General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Are You Dumber than an American? [View all]HiPointDem
(20,729 posts)"but for many Americans, along with the brilliant elite, seems so - senseless."
meaning all americans, including the brilliant elite, seem stupid. which actually makes more sense than any of the other translations offered.
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=auto&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.expressen.se%2Fledare%2Fann-charlotte-marteus%2Fmarteus-ar-du-dummare-an-en-amerikan%2F&act=url
the writer seems kind of stupid herself. she says americans are stupid and believe lies, and the reason is that the long history of capitalism/marketing/advertising makes them suspicious.
which doesn't really make sense, as being suspicious of marketing and advertising is what we usually call "critical thinking".
but americans are "suspicious of reason". but how is suspicion of advertising related to suspicion of reason? when you start thinking about what she's actually saying, it doesn't really make sense.
all is well though, the point of the article is really to compare swedes and americans, find swedes superior, note that american type marketing culture has invaded sweden and encourage swedes to keep to their own 'trusting' culture with its higher degree of social capital.
which doesn't make sense either -- if there's a high sense of trust, people are more likely to believe lies from their leaders and rely less on reason.
it's kind of a mess as an exercise in logic, imo.
just throwaway nationalistic pap of the same type you might find in america, actually.