Sorry, liberals, Scandinavian countries aren't utopias
Citation (APA): Booth, M. (2015). Sorry, liberals, Scandinavian countries aren't utopias [Kindle Android version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com
Parte introduttiva
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Sorry, liberals, Scandinavian countries aren't utopias By Michael Booth
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Look to Denmark, the country that routinely leads the world in happiness surveys. It’s also notable for having the highest taxes on Earth, plus a comfy social safety net: Child care is mostly free, as is public school and even private school, and you can stay on unemployment benefits for a long time. Everyone is on an equal footing, both income-wise and socially:
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LITANIA
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Why does no one seem particularly interested in visiting Denmark? (“ Honey, on our European trip, I want to see Tuscany, Paris, Berlin and . . . Jutland!”)
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TURISMO
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Denmark suffers from high rates of alcoholism. In its use of antidepressants it ranks fourth in the world.
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Some 5 percent of Danish men have had sex with an animal.
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BESTIALISMO
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productivity is in decline, its workers put in only 28 hours a week, and everybody you meet seems to have a government job.
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Prod
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“the cancer capital of the world.”
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CANCRO
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So how happy can these drunk, depressed, lazy, tumor-ridden, pig-bonking bureaucrats really be?
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MISTERO DELLA FELICITÀ
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Those sky-high happiness surveys, it turns out, are mostly bunk. Asking people “Are you happy?” means different things in different cultures.
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DOMANDA
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In Japan, for instance, answering “Yes” seems like boasting,
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VANTERIA
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in Denmark, it’s considered “shameful to be unhappy,”
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Cultura dan
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“They tend to approach the subject of their much-vaunted happiness like the victims of a practical joke waiting to discover who the perpetrator is.”
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UNO SCHERZO IL PRIMATO
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Answering “No” would be as unthinkable as honking in traffic
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SEI FELICE?
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Denmark is a land of 5.3 million homogeneous people. Everyone talks the same, everyone looks the same, everyone thinks the same.
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OMOGENEITÀ
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national pride
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Any rebels will be made to conform; tall poppies will be chopped down to average.
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NO INDIVIDUALUSMO
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“Hunter-gatherer societies —which are similar to prehistoric societies —are highly egalitarian. And if someone starts to take on a more domineering position, they get ridiculed or teased or ostracized.
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TIPICO PRIMITIVISMO
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(Bestiality has traditionally been legal in Denmark, though a move to ban it is under way. Until recently, several “bestiality brothels”advertised their services in newspapers, generally charging clients $ 85 to $ 170 for what can only be termed a roll in the hay.)
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BESTIALISMO
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The flip side of the famous “social cohesion” is that outsiders are unwelcome. Xenophobic remarks are common.
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XENOFOBIA
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even the Danes describe Danes as boring.
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LA CONTRADDIZ È BANDITA. NOIA
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Danes have to pay more for just about everything. Books are a luxury item.
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PREZZI SALATI
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Health care is free —which means you pay in time instead of money.
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SANITÀ PAGATA IN TEMPO
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Services are distributed only after endless stays in waiting rooms.
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CODE OVUNQUE
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Pharmacies are a state-run monopoly, which means getting an aspirin is like a trip to the DMV.
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FARMACIE
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Iceland’s famous economic boom turned out to be one of history’s most notorious real estate bubbles.
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ISLANDA E BOLLA
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The success of the Norwegians — the Beverly Hillbillies of Europe — can’t be imitated.
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NORVEGIA È UN CASO A PARTE
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Colossal offshore oil deposits spawned a sovereign wealth fund that pays for everything.
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C
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Finland, which tops the charts in many surveys (they’re the least corrupt people on Earth, its per-capita income is the highest in Western Europe and Helsinki often tops polls of the best cities), is also a leader in categories like alcoholism, murder (highest rate in Western Europe), suicide and antidepressant usage.
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FINLANDIA E PROBLEMI
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Their leading filmmaker, Aki Kaurismaki, makes features so “unremittingly morose they made [Ingmar] Bergman look like Mr. Bean,”
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AKI
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Dubbed the least masculine country on Earth
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SVEZIA
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Geert Hofstede,
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Su
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But Scandinavian cohesion may not work in conjunction with massive immigration: Almost one-third of the Swedish population was born elsewhere. Immigration is associated in the Swedish mind with welfare (housing projects full of people on the dole) and with high crime rates (these newcomers being more than four times as likely to commit murder). Islamist gangs control some of the housing projects. Friction between “ethnic Swedes”and the immigrants is growing.
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PROB IMMIGRAZIONE
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When its welfare state became unsustainable (something savvy Danes are just starting to say), it went on a privatization spree and cut government spending from 67 percent of GDP to less than half.
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PRIVATIZZAZIONE WELFARE
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Scandinavia, as a wag in The Economist once put it, is a great place to be born — but only if you are average.
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Media
