Two weeks ago, I delivered a speech to the Identitarian Ideas IX conference in Stockholm. While I didn’t get to explore the city as much as I would have liked (I was only there for two days, and I was busy with conference business), I got to see a decent cross-section of Stockholm and of Swedish culture.
Here are my observations on what I saw.
1. The reports of Sweden’s death are greatly exaggerated…
According to the alt-right and the New Right, Sweden is one Hajj stampede away from becoming Arabia North. There are no-go zones! It’s the rape capital of Europe! The Swedes are permanently cucked! And while I’m not disputing that the Swedes are in deep shit with regards to cultural Marxism, the place isn’t about to collapse into total anarchy.
While there are a lot of Africans and other ethnic minorities in Stockholm, on the whole, the place is far whiter and more homogenous than any major city in the U.S. Buses and trains arrive on time, businesses are efficiently run, and you can walk down the street in any decent neighborhood without getting murdered, mugged or even given the stink-eye. While I didn’t go traipsing around any “no-go zones,” even that term is overblown: they’re basically just ghettos, and my Swedish friends tell me they’re no more dangerous than the South Side of Chicago or any black neighborhood in the U.S.
Why nobody uses the term “ghetto” in Europe is beyond me: maybe because it’s too American?
2. …but the Swedes need to get it together soon.
At the same time, the seeds of Sweden’s destruction have been planted and are sprouting stalks from the Earth. While there are fewer blacks and Muslims in Stockholm than in the U.S., the ones that are there are not even close to assimilating into Swedish culture. Ethnic minorities in Stockholm have a barely disguised contempt for native Swedes, pushing them around and taking advantage of them.
Moreover, the Swedes themselves are in the grip of anomie.
The average Swede walks around with an air of defeat that’s depressing to watch, like a man who’s been tied up by home invaders and forced to watch his wife get repeatedly gang-raped. American fast-food and coffee franchises have taken over Stockholm: there are 7-Elevens on every block, and Norrmalm (the central business district) has more fast food outlets per square inch then any American city I’ve been to. At night, the streets are littered with cigarette butts, and metro stations are absolutely disgusting, with discarded McDonald’s wrappers and soda cans strewn everywhere, because the Swedes are too drunk to throw them in the trash cans.
3. Swedes are eerily conformist.
Probably the biggest shock to an American (or anyone from an individualistic culture) is how group-oriented and consensus-seeking the Swedes are. Swedes don’t like to rock the boat with controversial opinions, so they keep their heads down and try to avoid sticking out for any reason. This is likely how the country moved so leftward so quickly: right-wing Swedes avoid expressing their opinions out of fear of being socially ostracized (or formally persecuted for “hate speech”). Roosh wrote about a similar phenomenon in Denmark called “Jante Law,” which values social conformity above all else.
The flip side of this is that Swedes are more culturally conservative than Americans in many ways. As an expat friend of mine described it to me, Swedes typically have tight-knit social circles with friends they’ve known since high school or earlier, and they also stay close to their families. Additionally, the conformist nature of Sweden means that if the country ever becomes nationalist, it’ll happen overnight, with many former leftists and feminists singing the praises of patriarchy and white identity.
4. Socialism is killing the Swedish spirit.
Stockholm is the most expensive city I’ve ever visited, and Swedes have no clue how badly they’re getting ripped off on everything. For example, a regular bottle of water at a 7-Eleven costs about $3 (24 kr). A one-way ticket on the Tunnelbana (Stockholm’s metro/subway system) is a hair shy of $5, roughly four times the price of the Budapest Metro (and three times the price of the New York City Subway) without providing anything close to four times the quality of service. A beer at a bar is around $10.
Also, unlike the U.S., where prices are cheaper in smaller cities and rural areas, the Swedes I met told me that prices are the same everywhere in the country.
The oh-so-wonderful Swedish welfare state that leftists love requires the government to tax away two-thirds of everyone’s income to sustain itself. As a result, economic, scientific and artistic progress in the country has ground to a halt, because there’s little to no motivation for individuals to rise above the crowd and innovate. Socialism has also contributed to Swedish anomie, by making people weak and paving the way for Muslims and Africans to take over.
While American alt-righters claim that “economics don’t matter” or that “white people can make socialism work,” the Swedish right-wingers I met weren’t having any of it. Living under a social democracy, where the bulk of your income is confiscated so the government can give it to foreigners, has a way of making you appreciate the merits of capitalism and a free market. A society needs an economic system that rewards thrift and innovation in order to remain intact, and Sweden’s economic model is a major contributor to its current woes.
5. Swedish women are not that good-looking.
The myth of the hot Nordic blonde is just that: a myth. While Swedish girls are on average more attractive and skinnier than American ones, that’s saying very little. The country is slouching towards American levels of obesity, thanks to the Swedes’ love of McDonald’s and other American fast food franchises: many girls I saw were starting to pack on the pounds. Additionally, Sweden’s feminist culture means that a disproportionate number of women ruin their looks with dead parrot haircuts, cotton candy hair dye, gaudy tattoos, shapeless hipster clothes, or some horrifying combination thereof.
You’ll find more “hot Nordic blondes” on a random street in Budapest then you will anywhere in Stockholm.
Overall, while Stockholm was interesting—and I wish I had been able to spend more time there—I’m glad I don’t live in Sweden. It’s not as bad as the media depicts it, but it’s nothing admirable either.
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