Just thought I'd do a quick blog about this public holiday in Sweden.
Sveriges Nationaldag is a public holiday in honour of King Gustav Vasa, who's election in 1523 is considered the "foundation of modern Sweden". It's a slightly low key affair, infact alot of Swedes barely acknowledge it, but others celebrate by flying a flag on or outside their house.
Why I decided to make a blog about this particular holiday is because of an issue I had with my homeland regarding similar things. The UK is overrun by immigrants, most do what I do and keep to themselves, others come into the country and preach their religion at us and change our culture to suit theirs, I like to call those people "arseholes". In the privacy of your home you can say what you want, do what you want, but screaming at the government to tell them that they're doing things wrong is barbaric...surely only citizens of that country should hold the right to do that.
My main gripe with these people is their lack of respect for the flags of the United Kingdom, whether it's the Union Jack or the St George's flag, they believe that hanging these outside our houses makes them feel unwelcome, so they complain to the authorities and tell them that anyone who has one is racist. How the fuck can the UK be racist if they're letting these immigrants in in the first place? I believe anyone can fly their flag in their own country as much as they want, especially in times of a crisis. It shows pride towards something they love. Now, if someone from the UK were to go to, let's say, Pakistan or Poland and complain about their flags making them feel unwelcome, then they would be laughed out of the country.
There are people in Sweden who also take issue with the flag waving, these are mostly immigrants that associate that flag with a racist government party (whose name escapes me). Maybe these people should hate the person that spouts this racism, rather than the flag itself. The difference between Sweden and the UK in this matter is that the UK is bowing down to these demands at the drop of a hat and are likely going to impliment some sort of law in the future, whereas Sweden's government isn't going to lose sleep over a few pissed off immigrants.
Today I went out for a walk with Lisa and saw 7-8 flagpoles with big Swedish flags at the top flying in the wind and did I feel unwelcome? Fuck no, should I? Well, I don't know what each individual person's feelings on immigration are, but I doubt it. It's refreshing to see a sense of pride, infact the people of Gotland are very proud of their island aswell, I've seen many Gotland flags out all through the year and not once did I feel uncomfortable. It's not about me though, they shouldn't have to care what I feel about this or any other immigrant, it's their island, it's their country, if I didn't like it, I'd fuck off or at least keep my mouth shut.
Anyway, short and sweet.
'Till next time....
1 comment:
yea right with you on that one!
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