Haven't really had time to think this through, so you'll have to take what I say with a grain of salt. Been trying to come up with some stuff Sweden's doing better than the US and why, and as it stands we'd both agree I think that the US is doing slightly worse in education at the moment.
This is more of a rant than a coherent argument, but let's see where it goes.

I think it could very well boil down to taxes, both when it comes to having them and the general mentality among citizens about paying them.
There seems to be a problem in the US with the second issue, where (judging from online news videos) people appear to have great difficulty connecting sociopolitical issues with each other and applying them in real life.
Taxes and welfare issues in particular, to take an example for discussion's sake. To tie back to Sweden, it's probably safe to say that nobody really enjoys paying taxes like they would enjoy going to the movies or going out for dinner, but the fundamental understanding that the quality of our social benefits, schooling, infrastructure and healthcare are directly connected to the amount of cash the government takes makes it a natural thing in the public mind. The discussion isn't whether we should have them or not, but rather what education and healthcare standards we can live with before starting to discuss lowering taxes.
To tie back even further, to a few posts back when we talked about abortion, there seems to be a similar detachment from the issues of how the government is supposed to help take care of all the babies that the people who are against abortion want to save, when many of the same people are for lower taxes and taxcuts to a system which doesn't even have national healthcare, where the vast majority of cash goes to the military and where the military is the only branch the tax cuts won't ever touch. It doesn't make any sense, but when you look at the status of some states and the policies they're pursuing, it's becoming more clear that increasing taxcuts and lower taxes are linked to the failing public school system, crumbling infrastructure and lack of public healthcare. Kind of like wanting to have the cake and eat it up too, where people don't want to pay for the state/federal service but still expect it to maintain its quality.
In that aspect I think Sweden's doing much better than the US. Even though people on a personal level probably don't feel any different towards each other in respective country, I think Swedes as a community feel more strongly connected and are more focused on helping each other out than hoarding personal fortunes.

After all, even if I didn't have any kids or intend to get any, there'd still be several good reasons for me to pay for our public education and feel great about it. I'd know people with kids, who'd get kids or who knew people with kids, and I'd also like to be able to walk the streets at night without having to fear for my life.
A friend of mine who works at an eldercare clinic said, when asked about this, "I'm only sitting at home with my comp six days a week except for saturdays when I go out and party. What am I supposed to do with all of my salary?"

In reply to this comment by thinker247:
I was hoping you'd raise some issue about which I could argue, but I agree with you completely. Damnit. ha!

So what is your opinion of Sweden versus America? I always see Sweden at the top of the list when it comes to social issues, and I'm jealous. Are the lists an accurate portrayal of Swedish society?

What are your thoughts on God deciding to create Jesus today instead of 2000 years ago, and Mary wanting an abortion? Are you for theistic abortion, or against?

In reply to this comment by Kreegath:
Hehe, where would you like to start?

In reply to this comment by thinker247:
I'm always up for learning strange ideas about various topics. Maybe we could have a strange-off competition, then sit at home and cry about the fact that we just competed to see who is more strange. Or not.

In reply to this comment by Kreegath:
I'm Toby, a true blue swede (blue because of the cold) and procrastinator extraordinaire. Socialy inept, silent to the point where you might think me mute, gloomy to the point where you might think me suicidal, there's hardly any prejudice about swedes I'm not living up to.
There's nothing in particular that I'd put down as an interest. Don't have any real hobby or past-time occupation except for lurking the sift, really. Also, Got a bit of a pet peeve when it comes to people listing theirs and adding stuff like "music", "movies", "food" etc. For some reason it just feels like such unnecessary information, a filler if you will, like there would be anyone who didn't like music or who couldn't stand food. Not that the interests themselves are the issue mind you, but rather the lack of specificity.
I've some strange ideas on religion, politics, society, video games and just about anything you can imagine, and would love to exchange thoughts if you don't mind the ramblings of an uninformed and ineloquent mind.

Currently unemployed after some time working in the eldercare business, I'm waiting to start my university studies this fall and hopefully become an engineer someday.
Previously I studied to become an English teacher, but after two years there was no question I didn't have what it took to be a real good one, and it wouldn't be fair either to me or my students to do some halfassed work.

The most amazing person I've ever met was a 12 year-old boy who had immigrated with his family from Iran. He was fluent in three languages (Farsi, Swedish and English), was an advanced guitar player aswell as a straight A-student.
It's people like that who give me hope for the future of humanity.

I'm always up for learning strange ideas about various topics. Maybe we could have a strange-off competition, then sit at home and cry about the fact that we just competed to see who is more strange. Or not.

In reply to this comment by Kreegath:
I'm Toby, a true blue swede (blue because of the cold) and procrastinator extraordinaire. Socialy inept, silent to the point where you might think me mute, gloomy to the point where you might think me suicidal, there's hardly any prejudice about swedes I'm not living up to.
There's nothing in particular that I'd put down as an interest. Don't have any real hobby or past-time occupation except for lurking the sift, really. Also, Got a bit of a pet peeve when it comes to people listing theirs and adding stuff like "music", "movies", "food" etc. For some reason it just feels like such unnecessary information, a filler if you will, like there would be anyone who didn't like music or who couldn't stand food. Not that the interests themselves are the issue mind you, but rather the lack of specificity.
I've some strange ideas on religion, politics, society, video games and just about anything you can imagine, and would love to exchange thoughts if you don't mind the ramblings of an uninformed and ineloquent mind.

Currently unemployed after some time working in the eldercare business, I'm waiting to start my university studies this fall and hopefully become an engineer someday.
Previously I studied to become an English teacher, but after two years there was no question I didn't have what it took to be a real good one, and it wouldn't be fair either to me or my students to do some halfassed work.

The most amazing person I've ever met was a 12 year-old boy who had immigrated with his family from Iran. He was fluent in three languages (Farsi, Swedish and English), was an advanced guitar player aswell as a straight A-student.
It's people like that who give me hope for the future of humanity.

I'm Toby, a true blue swede (blue because of the cold) and procrastinator extraordinaire. Socialy inept, silent to the point where you might think me mute, gloomy to the point where you might think me suicidal, there's hardly any prejudice about swedes I'm not living up to.
There's nothing in particular that I'd put down as an interest. Don't have any real hobby or past-time occupation except for lurking the sift, really. Also, Got a bit of a pet peeve when it comes to people listing theirs and adding stuff like "music", "movies", "food" etc. For some reason it just feels like such unnecessary information, a filler if you will, like there would be anyone who didn't like music or who couldn't stand food. Not that the interests themselves are the issue mind you, but rather the lack of specificity.
I've some strange ideas on religion, politics, society, video games and just about anything you can imagine, and would love to exchange thoughts if you don't mind the ramblings of an uninformed and ineloquent mind.

Currently unemployed after some time working in the eldercare business, I'm waiting to start my university studies this fall and hopefully become an engineer someday.
Previously I studied to become an English teacher, but after two years there was no question I didn't have what it took to be a real good one, and it wouldn't be fair either to me or my students to do some halfassed work.

The most amazing person I've ever met was a 12 year-old boy who had immigrated with his family from Iran. He was fluent in three languages (Farsi, Swedish and English), was an advanced guitar player aswell as a straight A-student.
It's people like that who give me hope for the future of humanity.

LOL! That is the most seriously butchered Swedish I've ever heard. That "half-swedish" guard couldnt fool a half-swede if his life depended on it. You can recognize the words barely, so they probably did use real swedish text in the script. But I had to listen several times. The guard refers to them as one scientist in his second question.

>> ^schmawy:
There's plenty of Swedes 'round these parts. Perhaps they can offer some kind of explanation. That's some hot bazooka action right there, though. Sorta reminds me of KP's old avatar.


Unfortunatly there's very little explanation to be had on this topic. This film created quite the stir in sweden when it was first shown a few years ago. A few conscripts decided to goof off at the firing range and film it, and thier officer apprenetly allowed it. Ofcourse the video was spread, ended up with the press and created somewhat of a PR faux pas for the swedish army.

You get a bunch of 19 year old guys together for 10-15 months things like this sometimes happen, lack of good judgement for sure, but even more so for the officer that didnt stop it.

I also heard rumours that they changed regulations on account of this incident to require soldiers to wear clothes when firing weapons (apperently because, as you can see, they got burned when they did not wear them ). Formly the regulations apperently only mentioned helmets (which they are wearing). Most of this was also mentioned in swedish in the clip.

There's plenty of Swedes 'round these parts. Perhaps they can offer some kind of explanation. That's some hot bazooka action right there, though. Sorta reminds me of KP's old avatar.

"She said Swedes will picture the military differently after the film."

dupe

Now if only we could link the swedes to the IKEA network somehow...

>> ^my15minutes:
i knew we couldn't trust those dirty swedes!
been saying it all along. they're all crypto-fascist commie anarchists.
from now on, swedish meatballs are known as FREEDOM BALLS!!

i knew we couldn't trust those dirty swedes!

been saying it all along. they're all crypto-fascist commie anarchists.

from now on, swedish meatballs are known as FREEDOM BALLS!!

Tags for this video have been changed from 'kids, 7 years, passion, very cool' to 'kids, 7 years, passion, very cool, sweded' - edited by Spiff

Tags for this video have been changed from 'Tron, sweded, gondry, video, games, 80s, 1980s, 80, 1980, freres hueon' to 'Tron, sweded, gondry, video, games, 80s, freres hueon, cardboard' - edited by darkrowan

Great, yes... but sadly a *dupe
http://www.videosift.com/video/Tron-Sweded
*discard

best swede yet!