What's Wrong With Sweden?

Article here. Excerpt:

There's much more of interest in this book. About, for example, the inculcation of virulently anti-male attitudes at all levels of the Swedish educational system. ("Boys cry when they hear how bad they and their father are and men have always been.") About how the system rewards irresponsibility on the part of young unmarried mothers and the men who impregnate them. ("With a baby, a single parent sidesteps all waiting lines and the child may be the only means to an apartment for decades.") About a national self-hatred so fierce that "schools have asked pupils not to wear [Swedish flag] t-shirts or wave the yellow and blue flag as it could be interpreted as racist." About a country where adults admire and envy youth beyond all reason, and accordingly exhibit greater levels of hedonism and infantilism than their counterparts anywhere else on the planet. And about levels of anti-Semitism that made international headlines yet again just the other day, when Israel's Eurovision delegation was harassed and threatened on the streets of Malmö.

For an American reader, Sjunnesson's book about a supposedly free country where the media march in lockstep and where dissent can be dangerous carries a special resonance in the wake of revelations that the IRS has targeted conservative groups and the Justice Department has snooped on AP and Fox News journalists. To some observers, the depth of the Obama administration's hostility toward any hint of criticism in the media has been especially puzzling, given that most news media have in fact been absurdly supportive and protective of Obama throughout his presidency. But to a true socialist government, any dissent is intolerable. In Norway, where the domination of the news market by state-run TV channels and radio stations and by state-subsidized newspapers already give the government a very strong hand in shaping the media message about itself, officials have now gone a step further, proposing that the state award grants to fund journalistic projects of its own choosing -- an outrageous suggestion in a democratic country, but a no-brainer for those with a socialist mindset.'