Uplifting News

One of the doctors who performed the first vaginoplasty, on Dora Richter, did also go on to participate in brutal abuses in a concentration camp.

TIL, design of the freezing experiments and he later wrote on them. Worked at the Charité at the time of doing the vaginaplasty, from what I can tell seems to have been a star surgeon. Surgery attracts psychopaths, he probably could not give less of a fuck about the ethics of anything but was interested in the technical aspects. Dora Richter's surgery was a joint effort with Ludwig Levy-Lenz, generally credited as the father of sex reassignment surgery and working at the Hirschfeld Institute itself. Not terribly surprising they collaborated with the Charité on a novel procedure, it was and is one of the very best hospitals in the world. Not indicted in the Doctor's trials, you probably do not want to read up on what those people did. I'm serious.

Is Finland just as based as I think it i

No, we're not. There's a lot of good, and definitely very good in comparison to a lot of other, or even most other countries, but I daresay there are certain problems of our own.

While the systems are all great on paper, reality doesn't always conform.

I was abused by the police in a manner that I think actually would reach the bar of international crime, as they even cut off my water at one point. I was denied my prescription medication and went psychotic for days on end in a jail cell, while "under supervision for my safety". I was literally drawing on the walls with my own blood. I didn't eat. They didn't care. Now whatever the motivation, the conditions I was kept in and the treatment I got would, I argue, constitute an international crime.

I've yet to find a single Finn who doesn't immediately challenge me when I say that, and then I show proof, they deny it, and I have not gotten a single person to explain to me how on Earth it would be possible for me to self-harm so badly while "under supervision" and why I was not given my medications and fucking urgent medical assistance? I still have scars on my arms and fingers and that was several years ago. Even just according to the Finnish laws, permanent physical harm would constitute a grievous assault, when done on another person. And since I wouldn't have done that if I weren't being treated that way (in a cell without a single word to anyone, no knowledge of my rights, which I have a right to hold a physical copy all the time during detainment, lights on all the time, no mattress, no bed, no blanket). The guard even taunted me several times over the radio.

Finns will deny this, just like all the Finnish authorities did. And thus if I can manage to prove that it was actually internationally criminal, then anyone denying it would be a criminal under this law, which sounds kinda nice.

Anyway, the point is that we're not a utopian democracy, we're a somewhat socially secure bureaucracy. Like yeah we don't really have anyone living on the streets, people usually get enough to eat, so "can't complain", but that's just it. Having some things be well doesn't mean that we shouldn't strive to improve the things which aren't.

Personally, Finland is a great country, but all countries are flawed in one way or another. There's no utopia anywhere.

Also the thing about Finns being introverts is not even an exaggeration. It'd be a massive understatement to say we're emotionally reserved and generally avoidant.

I'm sure they have problems like everywhere else, but I would emigrate there in a heartbeat if I could afford it and if they'd let me.