So I visited Sweden this year and saw SHOCKINGLY racist behaviors hailed as normal

[Ghostoflolrsk8s]

NOTE: im not generalizing all europeans or all swedes as being this way, i am just sharing my experiences from my trip/vacation. please dont turn this thread into nation bashing. i want this thread to be a constructive discussion on the prevalence of this sort of behavior.


in january this year i visited sweden with my gf since she was an immigrant to the US from sweden. we were mostly there to visit her family in stockholm, but we ended up travelling along the country a bit too.

i will cut to the chase. when we were in stockholm, i noticed that many people would act in weird fashion towards any visible minorities, but even towards people like me when they realized that i was an american and not a swede. for example, we were getting off an Oresundt train at Malmo, and when we got off, i saw an asian girl trying to get onto the train at the other door, but she was unable to because people get shoving (yes, shoving) her out of the way while trying to get on first. at one point, a 30-something year old male stared down at her, said something in swedish with an angry face, and then cut her off again. finally, after everyone had gotten onto the train, the asian girl was allowed to get on.

further on, when we were in stockholm, i noticed another disgusting behavior that seemed to happen really often. every time an african male or middle eastern male or even an chinese male would be walking down towards us on the sidewalk, a group of swedish girls would quickly start giggling, run into one of the shops, and then quickly come out when the black guy/asian guy/arab guy/whatever had walked by. sometimes, they were so obvious about it that i could see the look of disappointment on the person's face when they understood what was happening. yet whenever a swedish guy walked by, they wouldn't react that way. this seemed to happen with multiple groups of people, and even individuals. growing up in Houston, Texas, i had never seen anything as openly racist as that.

another time, when we were in stockholm, there was some kind of right-wing racist protest happening, so the local police (according to my gf who spoke swedish) were LITERALLY telling people that they could not walk through the area if they were a visible minority because they couldn't guarantee their safety.

i have dozens of stories like this. i came here thinking that europe, specially scandinavian countries, were really progressed and much less racist than the US, but i left shocked. i felt like i stepped into Jim Crow southern USA in the 1920s or something. it was ridiculous and shocking. even though i'm not really a minority, it really depresses me that people can still act this way in the 21st century. just really ignorant and hateful/destructive behavior. the biggest targets of this racism seemed to be jews, muslims, black people, and asian females.

is this kind of behavior common in other countries in europe too? Sweden is the only european country i have ever visited so i wouldnt know. right now, im kind of shocked and i guess i have been given a new perspective on race issues in the US. while we're not perfect, i now know i should be thankful at how much we have progressed in the past 50 years compared to certain other places. i grew up in the south and i have never seen anyone act so openly rude to black people (like shoving them off of public transportation) even in the most rural/racist areas of the boondocks.


thanks for reading

[Blueobelisk]

You're gonna have to tell me what "not really a minority" is.

[Deleted]

Same thing happens to gays in some parts of the USA, you get horrid bigots in every country.

[Ghostoflolrsk8s]

You're gonna have to tell me what "not really a minority" is.

huh? i meant to say that i'm not a minority in america and most of the west (im a WASP basically), but i am a minority when i am in sweden (because they seem to discriminate against non-swedish speakers.)

- - - Updated - - -

Same thing happens to gays in some parts of the USA, you get horrid bigots in every country.

no one can tell that you are gay until you tell them. it's not the same thing

[Deleted]

huh? i meant to say that i'm not a minority in america and most of the west (im a WASP basically), but i am a minority when i am in sweden (because they seem to discriminate against non-swedish speakers.)

- - - Updated - - -



no one can tell that you are gay until you tell them. it's not the same thing

Some gays dress very flamboyantly, and transsexuals have a very high rate of violence against them compared to the rest of the population.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_3824273.html

[jasoncb]

NOTE: im not generalizing all europeans or all swedes as being this way, i am just sharing my experiences from my trip/vacation. please dont turn this thread into nation bashing. i want this thread to be a constructive discussion on the prevalence of this sort of behavior.


in january this year i visited sweden with my gf since she was an immigrant to the US from sweden. we were mostly there to visit her family in stockholm, but we ended up travelling along the country a bit too.

i will cut to the chase. when we were in stockholm, i noticed that many people would act in weird fashion towards any visible minorities, but even towards people like me when they realized that i was an american and not a swede. for example, we were getting off an Oresundt train at Malmo, and when we got off, i saw an asian girl trying to get onto the train at the other door, but she was unable to because people get shoving (yes, shoving) her out of the way while trying to get on first. at one point, a 30-something year old male stared down at her, said something in swedish with an angry face, and then cut her off again. finally, after everyone had gotten onto the train, the asian girl was allowed to get on.

further on, when we were in stockholm, i noticed another disgusting behavior that seemed to happen really often. every time an african male or middle eastern male or even an chinese male would be walking down towards us on the sidewalk, a group of swedish girls would quickly start giggling, run into one of the shops, and then quickly come out when the black guy/asian guy/arab guy/whatever had walked by. sometimes, they were so obvious about it that i could see the look of disappointment on the person's face when they understood what was happening. yet whenever a swedish guy walked by, they wouldn't react that way. this seemed to happen with multiple groups of people, and even individuals. growing up in Houston, Texas, i had never seen anything as openly racist as that.

another time, when we were in stockholm, there was some kind of right-wing racist protest happening, so the local police (according to my gf who spoke swedish) were LITERALLY telling people that they could not walk through the area if they were a visible minority because they couldn't guarantee their safety.

i have dozens of stories like this. i came here thinking that europe, specially scandinavian countries, were really progressed and much less racist than the US, but i left shocked. i felt like i stepped into Jim Crow southern USA in the 1920s or something. it was ridiculous and shocking. even though i'm not really a minority, it really depresses me that people can still act this way in the 21st century. just really ignorant and hateful/destructive behavior. the biggest targets of this racism seemed to be jews, muslims, black people, and asian females.

is this kind of behavior common in other countries in europe too? Sweden is the only european country i have ever visited so i wouldnt know. right now, im kind of shocked and i guess i have been given a new perspective on race issues in the US. while we're not perfect, i now know i should be thankful at how much we have progressed in the past 50 years compared to certain other places. i grew up in the south and i have never seen anyone act so openly rude to black people (like shoving them off of public transportation) even in the most rural/racist areas of the boondocks.


thanks for reading

I lived in Stockholm for 2 years and haven't witnessed anything like that. Although there is an unsettled feeling in Sweden about the amount of foreigners coming to live there so it wouldn't surprise me.

[Ghostpanther]

Sometimes we do not know what we have until we experience not having it. It would be a real eye opener for many Americans to visit several overseas countries to fully appreciate what they have in the US. We after all do not have a issue with people wanting to leave, but a lot of issues with people wanting to come here. lol!

[Bamboozles]

This is what happens when radical Islamists attempt to take over a country, a la Sweden.

Their behaviour was unacceptable but completely understandable.

[Ghostoflolrsk8s]

Some gays dress very flamboyantly, and transsexuals have a very high rate of violence against them compared to the rest of the population.

yeah ok but you can change the way that you dress, you cant change the color of your skin or how slanted your eyes are or the color of your hair. it's not the same thing, i take offense at you equating anti-LGBT prejudice with racism. racism has a much darker and painful history.

[Gurluas]

I think it's because Stockholm has a lot of extremists who dislike all the third world immigration and so on.
It's the opposite in other parts of Sweden. Where Swedes are afraid to go outside because of all the Muslim gangs.

[Arthas242]

no one can tell that you are gay until you tell them. it's not the same thing

well technically yes, but there are some ways of telling but they are not 100% true but mostly true. (FROM MY EXPERIENCE)

(like every guy i have seen with a feminine high pitch voice/sound has been gay or the way they speak like a girl) very hard to describe

some gays look so manly you would be shocked.

[Ghostoflolrsk8s]

This is what happens when radical Islamists attempt to take over a country, a la Sweden.

Their behaviour was unacceptable but completely understandable.

so people acting like flagrant racists to EVERY SINGLE MINORITY is understandable because a small minority of muslims act in criminal ways? wait no its not.

[Kalis]

This never happens in Britain, usually we just lynch negroes when we see them.

[Deleted]

yeah ok but you can change the way that you dress, you cant change the color of your skin or how slanted your eyes are or the color of your hair. it's not the same thing, i take offense at you equating anti-LGBT prejudice with racism. racism has a much darker and painful history.

I don't care if you take offence, you telling people they should change the way they dress and act is even more offensive.

[Ghostoflolrsk8s]

well technically yes, but there are some ways of telling but they are not 100% true but mostly true. (FROM MY EXPERIENCE)

(like every guy i have seen with a feminine high pitch voice/sound has been gay or the way they speak like a girl) very hard to describe

some gays look so manly you would be shocked.

most LGBT people don't have the high pitched voice thing goin on.

[Gurluas]

so people acting like flagrant racists to EVERY SINGLE MINORITY is understandable because a small minority of muslims act in criminal ways? wait no its not.

Extremists are not rational.

[Deleted]

Sweden got massive problems with integration. About 20 % of the population is from non-western countries. The swedish politicians and media neglects the problems and according to different statistics sweden is going to suffer alot in the upcoming years.

[Ghostoflolrsk8s]

I lived in Stockholm for 2 years and haven't witnessed anything like that. Although there is an unsettled feeling in Sweden about the amount of foreigners coming to live there so it wouldn't surprise me.

why? foreigners are humans too. i grew up in houston and incase you didnt know, it's america's most diverse city. white people are a minority there, yet i never acted racist towards anyone else. i grew up with friends from lots of religions and races and cultures. why cant swedes/others be educated about this and shown that racism is stupid and tribal?

[Bamboozles]

so people acting like flagrant racists to EVERY SINGLE MINORITY is understandable because a small minority of muslims act in criminal ways? wait no its not.

That small minority is becoming larger.

Once again, their actions were not acceptable, but completely understandable. As others have pointed out, the immigration statistics of muslims into Sweden and their cultural ideology has people nervous.

[TheGravemind]

I don't care if you take offence, you telling people they should change the way they dress and act is even more offensive.

No, it's not. A black person objectively has less opportunities to escape targeted discrimination than a gay person, thus racial discrimination is more severe and a far more dire problem to deal with.


Also, 10 posts in and no one has accused the OP of being me on a secret account. I guess I wasn't crazy after all when I talked about my own racist experiences in Stockholm a few years ago.