Explanation: During the Winter War in 1939-1940, the Soviet Union performed an unprovoked invasion of Finland. During the war, one of the lines given by the Soviet official Vyacheslav Molotov was that Soviet planes were dropping aid packages of food, not bombs. This blatant lie was taken by the Finns with dark humor - the Finns said, then, that their improvised incendiary weapons were just ‘A drink, to go with the food!’

For this reason, such incendiaries became known as ‘Molotov Cocktails’, a name they retain to this day.

And that’s why Finland is the happiest country in the world today, kids.

I’m tired of that bullshit myth though.

It’s like one of those “bottle of red wine has the same effect as an hour in the gym” things.

You telling me molotoving imperialist invaders isn’t a path to happiness

Not in the slightest. It’s just been a lifetime since anyone did that in Finland.

What I’m saying is that people unwilling to complain or realise problems can’t be called happy just because there’s no criticism coming from them so “they must be”.

I think the happiness rating usually cited was a self-rating poll for one’s own happiness, taken in a number of countries, rather than a tallying of problems cited.

That has its own weaknesses, of course, but it’s a bit more than “They didn’t complain so they must be happy.”

It was a poll of contentedness. Not happiness. Those are adjacent, but definitely not the same. Like being fine and being happy are adjacent, but if your gf says she’s “just fine”, you won’t take that to mean she’s really happy, would you?

In Finnish culture there’s also a sort of unwritten rule that you’re not supposed to complain. And a very common saying is “can’t complain”. But if you can’t complain because there’s societal pressure not to, instead of you just not having any complaints, that’s two quite different things.

Sure yeah, we don’t have people living on the streets and whatnot, but we do have problems of our own. Isolation and loneliness being very high on the list. Doesn’t really fit with being “the happiest”.

There’s just a massive gap between how Finns are and how Finns are perceived to be by the world/Internet.