Brexit Day

At 12 AM (midnight) CET tonight, January 31^st, 2020, the United Kingdom leaves the European Union.

In commemoration of this solemn occasion Bock MacMillan, the Much Honored Laird of Southern Charm, prince of Cascade Falls, etc, etc, has issued the following statement.

"A slim majority of Britons voted to leave the European Union in a referendum in 2016 (51,89%) and again in the general election 2019, which was to a great extent focused on the Brexit issue. The Conservative party (who supported Brexit), won 365 of the 650 seats in the Parliament, thus a very comfortable majority. 

In my opinion, it is a sad occasion which I believe the Brits will come to regret. To me, the EU has always mainly stood for a peace project. An effort to bring together "the usual suspects" (i.e. Germany, France United Kingdom, and Italy) and the smaller European countries to work on joint projects and solutions of common issues with the goal of peaceful coexistence in the longterm. 

It is unfortunate that the UK now leaves the community due to a resurgence of nationalism, populism, and isolationism. The question of whether the Brits have been misinformed or lead astray is now moot. We must accept the results of their will as it has been clearly expressed. 

I wish the Brits all the best for the future."

So, It's The Swedish National Day...

... and we don't really give much of a damn because - as most of the old countries in the world - it's not really a big deal here.

Sure since 2005 we get a day off from work, because the politicians thought we should celebrate it more, and our royalties are busy handing out Swedish flags to various deserving organisations all day.

But nah, we still don't think its anything to celebrate. Swedes aren't big on nationalism. We certainly like our country but it's not at all a big deal as with some other nations.

If we heard somebody try to launch political slogans as "Sweden First" or "Make Sweden Great Again" most of us would probably laugh our asses off until we peed in our pants.

Zlatan, Volvo & Wilderness

Music by: Zlatan Ibrahimović featuring Day - "Du gamla, Du fria" (The Swedish National Anthem)
Produced by Max Martin

Clip description:
"Sweden is our home. Mountains, vast forests, long distances, sun, rain, darkness, snow and ice. This inspires and challenges us when we develop our cars. The Swedish wilderness is our heritage and it is here we find our strength. Just like Zlatan Ibrahimović. This is our celebration of Sweden."

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Zlatan (the son of a Bosnian father and a Croatian mother who individually emigrated to Sweden, where they met each other, fell in love, married and built a family), is undoubtedly the most widely loved Swede living today, although his "Swedishness" is disputed by a small clique of xenophobic extreme nationalist. 

Zlatan is a professional footballer who at the moment plays for the French club Paris Saint-Germain and the Swedish national team. He has previously played for the Swedish club Malmö FF, the Dutch club Ajax, the Italian clubs Juventus, Inter Milan and A.C. Milan and the Spanish club Barcelona (briefly). Zlatan is regarded to be one of the best footballers of his generation in the world.

Volvo is a Swedish multinational manufacturing company headquartered in Gothenburg, Sweden. Its principal activity was the production, distribution and sale of cars, trucks, buses, and construction equipment. In 1999 the car division, Volvo Car Corporation, was sold to the American Ford Motor Company, who in turn sold it to the Chinese motor manufacturer Geely Automobile (owned by the Chinese Zhejiang Geely Holding Group) in 2010.

Notwithstanding these facts, Volvo Cars is still a Swedish company with its headquarter based in Sweden and its production in Sweden and Belgium. (Some cars are also produced in China, but exclusively for the Chinese market.)

So Zlatan, driving in a Volvo and cavorting about in the empty Swedish wilderness while rapping the Swedish national anthem, kissing and cuddling a blonde woman and blonde children after taking a sauna in a log cabin in the woods and jumping into an ice hole afterwards is about as Swedish as you can get - at least for 95% of the population in Sweden. We love it and ignore the clique who don't.

The only thing "un-Swedish" about this commercial is that Zlatan is actually wearing trunks when he jumps into the ice hole, no decent Swede would ever do that. It's pure blasphemy against everything that is sacred, nature should be met in the flesh as every Swede knows! 

The Swedish Hijab-Rebellion

A pregnant Muslim woman was recently knocked down on a street in Stockholm and had her headscarf ("hijab") pulled off by the assailant. Following the assault women who wear the veil testified that they are often subjected to name-calling and harassment of the most vile kind, both Islamophobic and misogynistic.

The incident lead to the so called "hijab-rebellion", in which women from all walks of Swedish society, wishing to show solidarity and "normalize" the wearing of hijab, started posting pictures of themselves in veils on social media channels like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. You name it, it was everywhere.

This "rebellion" lead to a counteraction from a combination of strange bedfellows, militant feminists and xenophobic ultranationalists on the far right of the political spectrum. They claim that the hijab is a sign of a patriarchal cultural and religious tradition of male oppression and control of women and is a tool to curtail women's freedom to dress as they chose and to express their sexuality. They also claim that it is counterproductive to integration as it creates barriers against the surrounding majority culture. Some even go so far as to say, that by wearing the veil in a Western culture the women are doing exactly the opposite of what they claim they wish to achieve, i.e not to draw attention to themselves.

Throughout Europe we are also receiving reports that young Muslim women are starting to don the veil for various reasons, some as a political statement or as a protest against the exploitation of female nudity in the Western cultures. There may be even more reasons.

I find myself a bit lost in all the rhetoric. As far as I am concerned the hijab in itself is most definitely a powerful symbol of male oppression and control and of a traditional chastity culture. However, I wouldn't dream of ever trying to regulate what a woman may or may not wear, just as I would not wish to regulate the length of her skirts or infringe on her complete right to her own body and sexuality.

Any woman should be allowed to dress as she chooses, for whatever reason. Just live with it and accept it!

Sweden's National Day

June 6 is Sweden's National Day, the Swedish Flag's Day and the International Kiss-A-Swede Day in SecondLife.

The two first will be celebrated in a slightly self-conscious manner all over Sweden (Unlike many other nationalities we Swedes always feel a bit apprehensive with overt displays of patriotism or nationalism - except when it comes to sport.) As you have already been informed, the laird has capriciously decided to cancel the celebration of the third International Kiss-A-Swede Day in SecondLife due to "bad weather".

All please stand up for what should rightfully be made the Swedish National Anthem if the world was a just and righteous place.

I Feel Best In Open Landscapes
music and lyrics by Ulf Lundell (lyrics translated to English by Bock McMillan)

I feel best in open landscapes, close to the sea I want to live

A few months troughout the year, so I can get peace within

I feel best in open landscapes, where winds are blowing full

Where the larks fly free up to the sky, and singing wonderful

There I make my own aquavit, and flavor it with St. John´s Wort

And drink it with pleasure, with herring and homemade bread

I feel best in open landscapes, close to the sea I want to live.

I feel best in peace and freedom, for both body and soul

No one comes too close to me, who shuts in and steals

I feel best when the day is breaking, where fields are filled with light

When cocks crow far away, where it´s far to the closest house

But still so close, that one quiet silent night

When you're sitting under the stars, you can still hear the laughter

I feel best in peace and freedom, for both body and soul

I feel best when the sea is swelling, and gulls are crying high

When the beach is filled with seashells, with the oceans sound inside

When the clear and the simple, can exist the way it wants

Where yes is yes, and no is no, and doubt is lying low

Then I tie a ring of leafs, and lay it on the closest rock

Where runes were cut for our sake, once so long ago

I feel best when the sea is swelling, and the gulls are crying high

I feel best in open landscapes, close to the sea I want to live.