This morning I was browsing the Internet instead of getting any work done, and I stumbled on an article on something called Jante's Law. It's something sociologists talk about when discussing the Scandinavian countries, and it refers to a strong social pressure towards being average, and fitting in; or, to say the same thing in other terms, a strong rejection of the idea that there's anything at all special about you personally.
To exaggerate only slightly, it's a fundamental social presumption that you don't count, leveled against everyone.
And as soon as I read the article, I thought back to this post of mine that I wrote ... wow, more than ten years ago. Long enough that I couldn't find it at first, because I didn't remember any useful keywords. So I had to page through a lot of other posts about other stuff until I came across it.
But there it is, plain as day: "Parents should teach their children that what they want doesn’t count. So they will have easier and happier lives." And now I find that there are whole societies out there that agree with me. Not that I should brag about my own insight on this point, of course ... at least, not if I'm to be consistent.
So, ... is this a good thing?
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