A Nordic nation’s fragile liberalism (written in Sweden, Sep 2022)
Three years in Sweden. From the midnight sun to midday darkness. From being taught racist stories at my Swedish school to being told by my teacher "You don't know how to read a book," and to encounters with "Go back to where you came from!" From my late-pregnancy deportation to my mother-in-law being denied a tourist visa, and to my baby being refused a residence permit. From the absence of covid measures to, finally, this election result.
Here are my two cents on Sweden.
- Cent #1 is about Sweden's liberalism and their privilege.
How Swedes are inundated with liberal values from birth reminds me of how citizens of some authoritarian regimes are conditioned. What I mean is that most Swedes take liberalism as given and have not had the chance to reflect on it, a curse of their easy life in this near-perfect society.
Such "birth values" are fragile. They're much more fragile than any values people adopt through diverse experience and reasoning. The upshot is that unexpected events easily throw Swedes off balance, and human nature takes over (e.g., our instinctive fear of difference, which isn't all that liberal).
With the publication of my newspaper article criticising the covid response here, many Swedes took me to be a Chinese government agent conspiring to take down democracy. Some commented that a person like me, who learnt Swedish so well so fast, couldn't be real. Nope, they can't wrap their supposedly liberal heads around my existence. And I'm flattered, thank you very much.
- Cent #2 is about the Law of Jante and still about Swedes' privilege.
For those who don't know, the Law of Jante is a social norm and mentality in Scandinavia asking us to conform, hide personal success, and actually believe we won't amount to anything. Many say it's a thing of the past, but not in my experience.
At a language cafe once, a volunteer who's supposed to help me improve my Swedish gave me a look that said "show off" and avoided talking to me ever since I mentioned meeting Stephen Hawking. Many Swedes, oblivious to Zlatan Ibrahimović's underprivileged background, criticise his arrogance for the same reason.
There is a Swedish term called kompetensutvisning ("competence deportation"). What does the existence of such a term tell you about this country? To give a specific example, here a researcher's visa, compared with a general working visa, entitles one to fewer rights.
All this reminds us that Sweden is a homogenous society (the idea that a diverse country like the US can import the Swedish system is quite ridiculous). The Law of Jante is easy to live by only if you "aspire" to keep living your already privileged life, as Swedes do. If you had to share one toilet with your neighbours as I did in my childhood in China, then you must believe in yourself a tad more (and work insanely hard) to get to the point of meeting Stephen Hawking.
Without living through real sh*t, how much can you really understand? How well can you really evaluate your "birth values"? This society isn't all that tolerant at its core, its liberalism shockingly fragile.
Good luck now, Sweden, with your new government. And hej då.
