treat swedes badly on a train once. it was horrible. it was a group of guys that walked up to two swedish guys, mocking them and started an unreasonable fight. they screamed "Svennejävlar" (kind of like swedish swines) to them, and started to kick them on the ground and abusing them. I was alone, so the only thing I could do was to call the police… it was so scary, and I was only 13 at the time. since then I've always been a little scared of foreigners, since they often seem like they are looking down on us…

there's a lot of nice foreigners too, but what I want to say is that we are only afraid of people, we are scared to not be enough. we don't want to hurt the other person (also why we act kind of cold, if we do that we can't accidentally hurt someone) And I've had a lot of bad experience with people's worts sides too. being bullied, my friends have treated me badly and done many hurtful things to me ( that's past though) but right now I'm on good terms with them :)

HAHA and a funny thing my brother experienced:
he was just walking down the street, minding his own business and then he passed by some foreigners and suddenly one of them turned around and yelled "CARROT HEAD" to him! he was like "haha, funny fella" he's a ginger for your information.

and if you're going somewhere for the first time… if you're looking for nice views, you can go to Stockholm, but the people there are rich and yes, they act kind of stuck-up.
if you're looking for nice people, you should go to smaller cities. they are friendlier, northern sweden have funny fellas! they accent is so weird XD

Sincerely
A 15 year old friend from Sweden.

P.S I don't know about other people, but I always say thank you when i receive something. doesn't matter what! And okay, i'm sorry if many appears dry and racist, but personal experience can be a reason for that, and i'm sorry that some of us don't want more refugees here. but seriously, even I wouldn't want my people to be a minority in my own nation. is that so weird?