The difference between what people will dare say in public and in private is sickening to me - it didn't used to be like that, just 20 years ago.
Being blacklisted is a real fear and a real thing, for the to-do and well-set middle-class that make up 2/3s of /swedish/ society.
If they trust you, they might own up in private (or to a foreigner, because then it's as if it doesn't count, somehow) and freely admit thinking stuff you could go to prison for, or worse get cancelled from society for.
It is liberating to them, a great unburdening becuase to them to speak your mind freely has been made into such a risk it feels almost alien.
It is also a dare. As I said, to be outspoken to a foreigner it is as if it doesn't counts as (or feels as) thought crime, and it is also a way of discovering it can be done.
I often feel something similar to that. I'm much less careful outside Canada and the US. In Sweden, outside professional circles, I wasn't very careful at all. As a foreigner the same rules don't apply.
The difference between what people will dare say in public and in private is sickening to me - it didn't used to be like that, just 20 years ago.
Being blacklisted is a real fear and a real thing, for the to-do and well-set middle-class that make up 2/3s of /swedish/ society.
If they trust you, they might own up in private (or to a foreigner, because then it's as if it doesn't count, somehow) and freely admit thinking stuff you could go to prison for, or worse get cancelled from society for.
Interesting, the foreigner aspect. Indeed many Swedish men - all men - were quite candid with me in a politically incorrect fashion.
It is liberating to them, a great unburdening becuase to them to speak your mind freely has been made into such a risk it feels almost alien.
It is also a dare. As I said, to be outspoken to a foreigner it is as if it doesn't counts as (or feels as) thought crime, and it is also a way of discovering it can be done.
I often feel something similar to that. I'm much less careful outside Canada and the US. In Sweden, outside professional circles, I wasn't very careful at all. As a foreigner the same rules don't apply.