Sweden, according to this diagram from the World Values Survey. Somehow I'm not surprised! I do still love IKEA and Swedish meatballs. Just ate them today. Yeah, I get in touch with my bugman side now and then:) Honestly with ALL the Christmas markets cancelled this year, the only place to visit in the Advent period is IKEA so I'm planning to go there soon...
Monday, October 26, 2020
Which Country Is The Most Liberal?
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Oh, that's easy: Canada.
ReplyDeleteBecause Canada lets every first-rate and second-rate world power roll right over it and occasionally considers letting the third-rate world powers do that as well.
BTW, I love messing with Canada like this as well as calling it "America's hat that keeps it warm and protected from Russian bears", at least when I'm not calling Canada "The Maple Leaf State".
Now that I'm in America, I have to have another country to replace the Belgians, and North America has delivered! :-)
Sweden may turn out the winner of this year's International Laissez Faire Global Health Fair though, so there's that. :-)
Do you get real Swedish moose meatballs from Ikea?
The American locations don't sell moose meat.
Hi! I do think there are some inconsistencies in the picture. Like no way Poland is less right-wing than Ireland, a country where the majority voted for abortion, while in Poland it is prohibited by law. I also don't get what they mean exactly by "survival values", is it more collectivist vs more individualistic?
ReplyDeleteAs for Belgium, from what I've seen about them, again, no way they are less liberal than my country. We have pockets of fundie Christians while Belgian Catholics are quite liberal, their laws are more liberal as well.
They are probably right about Sweden, though. They don't have any lockdowns exactly because they are so liberal. It's simply not in their nature to ENFORCE anything, even for the public good:)
I think IKEA does sell packaged moose meat in their supermarket, but their meatballs are pork/chicken usually. However, this week I got mine from Lidl, they aren't the same brand but the taste was very familiar:) It reminded me of the good old times when you could still eat out, including at IKEA restaurant (which my husband hates, btw. He thinks IKEA is beneath his dignity but goes there with me. He's sweet like this:)
"It's simply not in their nature to ENFORCE anything ..."
ReplyDeleteThat's more laissez faire than liberal though.
I'd actually admire it if Swedes didn't also enforce various forms of liberalist stupidity as a counterbalance to all of the laissez faire they're rocking.
"It reminded me of the good old times when you could still eat out ..."
Visit Sunny Florida, where the restaurants are open!
Take your husband to Golden Corral where he can gain additional experience with his social status meter. The food is fairly decent, especially that it's an "all-you-can-eat" restaurant (as opposed to an "all-you-should-eat" restaurant), but the experience is a bit People of Walmart sometimes.
Get him ready to lower his expectations with a lunch at Taco Bell first, and then you should visit a Walmart before dinner. :-)
Not all of the touristy stuff in Florida consists of going to Mickey Mouse World and beaches, BTW.
Also, in America you can tell how long an Ikea has been open by how far they've drifted from Swedish standards of service into worse than local habits.
There are Ikea locations in America with absolutely diabolical service and with equally diabolical wait times.
BTW, I mentioned the moose meat because authentic Swedish meatballs are made with moose.
The Swedish meatballs sold in America at Ikea are made of beef and chicken (unless that's changed recently).
But the caff is nice to visit for the double chocolate pie and the Swedish coffee, even if it's a bit out of the way now. :-)
Lidl is starting to spread across parts of America, but they don't carry the cheap Polish stuff that I'd come to expect in the UK. At American Lidl locations, the cheap stuff appears to be all from Germany.
That should give you a brief glimpse into how absurd American food prices are for many things.
But no trip to Florida would be complete without going to Publix and Winn-Dixie. :-)
Laissez faire as in libertarian? I know that Americans consider libertarians to be right-wing, but I'd say they are a subdivision of liberalism. Hard right is about blood, soil, tradition and hierarchy, which are hardly libertarian values.
ReplyDeleteIt's awfully nice of you to invite us to Florida, may be one day...In the meanwhile, why don't you visit continental Europe? Our IKEA has cinnamon rolls and almond pie (gluten free!), you'd love them!
Lidl has never sold any Polish stuff over here, but they don't need to, since we have Polish corner stores at every corner:) We are practically a Polish colony. Yesterday a big supermarket carried an ad in 2 languages: Dutch and Polish.
Lidl has some new ethnic products every week, last week it was all about Greece, this week it's Scandinavian, sometimes it's German or British or Middle Eastern. They also often carry vegan/biological/organic products. They usually have special offers every week.