The Danes Have Some Clever Ideas…
Amy Alkon, the Advice Goddess, points out that Denmark has come up with a clever new way to stop people from speeding. I’d describe it, but it’s better that you see it yourselves. To watch, click here.
The Danes have some clever ideas. I had a Danish college roommate in the mid-80s who told me about a Danish politician who could accurately be described as one of the world’s truest Libertarians. He opposed all government spending and taxes. He said Denmark should abolish all government social programs as well as the military, and replace the entire Danish Army with a telephone answering machine that said, “We Surrender” in Russian. Funny guy…
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October 13th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
Thank you, Glenn…….
I now have access to a single videoclip showing just how I could manage to allow myself to live for years in a nation with interminably cool, rainy weather and an oppressive taxation rate.
I was particularly tickled to see that the old Danish woman thought so little of the “speed bumps”.
Apparently, tolerant nation or not, Danish women are not markedly any more tolerant of men enjoying the sight of young women’s bodies than American women usually are.
October 13th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
There aren’t enough hours in the day to watch videos over a dial-up connection, but I did manage to get through this one.
October 14th, 2007 at 7:22 am
Here I am sitting in Scandinavia (Sweden) and haven’t seen this yet. I’m contacting our local representative to get this thing funded. With any luck, it will become a federal standard for the whole EU.
October 14th, 2007 at 10:55 pm
Roger, the Swedes and the Danes have much in common culturally, but don’t hold your breath waiting for the Swedes to copy this bit of “traffic information” behavior.
The Swedes are just too reserved…. controlled, and besides, the Swedish feminazis would label such “traffic volunteers” as turncoats to their cause.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Actually, the Swedes are far too intolerant of dangerous driving to have the same problem that the Danes are wrestling with. But you should also be aware that Swedish feminism has its own uniqueness compared to the US for example. Yes, Sweden has its feminazis – but Swedes generally are a bit less tolerant of them as well. Back to the real issue: No one bats an eye when there’s a nude sun bather on a public beach (nudity is not illegal here). Of course, as in many things one must accept the good with the bad. The resulting view is not always as pleasing as the one in the video above.
October 15th, 2007 at 10:50 am
I don’t doubt your observations for a moment, Roger. However I cannot recall from my time there that Swedes in general are any less tolerant of them than in any other developed nation. As I recall, Swedish feminazis are highly visible in their Riksdagen (Parliament), even to the point of sponsoring some rather openly misandric pieces of legislature.
But you’re correct, of course when you write that the Swedes are far too intolerant of dangerous driving to have the same “problem that the Danes are wrestling with”.
Fact is, the Swedes are far too intolerant of quite a few aspects of life in addition (which helps account for my residence in Denmark being some 12 times as long as my residence in Sweden).
October 15th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Swedes are specialists in democracy. Keep in mind that the basic rights they have in their constitution are fewer than the US – basically, and most importantly, everyone has a right to an opinion (freedom of speech, for everybody except for the Nazi right; and they can speak too as long as they don’t say anything offensive). Whether your opinion matters or not is another question – but you have a right to it.
I’m just trying to be extremely accurate, but I’m not actually cynical. They are experts in democracy and they’re pretty good at it. Feminists and feminism are represented in politics, so are communists. An outside observer might ask; what’s the difference? Well – a lot of the really hard core feminazis have been in the same political party as the communists. (BTW: I’ve said before that there ain’t much difference between a Nazi and a Commie.) But that’s not the whole story by a long shot.
A very well known commentator once remarked in a televised debate on feminism, that all Swedish men and women are feminists. And of course that whole population of feminists includes people with views more like Wendy McElroy than Andrea Dworkin. The kicker is that since all Swedish men and women are feminists, men – under the standing principle that everyone has a right to an opinion – are allowed to speak and participate in the political process, just like the women are. The result, in practice, is much closer to equal rights than what the English speaking world now has in relation to gender issues. Since the Bill of Rights was eliminated in the US, there ain’t no such-a thing.
The Swedes greater historical dependence on democracy (rather than fundamental law) prepared them to survive in a world where the personal is political.
October 15th, 2007 at 11:14 am
Put some thought into my response to you fourthwire, but it didn’t post. Maybe this short post will force it to appear.
October 15th, 2007 at 2:11 pm
Roger, thank you for your thoughtful response.
I’m moderately familiar with the various Scandinavian nations’ histories, and found your posts to be insightful.
And you are spot-on in your assessment concerning the Swedes’ (and for that matter, the Danes’, the Norwegians’, and the Icelanders’) historical basis in democracy.
Mind you, the Swedish feminists have been responsible for a fair bit of misandry in their nation, not to mention a wealth of privileges and entitlements for women, in my opinion.
For example, they managed to make prostitution illegal for male customers, while essentially decriminalizing it for the female prostitutes themselves (since those individuals have been given the status of “victims”).
But I agree completely with your statement that the Swedes have managed to come closer to attaining equal rights than in the U.S.
And that’s certainly worth noting in a culture where individuals historically settled their differences with axes.
The Danes are, believe it or not, even MORE egalitarian than the Swedes.
I wish that I could recall the name of the national pubic institution (either the Danish name or its English translation) of the public authority that essentially functions as a national conscience and ombudsman-of-last-resort.
This group, chosen from diverse parts of the Danish society (government, private, education, commercial) can be called upon to challenge laws that unfairly target population segments or institutions, and to assist those individuals or institutions with having repressive laws repealed.
I’ll try to remember the name……
Thanks again for your thoughtful and insightful posts, Roger.
Americans certainly have something to learn from other cultures, even if we do not blindly mimic them.
October 15th, 2007 at 3:32 pm
I’m not in favor of the US becoming a big Sweden or Sweden becoming a little US. At least with the EU in existence I no longer have to get bored with comparative arguments (US v. “Europe”) that don’t recognize the difference between a state and a federation. Americans should be encouraged by the level of objections EU citizens raise against Brussels taking over – most would rather be called citizens of their own nation-states than citizens of the EU. All those people who think the world should be run from the UN building in New York can pretty much kiss everybody’s padoodie.
BTW: Ombudsman is one of the few Swedish words that became internationalized, along with smörgåsbord. Are you thinking of the Ombudsman?
October 15th, 2007 at 6:08 pm
Roger, the authority that I was referring to is NOT merely an “ombudsman” – it’s more like the “mother of all ombudsmen” crossed with the “mother of all appeals courts”.
The group in question (and whose name escapes me) has the power to force discussion on ANY piece of legislation or court ruling that they believe infringes upon Danes’ civil rights.
I will email a few Danish pals to ask them to remind me of its name and a clearer description of its function.
Also, I should mention that your tweaking my memories of Sweden has reminded me of how well-controlled the Swedish public is – a phenomenon that I found somewhat unnerving.
Mind you, I lived there a couple of decades ago, so my experience is a bit dated, but I rather doubt that the Swedish federal and kommunal governments have become LESS intrusive in its citizens’ and legal residents’ lives.
Of course I still see your point about how the Swedes managed to build a form of government with a better grasp of equal rights than America’s…. ….and frankly in America, men’s rights are disappearing quickly as the government asserts more and more control over men, for the convenience of the women.
October 16th, 2007 at 2:38 am
That’ll be interesting to hear. Sweden has a number of different entities with power spread out all over the place. The Ombudsman is the only place I can think of that acts as an ombudsman.