Sweden is worse than 97% of the world

I used to respect Sweden as a decent country. Not anymore. Sweden’s coronavirus response has been so tragically, obstinately wrong that its reputation will never recover. What’s the Swedish Model now? A Volvo that self-drives off a cliff? IKEA furniture that kills your grandmother?

Worst of all, Sweden is delusional. They think they’re doing great, and they want to talk about it. They insist on inflicting their stupidity upon the world. As much as the equally delusional Germans, they think that the world still looks up to them, and take up Op-Ed space to tell us so.

Let me be clear, there are real global leaders against COVID-19. Countries have reduced COVID-19 to zero or a few deaths. Those leaders just aren’t white, and they're definitely not Sweden.

Sweden Is Worse Than 97% Of The World

We’re only having this conversation because systemic racism grades white people on a curve. Right now, not drinking bleach is the height of western civilization right now. If you can do that you’re a white hero. However, the rest of civilization A) exists and B) is not so stupid.

On the chart above you can see Sweden’s per capita deaths against some other countries. I’ve picked a few countries that have done well, but you can pick non-Western countries at random. Sweden’s idiocy breaks the scale.

Vietnam has zero deaths. Mongolia has zero deaths (and zero local transmissions). Taiwan has seven. Korea has 263. China suppressed a whole-ass epidemic down to zero. Trinidad & Tobago have done better, as has every country in Africa.

You can pick a country at random and have a 97% chance of finding someplace better than Sweden. Only the UK, France, Belgium, Italy, and Spain have worse death tolls, and you don’t see anyone trying to follow them. Even worst-place America is looking at the per-capita death toll in Sweden and saying ‘whoa, that’s rough’.

What America has done through sheer idiocy, Sweden has done through obstinancy and pride. It’s hard to say which is worse. To the dead, it’s all the same.

And they don’t get it. Many Swedish scientists and citizens are protesting, but a lot of the population seems to support the fiery Volvo model. They’re like,

“The sound system is so good, it never gets interrupted by squealing brakes.”

Swedes: This Is Fine

I recently read something called ‘I Live in Sweden. I’m Not Panicking.’ A better title would be ‘This Is Fine’.

In this, Maud Cordenius — who had the ability to work from home — bloodlessly observed the deaths of those that could not.

“We know that the elder-care system has been struggling for years. Older people living in nursing homes or at home are often looked after by temporary workers who have little or no training. Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said that the pandemic has shed a light on that fact.”

I’m sorry, but WTF is wrong with these people? Some privileged woman is duly noting mass death because she doesn’t want her preschool schedule interrupted?

And It Didn’t Even Work

And for what? For the economy? That plan didn’t even work. As you’ll see, it couldn’t work. Swedes just ended up drinking longer than their neighbors and having their economy crash just the same.

Sweden’s economy is 89% dependent on exports. Keeping shops and restaurants open was a marginal gain, and even that quickly dried up, because the plague. They would have known that. Economically, their policy was a fart in the wind. Now they’re forecast to go into recession anyways, just like their neighbors who did not kill people as actively.

In the end, all Sweden did was drink and produce a trickle of economic activity while thousands of people (and their own reputation) died. What a cruel and pointless waste of life. What a sad end for competent Sweden. How many people had to die gasping for air so that a few could enjoy the music on the Titanic a bit longer?

Sweden was known for its social safety net, but now it’s surrounded by dead bodies that fell right through. It’s more than an embarrassment, it’s a shame, it’s a crime. Swedes are fond of saying ‘time will tell’ but it has already told. Those people are permanently dead. The old idea of a compassionate Sweden is gone.

The Swedish Model Is The Worst

Right now Sweden is the worst, and they’re insufferable about it. Not only are they damaging themselves, they’re spreading toxic ideas like infuriating furniture. They want the rest of the world to assemble their stupid model which just kills people.

The new Swedish Model is an IKEA cabinet that crushes old people while shining a light on them. It’s a self-driving car that drives straight into migrant communities and keeps going. This is no model at all. It’s just a failure of public health, and of public decency. Sweden might have been admirable once — in the long-ago age of a few months ago — but that’s over now.

If you want global leadership, throw a dart at a map. Avoid the Swedish Model like, well, the plague.