NuclearVision wrote@ewizzard remind me how much you've lived in Sweden or North Korea, if you haven't it's not fair to compare.
That's like saying that medical doctors can't be oncologists if they never experience cancer themselves. Even if I did live in both Sweden and North Korea for 20 years, it wouldn't change the facts about both countries at hand, so that argument is meaningless.
NuclearVision wrotei suppose you mean that Sweden is more civilized(?) because they have more money ? Because they never had to engage a real war? Because it has one of the highest suicide rate? IMO this is a fake civilization, people tend to be aggressive everywhere, suiciding isn't an aggressive act?
I find it strange that you brought up suicide of all things and used it as a pivot to point out that Swedes are no different from other people, but I'll tag along. The vast majority of suicides in Sweden are the result of unchecked mental disorders (such as clinical depression). How do you compare that with self-immolations by protesting monks in Tibet, seppukus in Japan, or suicide bombings in Lebanon? Do you even know how many different types and possible causes of suicides there are? Please note that this doesn't mean that only Swedes get to kill themselves by being depressed, it just means that this whole argument about humans being "universal" is plain stupid. Humans sharing similar traits among themselves (genetic, psychological, etc.) does not imply that all human beings behave and react in the exact same way in a given situation or moral dilemma. This is just ignoring a whole lot of background and context, thus being lazy by grossly oversimplifying the subject.
rolf wroteThat's a consequence of the political system in place. It's not social norms.
You don't see the relation? If slavery is a consequence of the political system as you put it, then that describes a state that holds total authority over society and does so by imposing its own social norms upon the people. Also known as totalitarianism.
rolf wroteI don't know much about either the Swedish or the [North] Korean society and culture, so I wouldn't be able to answer your question anyway, from a social perspective, but I'm sure there are things to be found in common.
Highly unlikely given that they're practically polar opposites, and if there are they'd be only vaguely significant (e.g. birth rates) but please tell us when you've found them anyway.
rolf wroteTake for example somebody from Singapore and somebody from Lebanon (this is a case where I have a little more knowledge). The social similarities that you will find, regarding things such as women reputation and perception can be striking.
Care to elaborate?
rolf wroteMy opinion is that there are differences but there are similarities as well. In Lebanon, I was exposed to many stereotypes about other people. When I traveled a little out of Lebanon I was surprised by the similarities (which sometimes went against the stereotypes), and i'm betting you would be be too.
If it's worth anything, I found little similarities between the Lebanese and the British (not the illegal immigrants). At the most basic level, I know that all the Brits I've met can take a joke at their expense (stereotypical or otherwise) and are generally open to discussing taboo subjects without defaulting to some weird preconceived notion. In contrast, we Lebanese are much faster at taking jokes personally and starting fights, and most of us default to some fantasy-tale-turned news-turned-future-prediction we heard from Abou RĂ©mone when he was half-way between beating his kids and stealing the reserves in our water tanks. This is of course just one example, but I can confidently say that, in my experience at least, the differences consistently outnumbered the similarities.