The Passion of the Swede

A picture that has been prolific in Swedish social media lately is this snapshot from a catalogue of toys:

This is the marketing material of a purveyor of products aimed at children, and as visible in the picture, the reason for its current viral status is the fact that the gender roles have been inverted in all the pictures.

As the father of two daughters, I am certainly in favour of equal opportunity in all spheres of life - and I generally perceive the dismantling of social and political structures that limit free choice as an excellent development for both the economy and the individual.

Albeit the PR-company that has developed this concept has done a very good job managing to get a catalogue of toys to trend in social media, and in spite of it deserving some criticism for being somewhat too obviously opportunistic in targeting morally anxious middle-class parents, what stands out is something else: the reactions in the user commentary.

"Absolutely wonderful! Finally! :)"
"This is superb!"
"I never expected this, after all attempts it was feeling hopeless. But look! How lovely!"
"Good! Wonderful!!"
"Amazing, I'm sharing this immediately!"
"Finally!"
"He he he, my heart grows warm and happy!"
"Just my feeling, smiling inside!"
"I had been waiting for this..."
"Super"
"Wow! Totally amazing, finally, not a day too soon!"

The list goes on in the same style all over social media. Going by the the unanimous and ecstatic praise one would perhaps associate with unexpected peace in the middle east or a cure for cancer, it is a perfect example of the Swedish psyche: once a value gains moral footing in society, the middle classes will fall over themselves to outdo each other in expressing their alignment with the aforesaid morality.

As stated before (and I am doing it again to protect myself from the furore of my Swedish audience) I am all in favour of equal opportunity and liberalisation from culturally inherited roles for individuals.

The religious certitude of the above quoted commentary is worrying in the sense that it exemplifies how easily large numbers of Swedes can be manipulated and passionately mobilized in favour of various causes as long as they are presented carrying the correct moral value-symbols. The Kony 2012 campaign (a partisan and politically questionable viral YouTube-video) is a recent example of this, where the moral markers "care for third world" and "love the children" were effectively paired with "you can make a difference by sharing this" - accompanied by a grand Hollywood-style soundtrack. Within hours social media was littered with unreflected convictions ("Share this! It will change your life!"). The interesting thing about the Kony campaign was that it's luridness quickly got it called out by various groups who were working to actually make a difference in it's sphere - who responded with viral campaigns of their own. This prompted some muted but apologetic shares of videos countering the Kony emote-fest, sans ecstatic exclamations. What differentiates the Swedish reaction to Kony compared with most other countries was the coordinated excited alignment as per the quotes above, which rapidly switched to coordinated silence when the campaign lost it's moral credentials.

The toy catalogue presents an inversion of roles, not a liberalisation: it merely substitutes one set of roles with a new set of roles. This is acceptable - given that this is just ordinary marketing material half-cleverly capitalizing on the moral convictions of it's target demographic. Albeit unsophisticated, the attempted promotion of gender neutrality most likely has some genuine good intentions complementing the strategic market positioning.

However, this is not about the catalogue or gender equality, Kony or any other specific issue. This is about the Passion of the Swede.
As made apparent with the advent of social media, they will descend on any and all events or trends and lavish unreflected praise on anything being presented with the right moral markers - and destroying anything superficially at odds with those same markers.

Brilliant economist Joseph Schumpeter wrote of the inevitable transition from high-output capitalism to the high-maintenance welfare state, and the corresponding shift of power from accomplishment to entitlement. The free market forces that created the resources required for mass-education were voted out of power by the unaccomplished as soon as their level of education made it possible.
This demographic substitutes activity with activism, a characteristic that in collectivist Sweden has established superficial "questioning" as an integral part of education,  often more highly valued than knowledge.
As long as you question the right things, that is.

As a result, Sweden abounds in half-educated, mediocre, aligned, collective and synchronized moral posing masked as questioning and taking a stand.

Taking a stand requires opposition and force. When everyone is taking the same stand it's really just a bunch of people standing around.