Lois & Clark Forums Forums General Discussion Off Topic Laugh! Happy vs. Sad countries

I just found something so contradicting on the internet that I had to laugh. Both of these articles were listed as linked info and both were from Business Week. I hope some of you will get a laugh out of this!

Some of the happiest countries in the world and these are their rankings:

# 1 Denmark
# 6 Finland
# 7 Sweden
# 10 Canada
# 11 Ireland

These are some of the gloomiest countries in the world and these are the rankings:

# 8 Ireland
# 12 Sweden
# 13 Finland
# 17 Denmark
# 26 Canada


Something seems a bit off, eh?

manic/depressive I'm thinking

or maybe just Dickensian: "They were the best of times, they were worst of times"

or myabe just indecisive

or maybe .....

c

Interesting, isn't it? How can some countries be among the happiest and the gloomiest at the same time?

Since I live in Sweden, very close to Denmark, I'd like to say something about both these countries. But first of all it's no surprise to me that Denmark, Finland, Sweden and Canada are among the happiest nations. These countries are well-established welfare nations, where the largest percentage of the population have a good chance of living decent lives, without the many problems that follow from poverty. As for Ireland, that country made a meteoric rise in welfare and general standard of living thanks to the European Union. However, Ireland has been hard hit during the recent economic crisis.

Back to Denmark. Why are they so happy? I think it has a lot to do with the fact that they are so unashamedly patriotic. In Sweden, it is considered either vulgar or downright racist to demonstrate too much patriotism, particularly if it involves flag-waving and the celebration of things that are considered peculiarly Swedish. (All right, it is allowed to like the most beloved Swedish holidays, like Christmas Eve and Midsummer Eve.)

Danes never apologize for their patriotism:





Danes are also extremely royalist. I think they claim that the royal family in Denmark is the oldest unbroken royal bloodline anywhere in the world, dating back to a king called Gorm the Old from 899 AD. This is a very royalist page that I found on the internet:

Kongeriget Danmark (The Kingdom of Denmark)

When the Danish Crown Prince Frederik got married two years ago or so, the Danes went almost crazy with happiness. You can't believe the celebration. It was next to impossible to find anything on Danish television that didn't have anything to do with the wedding. And the Danes were as disappointed as they were bemused by the fact that no tsunami of tourists descended on their country to see their royal festivities.



The Danes are also extremely proud of their national history. At times they were a very powerful and dominant people in Europe. In the tenth century they conquered much of England, which they called Danelaw:



These are a pair of splendid golden horns, found in Denmark and dating back to the fifth century AD:



As I watch the news on Danish television, I can't help noticing how differently they present the news compared with Swedish television. They do their very best to be upbeat and to say something to flatter their own country. For example, during the recent economic crisis Swedish news has been full of gloom and doom. Not so the Danish news. The Danes will find and make much of the few companies or sectors that did well during this particular day, no matter the overall gloominess. They will look for a way to give themselves a smile!



Ann

So if the Danes are so happy, why would they be so gloomy? I think the reason is that they are afraid of strangers, particularly of Muslims. Typically, when you listen to Danish news, they will tell you that an Arab man or an immigrant youth has robbed a grocery story or mugged an old lady in the street. Swedish news will never say that. In Sweden, TV and radio will report that a grocery store was robbed or that an old lady was mugged, but they will never say that the perpetrator was an immigrant.

Anyway, the fact that Danish news keeps reporting that immigrants and Arabs commit all sorts of crimes against the Danish society means that many Danes feel threatened and scared. Because of that, Danes hit back against the Muslim world in ways which sometimes backfire rather badly. One example was the Mohammed cartoons, which were published in a Danish newspaper and which led to violent protests in large parts of the Arab world:



Ann

Why are Swedes less happy and more gloomy than Danes? I think that has a lot have to do with the ways that Swedish media keep telling us Swedes that we are racist and that we have a lot to be ashamed of. And because we should be ashamed, we are not allowed to do a lot of flag-waving and celebrating of ourselves.

Sweden is probably the Western country that has accepted the largest number of immigrants and refugees, certainly in relation to its population. There are nine million Swedes. Well, the Iraq war generated huge numbers of Iraqi refugees, as millions fled from war and violence. Sweden accepted about 200,000 of those Iraqi refugees. That's a lot. As far as I know, the United States has accepted about a thousand Iraqis. Finland, one of our neighbouring countries in Scandinavia, has accepted about 500. I don't know how many have been allowed to come to Denmark, but I'm not entirely sure that Denmark has accepted any Iraqis at all.

Is Sweden going to send back many or most of those 200,000 Iraqis now that the war there is almost over? No. Refugees who come to Sweden are routinely granted Swedish citizenship after a few years, provided they have not committed any serious crimes here. And as soon as they have been granted citizenship, they can't be sent back.

Many immigrants who come to Sweden do rather badly. They don't learn Swedish and they don't get jobs. Many become criminals. Swedish media tells us that our immigrants are doing so badly in our country because we are so racist and treat them so badly. It is taboo to say that it might be the immigrants' own fault, so it must be our fault. No wonder we have reason to be ashamed.

This is a typical Swedish newspaper article telling us how racist we are. The article describes the difficulties that Arab and African immigrants encounter in Sweden. The author, Maciej Zaremba, himself an immigrant, starts off by telling us that he is ashamed of being Swedish. As you can see the article is rather long, and it is just the first part of a whole series of articles on the same theme by Maciej Zaremba. The articles are published in Sweden's biggest and most influential daily newspaper, Dagens Nyheter.

I guess that is why Swedes are gloomy.

Ann

Well, the data collected seems to have been taken from a different group in each case, so it's probably hardly surprising that they reach different conclusions. As with all of these types of polls, it very much depends on who you ask.

LabRat

Ann, I had to grin at your description of Swedes. Replace it with Germans, and you have an accurate account of our populace. Although I would have expected to see Germany within the top 10 of the gloomiest countries, considering we (Germans) get told by the media that we are notorious whiners. But, surprise, we're ranked 23rd. Guess they didn't ask any Germans...

Another factor why Germany should be considered gloomy is the way families with young children or children in general are treated. If a little child that is just being potty trained has to relieve his bladder behind a bush, people will complain. If a dog leaves some smelly matter behind, nobody complains. If children are noisy, people here will complain. If a dog barks, they won't - unless the dog does so incessantly and at night. If a dog with dirty feet sits on a seat in the bus, nobody will say anything but maybe how cute it is. If a child has his way cleaner shoes on such a seat, people will look at the mother sideways (or complain). Really, it's sad. By now, many landlords prefer to rent their apartments or houses to people with dogs rather than to families with little children. I'm just waiting for the day when the first shops will have this "We have to stay outside" sign not with dogs on it, but with little children.

Well, Mellie, the idea that children aren't allowed in certain places may be why the US passed a law many years ago (30, maybe?) stating that a landlord can no longer refuse housing to someone with a child. I'm sure there are some exceptions to that rule such as private college housing. I guess if someone pushed it though, the landlord would have to let children in there, too.

And, the people who did the gloomy / happy studies used different criteria, but to me, it was pretty funny to me that they were virtually listed as 'sister' articles.

Well, it's not usually that obvious. Either the apartment is "already taken" when a family comes looking, or the landlord will gently point out that your neighbor works shifts or something similar.

Lara, that's fascinating about the children. Especially the contrast with what's acceptable for dogs. Though I have to say, if I saw a child peeing behind a bush, I'd be kind of appalled, too It's just not *done* here, you see.

OTOH, I heard from someone who left America to live in Russia that there, if the kid needs to relieve himself, he won't even bother finding a bush!

Still, a group that discourages children is one that's going to fade away over time. I've heard that kids are increasingly rare in Europe; there are going to be some big changes over the next few decades as the natives become the minority.

Ann, fascinating insights on Sweden and Denmark. I had no idea that the Danes still had royalty, let alone one that can trace its lineage back a thousand years. That's pretty cool. Wonder if they really hate Hamlet? I could get into a discussion about the immigrants issue but I'll give it a pass this time.

Fun fact: Legos are from Denmark.

PJ

Hah! No, they are so very proud that the most famous play in the world has a Danish protagonist and takes place in Denmark, of course! I don't know if they strictly like Hamlet as a person, but they sure like the play! (Okay, I guess they don't like that famous quote from Hamlet, Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.) But I myself have seen Hamlet performed at the Kronborg Castle in Elsinore, Denmark, by the Royal Shakespeare Company from Great Britain.



Kronborg Castle, Elsinore, Denmark. This is where Hamlet supposedly lived when he was Prince of Denmark.

(Admittedly it is a bit hard to recognize the Elsinore that Shakespeare described when you look at the real thing. Shakespeare talked about mountains around Elsinore. Take it from me, don't go to Denmark if you are looking for mountains!)

Ann

Can't help telling you another little tidbit about Denmark. Denmark's flag is the oldest existing national flag in the world. According to legend, the flag fell from the sky during the battle of Lyndanisse in Estonia in 1219 AD. Danish troops had come to Estonia to christen the heathen Estonians, and the Danes had brought their archbishop with them, Andreas Sunesson. To us in Sweden, Andreas Sunesson is sort-of Swedish, because he was archbishop at the cathedral in Lund, and Lund now belongs to Sweden!

According to the legend, Andreas Sunesson lifted his arms to heavens in prayer as the Danes fought the Estonians. After a while, though, Andreas Sunesson got tired and could no longer hold his arms heavenward. As soon as his arms sank down, the Danes started losing! But some other Danes helped the archbishop to lift up his arms again, and the Danes were victorious. Eventually the Danish flag fell from heaven, and Andreas Sunesson captured it! Now Denmark had its flag!



The Danish flag falls from heaven. You can see the Archbishop, Andreas Sunesson, to the right.

The flag that Andreas Sunesson received from heaven is still kept in the cathedral in Lund. Indeed, as I was taking part in a guided tour of the cathedral of Lund last summer, I was actually shown the Danish flag from heaven! Is the flag the real deal? Your guess is as good as mine!



The cathedral in Lund, now in Sweden.

Ann