Reading the Statistics

[Rachel-K]

What is the purpose of the putting the sex-crime statistics at the beginning of each section?

[debbook]

I think because part of the book deals with violence towards women, but also to educate people. I was surprised by the high numbers. i don't know why I'd think Sweden would be different than any other country but I did.

[debbaker]

I agree. I didn't realize that Sweden had the crime problems that they apparently do. Perhaps the stats also help to focus you in on the underlying theme of men who hate women.

[Rachel-K]

It's interesting isn't it? I found I  was remembering some other statistics about extended "family leave" that are quoted to show how culturally advanced Sweden is, and feeling surprised about these stats.

[IBIS]

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" has shattered many of my naive assumptions of Sweden... I've always associated the country with it's liberal social policies.

Imagine my surprise by the book revelation of the right-wing fanaticism of the Vanger family. Although I recently read an article about eugenics (which historically is associated with the Nazis) which Sweden practiced unil the  early 70s, I knew little of the popularity of Nazi party memberships. 

The statistics of the violence towards women in Sweden was also a big surprise to me. It puts a lie to the stereotype that only the poorly educated and socially deprived abuse their women...  It stands to reason that domestic violence occurs in various social strata... but this book made it very clear to me that it's a crime that rears its ugly head in any culture.

IBIS 

[Rachel-K]

Hi Ibis! So glad to have you back!

Yes! So what does kind of implication does that have for those of us who deeply want to believe that hatreds can be wiped out by education and a reasonable level of material wellbeing? Can we still argue for this, or is it something too deeply embedded in human nature?

[maude40]

It seems the people that feel the kinds of hatred written about in this book don't want to be educated about them. If someone doesn't feel the need to change then they won't.  These people don't want to change. Yvonne

[Choisya]

Although I recently read an article about eugenics (which historically is associated with the Nazis) which Sweden practiced unil the  early 70s,  I knew little of the popularity of Nazi party memberships. 

It would be a mistake to only associate eugenics with the Nazis as it was quite a popular movement throughout western societies, including America, from the 1880s.  Hitler purportedly got some of his ideas from the American Eugenics Society and the State of Virginia, like Sweden, was practicing enforced sterilisation up until the 1970s. Britain legislated for the incarceration of the 'feeble minded'  and the sterilisation of 'lunatics and degenerates' in the 1920s and The First International Congress of Eugenics was held in London in 1912. Sir Winston Churchill was one of its directors and Alexander Graham Bell was another. 

Sir Francis Galton, one of the founders of the American Eugenics Society, was a cousin of Charles Darwin and the pseudo-science of eugenics grew out of Darwin's ideas about natural selection contained in The Origin of the Species.

As much of the propaganda of the Nazi party was about keeping the Aryan race pure and included a great deal of Nordic mythology, it is perhaps not surprising that Nazism took hold in parts of Scandinavia which have the 'purist' Aryan (viz: blonde and blue-eyed) populations.

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IBIS wrote:

"The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" has shattered many of my naive assumptions of Sweden... I've always associated the country with it's liberal social policies.

Imagine my surprise by the book revelation of the right-wing fanaticism of the Vanger family. Although I recently read an article about eugenics (which historically is associated with the Nazis) which Sweden practiced unil the  early 70s, I knew little of the popularity of Nazi party memberships. 

The statistics of the violence towards women in Sweden was also a big surprise to me. It puts a lie to the stereotype that only the poorly educated and socially deprived abuse their women...  It stands to reason that domestic violence occurs in various social strata... but this book made it very clear to me that it's a crime that rears its ugly head in any culture.

IBIS 

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Message Edited by Choisya on 11-01-2008 05:41 AM

[IBIS]

Hi Rachel, I've enjoyed reading "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo", and look forward to reading the other 2 installments in this trilogy. 

One thing about this novel that appealed to me was Mr. Larsson's obvious interest in crime writing... I was thrilled to see Mikael Blomkvist read English writers whose books I'm very familiar with... like Elizabeth George, Dorothy Sayers and Agatha Christie... 

One thought I had about your question is that, no matter what level of education or material wellbeing we have, we will always be defined by what we choose to DO...

In this novel, the bad guys CHOSE to behave immorally... I know that contemporary mental health professionals  make a good case for mental illness replacing the idea of "sin".... we all have bad thoughts filled with hatred and intolerance... I think it's imbedded into our human natures. We are, after all, imperfect... some religions even categorize us as "fallen creatures." It's what Christians label as the Original Sin.

But choosing NOT to act on those thoughts ... choosing to behave morally has little to do with one's educational level or material wellbeing. It's the conscious choice to act kindly and morally towards our fellow humans that makes all the difference in these statistics.  

IBIS 

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rkubie wrote:

Hi Ibis! So glad to have you back!

Yes! So what does kind of implication does that have for those of us who deeply want to believe that hatreds can be wiped out by education and a reasonable level of material wellbeing? Can we still argue for this, or is it something too deeply embedded in human nature?

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[IBIS]

Choisya, these links re eugenics are very helpful. Thank you... another one of my naive assumption shattered...  I'm constantly amazed at how eye-opening visiting blog sites can be.

IBIS 

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Choisya wrote: 

It would be a mistake to only associate eugenics with the Nazis as it was quite a popular movement throughout western societies, including America, from the 1880s.  Hitler purportedly got some of his ideas from the American Eugenics Society and the State of Virginia, like Sweden, was practicing enforced sterilisation up until the 1970s. Britain legislated for the incarceration of the 'feeble minded'  and the sterilisation of 'lunatics and degenerates' in the 1920s and The First International Congress of Eugenics was held in London in 1912. Sir Winston Churchill was one of its directors and Alexander Graham Bell was another. 

Sir Francis Galton, one of the founders of the American Eugenics Society, was a cousin of Charles Darwin and the pseudo-science of eugenics grew out of Darwin's ideas about natural selection contained in The Origin of the Species.

As much of the propaganda of the Nazi party was about keeping the Aryan race pure and included a great deal of Nordic mythology, it is perhaps not surprising that Nazism took hold in parts of Scandinavia which have the 'purist' Aryan (viz: blonde and blue-eyed) populations.

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[READERJANE]

I think that putting these statistics at the start of each chapter sets the reader up for what  is to come in the story. Each of the women in the book seems to have been part of these statistics. I was surprised top learn that Sweden had these problems.