Icons, liars and the rediscovery of Social Democracy

I've had this blog for about a month now, and people seem to start noticing it. I'm not really much for bragging about myself, but I must admit I find it quite amusing to look for myself on Google and find out that this blog is the no 1 hit for the quite usual Swedish name "Peter Gustavsson". And then when I start looking at the links to this site, my face starts turning more and more into the colour of a tomato for each new link I find.

My Swedish readers have already seen the scare for how it would be seen if you link to my "dangerous" blog. Some Swedes have overcome this scare, and link to me anyway. Most people just link to my name or to "Social Democracy" and thats it, but some do more than that. My trade union comrade Hans Bergström for example says my blog is worth a visit and that he gets inspired - thanks for that!

But some sites just make my face start to flush. Klas Corbelius describes me as "rediscoverer of Social Democracy". Elin Lundgren links to "a better world". Ali Esbati links to my site under the description "a sort of icon (social democrat)". Daraka Larimore-Hall says I'm one of his "friends in cold, socially-just places". And on a UK football site I find the most ego-boosting description of all - I'm "the greatest Swede since Tage Erlander".

But not all seem to like me. Yesterday I got into a heated debate with a couple of right-wingers where I was described as a "liar", as "unsympathetic" and I was also told that I "look a bit Conservative"(!). Guess that's the way the blogosphere works, but until yesterday I thought that the only place in the world where people can be rude and hateful to you without even having met you was the Swedish Social Democratic Youth...