Law of Jante

[Jan SobieskiParticipant 28791]

It seems that the Nordic countries have this Law of Jante designed to keep people docile and shame them into line. Sounds like socialism to me.

From wikipedia

There are ten rules in the law as defined by Sandemose, all expressive of variations on a single theme and usually referred to as a homogeneous unit: You are not to think you’re anyone special or that you’re better than us.

The ten rules state:

You’re not to think you are anything special.
You’re not to think you are as good as we are.
You’re not to think you are smarter than we are.
You’re not to convince yourself that you are better than we are.
You’re not to think you know more than we do.
You’re not to think you are more important than we are.
You’re not to think you are good at anything.
You’re not to laugh at us.
You’re not to think anyone cares about you.
You’re not to think you can teach us anything.

Love is just alimony waiting to happen. Visit mgtow.com.

[onmywayParticipant 502]

I live in Norway and I can attest to this. This law is very much ingrained into our culture. Sad but true.

However, I’m a MGHOW now, and don’t give a f~~~.

[Jan SobieskiParticipant 28791]

@littmindre

Welcome my brother. I’d love to hear what it is like being a man in Norway.

Love is just alimony waiting to happen. Visit mgtow.com.

[GreekDragoonParticipant 460]

LOL

Let’s apply some of my own self conciseness into these laws.

Jan Sobieski wrote:

The ten rules state:

You’re not to think you are anything special.

Gogito ergo sum (Latin, google it if you don’t know the meaning)

You’re not to think you are as good as we are.

I know that I am better than many idiots I have had the displeasure to work with and I know people that are just better than me.

You’re not to think you are smarter than we are.

I know that I am smarter than many others and I know that there are people smarter than me.

You’re not to convince yourself that you are better than we are.

Who is ‘we’? Am I included?

You’re not to think you know more than we do.

I don’t even know if I am included in the ‘we’, if I am included then I am bound to know less than the sum knowledge in which my own is added on top of others.

You’re not to think you are more important than we are.

My time is important to myself and my own wants take priority over yours, so make it worth my while.

You’re not to think you are good at anything.

I know that all humans are good at wasting time, I can find ways to waste plenty of yours if you p~~~ me off.

You’re not to laugh at us.

Laughter is good for the soul, especially at the expense of incompetents.

You’re not to think anyone cares about you.

I care for myself thank you very much.

You’re not to think you can teach us anything.

Can’t teach someone who doesn’t want to learn anything anyway.

In the end, no wonder Scandinavia has gone to s~~~.

[HitmanParticipant]

damn , that law of jante thing is crazy ! f~~~ that , very informative. no wonder these same people are putting up with all the hoodlum “immigrants” they’ve been taught to feel like refuse,trash..like everybody else is better . even hordes of rapists and hand-out seekers. glad i wasn’t brought up with that !

[Jan SobieskiParticipant 28791]

Yep. They are turned into docile drones. Ripe to be rolled over.

Love is just alimony waiting to happen. Visit mgtow.com.

[RoyDalParticipant]

A friend had a puppy that would roll on its back and pee on itself. With that in mind, get a load of this.

The Swedish state is funding a “sniper” training course for recently-arrived Third World “refugees” as part of their “integration program”—despite the ever-growing refugee-terrorist attacks across Europe.
http://newobserveronline.com/sweden-state-funded-muslim-sniper-training/

Society asks MGTOWs: Why are you not making more tax-slaves?

[Puffin StuffParticipant 24979]

Yes, we are like that here in the U.S. as well.

For example we have a typical American humbleness of Mr. Trump.

#icethemout; Remember Thomas Ball. He died for your children.

[Jan SobieskiParticipant 28791]

Sniper training?

Love is just alimony waiting to happen. Visit mgtow.com.

[RusskyParticipant 13503]

All ten can be summarized as one: “You are not to think”

proud carrier of the 'why?' chromosome

[EinherjarParticipant 608]

Being a Scandinavian myself, I too may attest to these unwritten laws. I, for my part at least, have always recognized it as a pledge of humility. Humility to your peers as well as to your own abilities.

Yet, these laws must never be interpreted as directly as they are written. Even to us they do seem quite harsh lined up in such a manner. See it more as guidelines of how to think and act in everyday life.

The Jantelaw has lived long in our region of the world, long before it was written down in the early 20th century. And because of this law, one of the worst things one can do here in Scandinavia is to brag. To brag is basically the same as taking social suicide:P

It is really a huge fall from how our viking ancestors lived and acted. In those times a man could be proud of his achievements…if you had done something good, you told people about it;)

The worst form of inequality is to try to make unequal things equal - Aristotle (384 - 322 BC)

[GreekDragoonParticipant 460]

Humility and self control are good and manly personality attributes to have.

However I see these rules as an attack on self respect, how can one adhere to such social norms while having a modicum of self respect. Self respect for the time one puts in bettering himself, self respect for the beliefs that he has built over time.

All I see is a docile crone doctrine.

[BurgundyParticipant 1525]

I’m from the Nordic, this law is used against people, who try to play themselves up as special snowflakes more often, than on the regular population.

I know, it’s interpreted differently other places. But in Denmark, it’s more like a, “I don’t give a f~~~ about who you think you are, but the rules apply to you, same as any one else here, so get the f~~~ back in the line!”.

Understand, that in some Nordic countries, we do not share the same sentiment of “political correctness”, and gives two s~~~s about it, and use the Jante law against people, who try to make themselves up as something superior or oppressed, than one self.

In short, it’s used both ways, and people don’t really use it as much you think, and not in the way some of you Americans would think.

Our political alignments are more than just two parties, and more importantly, we draw and say whatever we want, guess who has p~~~ed off certain religions off the most?

In the end it’s simply another form of ethical and moralistic warfare, it’s easily deflected, and easy to turn back around.

[onmywayParticipant 502]

For me here in Norway I feel like you can’t make a statement, without ending it with “well, that’s my opinion, but you know… Each to his own, and I don’t know everything, heck I might even be wrong… You know, most probably I AM wrong, you know? 😀 Hahaha!” kind of bulls~~~. So when I make a bold statement and don’t back off like that, people look at me as if I’m crazy combined with “who the f~~~ do you think you are?” kind of looks in their eyes.
Due to this I have decided to not engage in debates and / or political/personal conversation. I keep my thoughts to myself and to a few number of male brothers, with who I share craft beer and MGTOW conversations.

The fun thing though, as I’m happily enjoying the decline of Scandinavia and know the loopholes in my culture, I’m really enjoying the benefits of this f~~~ed-up socialist society. For example, I went to Sweden last year and didn’t want to spend money on a hotel, so I posted a post on facebook saying something along the lines of “Booohooo, I’m a poor student from Norway, booohooo, have to go to Sweden for my education, booohooo, can’t afford it, blabla”, and got tons of replies from “welcome refugees!!”-type of families. I got shelter and food for free for a whole week, just because I knew how to play the rules of the game. (sidenote – the family I stayed with was really great, and I loved the company. I COMPLETELY disagree with their political views, but they gave me shelter, free food + beer, so I shut up, smiled and enjoyed the sudden openness towards foreigners in Sweden due to the refugee crisis. I won’t let Arabs have all the fun, hoho!)

[Jan SobieskiParticipant 28791]

It seems like a big group think. The group is always right

I wonder if Edison was Danish would we have lightbulbs?

I can appreciate humility but this just seems so wrong.

Love is just alimony waiting to happen. Visit mgtow.com.

[BurgundyParticipant 1525]

Wow dude, don’t f~~~ing even start on painting the whole lot of people, because of some old unspoken thing, that’s not even utilized against citizens but rather against politicians and those in power, more often, if ever used at all.

Second of all, to Danish, free speech is the corner stone of our society, “Ytrings Frihed”, “freedom to speak your mind”. So before you come to some crazy conclusion and make a broad stroke, look a little closer.

I wonder if Edison was Danish would we have lightbulbs?

Who knows, but you wouldn’t have had telegraphs or wire recorders, which later lead to tape recorders and hard disk, without a Danish scientist’s invention of magnetic storage, piano wire.

Nor would you have had loudspeakers, again Danish invention.

Also Dry Cell battery was invented by a Danish dude in 1880’s but was patented by some German fellow in the 1890’s.

[sidecarParticipant 35837]

What the f~~~ happened Norway? You used to be so cool.

[JasonParticipant 282]

The Law of Jante certainly exists, however the way people enact it varies from country to country, region to region, and even community to community. And, of course, time.

Where I grew up, a small community in Sweden, Jante Law held the highest power of all. Adults who didn’t follow it became shamed or ostracized, while children – such as myself – became the victims of physical assault (chiefly by other children). I didn’t know about Jante Law back then, but looking back, I have no doubt in my mind that it played the deciding role in how people treated me.

I have Asperger Syndrome. Again, something I didn’t know back then. As a result, I used different body language than others, which caused me to stand out, to not conform. In addition, I possessed far greater intelligence than my peers, and as a result I not only excelled in virtually every school subject, I often discussed things with the teachers that my schoolmates simply couldn’t comprehend, while the teachers themselves frequently complimented me for my advanced thinking. Worse yet, I never accepted things without asking the question “Why?”. I didn’t blindly follow orders. I didn’t blindly adhere to social conventions. I didn’t blindly accept certain people as more or less valuable than myself. I broke every single paragraph of Jante Law, and thus, I became a target.

It started small – groups of three or four people would jump me during recess and beat me up, all the while berating me for my intelligence, calling me “arrogant” and that I “Shouldn’t think I was anything”. So, I started learning martial arts, to defend myself, which I did. Initially, this caused people to leave me alone. Then they came at me in larger groups, and they started wielding implements, like sticks, stones, metal pipes, and so on. I continued improving my martial arts abilities and defend myself, and stand up and defend others who became similarly victimized. Cue larger groups and more implements. By the time I switched from a communal school to a private one (where the school’s philosophy basically centred around removing Jante Law from the picture while still helping each individual student, thus making things a helluva lot better), I would frequently get attacked by groups of ten or twelve people, sometimes more, most of them bigger and stronger than me, and all of them armed. More often than not, I’d send them packing, though obviously not without taking hits. I got a lot of body conditioning in, as you can imagine. Today, it never fails to make me grin when I see the shocked expression on some big, burly guy’s face after he gives me his best punch and I don’t even blink. Not to mention the looks on his friends’ faces when I then drop the guy with one hit… Ah, the little things that make life worth living.

Jante Law has lost a lot of power since then, at least among the younger generations. You still get the whole shaming and ostracization and such, but kids don’t generally physically assault “lawbreakers” anymore. Now, when that does happen, society generally makes a big deal out of it, so it doesn’t usually continue on for very long. Heck, sometimes I read a news article and find some school got temporarily shut down or students offered “emergency counseling” because of some minor incident that, during my childhood, happened several times a week.

Times have changed.

There lies serenity in Chaos. Seek ye the eye of the hurricane.

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