That's not why I posted this here, though:
The government will also probe the possibility of outlawing the political use of certain symbols, including the swastika as used by Nazi Germany as well as the hammer and sickle that appeared on the former Soviet Union flag.
🇫🇮 🔥 
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Oh not to mention Karelian peoples and the Roma.
The Karelian oppression for example dates back to when we tried to do some colonialism of our very own and our fascist leaders did "crusades" to the lands of the Karelian people. Displaced them, put them in camps. Then during the world wars put them in the front lines and left them poor, scarred and with ptsd after. Later a public health project started where a privileged academic eugenics motivated dude from the elite went to the poor rural areas to study why they have so much heart health issues, then stated it's the lifestyle of these uneducated plebs. Of course the generational stress from oppression, war and poverty has nothing to do with anything. /s
We got our intense fatmisia from that as a country. And the belief that if you get health issues, it's probably your own fault for not cross country skiing enough like a proper finn (this mindset got intense with covid, the vibe here is very much that the "weak" die and this is fine).
And the psychiatric hospitals we had here during the wars, oh boy how all minorities and communists were "rehabilitated" in those...
The process of making this country into this fascist dreamzone has been very intentional.
Most people here seem to genuinely think they aren't racist as well. The entire concept isn't understood and that is very much on purpose. We are all "equal". It's a version of the "I don't see colour" but applied to absolutely everything, from poverty to race.
Happiest country in the world (by capitalist standards).
The comment on fat shaming made something click for me in my experience since I moved here. One of my coworkers has this weird obsession with not being fat, or more specifically, not being construed to be unhealthy. When the group decides where to eat lunch, they will interject weird comments about how this or that food like a sandwich is inherently unhealthy … and then they will vote to eat at an Indian place instead. Never mind that it’s all the same macros, in different form… what is “unhealthy” is just whatever foods arbitrarily have negative associations.
You are right about many Finns not understanding racism. That’s true of most places I guess. It does take a distinct flavor here though.
Yes, this discussion is also what we grow up with. Every single food choice is noted and people always feel like they need to justify it if they decide to eat a piece of cake in public. Especially in work settings. It is like an endless bargaining game to earn the status of "the best performer" within these very narrow social norms.
Diet talk and pushing that to people who are for example unemployed is also common. I work with folks who like to remind the poors that if they just lost weight their life would get better. A lack of empathy and zero understanding of anything structural is a pretty common trait regardless of education level here.
Individualism as it is framed in neoliberalism has fit into the mindset here perfectly. If something happens to a person, it's always on them. People have also internalized this exceptionally well. Be it getting sick or losing a job, the fault is always on the individual. If someone tries to point out they got laid off just because capitalism, this is treated like "yea sure". But at the end of the day everyone thinks they are themselves just expectional enough that it can't happen to them, but it is ok and reasonable when it happens to others.
The capitalist apologia here is next level, even landlords are commonly framed as fully good actors who get treated with a lot of sympathy.
But I suppose this is pretty common in all the neoliberal hells of today.
The food thing sticks out to me because growing up, my parents were strict about my eating habits and subtly negged me about it. I was afraid to be caught grabbing a snack and felt shameful if they saw me eating outside the primary meals. It is amazing that I don't have an eating disorder today — I simply brute forced their acceptance of my eating habits with pure angst in my teenage years. I've always had a healthy bodyweight and my parents were both obese, so it was easy to decide they didn't know shit about nutrition.
Agree on the individualism stuff too, I'm definitely sensing that here. Still learning the culture though.
Oh yes. I am not sure how prevalent this mentality among the "proper" blue collar workers in Russia, but it sure is amongst the labor aristocracy that is the IT