[Historia; Språk] How the Russians brainwashed the Finns into an antipathy against Sweden which is still lasting

Someone posted the claim that Alexander II of Russia had given freedom to the occupied former grand duchy of the Swedish kingdom. This antipathy against Sweden is not new. I've heard it in Sweden, but also in Finland. But as Sweden has been flourishing for the past 3000 years or so, Finland has struggled after Russia's invasion and occupation. By applying Rational entrepreneurial thinking, I conclude that during the occupation of the former Swedish grand duchy, which lasted for a staggering 108 years, the Russians brainwashed the Finns into an antipathy against Sweden which is still lasting. 13 pages.

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Someone posted the following on Facebook:

This is nothing new. My observation, from Sweden and after living seven years in Helsingfors, is that despite Swede's typically show empathy towards Finland, Finns, as well as towards Finland's two languages and cultures, many Finns show antipathy towards Sweden, Swede's, and Swedish language and culture.

“Antipathy is a dislike for something or somebody, the opposite of sympathy. While antipathy may be induced by experience, it sometimes exists without a rational cause-and-effect explanation being present to the individuals involved”.

My observation is that this is prevalent among Uralic Finns – those whose mothers never allowed them to learn Finland's and Sweden's common trade language.

Paradoxically, I have made similar observations of antipathy against Sweden and Swede's among Finns who speak Finland's and Sweden's common trade language. Having said that, the common trade language is also a marker for a common culture and close ties between the countries.

For example, after Russia's president Putin opted to invade its neighbor Ukraine, seeing hundreds of thousands, if not more than a million, boys and men die on the battlefield, Finland and Sweden rushed for a joint application to become members of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This was only possible if the ties between the countries were very close. And it has been that for a very long time.

Probably since king Erik Refilson (~808 -), Finland and Sweden share at least 66 kings and queens, for example, Gustav Vasa (1496 – 1560):

Portrait by Jakob Binck, 1542

Link to source.

In 1550, King Vasa famously founded the trading place Helsingfors, at the bay of Helsingfors (original Helsingforsfjärden or Helsinge fjärd), where the Helsinge river meets the Baltic sea (in 1640, Helsingfors was moved closer to deeper water, and the name of Helsinge river was changed to Vanda river. Therefore, the Helsingforsfjärden was changed to Gammelstadsfjärden (the bay of the old city)).

Interestingly, 'trading place' in Uralic-Finnish is kaupunki, and in Swedish its köping, both originating from the same place – Kaupanger in Norway, which is one of the first trading places in Scandinavia.

King Vasa was famously elected to be the king of Sweden (including the area which since 1917 is referred to as the republic of Finland, which in 1581 became a Swedish grand duchy) in Strängnäs on June 6, 1523.

So on June 6 2023, there was a unique opportunity for Finland and Sweden to jointly celebrate the 500 year anniversary of the election of our King Vasa and the founder of Helsingfors. Instead, two odd things happened.

1. In the Westend of Espo, near the border with Helsingfors, there is a conference center called Hanaholmen.

Link to source.

Hanaholmen was financed by Swedish taxpayers as a concession of the debt Finland incurred when Sweden helped Finland defend itself against the Soviet invasion war. To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the election of King Vasa, the administrators of the conference center did what they typically do – they organized an event. But for some reason they chose to ignore the central figure – our common king Vasa. Instead, the theme of their event was about the situation for women from that time of Vasa until the present:

Link to source. My comment on that and three other events, in Swedish (Österberg, 2023).

2. Four days later, Dan Lolax, a Finnish media contributor with editor responsibilities for the culture section in a local Finnish tabloid called Hufvudstadsbladet, wrote the following:

“Försenade gratulationer Sverige 🇸🇪, önskar Facebookvännen Finland”

Which in English will be:

“Belated congratulations Sweden 🇸🇪, wishes to Facebook friend Finland”

Link to source.

At that time, Lolax and I were both members of the Finnish-Swedish Journalists' Association. Therefore, we met the day after at an event organized by that organization. I asked Lolax:

– are you a Fennoman?

Whereupon he responded:

– I was just joking, and then applied stonewalling, which is a marker for conflict, that one of two parties does not accept that they disagree.

As an expert in emotional social psychology, including facial expressions (Österberg, 2001, 2004), it was obvious for me to conclude that Lolax's response and behavior was a demonstration of how deep antipathy against Sweden and Swedes' goes in many Finns.

Therefore, Finns don't typically joke in a friendly way about Finland's and Sweden's common history, rather the opposite.

Uralic-finns typically recite an anti-Sweden narrative (like Lolax), that Swedes are weak, and that they use the wrong name for certain pastries, and so on.

But here's the catch. Uralic-Finns, due to the lack of opportunity in areas where Uralic-finnish is dominating, some Finns are forced to move to the Swedish kingdom to find a job. But because of their antipathy against Sweden, they never learn to speak Finland's and Sweden's common trade language. That leads to exclusion, which increases the risk of depression, and as a consequence, alcoholism. Therefore, Swedish people know about Finns as someone who is drunk, and speak some incomprehensible version of our common language.

There are two archetypal people for such Finns: The mothers of Markoolio and Pekka Heino.

Markoolios mother Irma grew up in the Uralic-Finnish dominated Lahtis. There, at the age of 19, she became pregnant. But because of the situation in Finland where unemployment was soaring, they had to move to Sweden to find a job. They ended in the outskirts of Stockholm.

There she was offered social welfare, and in order to maximize the revenues, she opted to throw out the children's father, and alienate them from him. She never learned Finland's and Sweden's common trade language, and never found a job. Instead, according to her own testimony, she left her kids at day-care, then used the welfare paycheck to buy alcohol, which was openly displayed for the daycare personnel when she, probably intoxicated, picked up the kids. Fortunately, parental alienation cannot block out genetics. The implication: one of her children became like his father and found a career as the entertainer we know as Markoolia. Instead of a welfare ticket, Irma is now living on her son's money.

The other person is the mother of Pekka Heino, a legendary TV-presenter who for decades worked for Swedish state television (SVT). According to his own testimony, he grew up in the projects with his mother. She, like Irma, refused to integrate into Swedish society, but also, refused to allow Pekka to bring friends home. But worst of all, she refused to tell him who his father was. When he had established his career, the mother showed no sign of pride. Instead, she opted to move back to Finland.

So I wrote an answer to the person who claimed that Russia had given the occupied grand duchy freedom.

Alexander II, just like his predecessors Nicolai and Alexander I, were occupiers.

Before the Russian invasion (1808), what is now called Finland was a grand duchy within the Swedish kingdom (1581 – 1809).

Helsingfors was founded in 1550 by the Swedish King Gustav Vasa (1496 – 1560).

Why did Russia invade the Swedish Kingdom in the first place?

Well, a long time ago (4500 – 4000 years before the present) Yamnaya from lower Volga, close to Astrakhan near the Caspian sea, migrated westwards to Europe. They brought carts and oxen, horses to ride, light skin and hair, as well as [Indo-European] language.

~At the same time, nomadic Uralic tribes [Nenets] from Jakutien in eastern Siberia, migrated westwards. Their phenotype was Asian and they had dark skin. They occupied northern Fennoscandia.

Yamnayas who ended up in the current day Swedish kingdom laid the foundation for a trading kingdom.

~3000 years before the present, they and Yamnayas who lived in today's Baltic states traded amber as far away as Mycenae in Greece, and later with the Etruscans.

Sometime during the current era, the Sveons (Svear and later Swedes) established a trading hub – Roden/Svithjod – between Särkland (Caspian sea), Gårdarike (current day Ukraine), and Holmgård, which the Russians for some reason call Novgorod 🤔, on the one hand, and on the other, the Frankish kingdom.

Tribes in Satakunda (current day Satakunta and Birkaland, current day Finland) applied to become part of this mighty trade kingdom.

1240, Holmgård/Novgorod declared independence from Svithjod due to religious differences.

Svithjod became the most powerful kingdom, some say in the world, controlling the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic Sea. Their language became, and still is, the trade language around the Gulf of Bothnia and the Baltic Sea.

The Russians couldn't take that, and invaded.

In 1863, 54 years into the occupation, Alexander II imposed a Uralic language, which didn't reach a break even until 1910 – 1940. That coincided with the language strife, and Finland, now independent from Russia, started to stagnate.

Today, the antipathy against Sweden, Swedish people and culture, remains strong in Finland. But the consequence is not bad for Sweden, only for Finland. I have gathered a list of 16 markers which signify Finland's challenges, but which, because I'm an expert from Sweden, are ignored by the Finns. Here's the list which yesterday was communicated to the Svenska Folkpartiet during the party congress, which was broadcast on Facebook (translated from Swedish):

1. Finland is marked by Tribalism (Pagel, 2019).
   
   
2. Women's relation aggressiveness (psychological domestic violence) is the big challenge (Helsingfors Police Department, April, 2022).
   
   
3. School is at rock bottom – Too many Finnish kids fail reading comprehension and numeracy (the foundation for rational thinking (Stanovich, 2011, 2016) (The ministry for education and culture, May, 2022). Why? see point 2.
   
   
4. 20% of children and young people born in 1997 or later have mental challenges (Pekkarinen, November 2022).
   
   
5. Between 2007 - 2022: Finland has had a fiscal deficiency (lost money every year); Sweden had a fiscal surplus (earn money every year (Harald, HBL; 2022).
   
   
6. The research at the University of Helsingfors has, and I quote, collapsed (Bäckgren, 2023).
   
   
7. Finland has the highest prevalence of Alzheimer's/dementia in the world: inland has the highest prevalence of Alzheimer's/dementia in the world:

   “The country with the most cases of Alzheimer's Disease is Finland. There are 54.65 cases of Alzheimer's for every 100,000 people in this country. These numbers and statistics put Finland in the extremely high occurrence and high prevalence range for the disease. Interestingly, females are much more likely to have Alzheimer's in Finland than males. For every 100,000 people, Alzheimer's impacts 55.32 females compared to just 52.10 males” (WPR).

8. Finland's rate of Alzheimers is twice as high as neighboring Sweden:
   
   19.9% of Finns who die, die of Dementia, and in particular Alzheimer's disease.
   
   

   

   Prevalence of welfare diseases in Finland.

   
   Among Swedes who die, 9.8% die of Dementia/Alzheimers.
   
   

   

   Prevalence of welfare diseases in Sweden.

   
   
   
   
9. Psychological domestic violence (relational aggressiveness) and lethal violence against small kids has increased (Pekkarinen, November, 2023). Why? see point 2.
   
10. Finland has the highest prevalence of depression within the EU (Estlander, November 2023).
    
    
11. 40% of Finnish schoolchildren are victims of psychological violence in the home (Estlander, November 2023). Psychological domestic violence = relational aggressiveness, which is typically female.
    
    
12. The working climate in Finnish workplaces is poor (Helsinki Times, februari, 2024).
    
    
13. At the Summer Olympics in Paris, Finland took home 0 medals. Sweden: 11 medals (one per million).
    
    
14. 50% of Finnish women and 33% of Finnish men, over 45 years of age, are expected to suffer from a serious brain disease (Finnish Brain Foundation, 2024). They meant Alzheimer's/Dementia.

    “One in two women and one in three men over the age of 45 will develop a serious brain disease during the rest of their lives.
    
    Indirectly, the disease affects even more people – family members, friends and colleagues”.

    
    
    
    
15. Entrepreneurship and innovation thinking are at rock bottom. Why is Sweden doing so much better? (Sitra, December 10, 2024).
    
    
16. Schools have challenges – children are not able to cope with reading comprehension and numeracy (Ministry of Education and Culture, April, 2025). Same as 2022. Why? see point 2.
    
    
17. 73% of Finnish women and 70% of Finnish men are expected to receive a diagnosis of mental/psychiatric illness (University of Helsinki, July, 2025).
    
    
18. Finland's economy is back to 1996 levels (Orpo, July 26, 2025).

Why do I open my mouth about this? Well, because I'm the only person I know who was recruited to Finland twice:

1. In 2007, as a guest lecturer, to teach leadership, decision making, work climate, organizational learning, entrepreneurial thinking, and social creativity for problem-solving, and innovation. This went on until 2018.
   
   
2. In 2018, as a research-leader at the University of Helsingfors, to investigate the future of food production from a perspective of entrepreneurial thinking, which is about the “knowledge structures” that people use to make judgments and decisions that involve the evaluation, creation and growth of opportunities (Cacciolatti och Lee, 2015; Mitchell et al. 2002; Österberg, 2012).

As part of the project, I developed a model – Rational entrepreneurial thinking (Österberg, 2021) which can be used to suppress natural stupidity – our species propensity to rely on information which are either prototypical (Kahneman och Tversky, 1972), available (Tversky och Kahneman, 1973), or just easy to access (Kahneman and Tversky, 1977). This can also be described as Dysrationalia – the inability to think and behave rationally despite adequate intelligence ((Stanovich, 1993).

By applying Rational entrepreneurial thinking, which I claim is a mix of epistemic vigilance (Sperber et al. 2010), numeracy (Brooks och Pui, 2010), and disjunctive reasoning (Stanovich, 2009), I conclude that during the occupation of the former Swedish grand duchy, which lasted for a staggering 108 years, the Russians brainwashed the Finns into an antipathy against Sweden which is still lasting.

Reading tips about aggressive antipathy against Swedish experts (In Swedish):

1. Finlandssvenska barnrättsdagar 2025. Estlander förbjuder & bjuder in? mig – experten – från att delta. Chat Gtp: don't take it personally (it’s often more about them than you)
   
   
2. Henrika Backlund använder semantisk inversion/ konotypisk namngivning för att påstå saker om mig som mest liknar förtal. Är hon lämplig som verksamhetsledare för Finlands svenska idrott?
   
   
3. Nutrition psychology. On the risk of meeting Finnish people with mental health issues. Another sad case.
   
   
4. How I, despite living it the "happiest country in the world", became a victim of the bad Apple effect (case 2).
   
   
5. Finlandssvenska barnrättsdagarna 2024. Ett referat med kommentarer och slutsatser om en het politisk potatis.
   
   
6. Finlandssvenska Barnrättsdagarna 2023. Del 1. Ett referat och jämförelse med etablerad vetenskap.
   
   
7. AgendaPride: All straight panel. Ted Uhros påstående om transidentitet är falsk. The bad Apple effect.

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