[quote]TC wrote:
Hey, give my countrymen a break.
[/quote]Any group of people that can kick the Nazi Wermacht out of their country with a bunch of riflemen on skis, and withstand two Russian invasions without caving in and becoming a Soviet satellite, has got my total respect.
[quote]PredatorOC wrote:
TC wrote:
Hey, give my countrymen a break.
They don’t have much experience with crime (really).
You’re talking about a place where quite literally no one locks their doors, and if you leave your wallet on a park bench, you can come back the next day and it’ll still be there.
They’ve got quite the tradition of honesty and they take honor very seriously.
It’s true that crime here is not what it is in US for example. But things seem to be getting worse in the cities.
In the city I live in, we have our share of crime and rather severe drug and alcohol problems. No one ever leaves anything unlocked or unattended. Violence is quite prominent in the night life since sentences for assaults are usually lenient.
But in the countryside everything changes. For example, my gym is located in a barn on my cousins farm some 12 miles away from the city. I usually leave my car unlocked and the keys in the ignition and I can still be confident it will be there when I come back. Thats one reason I prefer to keep my equipment there. It is quite a relaxing environment.
Yes, unfortunately in the big cities (by our standards) crime is getting worse. And the smaller places seem to be catching up. A few weeks ago in Ylivieska - a town with a population of about 13 000 - a drugged up idiot stabbed an old man in the throat for no reason whatsoever. Luckily the guy didn’t die, and I think the junkie was caught.
On a happier note, a friend of mine told me a while back how she and her family came back home after being away for the weekend and found (in the house they’d left unlocked) a drinking glass standing on the kitchen table next to a small amount of money and a note thanking them for a refreshing glass of water.
[quote]Doberman wrote:
On a happier note, a friend of mine told me a while back how she and her family came back home after being away for the weekend and found (in the house they’d left unlocked) a drinking glass standing on the kitchen table next to a small amount of money and a note thanking them for a refreshing glass of water.[/quote]
That’s awesome.
However, if that happened to me here in America, I’d probably freak out and grab my gun assuming the psycho-glass-of-water-serial-killer is still in my house…
[quote]Bauer97 wrote:
Doberman wrote:
On a happier note, a friend of mine told me a while back how she and her family came back home after being away for the weekend and found (in the house they’d left unlocked) a drinking glass standing on the kitchen table next to a small amount of money and a note thanking them for a refreshing glass of water.
That’s awesome.
However, if that happened to me here in America, I’d probably freak out and grab my gun assuming the psycho-glass-of-water-serial-killer is still in my house…[/quote]
I heard this story once but it also involved a camera and a toothbrush.
[quote]BarneyFife wrote:
florin wrote:
Northern Europe is one of the most laid back places on Earth. Crime rate is so low, you need to practice Magnificent Mobility for 3 months before you can pick it up from wherever it fell down. People over there just don’t get the concept of crime because it’s so rare.
In the US, cops will shoot you if you do 100mph on the freeway and don’t stop. Whereas Ghost Rider runs the distance between Stockholm and Uppsala at an AVERAGE speed of 170mph (270km/h) and is a freakin’ national hero.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2265073516417312732
OK, the “national hero” thing is technically an exaggeration, but not by much.
It’s a very different world.
Northern Europe being scandanavian countries?
To my understanding, german police carry uzi’s, (the big, military grade kind), and will gladly cut you in half with them.
[/quote]
Barney, Hitler has been dead for over 60 years and the wall fell 17 years ago. I don’t know where you got that from, but I have never seen any German or Swiss cop carrying an automatic weapon. In fact, not even all the cops carry handguns. Also, police shootings are much rarer than in the US.
However, the rate is rising, and I think there won’t be much of a difference anymore in 10-20 years.
[quote]Zap Branigan wrote:
Bauer97 wrote:
Doberman wrote:
On a happier note, a friend of mine told me a while back how she and her family came back home after being away for the weekend and found (in the house they’d left unlocked) a drinking glass standing on the kitchen table next to a small amount of money and a note thanking them for a refreshing glass of water.
That’s awesome.
However, if that happened to me here in America, I’d probably freak out and grab my gun assuming the psycho-glass-of-water-serial-killer is still in my house…
I heard this story once but it also involved a camera and a toothbrush.[/quote]
Wasn’t there also a skillet with a shit in it?
Quite frequently, my wife and I will get up in the morning and realize that we left the garage door wide open and on occasion, even the front door. We’ve also closed and locked the front door on numerous occasions only to find out that the keys are still in the lock (on the outside), with the car keys attached - And we live in the suburbs of NYC! Then again, I can drive 3 miles and be in a part of town where I wouldn’t want to be walking around after 10 pm. Funny thing, that crime.
DB
They just caught the guy who escaped near Helsinki. I’m not sure if he was even trying to get out of the country.
I also learned, and this I guess is the punchline for the story, that he has escaped FOUR times before in the past. And they still put him in a minimum security prison from which he was just able to walk out from.
Maybe they thought he was tired of escaping? That might actually work. Let your inmates run away so many times that they get bored of it.
[quote]PredatorOC wrote:
They just caught the guy who escaped near Helsinki. I’m not sure if he was even trying to get out of the country.
I also learned, and this I guess is the punchline for the story, that he has escaped FOUR times before in the past. And they still put him in a minimum security prison from which he was just able to walk out from.
Maybe they thought he was tired of escaping? That might actually work. Let your inmates run away so many times that they get bored of it.
The real punchline for me is that that shit actually seems to work and Americans will never,ever get why…
Three strikes and you`re out, mandatory minimums, war on drugs, tough on crime and with what result?
Seems like the more you push them, the more they seem to push back , but if you are consistently civilized, polite and grown-up with them, they run out of options…
[quote]orion wrote:
The real punchline for me is that that shit actually seems to work and Americans will never,ever get why…[/quote]
Well yes and no. It works on some people. It works on those who get into trouble for the first time and are scared by the experience, but don’t stay in the system for too long. So they don’t become hardened criminals by staying in prison for years.
But obviously there are those who it doesn’t work for. I know plenty of individuals who get away with very violent crimes with a slap on the wrist and only do it again and again.
For example Finland has the highest homicide rate per capita in Western Europe. Leniency has not changed that. But I do not think severity is the right answer either. Quite frankly I don’t know what would work.
It seems to me that going after drug users is not wise. It just fills the prisons with people who have not hurt anyone else but themselves. It also creates black markets with high prices and crime to meet those high prices. If someone wants to waste their body and mind away with drugs, than thats their own chosen hell.
I don’t think you can have a police force like that. A monopoly on violence brings with it power and power will corrupt.
For example here in Finland its constantly touted that we have little or no police corruption. That our police are civilized and professional. But it doesn’t reflect reality. I have seen a cop try to pick a fight with a friend of mine just because he felt he wasn’t respectful enough (he was screaming ‘Go on, try something!’ to him a few inches away from his face). I have seen a friend come out of police custody with bruises he didn’t have when he went in. Just last month I watched a police car go into oversteer to turn around in a small space on a shopping mall parking lot. Problem is that they didn’t seem to be in a hurry and there was a family of four a few feet from the car.
I know many people see the social democratic model in the nordic countries as being almost flawless. There are great benefits, I can’t deny that. But there are also many downsides that never seem to be talked about. Corruption being one of them, since no one wants to believe it exists.
And it worries me, because our president gets approval ratings similar to Kim Jong-Il and the press is constantly reporting about studies about how Finland is the best place to live in. Oh, and did I mention that the state owns various media outlets over here? But I’m sure they will tell us the whole truth and tell the world the whole truth about us…
I ramble too much.
[quote]PredatorOC wrote:
I ramble too much.
But I’m still reading, so feel free to continue.
Jeez, Predator. You really put the “Hell” in Helsinki, don’t you? Haha.
Kim Jong-Il, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Tarja Halonen… Who knew? I guess the US had better invade and effect a little “regime change”, then we can get a few military contractors to build you some decent prisons.
I am kidding, of course. Our 10th Mountain Division would stand no chance at all against the combined onslaught of Finland’s crack ski troops, bicycle troops, and Santa Claus.
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
Our 10th Mountain Division would stand no chance at all against the combined onslaught of Finland’s crack ski troops, bicycle troops, and Santa Claus.[/quote]
Hah! That was your first mistake, you putative invader person! The Finns are sneakier than that. They have no mountains:-)
TQB
[quote]Varqanir wrote:
Kim Jong-Il, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Tarja Halonen… Who knew? I guess the US had better invade and effect a little “regime change”, then we can get a few military contractors to build you some decent prisons.[/quote]
Haven’t you heard? Halonen is refining uranium for ‘peaceful’ energy needs. Yet she keeps talking about how the evil patriarchal fascists of the west want to destroy us.
I actually had a theoretical argument about this with an American friend (former marine) a few years ago. I don’t recall exactly how it went, but I remember my main argument being that the US would be in a mess if they stayed. Around 70% of our landmass is forest and a little under 10% is water. So any US occupation would be effectively restricted to the large cities and the south of the country.
In a conventional war the US would obviously win. All the Finnish army could do would be to grab all the small arms, explosives and supplies it can carry and run into the nearest forest.