From: hans@iesd.auc.dk (Hans Huttel)
Newsgroups: soc.culture.nordic
Subject: Re: Increasing amount of people against EU in Den
Date: 30 Mar 92 16:59:08 GMT
	<1992Mar24.114118.5833@nntp.hut.fi>
	<1992Mar26.102841.7717@pcsbst.pcs.com>
	<1992Mar28.024119.10362@husc3.harvard.edu>
Organization: Mathematics and Computer Science, Aalborg University


[ This article is in Danish with an English translation. ]

Lad mig lige starte med at sige at jeg synes vi skal stemme nej d. 2.
juni. EF-unionen betyder oeget centralisering og bureaukrati; alt
andet end demokrati og selvbestemmelse. Tag bare de nye
beslutningsprocedurer: Flere beslutninger skal laegges over til
Ministerradet hvor Danmark har 3 ud af 76 stemmer. Og der bliver flere
flertalsafgoerelser.

Naa, i artikel <1992Mar28.024119.10362@husc3.harvard.edu> skriver
percus@husc9.harvard.edu (Allon Percus):

> My personal opinion, as someone who has recently lived for some months
> in Denmark, for varying lengths of time in other European countries,
> and for the greatest length of time in the U.S., is that Denmark is
> now witnessing the wholesale destruction of its national culture in
> favor of imported American crap.  Danish television, for many years
> of reliably good quality (if somewhat limited), is now overrun by
> the worst of commercial U.S. programming.  (In fact, watching DR
> and TV2 now it is very easy to believe that no Danish literature or
> drama exists at all.)

Jeg maa desvaerre erklaere mig 100 procent enig. Alene i loebet af de
tre aar jeg boede i Storbritannien syntes jeg der skete ufattelig
meget. Det var et endnu mere kommercialiseret Danmark jeg vendte hjem
til. Forretnings"etikken" er virkelig kommet i hoejsaedet - men hvad
kan man forvente efter ti aar med en borgerlig regering og en uduelig
opposition ? Nogenlunde det samme er sket i Storbritannien:
Privatisering hoerer til dagens uorden nu.

> It is all very sad but I think that to a great extent Danes today
> do not even know what Danish culture, as it might have been described
> ten years ago or so, means.  I found *I* knew more about Carl Nielsen
> than most young Danes I talked to.  I went to some of the few Danish
> plays and musicals that exist today in Copenhagen and found the
> audience's average age somewhere around 60.

Det er egentlig ikke saa meget det nedadgaaende kendskab til Carl
Nielsen (der forresten er en fantastisk komponist) der bekymrer mig.
Det er mere det at vi efterhaanden kun definerer danskhed som et
negativ, "vi er danske, de er i hvert fald ikke". Den slags er
nationalisme, og det er til at tude over.

Jeg synes det er ret sigende at man snakker saa meget i danske medier
om hvad det vil sige at vaere dansk. Maaske ved vi det knap nok. Jeg
haaber ikke at det lykkes Den Danske Forening [en fremmedhadende,
nationalistisk gruppe (maa man kalde dem racister?)] og den slags at
tage patent paa det at vaere dansk.

Det var saa min taletid der udloeb.

- Hans

---

First of all let me say that I think we should vote no on June 2. The
union will mean more centralization and bureaucracy, representing
anything but democracy and self-determination. Take as an example the
new decision structures: More decisions will be delegated to the
Council of Ministers in which Denmark has 3 out of 76 votes. What's
more, more decisions will be the result of a qualified majority (i.e.
vetoing is no longer a way out.)

Anyway, in article <1992Mar28.024119.10362@husc3.harvard.edu> 
percus@husc9.harvard.edu (Allon Percus) writes:

> My personal opinion, as someone who has recently lived for some months
> in Denmark, for varying lengths of time in other European countries,
> and for the greatest length of time in the U.S., is that Denmark is
> now witnessing the wholesale destruction of its national culture in
> favor of imported American crap.  Danish television, for many years
> of reliably good quality (if somewhat limited), is now overrun by
> the worst of commercial U.S. programming.  (In fact, watching DR
> and TV2 now it is very easy to believe that no Danish literature or
> drama exists at all.)

I have to admit that I agree 100 per cent. In the course of my three
years in Britain (1988-1991) I felt that things were changing
drastically back home. The Denmark that I returned to was even more
commercialized than the one I left. Business "ethics" are riding high
now - anyway, what can one expect after ten years with a conservative
government and a lame opposition ? Just about the same thing has
happened in Britain: Privatization is the order of the day.

> It is all very sad but I think that to a great extent Danes today
> do not even know what Danish culture, as it might have been described
> ten years ago or so, means.  I found *I* knew more about Carl Nielsen
> than most young Danes I talked to.  I went to some of the few Danish
> plays and musicals that exist today in Copenhagen and found the
> audience's average age somewhere around 60.

I am not that worried by the lack of knowledge of Carl Nielsen (who is a
great composer, BTW). I am more worried by the fact that we Danes
these days are defining Danishness as a negative: "we are Danish, and
<they> certainly aren't." That is the essence of nationalism and it is
not something we should be proud of.

I think it is rather telling that Danishness is so high on the agenda
of the media these days. Maybe we don't really know what it is to be
Danish. I do hope that Den Danske Forening [a right-wing,
nationalistic, xenophobic pressure group (I am not allowed to say that
they are racists, am I ?] and their ilk do not succeed in get a
monopoly on defining Danishness.

(Stepping down from my soapbox.)


- Hans


--
Hans H{\"u}ttel, Office E1-111                   -   hans@iesd.auc.dk  
Mathematics and Computer Science, Aalborg University
Fredrik Bajersvej 7E, 9220 Aalborg {\O} DENMARK - North Jutland is for lovers.