Lovely Lagom has a stick-in-the-mud brother called Jante. Jante Law (Jantelagen in Swedish) is lagom’s dark side: a curmudgeonly, xenophobic, jealous mindset that lots of Swedes and Scandinavians will tell you is a widespread, oppressive trait in Nordic culture. Jantelagen’s ten commandments are:
Don’t think you are anything. Don’t think you are as good as us. Don’t think you are smarter than us. Don’t think you are better than us. Don’t think you know more than us. Don’t think you are greater than us. Don’t think you are good for anything. Don’t laugh at us. Don’t think that anyone cares about you. Don’t think you can teach us anything.
Some Scandinavians have buried Jantelagen and are championing a new anti-Jante law. Good riddance, Jante. Phew!
3 years ago