The Swedish IT

Sweden is a bit of a whore - it is very good at selling itself. I'm not saying that the blue sky isn't all that blue, or that the beautiful girls aren't all that beautiful.. But what the rest of Europe, as I know it, would call "pretentious" is translated into "awesome" in Swedish terms. The Swedish "it", which is printed in capitals so that people note its importance, is founded on a lose ground. The trick is to create success from yourself rather than your knowlegde. In fact, you will probably be better off skipping university and head straight into the business of self-loving.

Now Sweden has got two new IT-girls called Rebecca & Fiona. Together they display a prototype of coolness, self-confidence enough for the whole Swedish population and fashion a girl can only dream of. They also display socialism and individualism. They are IT because they don't care what nobody thinks, they live for the moment and they take a crap on education. Literary. Ok, maybe not literary. Figuratively then.

As a non-IT-girl I can't help but being a bit put off by their representation of IT-ness. Apparently it is awesome not being on time, forgetting about meetings, borrow money from employers and taking a crap on education. Figuratively. While I praise their DJ-ing skills, choice of clothing and balls to do random things in public, I cannot help but feeling like IT-ness has downgraded. IT-ness is being different, but in what way? Is IT-ness not to study hard, work hard and be respectful to people in general? Is IT-ness not to care about the future, save up, pay bills and make sure to turn up in time for a gig when you've got one?

Sadly no. There is no way you can be IT if your highschool is IB, if you study abroad on a merited university, if you work hard for your money, if you pay your bills in time, if you can handle your life in an excellent, however uncool, way. I think it's unfair. I think it's unfair that Sweden chooses to represent and image of IT, which abroad may well be known as "pretentious". Maybe next time, they should care about representing a devoted full-time student who makes time for part-time job, social life and fashion - all at once.