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What does everybody here think about Daniel Berntsson, founder and co-owner of Mullvad, personally donating 5 million Swedish krona to the populist Örebro party

What does everybody here think about Daniel Berntsson, founder and co-owner of Mullvad, personally donating 5 million Swedish krona to the populist Örebro party, criticized for its stances on race & immigration? I'm not trying to start an unhealthy discussion about this topic, genuinely curious about your opinion on the matter.

geggo98 11d ago
I have no insights in Swedish politics. His actions could be really bad, or mean nothing at all. Without proper context, it’s hard to say.
BatteryMountain 11d ago
He is in his full right to support whatever party he wants? Those parties exists for a reason, a response to certain pressures. Nothing happens in isolation. If you zoom out a bit and if you can for a second try to empathize with both sides, you will often find that both sides of an issue is correct, reasonable & rational from their own perspectives. It is often more an emotional response than one of pure survival. The more you force things on people or suppress them, the more they will resist & push back. The rise of the far-right is not random or just pure evil manifesting out of thin air. It is like a acute inflammatory/immune system response. Obviously it can be exploited by bad actors to further inflame/divide & accelerate certain agendas. Often times extremism takes hold when certain justices are denied (which is in fact evil). Life is best if you assume the guy on the other side (90% of a group) is just a bro trying to survive & have no real bad intent towards you, they don't know you or have been in your shoes, and the other way around too. Thus it is very important to become non-reactive, become observant who is trying to stoke the flames, who benefits from the chaos and so on.
fwn 11d ago
Irrespective of political affiliations, I felt that Mullvad addressed the outrage in a mature and non culture war manner. Because of how they handled the situation, I have a lot more respect for the company. It's great that they didn't try to cancel the guy or get seduced into driving a wedge into their team. It is great they chose their principle over pleasing the crowd in such a transparent way. I have been a customer for many years. I once even used the cash payment option out of curiosity. Here is their statement: https://mullvad.net/en/blog/donation-controversy https://mullvad.net/en/blog/donation-controversy They even linked his (Swedish language) private blog on which he wrote on the issue: https://dberntsson.info/ https://dberntsson.info/
mvid 11d ago
I stopped paying for or using Mullvad because of that. I have no intention of funding more nazis, when I can help it

geggo98 11d ago

I have no insights in Swedish politics. His actions could be really bad, or mean nothing at all. Without proper context, it’s hard to say.

BatteryMountain 11d ago

He is in his full right to support whatever party he wants? Those parties exists for a reason, a response to certain pressures. Nothing happens in isolation. If you zoom out a bit and if you can for a second try to empathize with both sides, you will often find that both sides of an issue is correct, reasonable & rational from their own perspectives. It is often more an emotional response than one of pure survival. The more you force things on people or suppress them, the more they will resist & push back. The rise of the far-right is not random or just pure evil manifesting out of thin air. It is like a acute inflammatory/immune system response. Obviously it can be exploited by bad actors to further inflame/divide & accelerate certain agendas. Often times extremism takes hold when certain justices are denied (which is in fact evil). Life is best if you assume the guy on the other side (90% of a group) is just a bro trying to survive & have no real bad intent towards you, they don't know you or have been in your shoes, and the other way around too. Thus it is very important to become non-reactive, become observant who is trying to stoke the flames, who benefits from the chaos and so on.

fwn 11d ago

Irrespective of political affiliations, I felt that Mullvad addressed the outrage in a mature and non culture war manner. Because of how they handled the situation, I have a lot more respect for the company. It's great that they didn't try to cancel the guy or get seduced into driving a wedge into their team. It is great they chose their principle over pleasing the crowd in such a transparent way. I have been a customer for many years. I once even used the cash payment option out of curiosity. Here is their statement: https://mullvad.net/en/blog/donation-controversy https://mullvad.net/en/blog/donation-controversy They even linked his (Swedish language) private blog on which he wrote on the issue: https://dberntsson.info/ https://dberntsson.info/

mvid 11d ago

I stopped paying for or using Mullvad because of that. I have no intention of funding more nazis, when I can help it