Are Finns generous and altruists

[alien_in_Finland]

Hello People,

I am new in Finland and I have taken a part-time job in which I have to convince people (mainly Finns) to help. I would like to understand more Finnish traits that might help understand Finns better and convince them in positive ways. I was searching about it on the internet and I came across the following link:

https://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/genera ... immigrant/

The Irish guy wrote:

“In my experience, Finns were welcoming, friendly and interested, yet I met fellow immigrants that would add an “un-” in front of each of those adjectives.”


1. What are your experiences about typical Finnish characteristics?
2. How is their mentality towards altruism? Are they generous?


“The Finns are a complex bunch too – they don’t seem to take well to either praise or criticism and they have an unwavering belief that there are two ways to do things: there is the Finnish way, and there is the wrong way.


3. How true is the above statement?

[harakka]

70% of Finns support charity organizations in some way, most commonly by donating money occasionally. Over 500 000 Finns donate regularly e.g. via monthly donations.

If you are a feissari and people aren't interested in talking with you, it's not necessarily that they're not generous, it's just that there are so many organizations after your money... Many people are also suspicious about the organizations behind the fundraisers, and are in doubt whether a significant percentage of the donations actually make it to the needy.

The attitude towards feissarit is mostly negative, because there are too many of them in busy places, and most people simply don't want to be disturbed. Also, many young people such as students who are interested and would love to donate more, simply can't afford to do it regularly.

[ajdias]

Yes, it can be a stressful experience. And this from a guy that has no problem talking to strangers and politely shut them down. It's particularly annoying when they are in the same spot days in a row, and you don't want to be rude (so you resent them for you having to make an effort) nor you want to pretend they don't exist. Add to that the language factor, and you'll get a few very upset people.

[newborn]

1. What are your experiences about typical Finnish characteristics?

According to my experiences, Finns are usually polite, modest, honest (sometimes brutally honest), and do not talk much and do not like small talk (this annoys me because everything starts with 1). Still, quite many Finns are xenophobic, highly judgemental and they judge a book by the cover, they are prejudiced, too much skeptical about foreigners from poor countries, rigid-minded, unsocial and not so smart but arrogant, usually cold and indifferent. I think, too much independence and balloon-like attitude with a HUGE ego have made them too difficult and complex humans to understand and to work with.

Of course, there are many Finns who are not like them.

2. How is their mentality towards altruism? Are they generous?

I cannot say much from my experience but you can read more from the following article titled: Finns on Finns: We're hard working but greedy and intolerant....

Examples:
"You could say that people think greed is more common than generosity for Finns"
"56 percent – saw their compatriots as greedy and self-serving "

"One in two respondents said that there is too little tolerance in Finnish society, with women being more likely than men to see shortcomings in this area."

https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/finn ... nt/7370176

Like many other countries, there are Finns that are RACISTS...you will know more if you read more


"A 2011 poll shows that 66% of Finnish respondents considered Finland to be a racist country but only 14% admitted to being racists themselves.[1]"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_Finland

“What a bubble I've been living in": Discovering multicultural Finland
https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/what ... nd/6887936

"Yle uncovers discrimination in job market and nightclub queues"

You can read:

"The law forbids discrimination on the basis of ethnic origin. However, investigations into discrimination generally do not proceed far because of the problem of securing evidence."

"We've had a couple of dark-skinned men here, and we sure heard about it. I don't want to be racist at all, but I avoid hiring them. Just for the reason that it's so unfortunate and I don't want to listen to the sad things that people shout at them."

https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/yle_ ... es/6885954

I have faced this problem several times.


"Yle poll: Many Finns admit not stepping in to stop racist abuse"

https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/yle_ ... es/6885954

"I'm broken, depressed": Foreigners struggle to find work in Finland
You can read:

"The moment I saw you I knew it was a no"

https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/im_b ... d/10641139

Article name: Foreign-sounding names still hamper job search

https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/fore ... ch/9766036


article in 2013:

European watchdog calls for more anti-discrimination efforts in Finland
https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/euro ... nd/6731448

2018
Finland among most racist countries in EU, study says
https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/finl ... s/10531670

Artice: Footballer: ‘Racism common in Finland’
https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/foot ... nd/7351584

Article:
Study: Men with Arabic-sounding names have much harder time renting flats in Finland

You can read:
"The study found that requests to view a flat by the male with an Arabic-sounding name were replied to 16 percent of the time, while the woman with a Finnish-sounding name got responses 42 percent of the time."
https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/stud ... nd/9808112

Article:
Asylum seekers face high hurdles to rent flat in Helsinki area

you can read: "It's clearly discrimination but it can't be proven," he says.
https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/asyl ... ea/9176094

viewtopic.php?t=91596&start=15


So, you can understand the fact that you will meet some of these people who will avoid you, change their lane even before you approach them, even if you approach them, they will not even talk to you and let alone donate to you. They might even show some bad attitude instead of showing tolerance and sympathy and being altruistic.

How true is the above statement?

From my experiences and people I know, this seems very true. They know a way to do a thing very well but they cannot accept the facts that there might be various options or ways to do the same thing, especially from foreigners who are from poorer countries than Finland but things change drastically if the foreigners are from other richer EU countries or USA/CA/JAPAN/AUS/KOREAN etc. These types of Finns can be rude and ruthlessly cold and rigid.

I even heard that many Finns might have narcissistic behaviours especially women. I have an impression that many Finns may suffer from inferiority and superiority complex at the same time, especially those who have low self-esteem and feel insecure.

Of course, there are some really nice, generous, and friendly people. Many of these nice and friendly people have experiences of travelling or many of them have lived abroad.

I believe that there are still several percentages of Finnish people who will talk to you. The percentage can be as low as 5-10%. Some of them might donate.

GOOD LUCK.