And Ã…landers hopefully realize how lucky they were back in the day. The alternate reality stares them in the face in the form of Gotland…

I would like to see the position of Finnish language improved, both there AND in Sweden:-)

Anonymous, talking about adding something valuable or useful to the dialogue…

Anton: As a Finnish-Swedish I always find this sort of stuff hilarious, that the “Real Finns” think “we” somewhow think of ourselfs as better people. It’s just a language, can’t we all just get along?

Yeah, it would be interesting to know why some of us Finns still seem to love spreading those age-old stereotypes. Maybe it’s just a simple way of trying to get acceptance among certain people - you know, like making fun of the fat kid on the playground so that the other ones wont laugh at your glasses or somethin?

Not something you would expect to keep going on in todays world where borders, nationalities, race, sexual preferences etc. are fast loosing ground as dividers.

As a Finnish-Swedish I always find this sort of stuff hilarious, that the “Real Finns” think “we” somewhow think of ourselfs as better people. It’s just a language, can’t we all just get along?

“”Finnish should be the only nationally official language as it is the only language really spoken nation-wide. Individual municipalities can choose their off.icial languages according to their population.”"

Well the people who founded this country and wrote the constitution would disagree with you.”The greatest Finn of all time” Mannerheim would disagree with you.

I see bilingualism as an asset, it’s a shame more people don’t.

they sell you cheap alcohol, what else can you ask for?

Joonas, talking about an endless monologue…

“They propably will, as long as the buyer isn’t from mainland Finland.”

At least the only company I know from Ã…land (PAF) has served mainland customers with great enthusiasm and even in Finnish. They even got compliments from the Finnish Supreme Court for that! =)

Oh god, not this again… I mean seriously, don’t you guys ever do anything else than sit around and wait for a moment when somebody uses the magic word Swedish in context of language?

Have you ever thought, that just because the Swedish-speaking minority on the mainland speak the same language as the majority of people in Ã…land doesn’t mean that they are just one generic bunch of people, who share same kinds of problems and therefore also have the same interests?

Ã…land is an autonomous part of Finland, and that itself is enough to anger certain people who are always more than happy to thow out any kinds of halfthruts or urban legends when it comes to Ã…land. Just like that claim that people in Ã…land wouldn’t have to pay taxes.

The same people also seem to have a grudge against the fact that there is a Swedish-speaking minority in this country. Just read some of the comments about how the Swedish-speakers think that they are somehow better people and so on and so on… Then when you mix in the already hated Ã…land issue, you can start an endless monologue on how wrong that all is, and poor us, blah blah blah.

Just as the urban legend about the turkish pizzeria owner who used to spike up his pizzas with bodily fluids or all black people are at least suspicious, these kinds of attitudes are based on something else than facts. And I for one am sick and tired of always hearing them.

Why is it that you can’t simply look at how things really are without all those prejudices and then start a discussion about the things that need fixing? Now there are probably several issues between mainland Finland and the government of the Ã…land islands that could be done in a smarter way and there are certain stupid manners and stubborn people on both sides. That’s life.

Are we stil so unsecure in who we are that we can’t talk about issues such as Ã…land or the status of the Swedish language in Finland without always ending up in these mindless debates that do not lead anywhere? They don’t pay taxes. I mean really, come on!

A few quotes for Anonymous at 9.49 pm:

“Pitkällä aikavälillä tulojen ja menojen välillä vallitsee teoreettinen tasopaino. Koska maakunnan saaman tasoituksen määrä vaihtelee valtion tulojen mukaan, merkitsee tämän pitkällä aikavälillä maakunnan menojen muuttamista valtion menojen kehityksen mukaan.”

“Tasoitusmäärän sitominen valtion tuloihin eikä menoihin ei muuta sitä seikkaa, että Ahvenanmaan maakunnan on noudatettava vastaava pidättyvyyttä menotaloudessaan kuin valtakunnankin.”

“Tämä määräraha on 0,45 prosenttia valtion tilinpäätöksen tuloista lukuun ottamatta valtion lainoja.

So, no matter what the public expenditure is, they get 0,45% of government incomes.

One possible solution is, indeed, to let Ã…land take care of their own taxation, and to independently use their tax money how they see fit. But I’m sure all the Finnish Bobrikov wannabees would scream bloody murder for that, too.