The racist-closet has been opened…

I am in chock about what I hear Swedes write about Sweden and what should be done differently over here these days. People say insane things like ‘we should not give money to foreign nations and areas of disaster, we should spend that money on Swedes instead’. Oh my God, does people even stop to think about what they say?

We’re so spoiled here in Sweden, we don’t stop to think about just how good our lives are. People complain about the politicians over here not caring about the needs of this nation. That’s pure bullshit; we’re so well off, we shouldn’t even compare our petty problems to nations and areas which really need our help.

Sure there are things we can improve, there’s always room for improvment in any country. But to make those improvments at the cost of our donations to other countries is nothing short of insane.

It feels like an incredible amount of people in Sweden just came out of the racist-closet. That’s scary. Racism freaks me out in a big way, it’s a very scary thing and for the first time in many many years, I fear for what might happen here. People seem to have lost their minds. Lost their empathy and their humanity as well.

Sweden has the opportunity to give financial support to other nations and that’s something to be proud of. We also have the opportunity to help people by giving them a new home here in Sweden and that too is something to be proud of and make sure it never changes.

My hope is that people start analyzing their thoughts in a critical way. It’s not ok to treat people like shit because they aren’t just like you. It’s not ok to think you’re better than someone else just because your family has been here in Sweden longer.

Racism is like cancer and you’d have to be pretty stupid to vote for cancer to rule politics…

When intelligence is thrown out the window…

So… The racist party got over 5% of the votes in the Swedish election. As a party needs 4% to be in the riksdag, they are officially in. Luckily they are as unprepared as they are hidious in their views on imigration and hopefully they wont be able to get any of their suggestions through. No other party wants anything to do with them and alone they can’t do much. I’ve looked at interviews posted on YouTube with some of these people and honistly, one would think they would know what is in the party’s interests. Their official main topic is to preserve Swedish culture. (We all know that’s bullshit and they seriously just want to promote racist ideas.) But what these idiots say in the interviews is hilarious! They want to preserve Swedish culture, then go on saying the culture they want to preserve is Christmas. I didn’t know that was a Swedish phenomenon… I’d like to add: How would imigrants be a threat to Christmas? I’ve never ever heard someone say that Christmas should be thrown out the window.

What I have heard someone say, is that people of different religious views should be able to have their seasonal holidays accordingly. And in every angle of that statement, it is a positive thing. If everybody want the same few days off from work, it creates a problem. If people want different days off, it makes it easier on the companies, on the individuals (as they are more likely to get the vacation granted as they wish) and also gives people the freedom to celebrate according to their culture and/or religion.

They go on saying they want to preserve historical artifacts ‘forntidsminnen’. That means the old stones the Vikings rose, with messages carved in to them. Let me ask you this: When was the last time you saw someone do damage to one of these stones as an imigrational protest? You might see the random case of graffiti on them, but that’s nothing you can blame people for in a matter of throwing someone out of Sweden for doing it… if it was an imigrant. I bet it was a Swede.

It’s hard to take people seriously when they don’t give a fuck about what they’re doing. The people they use as politicians are ex-criminal, low intelligence guys who can’t tell their left foot from their right. These next 4 years of politics in Sweden will be interesting indeed. And I’m glad on the behalf of the comedians of Sweden too, they will have so much easy material!

I care

Ok, it’s time for politics. It’s election time here in Sweden and I find it hard to see much good in any of what they are saying. It’s seven parties currently taking the main stage, so to say, and a few small ones trying to get in. I’m tired of it all long before it’s time to vote, since I barely agree with any of them. And the ones I feel slightly alike are far from each other, making me feel unease voting for any of them.

So I have to focus on what is most important not just for me, not just for Sweden, but what will be the best for as many as possible. That excludes all of the parties, unfortunatly. None of them are THAT good. I care for many things. And I don’t want my care and love to be thrown out the window as soon as I cast my vote.

I care about healthcare where you as an individual don’t have to fear financial collapse when being sick or in need of longterm care. I care about making it easy for smaller companies to make it on their own. I care about schools in all age-ranges to be given the financial support they need to provide good teachers, good material and good surroundings for the pupils to feel inspired to learn. I care about making public transportation better, more enviromently friendly and less expensive. I care about providing better care for our elderly, giving them more time with the people who aid them and giving them more options to how they want to spend their ‘golden years’. I care about there being more jobs. I care about making it easier to integrate to Sweden, especially when it comes to getting a job. I care about reducing toxins put out by industries. I care about protecting wildlife. I care about highspeed trains. I care about recycling. I care about lowering taxes for all individuals, especially in low-income families. I care about reducing the number of people in the military. I care about creating more jobs for young people and people with lower education.

I’m sure I forgot many many things that I care about, but the main fact is: There is no political party in Sweden that agrees with me on enough subjects for me to feel comfortable giving them my support. But I’ve made up my mind. I thought that I’d pick the one topic that is most important to me and just go with it. And for me the one thing that I care most for, the one issue that I can not overlook, that is more important then any other, is as simple as it is overlooked by most political parties: the enviroment. The planet, the rainforests, the wellbeing of this little planet of ours.

So I vote (mp), which is the only ‘green’ party in Sweden. They don’t agree with me on even close to alot, but at least they care for the fucking planet. We can fight over large and small topics all we want, but as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t matter much if we’re killing the planet we’re so obviously 100% dependant on.

I have stayed away from alot of the political talks in the media, but one person who’s thoughts I respect when it comes to Swedish politics and his opinions (although I don’t agree on everything he says) is Magnus Betnér. He’s a stand up comedian who somehow seems to have more politically thought out opinions than most politicians. Somehow he creates a debate few politicians dare to do, he talks about the uncomfortable topics and runs with them all the way to the end. I respect that and I love finaly seeing someone who speaks up, answers honistly and gives a shit. Even if I don’t always agree. He’d have my vote if he’d ever run for anything in politics. For sure.

Magnus Betnér

Photographer: Mats Bäcker

Shopping & Gävle

Times are good, I must say. I get myself closer to where I want to be all the time and it feels so good. There are still much to work on, but that’s fine.

Today the plan is to do some light shopping. I have been strict about shopping for so long, I feel I need to do it again before I forget how to. But what to get? That’s the question :) And not wanting to spend a fortune makes it a challange. Perhaps I’ll go for a pair of pants and shoes. Perhaps not. Ah, what a silly problem to share… forgive me :)

Looking forward to October, when I’ll be spending the whole month in Gävle, babysitting my sister & girlfriend’s cats. And the rabbit, of course. I haven’t been spending any time on my own in Gävle for years and I look forward to long walks, playing with the cats, working and seeing people. Yeah, it’ll be a great month! The problem is just to know what to pack. I don’t really wanna go back and forth, so I will be doing some serious lists I think. Otherwise I’ll forget something important and end up being frustrated, haha. Good times ahead!

Rain

It’s the middle of the night, I’m up as usual and it’s raining outside. Time moves slowly in the nights, making it easier to get lots done. The rain both sets a calm and romantic background sound, but at the same time it brings down the level of love of autumn… Not fun.

 

I’ve been very creative these last few days, making things on the computor, working on the books, taking lots of pictures and so on. Wonderful.

The great outdoors

There are some places in the world I just HAVE to visit to feel I've lived my life as I please. I love taking walks (don't we all?) and some day it would be fun to get a little more out of it... Just look at the bench cut out right out of the mountain, perfect when you wanna stop and take some photos (or to stand on when the wood goes up in flames, or breaks...)
I'd love to walk there, no safety and nothing but a chain to hold on to... What a walk!

On the pics I see something that worries me... the path comes to an abrupt end! Ouch, hope one keeps an eye of where they're going.

An autumn leap

Autumn is officially here :) Leafs are turning color, the air feels even more fresh and I'm writing a lot. It's great, whatever block I had is gone, the writing is once again smooth and painless. I wish I could say the same about my throat, but it seems I'm well on the way of getting sick. So far the only symptom I have is a swollen throat... It hurts to swallow and right now I'm just happy it's not worse.

In less than a month, I'm going to babysit my sister's two cats and a rabbit. Looking forward to it a great bunch! Spending my days playing with animals and writing on the book seems like a dream. And it'll be nice to get out of Stockholm for a while. I'll be there for about a month and it's just what I need. A break from what is, a leap into something different.