Simple question, right? WRONG! At least if you live in Sweden...... You may have heard about the Law of Jante? Well, hearing or reading about it is one thing quite bad already, but experiencing it in every day life is way worse....trust me.
To explain this "phenomena", I'd say it's a kind of normalcy rule....a rule that says you are not suppose to be better, smarter, stronger, prettier or have anything else, for that matter, more than others. This is how we (Swedes) are brought up and it's, to my great displeasure, more or less embedded in everyones DNA.
Experienced, I would describe it as a kind of small-town-jealousy-syndrome, loaded with negative energy. It triggers an anger in people that they sometimes even can't quite explain and it starts gossip and rumors sometimes even of the deliberately false kind, to bring the person, not abiding to this law, "back to earth" meaning back to the "normal".
As an example, "normal-Jante-law-driven-people" would be going on their everyday life when their neighbors suddenly buy a brand new shiny Porsche and park it outside in their driveway. This would provoke the normal people so much that they would be standing in their windows, staring at the new Porsche owners with disgust saying things like "Who do they think they are? They are no better than us just because they can buy a Porsche....and it was probably anyway bought on pure credit and NOT with their own money!".
If you are a Swede who ever dared to step out of the "normalcy pattern", this will sound very familiar to you...especially if you grew up in a smaller town...as should it to those of you reading this who are very much having this in your DNA ;)
These behaviors are all too common and can also even trigger anger in people reading this blog right now! Especially people who do not know me so well, but know of me, for instance from an old workplace or my hometown, who would stumble upon this blog, would with a high likely hood find themselves thinking right now: "Who does she think she is, having this blog? Like anyone would ever be interested in what SHE has to say!"
Another example of Jantelagen behaviour is feeling joy when the rich, successful or good looking people fail... I think this behavior is truly ugly and hope that time will erase it.......in the meantime, I am very happy to be away from it!
You shouldn't have to be afraid to show openly who you are and to be the best you can be and be proud of it!
Sweden vs Switzerland 0-1
Shame on us Swedes!!!
To be continued......
xox
As so many times before.. you just said the right things.. again!
ReplyDeleteI am, as you know from the smallest of all small towns.. and i know for sure what the "Jante law" is all about.
And i am NOT kidding.
As you say, its the way we are brought up.. but i will NOT bring up my children the same way.
When our neighbour bought that shiny new porche, well i was the only one in my family that stared at it. licked my mouth and said that i wish i could buy that car one day!
(Not excactly that brand nowadays.. but anyway:)
So i think we should stand up for who we are, for whom we admire and for what we would love to be!
And i LOVE reading whatever junk you have to say on your blog! Xoxo!
Love!
Lady-G