Law of Jante... how our societies are wired... the core of who we are... our essence.... something we can not deny... something that may be difficult to control...

Copenhagen Cycle Chic


I am intrigued by this Law of Jante 
honestly... I do not know much about it
I have read the tenants of Jante
and in comparison to modern culture in the USA
well... it is the inverse of our unwritten self entitlement claus... no matter of achievement or merit the culture in the US has some illogical sense of self importance- no matter the actual merit of that individual

I will cut and paste from the Wiki Page
Laws of Jante

Laws of Jante
Danish Law
There are ten rules in the law as defined by Sandemose, all expressive of variations on a single theme and usually referred to as a homogeneous unit: You are not to think you're anyone special or that you're better than us.
The ten rules state:
  1. You're not to think you are anything special.
  2. You're not to think you are as good as we are.
  3. You're not to think you are smarter than we are.
  4. You're not to convince yourself that you are better than we are.
  5. You're not to think you know more than we do.
  6. You're not to think you are more important than we are.
  7. You're not to think you are good at anything.
  8. You're not to laugh at us.
  9. You're not to think anyone cares about you.
  10. You're not to think you can teach us anything.


The United States is a large country 
it is hard to generalize 
generalizations... over generalizations tend to be inaccurate
but... there are some stereotypes of the average US citizen
and well
there are times when I find myself jealous of the generalizations of of Canadian or European cultures

car dependence versus a bicycle lifestyle
obesity versus thin and fashionable
television instead of a book
eating fast food instead of a home cooked meal
anger and aggression versus civility

this is all off the top of my head
well... except for the cut and paste from the Wiki Page
but really
there are stereotypes... sure generalizations glaze over the details
but if we went off the headlines in the news and the raw statistics
I think that would reinforce my envy of other cultures

I will not bother Googling the data\links
but we know it is true
the United States may be a world power
but the US is not really number one

the US has potential, but needs to move forward
the US needs to change
change from its root
education would be the core of this

simple enough... what is the dream for life in this country?
all we have to do is model our lives after the cultures who are able to get closer to what we believe to our goals

improve education...
really really improve education
create a mandatory post high school civil service program
create a society that educates people and then has a network where they can find jobs and live productive lives

how much does our prison system cost?
as a whole... per each individual
would that money be spent better on education?
training through the civil service program... military would be a great safety net
college is not for everyone... but make college affordable for everyone

health care... health care should be available for everyone