Having lived and worked in several countries, I think the concept of Jantelagen is rooted in the Protestant Reformation more than it being a specifically Nordic thing. Not only does it fit well with the general premise of the Protestant worldview, all countries that were early converts seem to have ingrained that particular perspective (under various names) in their collective cultures.

Thanks for sharing these gems. I can almost feel the exasperation in some of the emails and their replies.

What can they do? How about making the cellular models modular? 3G goes bust? Swap the modem for a 4G one next time the car is in for service.

That’s the worst part imho. We should hold Ford accountable and demand that money back if they unilaterally decide to axe the plan we collectively funded.

Remember how we used to think people should retire in old age, instead of running a country? Pepperidge farm remembers.

It’s a good thing the Republican leadership is as incompetent as they are morally bankrupt, but that doesn’t mean they haven’t managed to stumble their way into pushing the US to the brink of a dictatorship. As the KGB used to say, a lot of them are “useful idiots” which can be orchestrated by careful external manipulation.

I’m not onboard with that conspiracy, as there were certainly attempts on his life throughout his reign. But I do agree with the relevancy of that Sun Tzu quote.

By 1943 Hitler was making such poor decisions it would’ve actually benefited the Nazi war effort if he had been removed from power.

That last part is the terrifying bit, honestly. Trump is an egomaniac with the attention span of a toddler. He’s an unguided projectile of spite and vanity.

Imagine someone competent filling his shoes with the unprecedented powers that were recently granted by the supreme court and the rabid MAGA fanbase behind them.

The potential for lasting damage goes (even further) off the scale. I shudder to think what that might actually look like.

Honestly, in the event Biden loses, the best hope the US has is Trump’s general incompetence.

What makes you say that? He is clearly promising a lot of things to happen, and he’s confirmed he would be a dictator “the first day”.

I know politicians bullshit a lot, but I am not so sure he doesn’t intend to follow through on at least some of the very outlandish shit he’s promised so far.

True, but Göteborg has its own areas to avoid. Hjällbo comes to mind…

High pay means nothing when the cost of living is even higher. Making 20 bucks an hour sounds great until you have to pay 3000 bucks in rent each month.

Talk about a terrible way to go. For everyone involved. That’s a lot of people that’ll need trauma counseling for sure.

That’s an astute observation and you’re probably right. Doesn’t rule out someone f’ing up IRL but it makes the whole thing less believable for sure.

This looks like an average road in the Netherlands. The only thing that seems odd is the lack of a bike lane, but otherwise this is pretty mundane over there.

You’re looking for a reason but refuse to accept one when provided. The reason assistance in dying is not suicide is blatantly obvious; the definition of suicide is an act in which one person takes their own life. End of sentence. Adding another person makes it a different act, and whether you like it or not, at least the legal system agrees on this.

I’m done debating this. Have a good day.

No, it’s common parlance that attempts to avoid previous words associated with stigma.

That’s not entirely honest - you’re also trying to argue that having this option is not a good or valid option (you called “debatable”) and are trying to steer the conversation by creating a false equivalency between assistance in dying and suicide, which are not the same thing.

I fully agree with your example - someone unaliving themselves on a deserted island committed suicide. Never said they didn’t.

What I said, and what you’re conveniently omitting, is that suicide is an act by an individual, there is no other party to the unaliving. This is not the case in assistance in dying, and there’s very good legal reason why we consider these distinct from eachother, and from murder (to your earlier point).

Even if we forget the traumatic angle I brought up earlier, surely you must see the difference between an act that involves one party and an act that involves two parties with express intent and consent.

What you’re trying to do is the same as arguing masturbation and sex are the same thing because they end with the same result (orgasm).

I’m absolutely worried this will get taken advantage of in the US’ hellscape that is their healthcare system, but that doesn’t mean the concept is without merit.

It’s like arguing that cars should not be available for purchase because someone might use one irresponsibly, while forgetting their utility outside of abuse.

In a healthcare system that optimizes outcome instead of profit, having the option to allow someone to choose to end their suffering should not be considered a bad thing.

We have a great term for the realm between murder and suicide - assistance in dying.

It bridges the gap between the definition of murder (where one party unalives the other party against their consent) and suicide (where one party unalives themselves with intent) by having the person looking to be unalived explicitly expires their intent and consent for the other party to assist them.

I feel as if you’re trying to create a false equivalency to undermine the validity of this option.

And as to whether this is less traumatic than suicide - you have got to be kidding or you’ve never had to deal with the reality of someone committing suicide versus someone choosing assistance in dying.

One generally involves a lot of shock and someone finding a dead body in some state, the other is generally a peaceful affair where loved ones say their goodbyes before the person peacefully falls asleep for the last time.

They are nowhere near the same thing for the survivors and you claiming otherwise is an insult to both. And if you can’t see the difference between these two options I’m frankly done debating this with you.

That’s both debatable on a semantic level (is it really suicide if it’s assisted?) and not how I intended the use of the term.

What I tried to say is that this option is less traumatic than non-assisted options for ending your existence and comes with less risk of injury to bystanders to boot.