Danes have no taste for the finer aspects of things. Being pensive and reflective makes you an elitist show-off in the eyes of Danes.
The predominant theory of how it came to be like this starts with the enormous can of whoopass that the Germans opened up and served us at The Battle of Dybbøl in 1864. Before that particular event, Danes had celebrated cultural ambition and intellectual greatness as much as any other country or civilisation throughout history.
The extent of the kingdom had been wide and the contributions to the world’s collective intellectual capital plenty. But the defeat in 1864 meant the loss of the last piece of territory that spread outside the borders of that peculiar peninsula and handful of islands on top of the European continent that constitutes Denmark today. That led to a sudden sense of smallness which again led to an endless love of all things small.
Along came democracy and parliamentarism, the latest fashions from USA, UK and France, and Danes interpreted and internalized these wonderful new ideas through the eyes of the underdog. The result was a vision of democracy as a country run by The Little Man; ‘the small men’ being all those who are not a part of ‘the elite’.
Because ‘the elite’ is defined as ‘those who are well-educated and rich’ Danes consider it democratic to be uneducated and poor.
That’s why Danes see the search for knowledge as being greedy. As if there was only a fixed amount of insight available in the world and that everyone studying and broadening their minds and revising their beliefs according to new experience are showing unsolidary behaviour, lining their pockets with wisdom at the expense of the ignorant.
So if you come to Denmark and want to make friends fast – act stupid! It’s so folksy, you know.
9 Comments
“Because ‘the elite’ is defined as ‘those who are well-educated and rich’ Danes consider it democratic to be uneducated and poor.”
There are so many things wrong with this. You need to come live in USA for awhile and I think you will appreciate lovely little Denmark a lot more. I recently sat here at 4 in the morning deciding if I should risk spending at least hundreds of dollars to go to the hospital because I had an excruciating ulcer in my stomach, or shut up and suffer until the doctor’s office opens up at 8 (and still pay hundreds!).
As far as education, Danes are INCREDIBLY well-educated. Just visit any American public school and you’d be amazed at what is being taught in the 11th and 12th grades (what you learned in DK in 7th grade). The fact that Danes learn English beginning in grade 4 and also learn German and sometimes another language is awesome. Most Americans struggle with even speaking their first language (example: our former president Bush…).
I cannot wait to come back to min dejlige lille Danmark because I am so sick of having to decide between a bill and my own health. And I’ve NEVER had a vacation in my life. I almost die every time I get on a bike here (they try to run you down here, to teach you a lesson). And, well, America sucks. Nobody likes us (I’m only half, thank God!) And our country is an embarrassment to the world. (You couldn’t even imagine the amount of waste that happens everyday here)- It would make the average Dane sick to their stomach.
In conclusion: USA is sooo 20th century; Denmark is the future.
@Anna Maren: That’s my point exactly. The Danes are one of the best educated people in the world – and still we find that ignorance is bliss. Very odd indeed.
P.
Anna Maren: It seems to me like you are failing to be just as critical of Danish culture as you are to American. Although America remains racially stratified, our history with slavery and segregation at least remains acknowledged. With our new President, we note the integral role racial politics has had in shaping our laws and social values. “Difference” is a part of our life as a nation composed of and ultimately dependent on immigrants. In Denmark, in many ways, immigrant families are excluded from society. I think that in both the USA and DK, citizenship remains fundamentally linked to race. In DK, many immigrant families remain invisible from society, herded into camps for years. Of course, this still happens in the USA, but there is at least the recognition that diversity can be a strength. I think DK still poses as a society that treats everyone equal, but has not yet fully engaged in this reality, as it suggests. After all, how challenging can equality be when you selectively compose a nation of people who are racially, economically, and politically the same? Xenophobia stills plays a huge role in Danish politics and to claim that USA is sooo 20th century and Denmark as future fails to recognize the inherent problems that DK itself faces. I just want to problematize the idealism and romanticism associated with DK as a country without failures. The struggle of equality is a global one and solidarity needs to be built across boarders in order to fully realize how our commonalities can be a site of strength and unity.
Spot on, Peter Andreas. Well said.
That battle resulted in my Danish ancestors selling everything and leaving; my great-grandfather was not about to have his sons conscripted into the German army. The first thing he did when he settled in Tennessee, USA, was to build a school and a church as there were none yet in the area where he purchased 600 acres. He was neither an elitist nor a democrat; he was a kind man of great courage and wonderfully strong character.
Danes are in general well educated. By that I mean that the average is high. We do lack ‘la crême de la crême’, though. That’s the price of making sure that no-one is lost — we forget to award to clever proper possibilities. Take the USA for example: They harvest the best of the best from other countries to their universities, which is one of the reasons why the USA is far ahead of Denmark, e.g., with respect to research. As we all know research is paramount in today’s knowledge societies.
What’s my point: In Denmark we are good at taking care of “the little man”, the weak, but we are terrible at encouraging, awarding, and providing possibilities for the particularly gifted. So they leave. That’s a tragedy.
Being elitist in Denmark is not popular at all. I regret that. Nevertheless, the small-town mentality does bring coherence and a common sense of direction, which can be useful, e.g., when pulling together to meet a grand-scale economic crisis.
When singing the praises of the Danish education system, Anna Maren forgot to mention the Janteloven (or Jante Law). This is what Peter was referring to in his article. There are 10 rules of this so-called law but they can be summarized as “Don’t think you’re anyone special or that you’re better than anyone else.” It’s a uniquely Danish philosophy. Although antiquated and officially out of favor with the government, it is still alive and well in the Danish school system. The Danish schools attended by my kids will spend thousands making sure that the lowest achievers will be brought up to average grade levels but nothing to help overachievers move ahead. When my kids have finished assignments early or shown a mastery of a subject, they have been told (repeatedly)by their teachers that they will have to wait until the rest of the class catches up. In one case, it took a week during which my son sat reading a book from home because his teacher would not give him any lessons to move forward. So perhaps she should not be so quick to praise education in Denmark and condemn that in the USA.
As for the learning of multiple languages, I completely agree that the USA should also do this. But let’s keep that in perspective — Denmark has only 5.5 million people. Learning German and English is a matter of necessity if people here want to function with the rest of the world.
One thing people need to understand is that while the USA was founded on the concept of an individual’s rights in regard to government, Denmark today is the opposite. It is all about the individual conforming to the needs of group (i.e. the government).
And one final comment; Besito hits the nail right on the head when he discusses the issues of racism and xenophobia here.
Hey Peter
I am Brazilian and I love Danish people, despite I had an unhappy marriage,I keep saying it’s a wonderful place.
I can’t not allege “The rotten orange to spoil the whole bag”.
Well I admired your article and comments,this helps me to improve my thesis about a Danish culture!
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