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What the readers have written / ce que les lecteurs ont écrit

Date: 2008-04-20, From: (name and e-mail withheld)
Nationality: Ukranian, Living in: Denmark
Opinion: Funny, Enlightening, Entertaining, Interesting, Insulting, Thought-Provoking, Useful.
Pages commented: The Danish page.
That is really refreshing! I just LOVE it. I found this site through Google, looking for anything connected to Janteloven, it is my project theme for sprog skole [Danish language class]. I'd really like it if I could post my comments in my own language, as I surely would make myself more clear. Moreover now I seriously mix English with Danish.

Danish language is really far away from any possible logic! I'm afraid my language teacher (even though he is great) will sooner or later start planning a murder because I keep asking him to give at least a FEW rules for the Danish language system - no success, as you've mentioned earlier. So learning Danish is as solving a puzzle, though I have fun in my study.

"Styrelsen" [Udlændigestyrelsen; the department for foreigners] really seems to be exercising pure sadism, breaking families to pieces. I happened to be married to a Dane and we faced "all the pleasures" in practice. Even though we were lucky getting my first permission, I don't know how it can turn in future.

Now every three months we should go to the job-center to renew my integration contract. And every time I'm asked if I'm going to work soon. And every time I'm reminding my nice lady, that no one needs me on the job market without proper Danish, unless I'm going to clean offices, which I'm certainly not going to do. At least she agrees.

By the way, my Ukrainian education is somehow not matching the Danish system. So if I want to be a teacher here, I should start everything from the beginning, and forget my 6 years at the university. At the same time one can teach one's own language in "handel skole" having no idea how to do it at all.

Janteloven! This is an amayzing artefact! People hardly know its lines, but many surely use it in everyday life! (this is to disagree with the Dane, who said time has changed etc.).

Here's an example. We are building a new house in a historical and very much preserved part of town. Long story indeed, but fact is that we were allowd to do it. OFFICIALLY! And the biggest part was achieved by my stubborn husband, who really managed to win over the kommune. And here immediately appears our unfortunatelly future "nabo" [neighbour] who says, "How come that the previous two owners didn't get anything, and suddenly you came and - here we go!" Just like this!

I was simply shocked by this. It happened in my presence - but what could I do? Whatever I would have liked to respond to it could easily bring me to the local police station :)

No, I like it here, in Denmark! If to enjoy the beautiful landscapes and forever-green grass, and purely clean air and so on... But I don't know what I will meet with, when I f.ex. need to go to job and socialize with other Danes...

One more thing. Danes are Danes, they are like this ever since and as long as it goes - I don't very much care. Many thing they are happy. But what is close to be disgusting for me, that many ex-Ukraines and ex-Russians, now living here, are becoming pretty much Danes-like. I mean, they absorb Janteloven so quickly and so easily, and it seems to suite them naturally.

"Janteloven is a very good thing", says one Ukrainian woman on one of the forums. "One can feel oneself very relaxed having it, as you don't have to prove anything to anyone, you don't have to jump over your own head... Comforting, isn't it?" - As for me, terrifying indeed! What about proving something to your own self? - that you want, you can and you will!

Thank you for your work! It is provoking and inspiring! And supportive, as it shows that one is not alone in its opinions - and yet still can be The One.

P.S. It is funny, how Danish Danes cannot stand the critic, even though general and constructive. Met it on some web-sites.

Date: 2008-02-27, From: Leander [kjdkjd1984hotmail.com]
Nationality: Danish, Living in: Denmark
Opinion: Hilarious, Not Funny, Enlightening, Interesting, Insulting, Thought-Provoking, Useful.
Pages commented: The Danish and British pages.
Stumbled over the Danish page on a google search and didn t read the quote on the top of the main page ("WARNING ! You are likely to be offended while reading about your own country...). Also while reading the page I didn t know it was a page about more than one country. In other words I was not sure how serious it was and although I have read the warning now, I still don t know what your opinion really is - a bit confusing (this probably also have something to do with me not being good at understanding sarcasm and yes, it really is hardcore sarcasm). As a result it was pretty awful to read because not only do you feel angry about exaggerations but also depressed and ashamed because most of the criticism is well deserved (this can be debated of course) I think my impression and feelings was greatly amplified because I hadn t read the main page. Still I don t feel very sure about how much of it was serious or what how what you as a person really think. It was a comfort to discover that it was not only about Denmark. I think the page have a great value as: 

1) Criticism: While I heard almost all of the viewpoints before, the method of taking extreme positions makes you consider the issues one more time. Faced with such criticism I felt more motivated to think not only about counterarguments but also more curious about finding the actually truth about the claims. In general the page made me think much more vigorous about the subjects. 

2) Outside view: I never doubted that people from outside your own country are able to view it in a way that you will never be able to yourself. The feedback from outside your own country will therefore often be extremely valuable (or at least interesting) because it reveals circumstances otherwise invisible. This is probably also why traveling is so highly recommended as a way of learning - you obtain another kind of knowledge. However since I am still young and never really had the means or the interest in settling down in another country (mainly because I have a hard time learning a new language) I never thought I would be able to see Denmark from the outside angel. Of course I am still not able to do this, but this site has at least given me a flicker of how it feels. Simply put the site makes it easier to understand strangers in your own country. 

3) Experience / Art: They say that the purpose of art is to provoke. It s above all doubt that this page according to this view is a great work of art. The experience is maybe not unique but close to - very rarely have I read texts like this one. The mix of sarcasm, exaggerations, well-known criticism and real-life experience is both confusing and frightening. It s a bit like finding out that you have been in need of glasses the last 10 years and that the real world might look different next time you walk outside and put them on. It s a bit like reading science fiction about the present. I wonder if there is a genre inside literature which attempts to write in the same way as you. 

Suggestions: 1) Make (some) people read the country pages before they read the disclaimers. Let the disclaimers be at the end of the country page or provide a link to main page from there. I think it would make much stronger impressions. 2) If you can find another subject than countries, try to write about them in the same way too. It might be hard, but if you like to write stuff like this you might as well use your ability to collect criticism and negative experiences.

Author's comments: This is one of the best opinions ever received, because you step outside an immediate personal opinion and view it all from an abstract standpoint in a global view. Leaving certain things to the interpretation of the reader is probably not the worst one can do. Outside view? Interesting discussion, since I am Danish and spent my first 32 years in Denmark. But this page was written after expatriation, and the comments from foreigners on the page are certainly outside views. Living in another country for at least a few years is one of the most interesting experiences one can have. It helps immensely when trying to find out what is facts and what is myths about one's own country and the expatriation country. It helps establishing what are the true qualities of the country one left and the expatriation country, and what are the real problems. The result is likely to be far from mainstream media's presentations if one can put all prejudice aside. For one reason because their job is to sell media and in order to do that, they have to write things people want to read.

Date: 2008-02-21, From: (name and e-mail withheld)
Nationality: Danish, Living in: Denmark (soon America)
Opinion: Enlightening, Interesting, Useful.
Pages commented: The Danish page.
Hi, I'm a Danish female (well my father is African but I was born here by a Danish mother) and I was surfing around the net for some information to email to my American husband about my country (he has never been here) so he would get the impression of Denmark from my point of view which is most certainly not the deceiving peaches and cream tourist clips you can view on youtube or the recent programme they aired in the US about Danes being the happiest population on earth. Everything you wrote regarding Danes and the mentality is on point!!!. Janteloven, the small minded mentality and the rather ignorant and hateful attitude towards anyone who dare to think out of the box is very much alive in Denmark. Indeed has been installed in us from birth but luckily some of us managed to see through it. It is not okay to be more ambitous than the average person - in general the level of ambition is extremely low, "less is better" and therefore most settle for less and live a life in complete boredom. Don't aim to high. It's okay to stay grounded but when it comes to a point where en entire society is built up to discourage the people to think above average and really live life according to oneselves beliefs it's a problem. In one year I will graduate and after that I will apply for American citizenship whenever I'm eligible (yes I read the article written by the elder gentleman who had been caught in the tax system after living in Australia for 40 something years) and although I have family here in Denmark, in the future my family will have to come visit me in New York because I have no intentions whatsoever to put a foot in this country ever again. Thank you for telling the truth. I was reading through the visitor book and the replies from the Danish "patriots" pretty much reflects the attitude within this country and therefore I have no qualms about giving up my citizenship and start over somewhere else. Kind Regards.

Date: 2008-01-27, From: (anonymous)
All ths is boring stupid bullshit.

Author's comments: The eloquence of certain readers never ceases to amaze me. Such statements will do wonders to further the dialogue.

Date: 2008-01-26, From: Morten Egestrand [morten_egestrandhotmail.com]
Nationality: Danish, Living in: Denmark
Opinion: Dumb, Entertaining, Interesting, Thought-provoking.
Pages commented: The Danish page.
I must say that I truly agree with a lot of your criticism. I too am fed up with the fact that Danes believe they live in the greatest country of all time where the welfare system as such is perfect. And I'm glad to actually reading it coming from a Dane. But I have some general issues that I find frustrating reading the website.

1. It is very easy to see that you haven't been living in Denmark for more than 15 years. What you desribe is clearly an image of Denmark going years back. I take as you must have grown up here in the 70's and 80's. Today Denmark looks quite different. The general attitude I find very hard to match the one described here on the web-site, as I believe a lot of things have changed. A lot of the the things described are actually wrong looking at denmark today. It is illegal to smoke in public places, you do not have to belong to particular workers giuld, the state today has no debt, today it is a lot harder to get financial help from the government when you are out of work, and you cannot get it for as long as you used to. By the way there is less than 3 % of the population in the "Working age" that are unemployed. Just to mentioned the ones I noticed.

2. About the Jantelov; to tell you the truth I only know very few people that actually know it in full lengt, where it came from, and what it's actually about. Not to mention reading the book where it originates from and understanding the context of it. When people talk about the Jantelov today it has nothing to do with the origanal text. Today, they simply mean that they don't like people to go around bragging loudly for everyone to hear about how good they are compared to everyone else. And I garantee you making a servey, you would be very surprised how few people know the actual Jantelov. Today the attitude is way different, and no one thinks less of you if you believe in youself and pursuade the things you want in life.

I will put my main criticism on the website on this:

A: The tone is very harsh and I think that's why so many disagree with you. If I told you that you were a communist, ignorant, stupid, lying, redicoulus and let your government fuck around with you, the first thing you would do was to defend yourself. Just as prooved on this comment site. I think it would be nice to mention a few of the good things in Denmark, or are there not any at all?

B: You give readers the impressison that because of the somtimes stupid system, and the rulers of it, in Denmark, the people living here are equally stupid. Not all Americans have the same approach to life as Georg Bush you know? And I strongly believe that the same thing accounts for Denmark.

I guess I just think it's sad that you've had such a bad impression on Denmark and that a lot of other people are getting the same. You have to remember that: Danes are some of the happiest and most satisfied people in the world We have one of the lowest poverty rates in the world People are happy about the welfare system and thus paying the high taxes to support it.

I would like to take an example in the U.S., the so called land of the free. Because of the low tax they apparantly have more freedom than us. Perhabs. But if you add expenses for health care, pension, college education for your kids and so on, I bet you that an average Dane has more money left to himself than the average American. I realize that it doesn't make Denmark a more free and democratic country, but I would just like you and all the readers to remember that apporach to the Danish welfare system. The Danes like the fact that no matter what happens they can get education and healt care.

In the U.S. there is a very high rate of poverty and crime (there a areas where the police barely goes), numerous cases of priests mollesting (sorry for the spelling) children, lawyers and doctors cheating people. The food is absolutely horrible and the population is the most obese in the world. Those are cases of the same type as you mention for reasons to hate Denmark. I really don't belive that it would be fair for me to now say that the U.S. is a horrible contry without freedom and liberty and the people living there are ignorant and stupid. Do you? Maybe the fact that the president wasn't elected by the majority of the population, that he has a veto and can interpret laws just as he wants to, as well as prisoners being kept overseas without knowing why and having the right to a trial as stated by the constitution, has something to do with "freedom"? I just want people to remember that the opposit of the Danish welfare system has its problems too.

I hope you take this as constructive criticism, because that was how it was ment.

Author's comments: Thanks for your very interesting comments. Born in 1960, you are completely right that I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s until I emigrated definitively in 1993, aged 33. You have very precisely pinpointed the period upon which the Danish page is based. That said, readers' input would have been based on a later period. The illegal smoking must be very recent, as I was confronted with endless smokers as late as in June 2006. 

However, what you say about Denmark having no debt is false. I have updated the Danish page with the most recent figures from the Danish Statistical office, presently showing a gross public debt of 63 billion euros, or 11,500 € per person. You are not the first one to claim in recent years that Denmark has little or no debt. Why is that? Is Danish press manipulating the truth about this? Anyone can check the official figures at www.dst.dk. 

Yes, the tone is harsh. It reflects how it was when I lived in Denmark and there was little space for any other opinions than the politically correct ones. You were treated harshly if you dared say anything else than the "approved" opinion. Denmark is today treating certain immigrants and particularly married couples where one is Danish and the other not even more harshly than when I emigrated. Harsh treatment brings harsh reactions. I am aware that many don't like to hear certain things, but I am not going to soften the tone just to suit them. Danes are brought up to seek a common standpoint for everybody in a group, and to be nice. It is part of the culture. Isolated opinions in a group are not well seen. This is useful for many purposes, and it often makes workplaces function better, but it marginalises and isolates people with differing opinions. I am not seeking to please everybody or anyone, or to be nice; hence, I attract the wrath of many Danes. In fact, I never felt the system or the culture was "nice" to me. I was fleeced in tax. Socialist governments continuously referred to people like me with moderate incomes as "rich" people who ought to bear the heaviest burdens. I had to emigrate if I wanted to see my wife - and so I did. Many Danes are in the same situation today, having to flee their own country in order to live with their wives. A socialist tax minister violated the law and an international treaty just so he could fleece me and a few others a bit more. Was all that "nice"? Why should I be "nice" in return? 

There are positive things to say about Denmark, of course, but there is no lack of other resources where this can be found. In fact, a lot of literature about Denmark is exclusively positive. Should we also ask writers of such literature if there is nothing negative to say? Must every piece absolutely contain at least some positive statements? 

If you get the impression that I say that Danes are stupid, it must be for your own account. What I do say is that Danes are conditioned from small to accept the system. Danes claim to be some of the happiest people in the world, so it must be working for most - but not for all. The trouble is that for the diverging minority, Denmark may not be quite so nice a place to be. Many, but far from everybody, are happy about the state of the welfare system and the high taxes it causes. The USA and other countries have other problems, such as notably health care and crime in the US. But health care alone does not explain the very high taxes in Denmark, the real cost of a European health care system being in the order of 3,000 € per person per year, very roughly set. The UK manages to provide health care not far from the standard of the Danish system, but for less taxes. The USA is far from perfect, but child molesting is happening everywhere, and dishonest lawyers and doctors is not an exclusively American phenomenon. I didn't say that Danes are ignorant or stupid, so I don't see the point of mentioning that in the case of the USA. A foreign reader, Renata, quoted did mention "ignorants", but that is her unedited word and must stand for her account. I would not want to censure readers' accounts. 

Danish tax authorities, from the tax minister and down, have repeatedly broken the law simply to increase tax revenue. What you said about the American president: "can interpret laws just as he wants to" equally applies to Danish tax authorities.

To conclude, each person does not have the same experiences. Many Danes are happy about their system. A minority are not, and it is when they - or foreigners not conditioned to Danish thinking - try to expand their limits that problems start arising. From that point on, Denmark can be hell for a few, while the majority don't mind so long as they can live their quiet, regulated life.

Date: 2007-11-06, From: Alan [adminitcontractor.dk]
Nationality: English, Living in: Denmark
Opinion: Entertaining, Useful.
Pages commented: The Danish page.
I moved to Denmark with promises from my Danish partner that it would somehow be a better place for our family. Unfortunately, everything you say about Denmark is true, and since you're a Dane, I linked my site http://www.itcontractor.dk to your description of the Jantelov; everyone will appreciate the reality of a Dane describing how it works. Funnily enough, no Brit I have ever met here likes Denmark for the same sort of reasons. The place is communist and obsessed with rules, probably to ensure as much tax as possible can be coerced out of the population to fund the latest welfare schemes. Most annoyingly, everyone here seems to have been brainwashed into thinking it's great, but for a country of just 5 million, a lot of Danes seem to turn up around the world, so plenty of people are seeing through it and voting with their feet. Unfortunate thing being that that probably just reinforces the communist influences amongst the remaining population.

Author's comments: Alan, it's a shame you only found out too late, but at least your comments can help warning others. Unfortunately for myself, I've gone from the frying pan and into the fire by having emigrated from one communist paradise, Denmark, to another communist paradise, France. Caveat emptor!

Date: 2007-02-16, From: cyril [soumarinjaunehotmail.com]
Nationality: French, Living in: France
Opinion: Dumb, Not Funny, Useless.
Pages commented: The French page.
I never read so much shit in the same time... Hey man, even if some french people are really like you described, do you really think it worth to waste time to create a website to talk about it??? Furthermore when you just talk about all the stereotypes you can read everywhere about french people??? French guys dont work, they drink wine everyday, they cannot speak a foreign language, they think they are the best... bla bla bla bla... I've lost 15 minutes of my lifetime by reading your bullshit. Some french guys are as stupid as you and think that the stereotypes are real: english people think everybody should speak english, they all drink tea, they are all hooligans, german people are all nazis, italians are all thieves bla bla bla... Please do everybody a favour, erase your website. It is dumb and unuseless... 

Author's comments: Gee, thanks for having taken the time to write such an eloquent opinion. Yours is a significant contribution to beaming out the French "cultural exception" and linguistic excellence to the entire world. Your English vocabulary is impressive: "shit, bullshit, stupid, dumb - and unuseless". That's the spirit of European integration!

Date: 2007-01-30, From: Fred [courrieldefredvoila.fr]
Nationality: French, Living in: Germany
Opinion: Not Funny, Entertaining, Insulting, Thought-Provoking, Useless.
Pages commented: The French page.
I´m a french guy and of course I read your description of my country and found it interesting. Oh, of course I know my country isn´t perfect, and many of your case, if taken one by one, are accurate. 

The thing I didn´t really liked in your description is that you are taking mainly single cases, but talks about it as would it be a generality. Of course, you might be someone defying the statistic rules, but your are describing situations that might happen in maybe 1 or 2 percent of the reality. 

The other fact that disturbed me is that I made a test. I changed in your text every "french" and "frenchman" words by "arab" or words like that. What is pretty funny is that I then have a speech of Jeam- Marie (notice the Jean, please) Le Pen under my nose. 

I´m not against criticism against my own country. But the problem is by you writing this are giving a really bad bad image of my countrymen to the rest of the world. In fact, a french who´s reading this can understand what you are talking about and where you are exagerating. But someone who doesn´t know the coutry could take that as a real report of the reality, and believe in those clichés. 

Maybe you should take care of what you are writing because I´m sure you are not a racist person, but I´m also sure that your descriptions could be used by racist people. As someone originated from a foreign country and who had to face such clichés everyday because such jokes like yours where made over my country since the 60s, I just give you the advice not to underestimate the power you have by writing those lines. 

Mais comme disait Coluche, le racisme, c´est comme les nègres, ca devrait pas exister ! 

Keep on writing.

Author's comments: Hi, thanks for taking the time to express your opinion. I am unable to put statistic numbers on the problems I describe in France. It's true that a general image cannot be produced from individual accounts. That's why I start the page by underscoring that this page is not an objective description. That is more than what tourist brochures and other positive style information produced by France do. In fact, the image I had of France from such sources is quite different from the reality one experiences when living here. I have never heard anyone express concern that overly positive descriptions of France, as descriptions of France mostly are, could be taken as reports of reality and that people who don't know France could believe such information. It is interesting to observe that you and others then express concern about accounts that focus on the negative aspects that are largely ignored by the vast majority of publications about France. Do you and these other persons also contact the authors of positive-only publications to express concern that they do not mention the negative parts of reality? Now, while I describe single cases, if they were so rare as you indicate, then I wonder how it can be that during 8 years in France, I have experienced all this - and much more that I have not (yet) written about. If you modify the text and put "arab" or anything else in case of what I have written, the result must be for your own account. I can clearly not answer for others' modifications. As for giving a bad image about France: The French president and government do not hesitate to criticise other countries' political decisions or their violations of human rights. France itself does not respect all human rights, and there is a number of very real problems in France. France claims that it wants more political integration of Europe, but it has a record of not respecting EU law already voted, by not transposing directives within the deadline, or by simply not respecting EU law. If it disturbs the French that describing what is really happening in the country could give a bad image, then maybe instead of wanting to silence the writers it might be worth considering if there might not be some things to improve. Wiping off concrete criticism as "clichés" is simply too cheap. I do mention a few clichés, but they are not the rule on the page.

As for racism, there is not a single word of racism or any direct or indirect attack on France's immigrant population on my site. I can never prevent people with bad intentions from abusing texts I have written or other writers' texts. I frankly don't see any connection between what is mainly a criticism of France's native white population and the country's immigration issues. If people behave in a racist way, it must be for their own account, and I simply cannot take any responsibility for that. As for Jean-Marie Le Pen, without pronouncing myself about his politics, it is the case that he has blacks, jews and arabs in his office. How would that be compatible with being a racist? The word racist is in itself being abused. Again without pronouncing myself about Le Pen, it is very much the case in France that the mainstream media are run with connections to mainstream political parties and that they have all interest in describing Le Pen as badly as possible. All I say is that if Le Pen and others are to be criticised, it should be done because of what they do and say and not because of a fabricated and simplified image. The totally unacceptable situation surrounding the immigrant population in concrete suburbs has been created exclusively by mainstream political parties, not by Front National. If they accept the number of immigrants into the country that they have done, they should also have taken care of suitable conditions for integration, but all they have done is to pile the immigrants up in concrete towers and let them take care of themselves, with the disastrous result we see. Now, to hammer home the point that I am not a Le Pen supporter, let me just say that if I were French, I would not find one single political party or candidate attractive to vote for.

Date: 2006-06-15, From: Anja Rasmussen [free-sorit164hotmail.com]
Nationality: Danish, Living in: Denmark
Opinion: Dumb, Funny, Entertaining, Insulting, Useless.
Pages commented: The Danish page.
Hello I had a good laugh reading this.. I was looking for some information for my hostmom about my counrty, and I stumble upon your lovely little site about my country. Please, name one country that's perfect? You know very well that Denmark is a fine country. Everyone in denmark is schooled, everyone is fed, and everyone has something to live on. We have high taxes yes, but that is a part of our welfare system. I wonder, for somebody who hates denmark so much, who would write so much about it? You need to get your self a hobby, said nicely. Our language is difficult, we say the numbers different, get over it. And for an ending, I have never in my life in denmark, met anyone who believed in the Jantelov. Nobody, and I mean nobody lives by it, and believe in it. We have had that law rewritten, I suggest you find that one instead. Many thanks for the beautiful site about my lovely country. And it's illegalt to smoke in publich places in denmark. I hope that you one day will figure out, that denmark is a nice country, that we hold dear to out hearts. - Anja Rasmussen

Author's comments:
No countries are perfect. In fact, not much is perfect at all. But that doesn't mean that nothing can be criticised. I actually know very well that Denmark is not the fine country it pretends to be, if you don't mind. Just as France is not the cultured, civilised and gastronomic country it pretends to be, if that can please you. I accept that you and certain others may find Denmark a fine country. You have all the right in the world to have that opinion. There is indeed less poverty in Denmark than in many other countries. If a certain amount of taxes can be justified to maintain that, it hardly seems necessary to continue holding the world record in tax. The Danish public sector is severely bloated, for example. There are still too many civil servants per productive worker. Certain Danes like me who've been thrown out of the country because their spouses were refused a visa may hate Denmark quite a lot for its inhuman immigration laws that were tightened over the last few years. This is one of my secrets for hating my country. A recent Danish TV programme showed a few examples of such cases, and it wasn't exactly praise I heard from these fellow Danes who had also been thrown out, to be diplomatic. One of my hobbies is to expose certain aspects of certain things that are less politicially correct. I don't have any problems with my native language Danish, but why should that prevent me from pointing out some of the illogical things in the language? It's interesting that you and certain others say you've never seen the Jantelov in effect, while other Danes and foreigners I've talked to mention that they have experienced the workings of the Jantelov themselves. The interpretation of reality often depends on the observer. You know that it's partially people like you, who can see nothing wrong at all in Denmark, who have inspired me to write about some of the things that - in some people's eyes - could need improvement. Some foreign commentators in this debate have mentioned that they find that the Danes all say the same things - fine country, nothing wrong etc. This uniformity is incredibly boring for certain people.

Date: 2006-11-21, From: bob [yourawankerjantelov.dk]
Nationality: Danish, Living in: Brazil
Opinion: Dumb, Funny, Entertaining, Useless.
Pages commented: The Danish page.
I didn't really get any further than the part about Janteloven, and I must say that your text seem somewhat about of touch with the real world. I think that if you had set foot outside you door more often when living in Denmark, your story would have been better. Maybe your perception of Janteloven is strong from where you lived and maybe the people you hung out with are Jantelovs supporters, but having lived in most parts of Denmark over a period of 31 years, I have never really seen Janteloven in effect, so I can't really support this "scientific" material... Well good luck with more fiction, and seriously get a life, I mean a real one... Valeu!

Author's comments:
I regularly set my foot outside my door during the 33 years I lived in Denmark - until I got fed up. Reality has many aspects. This page aims to shed some light of some of the less politically correct aspects. Your experiences will be different from mine and others'. Nothing is presented as "scientific" material. Readers' interpretations are for their own account. Isn't it funny how people who disagree with what you say often tell you to "get a life", as if living without thinking about anything remotely serious is "having a life"?

Date: 2006-09-28, From: John [billyahoo.com]
Living in: Ukraine
It's a very interesting site!

Date: 2006-08-29, From: (anonymous)
Nationality: American, Living in: America
Pages commented: The Danish page.
i cant believe your such a traitor. you deserve to be kicked straight out of denmark. ive lived in denmark for a couple of years, and i absolutely loved it there. the only people who lived after that horrible "janteloven" were the old bald guys like you probably are, and the muslims and eastern people. why i wanted to write you, was that your the worst traiter i have come across yet.

Author's comments:
1. I have all the right in the world to criticise my own country. You clearly haven't understood the meaning of the word "traitor". Political comment and other criticism have nothing to do with being a traitor. According to your definition, the somewhat 50% of the American population that don't like Bush are traitors, since they dare think otherwise than him. Should I start calling Americans traitors if I don't agree with their criticism of America?
2a. So how about kicking the 50% of Americans that don't like Bush out of America?
2b. I haven't lived in Denmark since 1993, and I have no wish ever to live there again.
3. Great if you loved Denmark, but do you really believe that you get to know a country and its citizens well by living there only a couple of years, and probably not speaking the local language. You must be very naive.
4. You certainly haven't understood the "Jantelov". It permeates society from top to bottom and young to old. Sometimes, the young are the most fierce defenders of it. Go and stay in Denmark for more years, learn Danish and integrate, and you may begin to understand what this is all about.
5. Born in 1960. Still have all my hair. Wrong again.
6. I don't have any indication as to whether muslims or eastern people should follow the Danish "Jantelov". Why should they? It is not part of their culture. The Jantelov has nothing to do with the immigrant population. It's a native Danish thing. I cannot exclude that some would have integrated so well that they started obeying the Jantelov, though.
7. For your information, in case you missed it, your government calls America a staunch defender of democracy; a system it is actively trying to export to the Middle East. A fundamental part of democracy is the right to free speech, hereunder to criticise what you want, within certain limits such as racism, defamation and similar. YOU are a traitor to the system of democracy by the fact that you are sending defamatory comments to someone exercising his right to free speech within the limits of the law.
8. In 2006, the Danish government defended the right to free speech in the issue about the Mohammed drawings in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, despite the fact that these drawings sparked violence in certain countries, that the drawings were indeed controversial, that Danes became subject to attacks abroad, and that a Danish embassy was burned down. It would have been most comfortable for a government to attack the newspaper and appease the rioters to prevent further damage, but it didn't; it stood firm and defended the fundamental principle of free speech that your country also say it loves so much. It is the official Danish policy to defend the basic principle of free speech, even when it's controversial and goes against what may be politically correct at the time. The fact that I criticise certain aspects of Danish society is therefore not in itself against Danish policy. On the contrary, people who dare say things directly help keeping alive a real debate, unlike what's going on in China, Cuba, North Korea and similar places; some of which are being called "evil" by your president. Readers are free to argue against what I say on this page, but some are unable to argue and instead jump to words like "traitor", "xenophobe" and "racist" in a fit of politically correct rage; all wrong according to the definition of the words, but I accept that these words represent certain sentiments.
Democratically yours.

Date: 2006-06-21, From: Guillaume
Nationality: Française
Pages commented: The French page.
Bouhhhhhhhhhh jaloux!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Et bien moi je travaille durement pendant mes 35 heures et après j'ai du temps libre pour disperser tout plein de crottes de chien sur les trottoirs... Les lois sont et ont été instaurées pour que les français aient un niveau de vie assez convenable, je te signale que bon nombre de RMIstes veulent rester RMIstes et que du travail on peut en trouver facilement, suffit de chercher. Ensuite on a une super couverture sociale (assurance maladie, aide au logement et j'en passe) donc voilà...pas la peine de critiquer, il y a quand même de bonne choses et y il a aussi des choses à revoir.....j'aimerai bien savoir quel pays n'a aucun défaut, dis le moi vite pour que j'aille m'y installer et qu'on m'accueille les bras ouverts contrairement à ce qu'un français fait... Merci, et bonne réflexion, ne te triture pas pas trop le cerveau, sinon ça va être encore le faute à un français....désolé....sont vraiment pas bien les français.....mais bon tu es quand même venu nous voir pendant 8 longues années...si c'était pas si bien que ça, moi je serai reparti au bout de quelques mois. Voilà (je ne dis pas ça pour mettre les étrangers dehors)

Author's comments: Jaloux ? Non ! Un bon travailleur peut facilement être plus efficace en 35H qu'un moins bon en 40H. Mais la limite dure du premier régime 35H, qui était inflexible, était un problème, notamment pour les petites entreprises. Au moins c'est plus flexible maintenant. Il n'y a pas de mal à chercher la vie aussi convenable que possible, mais lorsqu'on vie au-dessus de ses moyens, comme la France, ça devient problématique si on continue à s'occuper du confort avant le travail. Je suis le premier à dire qu'il y a un grand nombre de chômeurs et RMIstes qui ne veulent pas travailler. C'est incontestable. Mais de là à dire que chacun peut obtenir du travail sans problème, c'est faux, même si la personne est motivée et avec des qualifications. Il y a une bonne couverture sociale de la plupart de la population, mais il y a aussi des 'trous' où le RMI n'est pas disponible même pour des personnes dans le besoin réel qui souhaitent travailler. Inversement, le RMI est trop facilement versé à tout et chacun qui n'a pas envie de travailler. Dans les Bouches-du-Rhône, les conseillers généraux avaient commencé à poser la question aux services pourquoi la plupart des RMIstes de leur département n'avaient jamais signé un contrat d'insertion. Perversement, certaines personnes qui travaillent un peu mais sans avoir beaucoup de revenus feraient mieux d'arrêter le travail, simplement pour pouvoir obtenir le RMI qui leur est refusé s'ils travaillent un peu. Les allocations familiales sont parfois plus généreuses à ceux qui ont des revenus confortables qu'à ceux qui se trouvent avec des chutes de revenus importants ; effet pervers du décalage de 1 à 2 ans entre les allocations et les revenus dont elles sont basées. Où est l'idée de payer une aide au logement à une famille avec 2 enfants qui gagne 10,000 € par mois, par exemple, pendant que cette aide n'est pas payé à une famille pareille sans revenus ? Seule la logique française pourrait inventer un système si pervers. Il y a des bonnes intentions avec le système social, mais il y a des défauts qui ont des effets très graves pour ceux qui se trouvent dans les 'trous'. Le système est plutôt conçu sur la perception fausse que tout le monde reste figé dans la situation où ils se trouvent, car le système gère très mal les changements de situation. Le système anglais est mieux dans cet aspect, car il regarde la situation actuelle de la personne; non pas la situation deux ans précédemment. Personne n'a dit qu'il devrait exister un pays sans défauts. Et alors, si tous les pays ne sont pas parfaits, on ne peut en critiquer aucun ? C'est encore de la logique française ? C'est en effet la critique qui permet l'amélioration. Seul l'imbécile croit qu'il est parfait. La critique en soi n'est pas forcément une mauvaise chose. Ce n'est pas toujours évident de partir dans un autre pays au moment où on veut, mais cela ne va pas dire que je n'ai pas sérieusement pensé à m'installer dans un pays qui est moins hostile envers ceux qui veulent travailler en indépendants, car ce n'est pas un groupe privilégé comme les CDI. C'est là le problème en France en quelques mots : le confort est recompensé et le risque puni !

Date: 2006-06-21, From: (anonymous)
Nationality: Française
Pages commented: The French page.
Bon je laisse tomber...tu restes barricadé derrière tes idées, enfin sache que si tu viens dans le sud ouest de la france, les étrangers sont très bien accueillis, voilà.

Author's comments: Le futur va montrer qui a raison. Celui qui lit une sélection de la presse et des livres françaises saura que je suis loin d'être le seul à dire ce que je dis. Luc Ferry et Raymond Barre ont des choses très sensibles à dire dans "l'Expansion" de juin 2006, par exemple. Ivan Rioufol écrit des propos bien réflêchis tous les vendredis au Figaro. Villepin avait commencé la bonne route pour l'économie, même s'il aurait pu le mieux faire au niveau de tactic, mais Chirac le lâche l'a arrêté. Même Ségolène Royal commence à dire certaines choses sensibles, ce qui est évidemment mal supporté par la vieille garde du PS. Mais la plupart des Français restent 'je m'en foutistes' et continuent à tricher un peu partout pour se défendre contre un État invahissent. Si les Français du sud ouest sont moins cyniques que ceux en Provence, il faudra peut-être que je le visite.

Date: 2006-06-20, From: (anonymous)
Nationality: Française, Living in: UK at the moment
Pages commented: The French and British pages.
Que dire qui n'ait déjà été dit... mais que c'est triste de ne rien avoir de constructif à dire... bon sur ce je vais aller manger mes grenouilles et les anglais leur viande bouillie et puis après ça j'oublierai de prendre une douche et j'irai crier dans la rue pour ne rien dire demain au lieu d'aller bosser (c'est le principe des grèves si j'ai bien compris?... tellement plus facile de penser ça que d'écouter ce que les gens ont à dire...) ah et enfin je n'irai pas traverser aux passages protégés... mais bon en Angleterre non plus pas grand monde le fait (oups! mince ça c'est pas cliché, désolée). Ah et j'écris en français parce que comme j'ai été élevée dans un pays où le système est manipulé par un gouvernement de gauche qui nous a tous lobotomisés je ne suis pas capable de parler d'autres langues... Désolée j'ai pas de chien mais je pense que sinon je lui ferais faire ses besoins sur les trottoirs et dans les magasins en bonne Française qui se respecte... Il ne me manque plus que le béret, la bicyclette et une baguette de pain pour compléter le tableau non? A oui et une bonne dose de 'moi je' :) J'espère que tu ne crois pas à tout ce que tu as écrit... sinon je te plains d'être obligé de vivre dans le même pays que ces sauvages de Français... quelle sale race pas vrai?

Author's comments: C'est plutôt triste d'observer l'état léthargique de ce beau pays, car le pays même est beau. Ce qui s'y passe, pas vraiment. Après 8 ans en France, il est clair que l'état réel du pays n'a pas grand-chose à voir avec l'image que le pays présente à l'étranger. La très bonne image que j'avais de la France en 1998 est maintenant totalement détruite, ayant laissé la place aux réalités dures. On pourrait aussi demander les millions de chômeurs et RMIstes, pour ne pas parler de ceux qui vivent dans la rue sans RMI, s'ils n'ont pas quelque chose de constructive à dire. On pourrait demander les Français fortunés qui ont fuit le pays pour raison des taxes confiscatoires tel que la taxe sur la fortune s'ils n'auraient pas plutôt envie pour travailler pour leur pays - si le pays était d'accord de ne pas les surtaxer. Le pays est figé dans un état où ceux qui ont des privilèges font tout pour les garder, n'importe les conséquences pour ceux qui ne sont pas déjà dans le 'système'. C'est quelque part paradoxal que le Partie Socialiste d'aujourd'hui est là pour défendre les privilèges de la classe moyenne mais laisse les classes les plus démunies sans grand espoir. Car c'est ça la conséquence de bloquer une réforme du Code du Travail. Le PS est devenu le vrai partie conservateur du nouveau siècle. À qui va-t-il bénéficier d'avoir élévé la jeunesse d'aujourd'hui pour croire que la vie comme fonctionnaire est le nirvana, au point que 75% des jeunes le souhaitent ? On leur a raconté des fantaisies, ce qui ne peut que le rendre même plus dûr pour eux de s'adapter à la vie de travail. Écouter les grèvistes ? Je les écoute, mais ce sont curieusement toujours les mêmes groupes qui font la grève, et plutôt pour des raisons de confort ou politique. Mais il faut aussi écouter ceux qui parlent avec des voix plus faibles. Ceux qui ont vraiment besoin de faire la grève ne le font pas, car ils ne sont pas organisés, et ils ne peuvent pas se payer le luxe de passer des jours à marcher et crier dans la rue, contrairement aux classes moyennes privilégées, tel que notamment les fonctionnaires gâtés. Il y a des nombreux groupes - grands ou petits - en France qui ont des problèmes beaucoup plus graves que ceux qu'on voit toujours dans la rue, mais on ne les entend quasiment jamais, car ils ne font pas assez de bruit. La démocratie doit prendre en considération l'ensemble de la population et non seulement ceux qui crient le plus fort. Vous me demandez si je n'ai pas quelque chose de constructive à dire. Et ceux qui font les manifestations, qu'ont-ils de constructif à dire ? Selon vous, eux, il faut les écouter, et moi, je dois être constructif !?

Date: 2006-06-21, From: (anonymous)
Nationality: Française, Living in: UK at the moment
Pages commented: The French and British pages.
Bon je vais pas répondre là dessus... je parlais pas de politique, juste de clichés mais bon on a dû mal se comprendre... Enfin si l'atmosphère est si invivable en France console toi en te disant qu'on n'a jamais empêché personne de partir (de rentrer oui mais pas de partir) :) Et je suis désolée de te dire que le pays va de paire avec ses habitants qui sont (je te le concède) un peu spéciaux... mais bon la différence c'est aussi ce qui fait notre charme :)

Author's comments: C'est vrai que j'ai plutôt répondu dans la direction de la politique et que les commentaires concernaient plutôt des "clichés". Certes, il y a des élements de "clichés" sur la page, mais pas autant que certains le veulent pour ne pas admettre l'état réel des choses. Chacun qui a vécu à Paris sait que les crottes de chiens ne sont pas des clichés, par exemple. Une cliché ne laisse pas des mauvaises odeurs sur les chaussures. Je le dis haut et fort, sans clichés, sans sarcasme : laisser les autres marcher dans les excréments de son chien est un comportement sale et égoïste qu'on ne trouve pas dans des pays comme l'Allemagne et la Suisse, dont les habitants auraient honte de se comporter ainsi, et où l'entourage reprocherait immédiatement le pauvre type qui oserait le faire. Sur la page même, j'ai préféré le traiter sous un aspect satirique, mais voilà qu'on l'appelle "cliché" ensuite. Il y a peut-être d'autres sujets sur la page où l'élement de "cliché" est plus fort, mais il n'y a rien sur la page qui est basé exclusivement sur des clichés. Ce n'est pas la "charme" française qui est un problème, ou le fait que les Français sont un peu différents. Chaque pays de l'Europe est différent, et c'est vrai que ça donne une certaine charme, et ça donne notamment le choix de s'installer dans un pays rigide comme l'Allemagne, un pays laxiste comme la France ou un pays chaotique comme l'Italie. En France, c'est l'élement un peu trop fort de "moi" qui gâche les choses. Les Français le savent bien : l'incivisme rend parfois les choses invivables pour les autres Français. Les Français ne s'aiment pas entre eux, car chacun ne pense qu'à lui-même. C'est peut-être la raison pour laquelle le pays essaie desespérément de se faire aimer à l'étranger, en présentant un rêve de "charme". Mais un peu de considération pour les autres ne ferait pas de mal, et ça n'allait pas gachir la "charme". Ça ne ferait pas non plus de mal de parler d'autres langues que le français et d'être prêt à accueillir les étrangers dans une autre langue plutôt que les bouder, comme le font trop de Français (mais non pas tous). Où les Hollandais sont connus pour être prêts à accueillir les étrangers avec un anglais presque plus parfait que l'anglais parlé par les Anglais, les Français semblent fiers de bouder toute langue étrangère, comme un enfant de 4 ans qui ne veut manger qu'une seule chose. C'est "charmant" ça ? Ce n'est pas nécessaire de bouder les autres pour être charmant. Ce n'est pas pour rien que la France vient d'obtenir le résultat comme le pays le moins accueillant en Europe pour les touristes dans un sondage. Ça, ce n'est pas vraiment "charmant". Finalement, c'est drôle comme "vous n'avez qu'à partir" semble être la réponse uniforme des Français qui ne tolèrent pas la critique. Plutôt qu'améliorer ce qui pourrait être amélioré, on demande à ceux qui ose critiquer de partir, pour que tout puisse rester médiocre. Dans les institutions européennes, fortement inspirées des structures françaises, on fait pareil avec ceux qui découvrent la fraude - on les fait partir. Et voilà l'une des raisons que l'Europe et la France vont mal. On laisse l'abus, la fraude, la corruption, le laxisme, la protection des intérêts particuliers etc. en place, comme des insectes qui rongent une plante - qui va finir par mourir.

Date: 2006-06-21, From: (anonymous)
Nationality: Française, Living in: UK at the moment
Pages commented: The French and British pages.
Attend mais les crottes de chien sur les trottoirs évidemment que c'est vrai, et dégueulasse, et les Français sont les premiers à s'en plaindre... mais bon de là à dire que c'est qu'en France et qu'ailleurs c'est propre... je suis pas allée en Allemagne ni en Suisse, mais bon pour l'Angleterre et l'Espagne je peux dire que leurs trottoirs sont aussi sales... Pour ce qui est de ne pas nous aimer entre-nous, je vois pas bien ce que tu veux dire, parce que des individualistes qui pensent qu'à leur nombril il n'y en a pas qu'en France... alors oui on est content d'avoir des vacances, une pause déjeuner de 2 heures et les 35 heures pour pouvoir un peu profiter de la vie. Mais bon je vois pas ce qui a de mal à ça... après tout ma vie ne se résume pas à bosser comme une malade jusqu'à la retraite... et j'espère bien en profiter!:) Pour ce qui est de parler uniquement français, ben oui il y a comme un problème avec l'anglais... pour raisons historiques... mais bon tu trouveras sans problème quelqu'un pour te parler espagnol, italien ou allemand :) Cela dit, la plupart du monde bafouille quelques mots d'anglais... Et puis bon on doit pas être si antipathiques que ça parce que Paris est toujours la première (ou deuxième?) destination touristique au monde... Et puis pour ce qui est dire aux gens de partir... ben c'est une réponse logique non? Quand on n'est pas bien quelque part on va voir ailleurs si c'est mieux... ou alors on fait des critiques constructives pour faire changer les choses... seulement jusqu'ici j'ai pas lu grand chose de constructif alors je ne pensais pas que tu voulais faire changer les choses... mais je me trompe peut-être...

Author's comments: Je dis que c'est propre en Allemagne et en Suisse. Chacun peut le constater en y allant. Londres n'est pas hyper propre, mais on ne marche pas non plus dans des crottes tout le temps comme à Paris. Il y a des nombreuses disputes entre voisins en France, et entre propriétaires et locataires, et on voit qu'un sens de civisme au niveau de respecter ses obligations pour le bien des autres, à un inveau raisonnable, ne fait souvent pas partie des réflexions. Encore, je n'ai pas dit que la France est le seul pays à avoir des individualistes (égoïstes plutôt), ce qui est écrit au début de la page, mais on y trouve une concentration supérieure aux pays voisins, plutôt vers le nord. Il y a beaucoup de mal dans les 35 heures et l'ensemble du niveau du confort et protection des employés dans les contrats permanents, car ça empêche l'économie de se redresser, et ça assure un haut niveau de chômage et des RMIstes. C'est ça l'égoïsme de la part de ceux qui sont déjà arrivés dans ce type de contrats. Il s'en fiche si des millions doivent payer le prix pour ça en restant au fond de la société. Ça ne les gêne pas d'envoyer la facture pour leur confort aux autres. Le problème, c'est que presque tous les politiciens sont trop lâches pour expliquer à la population que ce niveau de confort va terminer à un moment ou à un autre, au plus tard quand la caisse est vide. Ils pensent à leur réelection, non pas au pays. Si vous êtes jeune, rassurez-vous qu'il n'y aura pas autant d'argent pour votre retraite que ce qu'on est payé aujourd'hui. Chacun ne pense qu'à profiter du système, et lorsque le système aura fait faillite, on va faire quoi ? Il y a des réalités économiques dures que les Français ne veulent pas comprendre, très probablement parce que la classe politique n'ose pas les expliquer. N'était-il pas temps à oublier les raisons historiques, autant qu'il est temps pour les Anglais d'arrêter de parler des Nazis ? Les Anglais aussi sont incompétents en langues, mais au moins ils n'ont pas l'attitude de bouder. Soyez assurée que ce n'est pas pour raison de l'attitude des Français que Paris et la France reçoivent énormement de touristes. C'est malgré cela ! Ce n'est pas avec "quelques mots" d'une autre langue qu'on va construire l'Europe. C'est logique pour vous de fuir devant des problèmes, plutôt de les résoudre ? C'est peut-être dans la culture. Il y a d'autres cultures où on a peut-être plutôt la tendence à se battre, plutôt que fuir. En effet, comme les Français semblent accepter l'état médiocre de leur pays, ça explique aussi que peu de choses bougent. Personne ne se responsabilise. En ce qui concerne les critiques constructives avec des propositions pour des améliorations, ça ne devrait pas être nécessaire dans un problème comme les crottes d'expliquer aux gens d'enlever leurs affaires - ou d'expliquer qu'il faut prendre d'autres langues au sérieux au lieu de les bouder si on ne veut pas paraître arrogant et prétentieux envers ses voisins. Pour des problèmes structurels et économiques, voir plutôt skovgaard.org/europolitics/. En effet, ce n'est pas normal qu'un pays comme la France traîne dans la misère économique comme c'est le cas. Le pays dispose bien d'énormes ressources, mais elles sont mal utilisées, et on a des structures publiques qui freinent énormement le redressement économique. 

Date: 2006-06-21, From: (anonymous)
Nationality: Française, Living in: UK at the moment
Pages commented: The French and British pages.
Bon je vais arrêter là la discussion, ça devient trop politique... si tu sais comment redresser l'économie, mon conseil c'est que tu te présentes aux élections pour faire changer les choses...

Author's comments: Merci pour le débat et bonne continuation en UK. Pour se présenter, il faut d'abord avoir le droit de vote, ce dont en tant que Danois expatrié je ne dispose pas. En effet, sous le projet "démocratique" de l'Europe, seulement une partie des Européens vivant en Europe peuvent voter (sauf Parlement UE et commune). Mais je suppose que je vais terminer par laisser tomber la nationalité danoise pour obtenir le droit d'aller voter en France. Ensuite, je pourrai critiquer la France en tant que Français.

Date: 2006-06-15, From: (anonymous)
Nationality: Italian, Living in: France
Opinion: Hilarious, Funny.
Pages commented: The French page.
I love everything about the site but I don't agree with the criticism about strikes...this is really the only good thing about France...they stand up for their rights. Which is quite rare in the global system today.

Author's comments: Thanks for your comments. The trouble with French strikes is that they are mostly about protecting achieved privileges for particular groups that have enough power to manifest themselves in the media and disturb the government - worst of all threaten the politicians' reelection. Many of the strikes are not about getting rid of bad working conditions but simply political - or just traditional, as in the case of public transport. SNCF workers already have many privileges, absolute job security, early retirement etc., and yet they keep striking regularly. There are many less organised people and groups in France that live in real poverty, some of whom will never aspire to get a proper job, but they are not striking. If they have a low-paid job on a limited contract, they keep working in often poor conditions to earn a living, almost as in George Orwell's "Down and Out in Paris and London" about poverty. I'm not talking about the vandals but ordinary people who never got a real chance. They are the ones who suffer the most in today's France; not the pampered organised strikers you see on TV. The unions no longer bother about real working condition problems; they are political. Therefore, they don't care about these outcast workers. If they did, they would allow the working code to be made flexible, so that businesses could hire these workers on better terms - and hire more of them. But the unions' interest is protecting the privileges of those who have a secure job for life and have nothing to gain by making the working code flexible. They protect their achieved rights at the cost of the bottom class. Self-employed people and micro-business owners often suffer fates similar to bottom-class workers, and despite the risks they take, they do not have access to all the security offered to privileged groups. Some end up in the streets when their businesses fail. 

Don't be fooled by the screaming masses. They stand up for selfishness; not social justice.

Date: 2006-05-31, From: (anonymous)
Nationality: French, Living in: France
Opinion: Useless.
Pages commented: The British, Danish, French pages.
I just wanted to say that it is always easier to criticize than to find the positive aspect of a country. I love trivelling, and I always try to find the good side of the experience. You should try to do so or stop trivelling! I don't say that just for my country as i should do as i'm a french (according to you) but for all the critics you've made. I like humour but usually when i do humour i make fun of me, or close friends, and not a country. That would have been more interesting if you had share your experience in another way. I don't think your articals are constructiv, it is a waste of time.

Author's comments: "Trivelling"? Are you related to inspector Clouseau? Anyway, I notice that while I describe things many don't like to hear, I don't actually tell those I describe what to do - contrary to you, who tell me to stop "trivelling", whatever that is, but since you enjoy it, maybe I should try it. You should read "A Year in the Merde", by the way :-)

Date: 2006-05-09, From: Missy
Nationality: wandering nomad, Living in: Denmark
Opinion: Hilarious, Enlightening, Interesting, Entertaining, Useful.
Pages commented: The Danish page.
Thank God for your website. I relocated to Denmark 4 weeks ago and as of today Tuesday 9th May, I ABSOLUTELY HATE THIS AWFUL AWFUL place! So you website is a blessed welcome, assuring me that I am not crazy at all.

I relocated to join my hubby/partner of 6 years and though as much as he has said, "count the positives of being here", I absolutely cannot see them.

Thank you for your website. Thank you for allowing me to see that I am not the only one and my feelings about this place are not crazy!!! This place just sucks! and in all honesty, something is going to have to give, either we go back where we came from or I go back... me staying here... Lord help me!!!

Date: 2006-04-14, From: Jess Nielsen
Nationality: Danish, Living in: Denmark
Opinion: Dumb, Insulting, Useless.

Dear Finn.

You have your opinions and i respect that.

But i disagree with a most of it. Some of it is so preposterous that it speaks for itself. This page has no purpose, but to prove that you sir must be a fool.

First of all, a lot of what you state on this page is directly false, other things are pure speculation and in some cases also ridiculous. I would like to comment on some of this below.

"Unfortunately, communistic and socialistic indoctrination sets in from an early age. Because of the high taxes, both parents are forced to work and leave their children at institutions, where the personnel has every opportunity to implant the "correct" ideas in the children. Thus, many Danes actually believe in the destructive regime"

You more or less claim that the personnel in the daycare institutions, schools ect., is trained by former members of Stalins regime filling the children with communist propaganda. If you can't honestly see that this claim is ridiculous you can't all that bright. Any state is formed by its history, and yes Denmark a basically socialistic, but there is a long way from being a generally socialistic minded state to a new version of The Soviet Union.

In the section about the taxing system, where you accuse the Government of corruption, you end up defending Dr. Jørgen Ege. Why is the part with his many cases of malpractice, incompetent surgery, complete disregard and lack of sympathy for his victims, not mentioned?

Also included on this page is stories whose sole purpose is to portray Denmark as hell on Earth. The "Renata" story is pure speculation. A typical bitter "everybody hates me" story. It portrays Danish youth as brainwashed, stupid, dangerous and schizophrenic, and still manages to also portray danish men/fathers as rapists and childmolesters. I bet this is great stuff for you right? When i read the story i see before me a weak, desperate, bitter and mentally unstable crybaby of a woman. She states that they actually had everything they wanted, then when things went wrong suddenly all Danes are bastards. If this is the kind of information you use to prove your points im glad, because that means that your are so desperate to find something you can critizise that you have to use this kind of useless rambling from a obvious bitter woman, who starts to whine when things ain't going her way.

Now to a direct lie. I would like for you to correct your claim that Denmark has debts of 755.000.000.000 DKR(100 Billion €). Denmark has debts totalling 130.000.000.000 DKR (17.5 Billion Euros) , which was announced by "Denmarks Statistic Institute" not long ago, when you add the States assets in the equation, which you conveniently "forgot" to mention. Thats the result of a superstrong Danish economy which has produced a state surplus of 10-50 billion DKR for many years now. In 2005 alone the debt was reduced by 48 billion DKR.
Proof, is here provided by the very respected Børsen Financial Times. http://www.borsen.dk/650.86713.

The Gangs you mention, is no longer really in the picture. The police have them under control due to the "Rockerlov" or in English "The Motorcycle Gang Law". Eventhough they are most likely still is involved in drugs. But that is a fact in all countries where Hells Angels and Bandidos is represented. Why not mention that names of the "GANGS"!
Where you afraid that people were smart enough to figure that out for themselves if you named the "GANGS" involved?

The only thing in the insulting, useless, bitter og ridiculous page intended to portray Denmark as bad as possible I agree on is the "Why?" section, where you are absolutely right.

One last thing. Is can see by your resplies to others that i can expect a violent response. You manage to proclaim everybody that strongly disagrees with you for idiots, so lets end me comment by a quote from me as a proud Dane to whatever you can be considered to be.

"You even called me stupid in your verse, and I m almost agreeing, for where stupidity is involved, you are quite an expert, friend."
-Franz Grillparzer

Author's comments: Thanks for your comments, even though you disagree. Now, if someone needs to call someone else a fool in order to argue his points, what does that say about that person? If this page has no purpose, what then is the purpose of the many political comments, readers' letters and other opinions printed daily in newspapers throughout the world, except for a few countries where that liberty does not exist? The fact that I can do it and that you can respond in public is in itself a praise of the part of the world we live in. If I exaggerate about the political indoctrination in schools etc., it is nevertheless known that the personnel in these sectors have a tendency to the left. It is difficult to prove with figures, but it is there. As I have no further information about the Jørgen Ege case, I've decided to remove that comment. The Renata story is a story that I was sent unsolicited by a very real person, and I have not edited it to fit any purpose. How dare you call it pure speculation, just because it doesn't fit your own view? It is, however, common that someone who has not been in difficulty himself is mostly unable to understand others' difficulties. As for the figures for public debt, you can just as well call Eurostat for liars, as the figures were taken directly from their Yearbook 1997, as I'd taken care to write. If you don't like the figure for gross debt, which is the figure they have chosen to show, then maybe you could write to Eurostat and ask them why they "forget" the figures you like. The gross debt has been reduced from 100 bio. euros to 60 bio. euros over the last 10 years, and that is the figure that Denmark is paying interest on, not the net debt figure. I have used this occasion to update the page with the latest Eurostat and Danmarks Statistik figures. I have no recent information about gangs and have therefore decided to remove that part. You started this by calling me a "fool" and then you accuse me of calling readers "idiots", something a simple "find" will prove false.

Date: 2006-04-14, From: Mark Lawrence [Lawrenceclothiaol.com]
Nationality: English, Living in: France
Opinion: Hilarious, Enlightening, Thought-Provoking.
Hi, I come to this site again to say as an Englishman living in France six years with French wife and daughter,this site is brilliant. I just read the mention about Jean De Florette and couldn't believe how accurate it is concerning the French character. For its jealousy and small-mindedness JDF depicts the lengths neighbours in France will go to ruin the life of another `voisin'. The theme is reflected in TV show given over to the subject of bad neighbours as well as the emergency appointment of a thousand extra `neighbour judges'to preside of legal disputes.
Anyone who says this site is simply useless racism has not lived in France any length of time. One cannot begin to imagine what the French are like regarding simple everyday relationships.

I think the issue of history and France's dubious role in Vichy hasn't really been addressed and if anyone wants more information on the great saviour of European ideals check out this link: CHRISTOPHER A LONG - De Gaulle The Man Who Stood Alone

BEST wishes and keep it up

Author's comments: Thanks for your comments. I simply don't have information accurate enough to comment on the Vichy stuff, so I'll let others do that.

Date: 2006-03-31, From: Peter
Nationality: French, Living in: EU
Opinion: Insulting.
Pages commented: The French page.
2 mots pour définir votre article: méchanceté gratuite. I would not be surprise you´ve never visited France, the french life is so far from your cliché!!! It´s not even funny, just pityfull.

Author's comments: I've lived in France since 1998. That's how I've learned the pityful state of France. The description on the French page is actually real life in France, but I know that it does not match the official French propaganda and the false image France wants to give of itself.

"A remark generally hurts in proportion to its truth." Will Rogers.

Date: 2006-03-28, From: Leno F [leno_blogyahoo.fr]
Nationality: me I'm French (me), Living in: Denmark
Opinion: Dumb, Uselss.
Pages commented: The French page.
I think I should write some "préjugés" about Danish people, as you did in your page about France. As I live in Danmark since November, I could say a lot of pseudo "true" things, just as you did in your stupid web site. But the fact is, as French you should know I'm very pretentious, so I would say that I'm much more clever than you, so I would not do such "amalgams" ; I'm looking at Danish people without anger or jalousy, and I don't see the interest of writing nasty things. and undskyld my english.. as you know French people are only talking French ; they're so egocentrics.

Author's comments: It's funny that when France is criticised based on actual experiences from actual living in France for severral years, it is called "préjugés" (to be prejudiced) to be laughed off. No, this page has been created during the time I've been living in France and time after time experienced the state of the nation. You say you don't see the interest of writing "nasty things" (yes, the things I write may be seen as nasty, but they reflect how things really are in France, so are you saying that France is a nasty country?), so which interest do you see in France's official propaganda of spreading falsely optimistic information about the country, for example by soon introducing an international satellite channel to broadcast France's view of the world to the world, or France's never-ending but unsuccessful campagin to promote French?

Je serais ravi (honnêtement) de publier vos impressions négatives sur le Danemark. Entre-temps, vous pourrez vous amuser à lire mes propres commentaires négatives sur le Danemark... Mais franchement, la France n'a vraiment pas besoin de caricatures ; les gens dans la rue pour le moment constituent une très bonne caricature du pays, et cela sans aide extérieure. Le comportement de ces Français fait beaucoup plus de dégâts pour le pays que mes quelques commentaires. Ces jeunes courent dans les rues comme des poules sans tête, sans comprendre que la gauche les a manipulé depuis 20 ans pour leur faire croire qu'ils n'ont que exiger la sécurité à vie - ce qui n'est plus possible et ce que les entreprises ne peuvent pas et ne veulent pas leur donner.

Leno's reply: Si les jeunes "courent dans les rues comme des poules sans têtes" et qu'ils courent après un idéal de société utopique à vos yeux, cela vaut mieux que la résignation mortifère qu'impose à la population un gouvernement de droite. Puisque vous parlez des manipulations de la gauche, il est encore temps de vous rendre compte que la droite n'est pas exempte d'une grande habileté. Mais tout ça on le cache sous des noms beaucoup plus serieux comme "capital", "bénéfices", "entreprise", "principe de réalité".C'est sur que ça sonne beaucoup mieux que de défendre de pauvres petits idéaux socialistes qui ne rapportent rien et encombre la grande machine capitaliste de résidus humains fort incommodants. 

Même si ils courent a leur perte , ces fameux "jeunes" (mais je ne vois pas bien de qui exactement vous parlez, car des jeunes il y en a plusieurs sortes), c'est leur problème, pas le vôtre. 

En ce moment c'est la mode de s'en prendre aux Francais, de les caricaturer, allez-y, vous avez raison de profiter du phénomène, c'est dans l'air du temps. En plus en le faisant en anglais vous vous assurez une audience trés large, c'est parfait pour vous. Ca doit etre tellement valorisant pour certains de se dire, "ah qu'ils sont stupides ces français, decidemment nous on est beaucoup mieux". Ca leur fait se sentir mieux,a peu de frais, ça serait dommage de s'en priver. 

Vous connaissez sans doute quelques rues en France, la belle affaire ; ça ne vous permet pas de dire que vous connaissez toutes les rues de ce pays... il en va de mêmes avec "les gens". Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire, "les gens" ? Vous avez rencontrés quelques français, et maintenant vous vous promenez avec votre pancarte sur l'internet et vous dites "les gens en France sont comme ceci, ils sont comme cela". Mais je crois que vous n'avez pas vu grand chose, tout compte fait. Perso je soigne mes névroses autrement que d'accabler telle ou telle population, de le faire en ligne et propager une image totalement fausse sur un pays, surtout si ce n'est pas le mien.

Author's reply: 

>Si les jeunes "courent dans les rues comme des poules sans têtes" et qu'ils courent après un idéal de société utopique à vos yeux,

Si au moins c'était un idéal réalisable, je pourrais les comprendre, mais ils veulent la sécurité de boulot à vie, et ce n'est pas possible. Avez-vous remarqué que votre pays est en train de faire faillite pour raison de sa surconsommation ? Votre pays a besoin des gens qui ont envie de travailler et entreprendre au lieu de bloquer les rues. En effet, ça me fait mal de voir comment les Français eux-même gaspillent les ressources de leur pays. On leur a dit de tout reclamer de l'État au lieu de devenir responsables. Que voulez-vous faire avec une jeunesse dont 75% considèrent la fonction publique comme attirante ? Ce n'est pas la fonction publique qui génère la richesse. Je suis à mon compte en France, et je vois comment tout est fait pour casser la vie pour ceux qui essaie de se débrouiller. On nous taxe plus de 100% sans problème. Essayez de traiter les salariés comme ça ! La France ne pourra pas prospérer pour autant que le pays rend la vie hyper difficile pour les entrepreneurs.

>résignation mortifère qu'impose à la population un gouvernement de droite.

Je suis d'accord dans le sens que le CPE est loin d'être assez. Il faudra plutôt un contrat flexible pour l'ensemble du marché de travail au lieu de plusieurs contrats ciblés. Mais sans assouplir la rigidité du CDI, le pays n'ira nulle part. Le CDI est une catastrophe.

>la droite n'est pas exempte d'une grande habileté.

Vous avez parfaitement raison. Je ne suis pas adhérent à 100% des idées de la droite. La magouille à droite n'a rien à envier à la gauche. La France a besoin d'une dose de libéralisme et de flexibilité, mais il n'y a pas de partie libérale en France.

>Mais tout ça on le cache sous des noms beaucoup plus serieux comme "capital", "bénéfices", "entreprise", "principe de réalité".C'est sur que ça sonne beaucoup mieux que de défendre de pauvres petits idéaux socialistes qui ne rapportent rien et encombre la grande machine capitaliste de résidus humains fort incommodants.

Vous êtes coïncés dans les idées du passé de corporation-salarié. En ce qui me concerne, je suis à la fois entreprise et 'résidu humain' après le traitement brutal offert aux indépendants en France par l'État (voir la partie politique de mon site). Sans capital, entreprise et bénéfices, vous voulez vivre de quoi, d'ailleurs ? La France se dit fier de son modèle social, qui ne protège en effet qu'une partie des travailleurs et laisse le reste dans la plus grande misère sans chômage, sans RMI, sans ASS, sans rien. Il y a des gens privilégiés qui sont déjà protégés par le système, et ils ont tout intérêt à protéger leurs privilèges, mais ce sont ceux en-dehors de ce modèle qui en paie le prix. Cela n'est pas l'égalité ; c'est la défense de privilèges.

>Même si ils courent a leur perte , ces fameux "jeunes" (mais je ne vois pas bien de qui exactement vous parlez, car des jeunes il y en a plusieurs sortes), c'est leur problème, pas le vôtre.

Je parle plutôt des étudiants. Les casseurs trouvent toujours des opportunités pour casser, mais c'est un autre problématique. Si les jeunes bloque les transports ou commettent d'autres types d'incivisme, ça concerne tout le monde. S'ils empêchent ceux qui veulent étudier d'étudier, ça concerne les étudiants. S'ils manifestent simplement, c'est leur problème.

>En ce moment c'est la mode de s'en prendre aux Francais, de les caricaturer, allez-y, vous avez raison de profiter du phénomène, c'est dans l'air du temps.

Les Français n'hésitent pas à montrer le doigt aux USA ou d'autres pays, donc je ne vois pas pourquoi la France et les Français devraient être sacrés. Ma page n'a rien à voir avec la mode, mais lorsque je suis arrivé en France, j'ai remarqué petit à petit que le pays n'a pas grande-chose à voir avec l'image que la France essaie de donner à l'étranger.

>En plus en le faisant en anglais vous vous assurez une audience trés large, c'est parfait pour vous.

Je le fais en anglais, car c'est la langue internationale/universelle, et je le trouve plus confortable d'écrire en anglais qu'en français ou danois.

>Ca doit etre tellement valorisant pour certains de se dire, "ah qu'ils sont stupides ces français, decidemment nous on est beaucoup mieux". Ca leur fait se sentir mieux,a peu de frais, ça serait dommage de s'en priver.

"nous on est beaucoup mieux"? C'est qui, "nous"? Je ne dis pas cela, et je ne dis pas que les Français sont stupides.

>Vous connaissez sans doute quelques rues en France, la belle affaire ; ça ne vous permet pas de dire que vous connaissez toutes les rues de ce pays...

Je n'ai pas dit ça non plus.

>il en va de mêmes avec "les gens". Qu'est-ce que ça veut dire, "les gens" ? Vous avez rencontrés quelques français, et maintenant vous vous promenez avec votre pancarte sur l'internet et vous dites "les gens en France sont comme ceci, ils sont comme cela". Mais je crois que vous n'avez pas vu grand chose, tout compte fait.

J'observe ce que je vois et je remarque certains aspects en France qu'on voit moins ailleurs. C'est clairement indiqué au début de la page que ça ne concerne pas forcément tous les Français.

>Perso je soigne mes névroses autrement que d'accabler telle ou telle population, de le faire en ligne et propager une image totalement fausse sur un pays, surtout si ce n'est pas le mien.

C'est l'image que la France essaie de donner de soi-même qui est fausse. Malheureusement, ce qui est écrit sur ma page est basé sur des expériences bien trop réelles. Je constate ensuite que vous ne lisez que ce que vous avez envie de lire, et je vous ai déjà dit que mon propre pays, le Danemark, n'a pas été mieux traité que la France. Alors c'est quoi votre histoire que "sourtout si ce n'est pas le mien" ?

Finalement, la France est un pays qui est sans cesse en train de donner des leçons aux autres et qui se prend tellement au sérieux. La France exige toujours deux poids deux mesures. L'Europe doit payer pour les agriculteurs français. On ne veut pas toucher le bœuf britannique mais on cache ses propres vaches folles pour qu'elles puissent passer dans la chaîne alimentaire. EDF est en train d'acheter des marchés un peu partout mais on bloque la concurrence en France. Vous savez très bien que les Français non plus n'ont que peu de confiance au système. Ils savent que ça ne va pas, mais lorsqu'un gouvernement essaie de faire quelque chose, ils déscendent dans la rue pour ne rien changer. Au niveau de la langue, c'est devenu une obsession. Le comportement infantil de Chirac lors d'une réunion au Conseil d'Europe ridiculise le pays. On ne doit pas s'étonner si un tel pays est critiqué.

Je comprends si vous et d'autres lecteurs sont néanmoins fiers de leurs pays, mais si chacun était prêt à regarder les faits dans les yeux ouvertement au lieu de prétendre que tout va bien, l'Europe pourrait aller beaucoup mieux.

Date: 2006-03-24, From: Fran [crazyjavahotmail.com]
Nationality: British/English, Living in: Currently studying in France
Opinion: Funny, Enlightening, Interesting, Insulting, Thought-provoking, Entertaining, Useful.
Pages commented: The British and French pages.
I find it interesting how the majority of Brits have not taken the British page too much to heart, in spite of the obvious elements present which are potentially pretty insulting- i guess this highlights the point that we can to some extent accept criticism and laugh at ourselves! Having lived in France for a little while now i can see the truth in a lot of what is said on the French page, particular points i support are that the French do love to go on strike (A LOT) and keep ridiculously short office hours, not to mention the lunchtime stand-still as every shop and office closes for up to 2 hours- they don't know how easy they have it! I agree with the earlier feedback which said that as a foreigner, and particularly an English one, you are immediately faced with difficulties. From experience i have found that the French are far from impressed when i tell them where i'm from- they are on the whole more willing to be friends with any Anglophone nationality other than the Rosbifs. i know this is all based on historical rivalry, but it never fails to baffle me as i have met many French people working and studying in England and i know for a fact that English people were never as cold towards them as many people have been towards me here in France. Nonetheless, i am thoroughly enjoying my time in France and would never assume to say that all of its people are unfriendly and rude, because i have made some great French friends here. If more British people lived abroad for some time then i feel the British Europhobic attitude of which you spoke would be curbed somewhat; it really opens your eyes to other cultures and you become far more open-minded. However, i disagree with the slur on British food, come on, it's not all bad! And gravy, when made properly is actually very nice and compliments the taste of (well cooked, but not overdone) meat, the good old English roast is one of the things i miss the most, along with a curry, the Indian restaurants here just don't compare! All in all, a thoroughly interesting site, and very funny in places, some points were admittedly a little too close to home but every country has its downsides! Oh, and one more thing- i agree with the British/English issue, some people just don't know the difference, the French media always refers to the British in the press and then subsequently makes reference to only the English. I accept that England is the main power behind British politics, and that of course, the English can be referred to as both, but the two terms are not completely interchangeable, when i say i'm English, a French person will often correct me with British, yet they never do that when talking to someone of another British nationality! Qu'est-ce qu'on peut faire, hein?!

Author's comments: The British page already contained a paragraph explaining that the British-English-Welch -or whatever kitchen is moving. I've added another comment on the British page. For anyone who bothers, it's not difficult to find out what is England, what is Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland - to be precise). The tricky part is to figure out if English humour is really British humour, if the dominating kitchen is English or British etc. By the way, can someone tell me what the country identification for cars is in Northern Ireland? In Great Britain, it's GB, but Northern Ireland is not a part of Great Britain but only the United Kingdom. Do they use GB anyway? If the humour is called English humour, does that imply that the Welch, Scots and Northern Irish have no sense of humour or that it has nothing to do with English humour? You see, it's not trivial :-)

Date: 2006-03-13, From: (name withheld)
Nationality: US, Living in: US
Opinion: Enlightening, Thought-provoking, Hilarious, Entertaining, Useful.
Pages commented: The British page.
What a hoot! Something's wonderful in Denmark---a Dane who dares to criticize Denmark. Your're the first, in all the years I've been in Denmark, first as a literary researcher, and the last few years as a Danish to English translator. And one who recognizes Communism! Are you familiar with Larry Siedentop's "Democracy in Europe" --- if not, it should give you comfort. Also, Ole Hasselbalch's "Den stille krig"? Bare fortsæt! [just carry on!]

Date: 2006-02-25, From: (anonymous)
Nationality: ?, Living in: USA
Opinion: Dumb, Awful, Insulting, Useless.
Pages commented: The French page.

It's sad to see how people are breeding hatred through old fashioned clichés and shortcuts which have little and/or nothing to do with reality.

Author's comments: I accept that some people have no sense of humour, but it's a false claim that there is little connection with reality. These pages are based on my own, very real experiences. No hate towards anyone is expressed or intended on these pages.

(anonymous)' reply: What exactly is your definition of hate? If you were only kidding it would be fun. You should re-read the replies that you gave to some people.

Tomorrow I am going to publish things online to prove that -lets say Italian people- are awful and hate the USA...the next day a bunch of close-minded brainless xenophobiacs will be reading it and take it for granted. To make it worse, lets say many of them are from the USA...in the following weeks they will make sure to tell everyone how Italians are dumb and hate the US... Butterfly effect...it will come to the hears of Italians that some American are calling them stupid.... next thing, out of anger and frustration they will start thinking: man, those yankees are retarded... What will happen is that one of them will also start a website to prove how retarded american people truly are and how they hate Italy and its culture... next thing, thousand and thousands of Italian will be reading it and taking it for granted.

Author's comments: Please let us know the URL of your comments. If everything should be written so that even the least intelligent persons cannot misunderstand it, we could close all libraries.

(anonymous)' reply: I am positive that your library was closed, or if it wasn't, you certainly never bothered to read a book.

What I read on your page truly reminded me of the most disgusting aspect of human beings- and here I'm not talking about the french or the british or whoever you want- but of racism, intolerance and stupidity.

Author's comments: Every reader is free to associate what he reads with something that is not written, but it's very strange that these pages make you think of racism. Maybe you don't understand what racism is, but that's all right, not everybody are equally clever.

(anonymous)' reply: Racism is not written, racism is latent, its a concept. Maybe you don't understand the difference between something material and a concept, but that's all right, not everybody with a 'website' are equally clever. If they were, they'd be publishing books.

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English (3rd edition 1995): racism 1 unfair treatment of people, or violence against them, because they belong to a different race from your own 2 the belief that different races of people have different characters and abilities, and that the qualities of your own race are the best

Author's comments: Intelligent readers understand that this site is not about race but about certain cultural traits amongst certain people in France, the UK and Denmark. To underscore the point, the people criticised on this site are of the same race than my own. There is no racism on this site. Racism has nothing to do with nationality.

Maybe we should put all the people and cultures you don't like -for whatever reason it may be, but I tend to think that its just deep-rooted old-school xenophobia- and put them all on an Island and maybe nuke them...how 'bout that?!

Author's comments: That's entirely your suggestion. What do other readers say? No xenophobia was taught at my school, no xenophobia is expressed on these pages, and no xenophobia is behind them, but maybe you don't understand what xenophobia is either. It's still all right. You can buy dictionaries if you want to know.

(anonymous)' reply: We already made a point that you don't understand what a concept is. It's still alright. I would suggest that you check that on www.dictionary.com, since we -also- already made a point that you never read a book. Sadly your local library was closed on that day.

Longman: xenophobia extreme fear or dislike of people from other countries

Author's comments: Fear? No, I'm not afraid of the French, the British or the Danes. No, I don't dislike them. I criticise certain things, but this anonymous reader does not understand the difference between criticism and xenophobia. Finally, I'm Danish and I criticise the Danes. Is that also xenophobia according to the warped thinking of this person whose best argument seem to be to repeat my phrases like a parrot?

Is your site useful? Of course, if your goal is to make things worse, it is useful. If your aim is to get together a bunch of racist asswipes so they can scream, shout and complain about other countries, then fine. I guess this can be seen as some sort of group therapy, and if it makes you guys feel better I'm really glad. But I still wish that you'd just stick up to [foul language removed] to the latest issue of Guns & Ammo...if you see what I mean.

People are the same everywhere, and only ignorant amoebas aren't aware of that. People who talk without knowing. For having lived decades in those countries I know that this is all nothing but a joke.

Author's comments: So according to you, cultural differences in upbringing have no effects on people, and everybody from Saudi Arabia to Holland live after a uniform set of rules, whether moral, cultural or whatever. So if topless bathing, smoking a joint and gay marriages are accepted in Holland, so they are in Saudi Arabia. When you have tested your theory in practice, I wonder if you could let us know the conclusion.

(anonymous)' reply: Cultural difference has nothing to do with the very essence of human beings, which is what I was talking about. I'm sorry you didn't understand, maybe you smoked one too many joint in Holland and there went your brain cells. What is your definition of culture? Wait, thats a rethorical question...Do you even know what that means (there goes another rethorical question). You claim that people are selfish, dirty, etc..and you claim that it is their culture to be that way. I guess its not in the french culture to shower for ex. Then how come you have to mention that only a very small minority of people smell? If its a small minority, then how come you consider it as part of the culture? Your contradicting yourself. There are smelly people everywhere, and all you do is contribute to a cliché that french ppl are disgusting..that its part of their culture, when you are the first one to mention that what you wrote is only about a very small minority.

Author's comments: This site is not about the very essence of human beings but about cultural aspects and their influence on people. I try to be liberal with the inclusion on comments here, but the discussion is limited to the subjects mentioned on the site. Selfishness and hygiene are indeed related to culture. Next, you cannot figure out why I mention that a small minority stink and yet relate it to culture. To start with, read the introduction to the French page: "If I talk about "the French" doing so and so on this page, it doesn't imply that all the French - or even a majority of the French - match the description, but rather that there is more of a tendency for that sort of behaviour than elsewhere." Still don't get it? France is the country where I've come across the largest number of smelly people, regardless if they may only be 0.1% of the population or whatever. In other countries where I've lived, it's less. I don't say that there are none outside France. Learn to read and understand nuances.

How about we talk about media controlling the US...ever heard of Gulf War and CNN?

Author's comments: Please go ahead. I have never pretended that this site could treat all possible subjects or countries or that everything not described here should be perfect.

You cited the Declaration of Human Rights as an answer to somebody ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ --------- Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers. ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ------ ----------

I'd re-phrase it to: opinions are like assholes, we all got one.

Author's comments: What exactly does it mean that you would like to rephrase this part of the Human Rights declaration? You are free to believe that your opinion makes you think of a rectum if that is what you intend to say.

(anonymous)' reply: I had to re-phrase it to lower myself to your level, apparently I didn't go low enough since you didn't get that I was talking about YOUR opinion. Which brings us back to: "not everyone are equally clever". Talking about that, "everyone" is singular, not plural...so it should be 'not everyone IS equally clever'...apparently you aren't clever enough to know that.

Author's comments: There you go again, repeating my phrases like a parrot. As for the grammar, I don't waste my time fine-polishing it on this page, but let's point out some of your own errors, since it's important for you: 
"old fashioned" -> there's a hyphen in "old-fashioned".
"lets say" -> it's "let's say"
"some American are calling them" -> you mean either "some American is" or "some Americans are"
"american people" -> that should be "American"
"thousand and thousands of Italian" -> one thousand and thousands of (one) Italian?
"disgusting aspect of human beings- and here I'm not talking about the french or the british or whoever you want- but of racism, intolerance and stupidity" -> French and British should begin with a capital letter. "Aspects" should be in plural.
"racism is latent, its a concept" -> you mean "it's", not the possesive form "its".
"put them all on an Island" -> are you talking about an island or Iceland?
"It's still alright." -> there are two l's in "all right" and it's in two words.
"ignorant amoebas" -> it's a pleonasm (not an error); an amoeba has only one cell and is by definition ignorant.
"Wait, thats a rethorical question" -> "that's". "rhetorical" is the correct spelling.
"I guess its not in the french culture" -> "it's". "French".
"If its a small minority" -> "it's"
"Your contradicting yourself. -> "You're"
"french ppl are disgusting" -> "French"
"its part of their culture" -> "it's", not the possessive form "its".
Have you heard about a saying about glass houses and throwing stones?

But yours -my dear friend- really stinks.

Author's comments: Those who cannot express their arguments and opinions precisely tend to revert to such general expressions that usually say more about the one who says it than what it was meant for.

Nazis expressed their opnion too. Why the fuck are you citing the Decalaration of Human Rights when your attitude is going against humanity.

Author's comments: And if Nazis expressed their opinion, then what does that imply according to you? That everybody who expresses an opinion is a Nazi? I begin to get an idea of your intellectual level. As for my attitudes, stick to the facts, please, instead of shouting abuse all around you in an uncontrolled manner. If you really believe that my attitude is against humanity (pure nonsense), maybe you should point out which phrase on this site is "against humanity".

(anonymous)' reply: Here you give us a nice example of the type of shortcuts I was talking about in my first post. 

Author's comments: The shortcut was deliberate to illustrate the complete absence of sense of your Nazi remark.

(anonymous)' reply: [about intellectual level:] So do I about yours.

(anonymous)' reply: [about shouting abuse:] So should you. A couple of examples: 1} french aren't dirty, even YOU said it 

Author's comments: Some are, as it's explained above. You're lucky if you've never come across them.

(anonymous)' reply: 2} you have little to no knowledge of french grammar and are trying to use it to prove that french people are selfish. 

Author's comments: You have no knowledge about my French grammar. It could look like I know more about French grammar than you know about English spelling.

(anonymous)' reply: Too bad that that whole paragraph don't make sense considering the fact that once again you are using shortcuts. First of all, nobody says "moi, je vais me..." You wouldn't put "moi" to start your sentence. 

Author's comments: You uncover your blatant lack of knowledge of the way French is used in daily speech. If you've lived in France, then your interaction with Frenchmen in French must have been limited. The "moi, je ..." is classic.

(anonymous)' reply: Second of all, you forgot to talk about the other possibilities: Tu vas te coucher> in that case it would be you you you! (which goes against your idea of selfishness, since it'd be all about YOU) Il/elle va se coucher >in that case it'd be He/She Himself/Herself (not very selfish either, right?!) nous allons nous coucher > WE, ourselves (ok back to including myself, but wait... vous allez vous coucher YOU yourselves!!! Ils/elles vont se coucher. THEY , themselves!! In fact what you simply don't get is the simple idea of subject pronouns...and of verbs too: You used a verb which happens to need a preposition: to go to bed= aller se coucher. Use another verb and you won't need to repeat the subject pronoun. So next time, Do not only use an example which fits your theory. Of course if you had given all the possibilities like I just did, it wouldn't have worked. 

Author's comments: ... and blah blah blah. You again expose first of all a complete lack of humour (are you German by any chance?) and then that you've completely misunderstood the joke about the "moi, je ..." language abuse in daily speech and connecting it with selfishness.

(anonymous)' reply:3} you're claiming for example that paris is covered in dog crap, i'm sorry to say that since the 80's there is a law that fines the minority of people who let their dog take a crap on the pavement. There is also a special team that goes all around Paris in motorcycles which are designed to clean such things when it happens. Get your info updated.

Author's comments: If you knew more about the French, then you would know that it's a joke to suggest that a law and a fine that you may get once in 100 years is enough to make the French change their behaviour. The moto-crottes cannot possibly clean up all the daily mess. The point is that it's a dirty behaviour to let your dog foul in the street without cleaning up; not that it's possible to waste taxpayers' money cleaning up after other people's dogs.

(anonymous)' reply: 4}The news on TV are in french so that French people don't get to hear any other language? OK, so when was the last time you heard the news on TV in the USA and it was in German, Finnish, French, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, etc??? Did you ever go to Spain, turned on the news and it was in Dannish? Have you ever been to Australia and the news was in African? Its the same everywhere. 

Author's comments: If you re-read the page, you will discover that my comments only concern the dubbing of what was originally said in a foreign language into French. You use the cheap trick of changing what I said and then proving how stupid it is. It's not the same everywhere: Many countries do not dub foreign languages but use subtitles instead, for example the UK, Holland and the Scandinavian countries.

(anonymous)' reply: Besides you can again check your info, several channels in France are in other languages (Arte for example where you can hear the news and other broadcasts in German, English, Spanish), every non-french movies on "Canal +" -one of the most popular channel in france- are broadcasted in their original language, france also have cable/satellite TV in other languages. I could go on...but lets move to our next point.

Author's comments: Arte and TF1 are the only exceptions amongst uncoded channels. On the main channels FR2, FR3, La Cinq and M6, everything is dubbed. TF1 started broadcasting certain films with a choice between the original soundtrack and French in 2007, at least via satellite. Canal+ is quite expensive and I have never felt any need to fork out for just one channel. The French channels on the satellite package CanalSatellite are also dubbed in French, with a few exceptions if on top of the general sat package you pay more to get their film channels, where they sometimes broadcast a few of the films in original undubbed version. The fact that it's possible to find a few movies in their original version does not alter a thing about my argumentation about the damage done by dubbing everything else.

China? in China everything is banned? censored Try the US where you can't smoke and can't eat red meat and people are tape-wiring your phone and checking everything you buy with your credit card. and that every movie is censored

Author's comments: Again, try looking up in a dictionary to find out what censorship means. Hint: It is not about smoking regulations.

(anonymous)' reply: Hint for you: read the full sentence before answering back. I started it with the word "banned". you can't smoke= smoking is banned/prohibited. 

Longman: censor to examine books, films, letters etc. to remove anything that is considered offensive, morally harmful, or politically dangerous etc.

Author's comments: Are you serious that you don't understand the difference between censorship and banning a physical action like smoking? It seem so. Anyway, smoking is not systematically banned in the US as a whole (the tobacco industry would have made a revolution) but in certain places, just like it is for example in France, the UK, Ireland and Sweden.

Wake up little suzie, you're a loser. Game over man. Now how about you go play with your barbie dolls on the highway?!

Author's comments: Do you have one I can borrow?

Cheerio [foul language removed] :)

(anonymous)' reply:Now if your site is just supposed to give us a good laugh, then I think its funny. But as I was reading through it it started bothering me to feel that you are actually serious about these things. So if you are serious and want to prove that you/ the country you are currently living in and its people are better than others, I think you fit your definition of the frenchman who supposedly think he's better than everyone else. Anyway, your choice to do that, but at least update your info, and make sure you are correct. So long sucker!

Author's comments: The point is that it is partially sarcastic and partially serious, just as the British and Danish pages. Let me reiterate a quote on top of the French page that is to be taken very seriously: "People who take fun only as fun, and serious matters only seriously, haven't fully grasped either one". Particularly the French page has been deliberately written as a mixture of hard facts, sarcasm, jokes, provocations, own experiences and interpretations, exaggerations and more, so that it sometimes constitutes a grey zone of a noman's-land (pleonasm) with a minefield of possibilities for the reader to interpret, match with own experiences, misunderstand, agree or fly into a rage. People read what they want to read on that page! It was quite predictable that readers would write all sorts of comments, and they're all good fun to read, whether positive or negative. Frankly, what's the deal writing stuff like France is a nice country with nice people cooking nice food and there is a lot of nice countryside to view when it's nice weather, just to get comments such as yeah yeah yeah I was in France too last July and it was nice weather too and nice food too and... You get the point. Leave that to tourist brochures. Now, let me state a couple of plain facts: The site makes fun of and criticises France, Britain and Denmark. I live in France and have been there since 1998. I am Danish. What does that make of you