"Scandinavia has the highest suicide rates on Earth" and other mythology

Attempts to discredit the success of societies where relatively generous social-welfare programs are the norm are legion. Nowhere is this more evident than in the case of Scandinavia. To many, the idea of applying tax dollars towards maternity leave, public transport, education and health care rather than overextending the military industrial complex about which President Eisenhower warned us is anathema. One such attempt to disparage the relative success attained by the countries of Northern Europe is with the introduction of the "fact" that those nations have the highest suicide rates on Earth. This is a patent falsehood.

One may ask, "what is to be gained by the propagation of such a lie?" Much is to be gained. The idea that spending primarily on the general welfare of the populace leads to self murder has its benefits. People are conditioned to believe that such a society is one where the populace would rather die by their own hands than live under a form of capitalism that uses taxes to bankroll the necessary pillars of a civil society. In doing so, the American population are further conditioned to accept a negative status quo within their own society. What is disturbing is how five nations, where the free market, and not socialism, is the norm, are described as "socialist," which completely contravenes the dictionary definition of the term. Scandinavia is neither socialist nor does it feature the highest suicide rates on Earth. Not one Scandinavian nation is in the top ten for suicide rates. In addition, private industry thrives in Scandinavia and the free market is an integral part of those societies. The notion that the Scandinavian governments wholly control the means of production is ludicrous. Equally ludicrous is the perception that the Nordic peoples are killing themselves at the highest rate on Earth. Although I have found great faults with Wikipedia, the following statistics were culled directly from the World Health Organization:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_suicide_rate

It is my hope that this brief article will dispel the myth regarding Scandinavia. Such mythology is pernicious on many levels as it indicates an unsettling trend within our society. This trend, of course, is one where people can be led to believe something so utterly false when the facts are readily available.

I do not expect America to become a mirror reflection of Scandinavia. Such an aspiration is ludicrous given the differences in population and demographics. What I do hope for is that more people will reject lies proffered by the talking heads of our media and the self-proclaimed pundits of the Internet. For now, Scandinavia may have its imperfections as all societies do, but not one Scandinavian nation ranks in the top ten for suicide. One can hope, however naively, that the truth will grain traction and that the lies about suicide in Scandinavia will be swept aside by reality.