Comparing Denmark and the U.S.

I think a good point that was brought up on Wednesday was the contradiction between the existence of so many taboos in U.S. society and the idea that freedom of speech and expression is supposedly a key characteristic of American culture. There are so many things that we can't discuss, because we are afraid of offending others, and also there is a lot of intolerance towards people who are just trying to be themselves and just want to be able to have the freedom to express themselves without being discriminated against. For example, people are much less likely to be discriminated against based on sexual orientation in the Scandinavian countries, and there seems to be, in general, a feeling of greater acceptance and openness.  I think Wenche brought up several things about U.S. society that I might have known about, but had never really given enough thought to. When you really look at these aspects of American society, you begin to realize how ridiculous these things are.

Danish Week - Gender Inequality

I thought the presentation was very interesting and engaging. Wenche shed light on many issues that are frequently ignored in American society. The one I was most interested in was her discussion of gender inequality. White American women working full time make, on average, 77 cents to a white males dollar. African American women and Latinas make 68 to 58 cents to the dollar. These figures, probably much lower when part-time employment/illegal employment is accounted for, are completely unacceptable. However, it is difficult for women to advocate for better salaries. Given the current economic state and the fact that many states are at-will states of employment, women often consider themselves lucky to be employed at all. Long-unchallenged traditions of unequal pay and preferential treatment towards men in many fields allow this trend to continue. I think politicians need to become better advocates for their female constituents in order for this pattern to change. Women working for minimum wage, multiple jobs, and many hours do not have the time to advocate on their own behalf and would likely be ignored, or at risk of losing their jobs if they did.

Wenche and Diversity

Wenche was a very engaging speaker--she always knew how to draw out those "class silences" until someone finally responded--and I appreciated her frankness about all the issues she touched on.

One thing that really ate at me though was not that she did such a job of pointing out America's flaws, but that she did not give the country credit as to why those flaws exist in the first place. The biggest thing that came to mind was America's sheer size and diversity.

Denmark is a small and relatively homogeneous nation in comparison to the United States, and so it is in poor taste to blindly compare the two countries' cultural, political, educational, and corporate policies with no reference as to why those differences exist. It's like saying a wholly mammoth an amazing creature but it is too hairy, bulky, and slow moving in comparison to this African elephant. Well, of course it would be! A wholly mammoth had to evolve and adapt in a different environment with different challenges. It's difficult to expect two organisms, if you can think of countries as one functioning unit, to evolve the same characteristics and habits if they develop in varied environments.

It's important to me for people to understand that it's ignorant to neglect America's shortcomings, but it's even worse to ignore why those shortcoming exist in the first place. For example, America's literacy rate, defined as the percentage of citizens of age 15 and over who can read and write, is actually 99%--giving a 20% allowance for new English speakers who would indeed have difficulty using the language at first. Wenche's comment about a nation wide 50% literacy rate was a bit ridiculous and I would like to see her source and reasoning for that. Perhaps she was looking at a specific neighborhood where the demographics and racial diversity do not lend itself to be predominantly well-versed in the English language. Denmark does not have this problem to the same degree because it has significantly more homogeneity in its population--though I'm sure I can find a neighborhood where the predominant language is Turkish or Somali and the Danish literacy rate would be 50% there too.

Danish Week!

Firstly, the movie we watched in class, Mifune, was easily one of the weirdest movies I have seen. And I do not mean that negatively, because I did enjoy some parts of it. I enjoyed the fact that it wasn't your average movie and it was very modern for its time with its rather explicit scenes. Overall, I did like it, even though there were a few moments were I was left in confusion, the movie was well made. One somewhat little thing that I thought stood out in a good way was that they didn't use loud music to play up the emotions of the scene.

Secondly, the guest speaker, Wenche, was very interesting. She made some very good points about our government and overall way of life. I do believe that Denmark and the Danish people as a whole have some great qualities that everyone can learn from; however, just like a few people mentioned already, the U.S. is not as bad as she made it seem. Yes, we do have room to improve but it could definitely be worse. The main thing that I took from her talk was the questions that she brought up. She mentioned our bi-partisan governing style and a few other things that are clearly not working for our country and she said that these things needed to change. I really haven't given it that much thought before, so it was rather eye-opening.

Wenche's talk

I really thought Wenche gave a great lecture. She definitely made me think about things in the US in a different light. While many things she said were true, and she did reassure us that many things she said were generalizations, I had mixed feelings on what she said. Denmark is a great model for issues such as the environment, sustainability, and education. However, there are those in Denmark who are unhappy about the healthcare system, and America is not AS bad as she made it out to be. Every country has their respective flaws, and she did a very good job of pointing them out. I was very impressed with her knowledge on such a wide array of subjects, and was just overall really happy we got to hear her speak to our class about happiness, and about differences in our respective countries.

Wenche talked about a few of the differences between the U.S. and Denmark but the one that I thought was particularly interesting was when she talked about how Danes talk openly talk about any subject with one another. Unlike here, they don't feel awkward talking about politics, religion, race, or sexual orientation. She said that people over there keep in mind that another person's thoughts on these subjects are just opinions and they don't take them personally.

Since I have lived in the U.S. my whole life, this concept seems alien to me. I feel that, in this country, everyone is afraid to voice their opinions because they are worried that someone else will be offended. I think it is great that Denmark hasn't become so "politically correct" that they can't have conversations about real subjects.

Gender Equality and Activism

Wenche offered a great number of (very true) insights on American culture and how this country is run, but the one that stuck with me the most was when she asked why women aren't vocalizing their opinions on the wage gap more publicly.  Granted I'm only 20 years old, but I feel like large public protests like Occupy Wall Street have been missing from the US mainstream since the Vietnam War era.  I think the mentality is that because there are so many differing opinions in this country (some of which are held by corporations/politicians/rich people with greater influence,) that it's becoming too difficult to be heard as an individual.  And even if your opinions do reach the ears of the powers that be, forget about anything being done about it.

This is kind of a side note, but I also feel like when people take action and organize they're immediately labeled "radical" in the US.  Every Occupy Wall Street protester is a dirty hippie that's looking for a handout from the rich. And every feminist in the 60s was a man-hating, bra burning lesbian.  Instead of embracing the fact that these people are passionate enough about their cause to accelerate public discussion, change, and improvement, the media and a good chunk of mainstream America can't get over the disruption of the status quo.