The Best Low Self-esteem Country in the World

Finland was recently voted (or rated, rather) best country in the world to live in by Newsweek. Countries were ranked according to a number of criteria, with the specific aim of establishing the best place to be born into at the present time. Finland emerged on top, the article citing factors such as stability, equality and education as the main causes. The national reaction to all this was bizarre, one which in all its  perplexing self-vilification  speaks more about our nations true character than any comparative study ever could.

You would expect the populace to rise up in red-faced rabble only when their national pride is insulted. Not us though. We as a nation react to news of success like a gothic teenager to a surprise party with pointy hats and a Pinata (ingratitude and outspoken annoyance, that is). Ours is not a culture of compliments or commendation, it is perhaps at best one of mild, introverted self-satisfaction over achieving something while not making much of a fuss about it. Those with money don't wave it around and those with something clever or intelligent to say usually keep it to themselves. If for no other reason, then because showing one's superiority over others is tantamount to social suicide.

This all leads up to the fact that we are genetically not programmed to receiving any kind of veneration, as is made evident from these examples out of the many similar responses to our biggest newspapers initial article about the whole issue:

"This is stupid idealism at its best. I know many who would gladly trade some political stability for just a bit more sunshine"

"When closely examining the article, it's easy to notice that it's mostly economic factors which shine through, meaning that capitalism is the only thing that is REALLY doing well in Finland." (Complete and utter bullshit, FYI)

"Finland is the best country in the world. All we are missing is love, happiness, warmth, soulfulness, originality, color, creativity, emotional intelligence and excitement. Newsweek is a shitty publication"


There might even be some truth in some of these statements, it's the outright rejection if the idea that we could amount to anything that surprises me. Now, its easy to use the anonymity of the internet to be retarded, but one did sense that the media itself was not all that ready to accept the verdict. The shit finally hit the fan when it became apparent that due to an initial calculation error, scores had to be slightly altered on the Newsweek web page. Due to this small correction, we gained a narrow win over Switzerland. (Interesting note: This clerical error, as far as I've read, went quite unreported in any other country except ours).

This probably explainable and harmless incident became a much bigger story than the original article, with allegations of cover-ups and incompetence on the part of Newsweek being thrown around in all the big newspapers. It finally seemed we got off the hook. No-one seemed to be keen to postulate why on earth Newsweek would alter the results to favor us, all that mattered was that we could once again commiserate.

All the complainers clearly have never had to deal with scumbag landlords of rat-infested apartments in Amsterdam, having your favorite shop closed by the Mafia in Milan or witness a 5 year old covered in filth scrounging for food in the middle of the street in New Delhi. It does kind of anger me to see people so unappreciative of what they have, but one must admit it is part of human nature. I know Finland is far from perfect and one must never become complacent with the status quo, but never being happy for what you have means never being satisfied with anything. Being "the best country in the world to live in" does NOT mean we should all automatically be happy and successful. It means anyone has the potential to become happy and successful, regardless of your social or economic background. And that, my fellow miserable fucks, is the best (and at times, admittedly, only) good thing about Finland.