I’ve been dealing with a fairly aggressive Cold Warrior boomer from the US lately. When I counter their red baiting with criticisms of American liberalism, the person insists that they’re not actually a lib, but rather a Nordic-style socdem.

Does anyone guide me to any good communist criticisms of the Scandinavian capitalist states?

Pic possibly unrelated.

  • duderium [he/him]
    ·
    4 years ago

    The point about nordic suicide came in the endless debates I have with my left-lib dad. His point was that if things are so great there, why does anyone kill themselves? There's some data on this here:

    https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/sites/0ef32604-en/index.html?itemId=/content/component/0ef32604-en#:~:text=Latvia%2C%20Slovenia%2C%20Korea%2C%20Lithuania,lowest%20and%20highest%20suicide%20rates.

    I believe I also found that suicide rates in the Soviet Union were actually pretty low until the 1970s, when they started trending upward. Then they of course exploded in places like Russia when the USSR vanished.

    • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
      ·
      4 years ago

      His point was that if things are so great there, why does anyone kill themselves?

      Of course it's because of a comparatively robust welfare system and protections for workers and NOT due to a culture where men are taught to repress their emotions, a Protestant work ethic, the fact that it's dark and miserable for half the year or any number of other reasons! Americans truly have brains made of putty

      🍔s gonna 🍔

    • Barabas [he/him]
      ·
      4 years ago

      One of the points to help is that the Nordics were also similarly known for suicide before welfare policies took effect. Just that it didn't become a popular talking point until the 60's when Anglos started using it as a way to critisize welfare programs and any amount of planned economy, pushed by Dwight Eisenhower and his CIA pals.

      • duderium [he/him]
        ·
        4 years ago

        Interesting. Yeah, I assume (but am not completely sure) that terrible weather must be a factor in any given country's suicide rates. I know that suicide tends to spike in the early spring here in the USA.