Posted on February 4, 2010 - by Larry

Copenhagen Day Three

I am on the train from Copenhagen to Hamburg, Germany. I am reflecting a bit on some conversations that we have had over the last few days. I feel it is quite important as we go into a city to find locals who can inform us about the city and the people who live there. One conversation took place at Cafe Retro in the central part of the city. In this case we were talking with two local believers. One of them told us about the Jante Law.
The Jante Law was an observed form of behavior but put into a set of rules by Danish author Aksel Sandemose in his novel A Fugitive Crosses his tracks.”  Wikipedia says that the Jante Law “refers to a pattern of group behavior towards individuals within Scandinavian communities, which negatively portrays and criticizes success and achievement as unworthy and inappropriate”.
Here are the 10 Jante Laws our cultural guides spoke of earlier…

Don’t think that you are special.
Don’t think that you are of the same standing as us.
Don’t think that you are smarter than us.
Don’t fancy yourself as being better than us.
Don’t think that you know more than us.
Don’t think that you are more important than us.
Don’t think that you are good at anything.
Don’t laugh at us.
Don’t think that anyone of us cares about you.
Don’t think that you can teach us anything.

If you were living in Denmark how would the Jante law affect the way you live and interact as a new person in the community?