A minimalist life may not suit everyone, but there's something to be said about not making one's life needlessly complicated...
Part norsk, small part, but have a lot of nordic friends. While there are members that feel as he does, so do a lot of hippies etc. Several different communities within the society he describes. He ignored the strong ties that many families have. Often shared thru group meals, sauna, visiting, spending time with different age groups within the family. Not uncommon to see a group with not only cousins, etc, but 3 generations of the family interacting. A funeral may bring 300 people together to share memories and group ties. A second strong tie many share is a deep commitment to religion. One segment of the community may well be defined by their religious ties to a particular religious group. Thus many people are members of more than one grouping. Family ties, religious ties, work place ties. In my area you still find a lot of workplace ties. The Finish family that runs the local garage has 4 generations present many times. The 80 year old is retired, but he comes in, keeps the fire going, wood stove, pumps the brakes when they bleed them, turns on the lights etc for the inspections, cuts the new brake lines, puts on the fittings, and bends them to shape. He gets out the right filters, reorders the ones that need to be reordered, etc. The 55 year old runs the garage, the 35 year old works there as a mechanic and runs the place when the others are gone, and the 12 year old is building a go cart or working on a dirt bike, and the whole family is both helping him and teaching him. Any one of them may be absent, shop closed for soft ball post season ball game, visiting friends and relatives, funeral, wedding. etc. Life dominates, not job, but all involved so no one totally tied to it. Local construction company, concrete works, plumber, electricians, mostly family owned and multi generational. Women tied together by family ties so often sharing canning, child care, food prep, etc. Oldest on visiting friends down south in winter or up in Michigan visiting family in summer, Another hard fact is that some are defined by either their addictions or mental problems. Often a combination of the two. While I enjoyed the videos, I think that the real nordic culture is much deeper, complex and interrelated than he shows. Every culture has individuals that may seem to define the culture, but while he extols the good points of the culture, he ignores the berserkers that in their battle rage made the norsk so feared.
Yeah, I got to agree with Duane. In this day and age, I think it is more about personalities and how they govern themselves and their families and pass those values on to their children. However, I will say this, life in America is very, very complex, much more stressful than other places in the world. In short, a lot of it has to do with all the abundance we have and our modern 21st century civilization. The difference is night and day. This is a huge topic so I won't go into it (it also would be going off the post's topic) but there are always a thousand things that need doing/remembered every day here and you better do them but most of these things don't even exist in other places. A quick example, my car and home insurance are due and OMG the rates have gone through the roof! It will take me a couple of stressful days to call around, get quotes, and finally decide and purchase. The last country I lived they didn't have insurance, and life went on and they lived their lives. Another example, I need to refill my prescription so I must get an appointment to see the doctor (it has run out), attend the appointment and renew the prescription, hope the prescription is call in correctly, to the right location and in a timely manner and finally go pick it up. In other countries, I will simply go to the local pharmacy and purchase the medication that I need, no fuss, no muss - and much, much cheaper...which leads to another stressful situation, how to pay for all this.
