Conversation

Gavin Deichen
@gdeichen
Replying to
@Triquetrea
Mmm... is that the key? So if *everyone* can survive without working as long as they're incredibly frugal / survive binge-spends by basically doing nothing for the remainder of the month, it doesn't turn people into clueless arseholes?
2
Cinder
@Triquetrea
Replying to
@gdeichen
I think the key thing here is inequality. Norway has relatively low (but rising) domestic inequality, but is basically a trust fund baby at an international level. Norwegians have lots of holiday time and disposable income, and Norway has high immigration.
1
Cinder
@Triquetrea
Replying to
@Triquetrea
and
@gdeichen
Everywhere you go, you are flooded with cheap consumer goods, whilst most countries you could visit, even in richer parts of Europe, exist on a sliding scale of poverty mismanagement compared w/home. It's pretty, chill and well-kept here, messy and stressful and ugly "there".
1
Cinder
@Triquetrea
Replying to
@Triquetrea
and
@gdeichen
So it's easy for Norwegians to fall into the mistaken belief that this isn't a confluence of extreme luck in terms of petrodollars and (mostly) competent political leadership, and rather it's because Norway is, and Norwegians are, very special. See where this is going?
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1
Cinder
@Triquetrea
Replying to
@Triquetrea
and
@gdeichen
And immigrants and migrants and tourists will all tend to agree. Norway is very pretty, very rich, very peaceful. So many foreigners share this special mythology of Norwegian exceptionalism, kinda like most of the world once did with the US and UK.
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Cinder
@Triquetrea
Replying to
@Triquetrea
and
@gdeichen
Of course there are already cracks in this facade. Income growth has stopped rising against cost of living, and we have a private debt bubble of ridiculous proportions growing every year. But many Norwegians still believe this is a very special place and people.
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