Posted on 03/15/2014 1:13:24 PM PDT by grundle
This is from a Danish exchange student who spent a year in the U.S.
Beginning at 2:10, she says:
"I really love that America in general is really open to talent. So if you have a talent, if you can sing or act, then everybody is really supporting of you, and they want the best for you. In Denmark you don't want to showcase your talent as much because you don't like to feel like you're better than them, so we don't have a lot of that. Which I really enjoy over here, so that if you have a talent, that you can do something with it, which is really cool. I wish we did that."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpQh0JXtzKM
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
Socialism vs capitalism...
This girl is DANISH????? Certainly didn’t take her long to lose her accent, did it? She was here only a year?
Sandemose's novel portrays the small Danish town Jante (modelled upon his native town Nykøbing Mors as it was at the beginning of the 20th century, but typical of all small towns and communities), where nobody is anonymous.[2]
Generally used colloquially in Sweden[3] and the rest of the Nordic countries as a sociological term to negatively describe a condescending attitude towards individuality and success, the term refers to a mentality that de-emphasizes individual effort and places all emphasis on the collective, while discouraging those who stand out as achievers.
In Denmark you don’t want to showcase your talent as much because you don’t like to feel like you’re better than them …It’s actually the complete opposite (those with less talent don’t want to feel like they are not as good), but socialism brainwashes you into what Orwell calls “Doublethink”, where the contradicting idea is accepted as the same as the true one, or to be just as possible. Equal sharing of misery indeed. Nothing to actually aspire to.
I forgot to put this in my last post, but here’s a direct link to 2:11:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HpQh0JXtzKM#t=2m11s
Even better news kid.....with the self esteem culture you don’t even have to be good
Unless your talent is making money and then you are vilified both places.
Pray America wakes up
I was best friends with a Norwegian woman for 5 years while in grad school. She had issues with being a ‘peasant’ and going to grad school - like she was going outside of her class. She actually had people back in Norway tell her that she ‘shouldn’t’ be an academic as she wasn’t from the right background.
Once I asked if a guy like my son (a regular kid from a middle class background) could buy a fast food restaurant in Scandinavia and she said it would be difficult. You were taxed so much, it would be hard to save enough money for the franchise fee, if you didn’t come from money yourself.
Also, and this floored me, they publicize names and tax paid for everyone who pays taxes. Some FReepers might like that, but not me.
We have many differences, some which are easier to understand than others, but as nice as her life is, I’d rather be an American, even if it means suffering from time to time.
Thank you for posting that!
And thanks for the YouTube link too.
Thanks for that insight regarding attitudes in Norway. I’d rather be an American too.
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