NationStates Jolt Archive

Hi
I wonder what people all over the world really think/know about my home land..

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I think... hurrah for marginally better democracy than everybody else has, and hurrah for not stomping around killing everybody who doesn't agree with it?

I have no terribly strong opinions about Switzerland. But then, I don't know any Swiss people.

Shadiness, corruption.

Let's be honest, money laundered from all over the world eventually ends up in Switzerland. There are other places to store it, but organised crime values diversity and insurance policies, so although there are numerous competing black financial centres, you can be sure Switzerland's banks get a slice of everything.

Other than that, I suppose "Swiss" chocolate that's actually made in Belgium. And snowy peak posters.

you are those with the clocks, the banks, the choclate, and the snowed mountains. you are in europe.
I think you had 4 different coltures in the countrey (swizz who talk italian, swizz who talk france, swizz who talk german and swizz who talk latin(?)).
you were mostly neutral, aren't you?


edit: I heard before some years that in some countrey one of the biggest newspapers was closed for 2 months in the summer, because there wasn't news except of the weather. was it swizzerland?

A recent conversation with my friend Evan, who spent three weeks in Switzerland last month:


Not Evan (10:29:27 PM): back?
Evan (10:29:32 PM): yep!
Not Evan (10:29:38 PM): how was it?
Evan (10:29:54 PM): Way too perfect over there.
Not Evan (10:30:06 PM): awesome
Evan (10:30:06 PM): Everything is on time, and they have chocolate.


I think that sums it up pretty nicely.

Swizerland is tiny, has no navy, shady banking laws and lots of mountains. :)

Switzerland: The land of corrupt bankers...
It's a typical cliché, but a bunch of German journalists keep catching Swiss bank employees advising them on how to commit tax evasions.

I have little knowledge of modern day Switzerland, except for the banking of course. But its efforts to remain neutral in WW2 were remarkable. Every factory and rail tunnel rigged to explode, veritable underground fortresses in the alps, impressive. To bad they had to muck it all up by hiding Nazi money. :(

i dislike switzerland. the toblerone-eating nazi-sympathisers...

also they are disturbingly militaristic (they keep a nuclear sub in lake geneva), whilst refusing to partake in the european project. kind of like a neighbour who never goes out but just sits inside polishing his gun.

I have little knowledge of modern day Switzerland, except for the banking of course. But its efforts to remain neutral in WW2 were remarkable. Every factory and rail tunnel rigged to explode, veritable underground fortresses in the alps, impressive. To bad they had to muck it all up by hiding Nazi money. :(Considering they were dependent on Germany for food, since it controlled Switzerland's borders, it's amazing they didn't cooperate any closer...

i dislike switzerland. the toblerone-eating nazi-sympathisers...

also they are disturbingly militaristic (they keep a nuclear sub in lake geneva), whilst refusing to partake in the european project. kind of like a neighbour who never goes out but just sits inside polishing his gun.

There's always one. Or a dozen.

I have a friend who lived in Switzerland for ten years, it sounds a nice enough country. Apparently you have a law whereby you can force a referendum on any issue if you can get a large enough petition and I like the sound of that.

Oh, and your chocolate isn't bad either. :)

i dislike switzerland. the toblerone-eating nazi-sympathisers...


Is it just me, or is eating Toblerone one of the most ridiculous reasons for hating someone ever conceived?

i dislike switzerland. the toblerone-eating nazi-sympathisers...

also they are disturbingly militaristic (they keep a nuclear sub in lake geneva), whilst refusing to partake in the european project. kind of like a neighbour who never goes out but just sits inside polishing his gun.
Hey, they're joining the Schengen treaty (meaning it'll be easier to travel there for other Europeans).

i dislike switzerland. the toblerone-eating nazi-sympathisers...

also they are disturbingly militaristic (they keep a nuclear sub in lake geneva), whilst refusing to partake in the european project. kind of like a neighbour who never goes out but just sits inside polishing his gun.

Switzerland militaristic? don't make me laugh!!! with such a small army even Belgium can easily crush them!
the only problem is that it's full of nicy nicy mountains that are difficult to pass. And come on, I mean I appreciate humour, but Switzerland with a nuclear sub?!?! why not Liechtenstein with ICBM's and SLBM's or Monaco with B-52s :)

Switzerland militaristic? don't make me laugh!!! with such a small army even Belgium can easily crush them!
the only problem is that it's full of nicy nicy mountains that are difficult to pass. And come on, I mean I appreciate humour, but Switzerland with a nuclear sub?!?! why not Liechtenstein with ICBM's and SLBM's or Monaco with B-52s :)The Swiss have one of the best trained reserve forces. As far as I can remember, all Swiss males have to report for training every so often, and I think I heard about all Swiss having to have guns at home. A Belgian army might be able to crush the Swiss, but not in Switzerland.

The Swiss have one of the best trained reserve forces. As far as I can remember, all Swiss males have to report for training every so often, and I think I heard about all Swiss having to have guns at home. A Belgian army might be able to crush the Swiss, but not in Switzerland.

Which is the point to having an army no? To make sure that your neighbors will be unable to crush you without paying too high a cost.

Maybe the thread starter can confirm this for me- doesn't the Swiss army guard the pope? They haven't been in a war for 800 years, what use would an army be?

I was there for 10 days last September. Everything ran on time, everyone was polite, and the chocolate was amazing. I liked it.

Somebody once told me (and from what little I've seen of Switzerland, I can confirm that) that the Swiss are all that the Germans are - only more so.
And I left Germany because I just couldn't stand it any more....

"The Swiss are the only people on the planet that will make the Germans look unorganised and the Japanese look poor" (Xenophobe's Guide to Switzerland)

Switzerland-never been there. Not even close. Closest I've been to Switzerland is Newark, NJ, USA.
NEWARK, looks like every stereotypical NE US urban shithole you see in movies.

But I think of Switzerland as a place where wealthy eurotrash go to be with their money and get some good skiing in. You are very amoral about money, which I admire. And because you are amoral about money, you are also amoral about what goes on outside your country (i.e., neutrality).

I also like that everyone has to join the military EVEN THOUGH you haven't been to war in over 500 years and you're all so amoral. I think that's admirable and kind of funny.

People I know who have been there say that the Swiss are coldly polite, effective and efficient. It's not too often that nation can be both effective AND efficient at the same time. You have a lot of different nationalities that live together peacefully.

If anyone would like to be Swiss (and who wouldn't), tough luck. It's a very exclusive club. My understanding is that it's close to impossible if you don't have money.

The only thing I have against Switzerland, and this has more to do with the banking system than the country itself, is that they horded the loot the Nazis stole from people before they killed them and kept the assets of those who never made it out of concentration camps. But they're giving it all back now (with interest?). Still, quite shameful but somewhat ameliorated by the fact that Switzerland saved a lot of lives by letting people escape there to ride out the war.

Switzerland militaristic? don't make me laugh!!! with such a small army even Belgium can easily crush them!
the only problem is that it's full of nicy nicy mountains that are difficult to pass. And come on, I mean I appreciate humour, but Switzerland with a nuclear sub?!?! why not Liechtenstein with ICBM's and SLBM's or Monaco with B-52s :)

Hey! You leave Liechtenstein alone!

Maybe the thread starter can confirm this for me- doesn't the Swiss army guard the pope? They haven't been in a war for 800 years, what use would an army be?

I was there for 10 days last September. Everything ran on time, everyone was polite, and the chocolate was amazing. I liked it.

As far as I know it isn't actually the Swiss army that guards the Pope but his 'Swiss Guard' are recruited from single, army trained swiss men.

Is it just me, or is eating Toblerone one of the most ridiculous reasons for hating someone ever conceived?

I personally can't think of many better ones :D

I personally can't think of many better ones :D

I agree. Why do toblerones have to be so dammed awkward to eat :mad:

Switzerland's image in the world (http://img125.imageshack.us/img125/7151/switzerlndearth5gm.jpg)

I agree. Why do toblerones have to be so dammed awkward to eat :mad:
But they taste so damn good...all is forgiven.

Switzerland is a great country, nice people, astonishingly good public transport, no litter anywhere, probably no crime either, and beautiful scenery.

but then again I've only met one

and she's half welsh

it is a weird country what with 4 national languages,

not giving women the vote until the 70's

and all the banking which is a bit dodgy

also the whole helping the nazi's thing

but I have nothing against the swiss

A tad too sanitized for my taste as a country,

(you know, I'm one of those dirty french who don't shave their armpits and we don't have drinkable tap water here - ROFL at the nonsense)

but quite nice indeed

I've always had thing for Switzerland. You just can't beat good old armed neutrality :p

Hi
I wonder what people all over the world really think/know about my home land..

Go for free text ;-)

A beautiful country, with an odd twist on it's own morality: 'Oh, we're going to remain neutral throughout wars... but we'll launder both sides money if they want it. That way, we cannot loose!'

((Little bit extreme, but you know what I mean))

There's a Swiss kid who I'm friends with... yeah, he may be the most obnoxious person I know, but I really don't think that's because of the Swiss in him. I think Switzerland is a very beautiful country and I think very highly of it, I don't really have any bad opinions of it.

Hi
I wonder what people all over the world really think/know about my home land..

Go for free text ;-)
Ah, The Gnomes of Zurich! :)

As someone earlier quoted, "Switzerland is the only country that will make Germany look unorganized and Japan look poor." Isn't that the aim of every country in the world?? Why do we care about our economy and complain about having the best gas prices in the modern world if we're not trying to do just that: be the best of the best, and yield no ground to any other country in any field of achievement. Switzerland is what every country wishes they could be: rich as hell, with everyone's money in their pockets, and they get a slice of the ever-increasing pie, never had to worry about military casualties ever since they've actually been their own, neutral "Switzerland," and tourism that's off the charts every season of the year. Come on, the only reason anyone thinks abything bad about Switzerland is because they're green jealous. hat is more kickass than having every one of your males with some military training, every citizen owning a gun, being able to boast that you are the country who supplies the Pope, the freakin Pope, people! The man whom half of the world views as God's mouthpiece, with his personal bodyguards, and being the guys who long ago created the Swiss Army Knife (where would most of us be without it?? I'd still be stuck in the woods trying to carve a stick ro cut down a sapling for a stave with my bare hands and a rock, and let's not forget bottle opening, screwing and uncorking, prying, etc. It could even slice and dice if you wanted it to!)!! I mean, is there a better country in the world than Switzerland??? Yes, I've been there, I've seen it, and I was more than impressed. And nowadays, people complain about Switzerland being standoffish, well, just think 1) we don't mess with your business, and you won't mess with ours, especially if we have a little dirt on you that no one can officially prove, and 2) Our economy is better than anyone else's in the EU, so why lower ourselves to that ever-decreasing level (since the only countries left trying to join the EU now are the less-developed Eastern European bloc)? Of all the countries in the world, Switzerland has achieved, peacefully, what everyone else has tried to do for hundreds of years. And all without saying they were ever trying to do so. All while minding their own business and just looking out for themselves. Something America could learn a lesson or two from. So all the people who have something bad to say about Switzerland, just remember that without the Swiss, your "chocolate" would still be bitter and spicy and Aztec, your pocket knives would still have only one mundane blade, and your Pope would be long-dead, unprotected or protected by some other, less capable guards. (The Germans would have left in the 1500's, the French would have revolted, the Italians would have had too much power struggle with His Excellency until the 1800's, and the Spanish would have slowly taken all his gold! haha j/k) And as for you, O thread starter, know that this humble American boy thinks very highly of your country and is duly impressed by what you've made out of the homeland of a few scattered Germanic tribes that never really made an impact on the world. Whatever the world thinks of the Confoederatio Helvetica, in their heart, they wish their own country was a little more like yours. Oh, and before I forget, doesn't Switzerland have 4 official languages?? Or are the only official ones just Deutsch, Italiano, et Francais? What is the fourth widely spoken language? Some French-German dialect or something, no? God's grace and peace to you all, especially all you Swiss out there....
Pax,

I generally try not to judge any place until I've actually been there myself, but I will say that there's a restaurant and patisserie near my home run by a Swiss family that has absolutely the most amazingly delicious food ever. So Switzerland gets at least a few coolness points for producing that family. :)

all the swiss I've met are cool

but it's a bloody weird country

100% conscription of the male population

women couldn't vote till the 70's

and my friend maja was put into a special school for having an imagination as far as we can make out......

it's very weird