I needed to look that up. Iiuc, that’s a bit of a Nordic protestant small town mentality which exists in other Northern European countries too in some way:
" is a code of conduct originating in fiction and now used colloquially to denote a social attitude of disapproval towards expressions of individuality and personal success. Coined by the Danish-Norwegian author Aksel Sandemose, it has also come to represent the egalitarian nature of Scandinavian countries." There are supposedly 10 rules of Jante.
So very interesting point to discuss further. There are pros and cons to this.
Being humble is moslty a pro, but not seeing or acknowledging your strength or knowing what makes you different or unique can be a con, for example.
yeah the rules are in the article. they are all phrased very oppressively, basically boiling down to “you are not to think that you are better than us”. that is, you will be judged for even attempting to stand out or better yourself above those around you. it’s basically the opposite side of “a rising tide lifts all ships”: “no ship rises by itself”. note that there is nothing in “a fugitive crosses his tracks” about actually making things better. it’s all about accepting the misery of the status quo, as exemplified by the unwritten eleventh rule: “do you not think we know things about you?”
in short, be humble and content or we’ll come for you.
it’s a crystallisation of the… platzgeist? of small nordic towns and the reason why so few people move away. on some level it’s pride in your home, on another it’s the shame of knowing you abandoned it.
>janteloven ( Law of Jante)
I needed to look that up. Iiuc, that’s a bit of a Nordic protestant small town mentality which exists in other Northern European countries too in some way:
" is a code of conduct originating in fiction and now used colloquially to denote a social attitude of disapproval towards expressions of individuality and personal success. Coined by the Danish-Norwegian author Aksel Sandemose, it has also come to represent the egalitarian nature of Scandinavian countries." There are supposedly 10 rules of Jante.
So very interesting point to discuss further. There are pros and cons to this. Being humble is moslty a pro, but not seeing or acknowledging your strength or knowing what makes you different or unique can be a con, for example.
yeah the rules are in the article. they are all phrased very oppressively, basically boiling down to “you are not to think that you are better than us”. that is, you will be judged for even attempting to stand out or better yourself above those around you. it’s basically the opposite side of “a rising tide lifts all ships”: “no ship rises by itself”. note that there is nothing in “a fugitive crosses his tracks” about actually making things better. it’s all about accepting the misery of the status quo, as exemplified by the unwritten eleventh rule: “do you not think we know things about you?”
in short, be humble and content or we’ll come for you.
it’s a crystallisation of the… platzgeist? of small nordic towns and the reason why so few people move away. on some level it’s pride in your home, on another it’s the shame of knowing you abandoned it.