Thursday, March 24, 2016

fragment from 2013

janteloven (the law of jante) is what you might call the general danish philosophy to live by. and apparently it turns 80 years old this year. it comes from a book written by danish-norwegian author aksel sandemose, who, despite being born and dying in denmark, moved to norway for long enough to be deemed norwegian instead of danish. apparently after a stay in denmark he noticed that the following ten "laws" appear to be the general philosophy.

  1. you shouldn't think you are anything (du skal ikke tro, du er noget.)
  2. you shouldn't think that you're as much as we are. (du skal ikke tro, at du er lige så meget som os.)
  3. you shouldn't believe that you're smarter than we are. (du skal ikke tro, at du er klogere end os.)
  4. you shouldn't kid yourself that you're better than us. (du skal ikke bilde dig ind, at du er bedre end os.)
  5. you shouldn't believe you know more than us. (du skal ikke tro, at du ved mere end os.)
  6. you shouldn't believe that you are more than us. (du skal ikke tro, at du er mere end os.)
  7. you shouldn't believe you're good for anything. (du skal ikke tro, at du dur til noget.)
  8. you shouldn't laugh at us. (du skal ikke le ad os.)
  9. you shouldn't believe that anyone likes you. (du skal ikke tro, at nogen bryder sig om dig.)
  10. you shouldn't think you can teach us anything. (du skal ikke tro, at du kan lære os noget.)

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a fragment begun 11/5.2013 and never published. unfinished thoughts. growing dusty among my drafts.

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