Tre Kronor

Often I feel at odds with the culture in which I live.  I feel like I don’t fit in, really, and I wonder if there isn’t another culture, somewhere on Earth, where I would fit in and feel more natural being myself.

Currently America is a society of shameless self-promoters.  I am not that.  I have never been that.  I am not loud and attention seeking.  I’m quiet and contemplative.  Unfortunately, celebrity seems to be more important than concepts.  Our national cult of personality creates celebrities out of people with no discernible talent other than self-promotion.  It’s more about who you are than what you do. 

This doesn’t seem to be a standard for all cultures.  Within the recent increase in press about introversion and introverts, this topic regularly comes up.  When it does, countries like Japan and Sweden are touted as respecting introverted qualities more than in America.  Maybe I should move to one of those countries.

The religiosity of this country is also troubling to me.  Though I was raised in a Jewish home, I am an atheist, a humanist.  I prefer reason and empiricism to faith.  I prefer decisions based on rationalism than on dogma.  I’d rather think than believe.  Unfortunately, that puts me at odds with the majority of Americans.

While I would like our country to be a nation of secular laws where all citizens can worship or not as they’d like, not everyone here seems to agree with that.  There are a large number of mostly conservative politicians who are simultaneously decrying the actions of fundamentalist Islam while seeking to codify fundamentalist Christian dogma into US law.  I don’t understand the cognitive dissonance necessarily to hold both ideas in their heads at once: that “their” fundamentalism is bad but “ours” is good.  Again, I try to live my life based on reason, not on faith.

When I participate in social news sites such as Reddit and Fark, which often have an international user base, the European contributors are shocked by how religious Americans seem to be and are appalled by how anti-reason and anti-science Americans of faith tend to be.  While the majority of Europeans are of the Christian faith, many of them seem to be Christmas and Easter Christians rather than those who are fully immersed in their faith.  Religion seems to have less impact on the way of life in European countries than in the US.  In fact, when these discussions arise, Sweden seems to be more humanist than many countries.

Sweden, again.  Interesting.  A secular nation that respects quiet.  What else about Sweden could be appealing to me?  Well, Opeth, Ghost, Cult of Luna, Meshuggah, Witchcraft, Graveyard, Bathory, Sabaton, Amon Amarth, Candlemass, Grand Magus, In Flames, and At the Gates just to mention a few.  That’s an inordinate number of metal bands for a nation of about 9.5 million.

So, Sweden: a nation of secular introverts who listen to metal.  Despite my aversion to snow, ice, and cold weather in general, maybe that’s where I should be.  Though I was born American, perhaps, spiritually, I’m Swedish.