In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011

Re:In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011 by itmag on Saturday December 17, 2011 @11:52AM (#3364543)

This is not really true.

Only 100-70 years ago Sweden was a very classist society with quite severe internal conflicts (workers were gunned down by the military in an incident in the 30s for instance).

In the 17th century Sweden was an imperialist country dedicated to the bloody wars of several ambitious kings (Gustav II, Karl XII, etc). Supposedly some people in Germany still warn their kids of the Swedes...

So my point is that Scandinavia was not always a peace-loving hippie region dedicated to sensible socialism-light. That stuff is quite recent.

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Re:In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011 by Florin_Andrei on Monday December 19, 2011 @05:55PM (#3371469)

> That stuff is quite recent.

Any sensible, rational "stuff" is recent, anywhere in the world. Until very recently, no country or culture were good places to be.

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Re:In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011 by anamax on Saturday December 17, 2011 @06:32PM (#3365382)

And during that time, were Swedes productive and so on?

If so, that's evidence for the "Swedes can make any system work" theory.

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Re:In Memoriam: Christopher Hitchens, 1949–2011 by itmag on Monday December 19, 2011 @07:08AM (#3369381)

Yeah, they were productive. At mayhem and conquest :)

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