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Apr. 18th, 2011 12:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
unikorentoToday has not started out well.
The parliamentary elections are over, and it seems that our brand spanking new xenophobic party of dumbasses has climbed it's way from the gutter to actually hauling in the third most votes. The three big parties now in charge of the country are Kokoomus (i.e the business is love and yay for "freedom of the individual" party), the social-democrats (i.e we've been in government since the war and are mostly interested in maintaining the status quo party) and perussuomalaiset (the lalalala we hate foreigners party).
Most of the time, I'm quite happy with the way Finnish government works. I far from agree with the agenda of all the parties, but I've always felt represented, if not by a party in government, then at least by a vocal opposition party. Mostly, it all works. Consensus is reached, and everyone gets a say. Slowly, but surely, advances are made in the more or less right direction.
Finnish politics is(was?) mostly sensible and boring, and focused on the issues themselves as opposed to the people around them. It's not perfect, but it feels fair. But this new party? This is not politics. This is... fear-mongering. Cheating, damnit! This is not how we do things! We do not haul in votes by freaking people out and pretending that your inability to engage in proper debate makes you "a man of the people". We do not do popular politics or use tear-jerking, pompous national romantic rhetoric to evoke an emotional response and steer attention away from the fact that you have nothing constructive to contribute.
Finland. I love you, but you disappoint.
And speaking of being disappointed. It turns out that the job I thought I had for this summer? I don't. I will not be going to Paris to work. The company over-hired, and... changed their mind. So. I'm fucked.
It's april. How am I supposed to find a job for the summer in April? There is nothing left. I'm going to have to call dad and tell him that I don't know how I'll make rent for the next four months. Dad, being dad, will say that that's ok, he'll help. He always does. (He'll also wonder how it is that this happened in the first place, and was I not paying attention to something I should have?) And then he'll ask if this means I'm coming home for the summer? And yes, yes, that's what this means. I'm going to Askola for the summer. I'm going to drive a tractor and pack bales of hay, and play receptionist for random tourists, and haul wood to the sauna and get stung by every flying bug out there, and generally be in the country side.
Upside is I'll get to hang out with my brother and maybe actually finish the thing I want to submit as my BA. If my options are between sweating in a field for 10 hours or typing up a few pages on Coraline, I might feel motivated to do something. Providing I'm allowed to, of course. Because sometimes bales of hay are more important.
But, why, universe, why do I have to make this phone call? It's humiliating. I had a plan. Everything was sorted out already. And I love my family, I do. But it's big. It's a tribe, not a unit, and when you're on tribe land, you're expected to fulfill your tribe function. And that's fine for a week or two, but... months. I'm going to have to be Jutta Maunontytär for months!
The parliamentary elections are over, and it seems that our brand spanking new xenophobic party of dumbasses has climbed it's way from the gutter to actually hauling in the third most votes. The three big parties now in charge of the country are Kokoomus (i.e the business is love and yay for "freedom of the individual" party), the social-democrats (i.e we've been in government since the war and are mostly interested in maintaining the status quo party) and perussuomalaiset (the lalalala we hate foreigners party).
Most of the time, I'm quite happy with the way Finnish government works. I far from agree with the agenda of all the parties, but I've always felt represented, if not by a party in government, then at least by a vocal opposition party. Mostly, it all works. Consensus is reached, and everyone gets a say. Slowly, but surely, advances are made in the more or less right direction.
Finnish politics is(was?) mostly sensible and boring, and focused on the issues themselves as opposed to the people around them. It's not perfect, but it feels fair. But this new party? This is not politics. This is... fear-mongering. Cheating, damnit! This is not how we do things! We do not haul in votes by freaking people out and pretending that your inability to engage in proper debate makes you "a man of the people". We do not do popular politics or use tear-jerking, pompous national romantic rhetoric to evoke an emotional response and steer attention away from the fact that you have nothing constructive to contribute.
Finland. I love you, but you disappoint.
And speaking of being disappointed. It turns out that the job I thought I had for this summer? I don't. I will not be going to Paris to work. The company over-hired, and... changed their mind. So. I'm fucked.
It's april. How am I supposed to find a job for the summer in April? There is nothing left. I'm going to have to call dad and tell him that I don't know how I'll make rent for the next four months. Dad, being dad, will say that that's ok, he'll help. He always does. (He'll also wonder how it is that this happened in the first place, and was I not paying attention to something I should have?) And then he'll ask if this means I'm coming home for the summer? And yes, yes, that's what this means. I'm going to Askola for the summer. I'm going to drive a tractor and pack bales of hay, and play receptionist for random tourists, and haul wood to the sauna and get stung by every flying bug out there, and generally be in the country side.
Upside is I'll get to hang out with my brother and maybe actually finish the thing I want to submit as my BA. If my options are between sweating in a field for 10 hours or typing up a few pages on Coraline, I might feel motivated to do something. Providing I'm allowed to, of course. Because sometimes bales of hay are more important.
But, why, universe, why do I have to make this phone call? It's humiliating. I had a plan. Everything was sorted out already. And I love my family, I do. But it's big. It's a tribe, not a unit, and when you're on tribe land, you're expected to fulfill your tribe function. And that's fine for a week or two, but... months. I'm going to have to be Jutta Maunontytär for months!
