Deconstructing the Scandinavian Identity

Most readers will by now have heard about the video commercial for SAS (Scandinavian Airlines System) that has caused so much controversy, both at home and abroad. The company evidently had the bizarre notion that denying the existence of a distinct Scandinavian ethnicity and culture would somehow be a good strategy to attract more customers to fly on its planes.

In the midst of all the uproar, SAS pulled the video, but Vlad saved a copy of it. It is a vile piece of work, but before I discuss it further, everyone needs to watch the commercial, if you can stomach it:

Vlad tells me that SAS has since restored the video, but closed it to comments.

It’s telling that this commercial is in English. Yes, I know they couldn’t really make it in Danish, Swedish, or Norwegian, since that would be unfair to speakers of the two languages that would thereby be excluded. But why not in Bornholmsk? Or Faroese? A dialect that was not really part of the three big languages wouldn’t discriminate against any of them.

Obviously, the decision to make the video in English was a commercial one — the company wanted to sell tickets outside of Scandinavia. Speaking English also underlined the basic thesis of the piece, namely that nothing exists that is inherently Scandinavian.

So they use English to gain the widest possible reach for something that insults their own people — a practice the Aussies used to call “crying stinking fish in your own back yard”.

I assume that signaling their “wokeness” in this manner was considered by SAS to be a good business decision. If their executives and managers and writers all inhabit the same progressive bubble with the rest of the transnational literati, such sentiments would seem normal, humdrum, routine, unexceptional. That they would never dream of asserting the same thing about, say, the Japanese — who have borrowed at least as much cultural material as Scandinavians — highlights the deep racism that is an inherent part of the leftist mentality.

So they spend their money and hire their actors and send out the camera crews and produce the commercial. Then BAM! They run into the wall of ordinary Scandinavians, who take exception to the self-negating sentiments in the video. Not to mention millions of people outside of Scandinavia who are offended on behalf of Norwegians, Swedes, and Danes.

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Below is an editorial about the SAS scandal from the Swedish dissident site Samhällsnytt. Many thanks to LN for the translation:

Concerning the art of kidnapping a country

The reputable airline was probably trolled by its Danish supplier when they accepted and published the now famous advertisement on their channels. One may wonder what thoughts entered the heads of the SAS advertising department. To miss even such obvious references as the dead twins in the horror movie The Shining who are heard saying, “There is no such thing” regarding whether there exists something Scandinavian.

The clip obviously purveys identity politics and should receive a prize for this year’s satire, but is hardly published as an advertisement for an airline. None of this apparently occurred to the empty heads at SAS. Instead of quietly burying the advertisement, it was proudly published on the SAS YouTube channel. It was a bit like when autistics do not understand what satire is, and need a long explanation. When embarking on a collision course with a large part of the Swedish population, one should not be surprised when it ends in a frontal crash. Which it also did.

Many Swedes saw the advertising as a mockery. After a fully logical and understandable storm of criticism, SAS finally decided that the clip will not enhance the company’s brand — rather the contrary — and removed the scandalous film. So far, everything is within the rules of democracy: a company makes a mistake and immediately receives a reprimand from the annoyed audience. The company reverses course — balance sheet restored. The story should have ended there. The only thing that would linger in the collective consciousness after it is perhaps some memes at its height.

But then the heavy artillery is rolled out. Aftonbladet’s leadership side decides to strike a blow in the debate. A stupid mistake by a near-sighted company earning the legitimate criticism of the audience suddenly becomes an attack on democracy. With a fanatical glow in the eyes (judging by the byline image), the writer Jenny Wennberg tells us that it is right-wing, influence-seeking, and Putin — and maybe a nuclear war will break out soon because you thoughtlessly shared that status on Facebook. As icing on the cake, it is linked to a censorship manual from the heavily compromised and corrupt Authority for Social Protection and Preparedness.

It’s possible to understand the panic of the establishment when the mob suddenly realized that it is actually able to affect anything at all — even something as small and insignificant as a commercial for SAS. “We have to maintain the boundary” — Jenny strikes the war drum. Not an ounce of power to the mob. The film has to be republished, she states.

And amazingly enough, SAS is republishing its advertising just hours after the call — now with over 40,000 disapproval markings. And that is exactly what they were trying to avoid when they — quite rightly — took down the movie. They have become a tool for other forces — for Jenny Wennberg and those behind her in a crusade against the people, democracy and freedom of speech.

If legitimate criticism of a failed commercial is now defined as an attack on democracy — what will be the next target for the many humorless, but powerful, idiots that Wennberg represents?

Should it be considered an attack on democracy to look miserable in public places? After all, there are no reasons to be unhappy in Wennberg’s Sweden — so Putin must also be involved. Is it perhaps an attack on democracy to cancel one’s subscription to DN [Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter]? It damages free journalism.

One should not be surprised at anything nowadays. With a corrupt, history-less and panicked establishment, everything is possible. And that’s probably what’s very disturbing — not the imaginary “Swedish actors running errands for a foreign power” according to Jenny Wennberg. Admittedly, one can discuss which is worse — when Putin’s troll possibly kidnaps an advertising campaign, or when idiots kidnap and hold hostage an entire country.

Related links from Fria Tider (in Swedish):

28 thoughts on “Deconstructing the Scandinavian Identity

  1. Yep, only Nazis reject cultural relativism

    all sane people are okay with, so get on board you Nazi putin-puppets!

  2. This video is absolutely disturbing!!, this propaganda, brainwashed people , by politicians, traitors are beyond sick , how can you say , it’s no Scandinavian culture???, this freaking Swedes lost their minds completely, I tough Germans are bad , bad Sweden with this commercial cross the line completely..

    • It would be interesting to know how much
      Tourism has been affected in Sweden?

      Would suspect it has dropped off the edge
      Of the cliff, particularly the cruise ship
      Visits.

    • You thought germans were bad? lol

      the English have been covering up industrial scale mass rape for decades

      • In 1970 I went to Sweden to visit my three sets of relatives in three different locations. They were all very much in the top 1% in wealth and position. Each group was composed of amiable, smug nothings. Bland, dull and condescending and utterly ignorant except for their own pleasures and wants. They had given up on Christianity long ago.

        It’s been 50 years, and I haven’t returned. The place and the people do nothing for me. My local cowboy/biker bar has far more interesting people.

        My point being is that the surrender to Islam and the lack of identity by these clowns could be seen if you ever set foot there in the last 50 years.

        • Two anecdotes may not represent “data”, but I still have numerous Swedish relatives, most quite well-to-do. I haven’t stayed touch with them since the 70s, and for the same reason as yourself: there “was no there there” amongst the amiable, smug nothings.

          “Bland, dull and condescending” doesn’t describe every modern Swede, but it certainly seems to apply to many, if not a majority.

  3. Oh look! All street signs are in western oriental confusion. The royal family is in full Congo tribal regalia!

  4. How second nature it must have been for the Swedes to completely ignore the horrors of ww2.

  5. Absolutely horrid.
    All nation-states borrow from other cultures and weave and mold them into a unique national fabric. Immigration by incompatible cultures and the persistent toleration of its criminal element enable the shredding of that fabric. This ad embodies the destructive impact of the intentional dissipation of the unique Swedish culture. Shame on SAS.

  6. If they cannot respect their own culture, how can they respect mine? They will learn when the profit margin shrinks.

  7. I recall that the loony left in the UK during the 1980s declared that the UK had no culture save “Dancing round the Maypole.” It is the left itself that has no culture which is why it is trying to wipe out everybody else’s.

  8. When I read stories like this, it explains an awful lot about the other articles posted here regarding the Scandinavian countries.

    Articles about “golden showers”, gang rape of young girls, culture enrichers who burn down whole neighborhoods, out of control murder and other crimes, etc. etc.

    Clearly the propaganda they are promoting does not comport with the reality of these countries.

  9. In my home town of Cape May, New Jersey, there’s a store on the Washington Street Mall called “Swede Things.” I was friends with the owner’s son when they first opened the store way back when I was in college. So it’s now many decades later and guess what? Despite selling scads of embroidered doilies at a time when almost NO ONE has a doily anywhere in their home, this store is still there and thriving.

    Further, when you walk in you feel like you’re in another country. And definitely not at an American, ocean-side resort town. Whodathunkit?

    I seldom link to my own published essays, but here’s a relevant one I had published at The Federalist. It’s called “Why you can’t have cultural diversity without cultural distinctions.”
    I originally titled it “The Diversity Paradox.”

    https://thefederalist.com/2019/08/08/cant-cultural-diversity-without-cultural-distinctions/

  10. So if nothing in Sweden is Swedish, why would I want to even travel to Sweden? I can find everything in that commercial in Minneapolis, no need to go half way around the world. How about Swedes of Swedish ethnicity, are they Swedish?

    • Jimmie Åkesson of the Sweden Democrats has already answered your question about what it means to be Swedish.

      https://tinyurl.com/ydgpha4e

      “We are in favor of an open Swedish identity, in which one can actually become Swedish”

      “We will not come back to a situation where all Swedes are blond and blue-eyed. And nor is that desirable, it’s unimportant,”

      “Sweden has always had immigration and always will. Even when I and the Sweden Democrats get to decide, we will have immigration.”

      Anyone who still thinks the Sweden Democrats are going to save Sweden is mistaken.

  11. After that SAS advertorial why fly to Sweden. Go to your local IKEA. They still have some real Swedish things.

  12. The sas ad is straightbout of the Nazis playbook, ala, leni reifenstal in 2020 digital format!

    The sickos who made this sickening devils film movie need to be locked up!!!

    Who was the script writer? Producer? Actors? These anti swedish racists need locking up, 30 years a piece!!!! With hard labour.

    Can anyone find out who constructed this film? Director?? Names??? Who wrote script??? Name???

    Sas used to be my favourite airline, i lived 10 years in finland sweden norway, now i hate this sas company, they are finnished!!!

    Dont fly with them, norwegian air is better.

  13. Vile & destructive.

    Telling their own people they have nothing of their own, that they are nobody in their own land, that they got nothing to protect is suggesting their voluntary genocide is something to look forward to.

    These people are insane.

  14. To continue the thesis of the SAS video message, Muslim ideology was not invented in Sweden either. So why are Swedish government officials and other liberal citizens embracing it?

  15. The video says they take foreign things and nativize them. Anyone who’s read augustine’s on christian doctrine book ii would be familiar with it.

    The jews were allowed to take the things of the egyptians as they left, similarly christians are allowed to take the traditions and philosophy of pagans.

    Nothing in that video is outside of that tradition/thought pattern.
    The people getting angry at it are un-christian, are they going to be angry at christmas & easter next?

    This type of outrage culture is why the west is in such trouble..

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