"Xenophobe's Guide to the Swiss"

Anyway, back to the actual subject, now that that annoyance has subsided... Regarding the swiss fixation on the importance of money, I'd like to point out that it was not too long ago, when tax-returns were due to be handed in, that there was actually public advertisements depicting a person actually hugging folders containing the relevant tax documents with advice on who to contact in order to save as much as possible in taxes. This simply points out the emotional attachment the Swiss have towards money and keeping documents of all sorts... Does anyone have a different explanation?

Futhermore, I'd like to quote a few things from Paul Bilton's "Xenophobe's Guide to the Swiss" (London: Oval, 2005). There motto is "Forewarned is forearmed", by the way. Anyway, this is from the introduction...

"(...) the Swiss are the the only nation to make the Germans appear inefficient, the French undiplomatic and Texans poor. (...) The Swiss rank amongst the top three highest per capita incomes in the world. But take consolation, they don't enjoy it one bit. The Swiss claim (...) that their success is only a temporary state of affairs and it will all shortly end in tears. So, like the poor donkey chasing the carrot, the Swiss pull their collective cart along ever faster, chasing the goal they passed years ago.
Perhaps it is blissful ignorance that keeps the bumble bee airborne. For the Swiss it is anything but ignorance that keeps them flying so high - it is the fear that they will one day lose everything they have worked for." (Bilton 2005: 5)

I'll stop here before someone tries to sue me... But within those words one finds affirmation of the (justified) stereotype: the Swiss love money, are unhappy and are full of fear.

Paul Bilton's english but has been living in Switzerland for about 30 years now, as far as I know. And I think he is extremely insightful and his book is really worth a read. I recommend it to anyone who has trouble getting their head around the Swiss...

Anyway, enough from me. Take care, all.

Adam 19 Jul 2009, 02:42 - Report