A couple nights ago I had a friend over for dinner and excellent conversation. She also gave me her old Nokia phone so I'm not connected until the iPhone comes out and I can jump on the deals. Another friend gave me an old sim card he had, another is lending me her bike for a year, a fourth hooked me up with a job, and finally another got me connected to this apartment. Again, I must say, the whole "Danes are unfriendly" trope just doesn't hold up for me. Different social mores on the whole, yes of course, but also so many remarkably loyal and kind people.
The dinner date. The Welfare State. Ida is a Danish law student in her final semester before she writes her thesis - meaning, she knows a thing or two about Danish law and social/political structures. All her life she's thought of the welfare state as a combination of assistance to the poor and elderly, to people with disabilities, to the student stipend she receives. And the logic behind it, to her understanding, was that Denmark takes care of it's own and that it's a strong value to ensure that everyone has equal opportunities. This week Ida started a course on "Social Law" - meaning laws related to Danish social structures, chiefly the things we think of as the welfare state. It was one of those classes, she says, where you leave with the feeling that EVERYONE needs to hear what you just learned because it's that important and paradigm - shifting. The professor didn't say anything descriptive about Denmark that she didn't already know, but she did frame the Danish social system from a totally fresh perspective.
The welfare state is NOT, Ida explained to me, at all connected to moneys for those who are unable to work, or are too poor to provide for themselves. This whole system comes from two sets of logic. The pure welfare state logic derives from the idea that if we all chip in our savings than we will be insured when times are rough for us or simply when we're old. Essentially - pay in now and your children will have a good start out into the world and you'll be cared for later. It's really a large-scale security program. Not a romantic "long-of-Denmark" driven exercise. Programs for those who can't work because they are injured, prematurely ill, or whatever reason - stem from a different logic. The belief that everyone should have enough to get by because it's best for society and it's simply what is right. So when political discourse starts to talk about how much immigrants or refugees "cost the welfare state" they're muddling with two sets of logic. The issue is that people who haven't been here for a while have not paid into the system and are not PART of the welfare state - they are part of the other set of logic.
One of the scariest challenges to the welfare state, Ida was saying - and I heartily agree, is that young people take it for granted and don't quite understand it. Young people generally think it's "awesome" that they get the student stipend (S.U.) but really take that for granted - and they fact that of course they wouldn't pay for education or health care. It's something that the generation before witnessed being achieved but now... it's how life has always been for young people.
I have more to think about, I'll come back to it.
The dinner date. The Welfare State. Ida is a Danish law student in her final semester before she writes her thesis - meaning, she knows a thing or two about Danish law and social/political structures. All her life she's thought of the welfare state as a combination of assistance to the poor and elderly, to people with disabilities, to the student stipend she receives. And the logic behind it, to her understanding, was that Denmark takes care of it's own and that it's a strong value to ensure that everyone has equal opportunities. This week Ida started a course on "Social Law" - meaning laws related to Danish social structures, chiefly the things we think of as the welfare state. It was one of those classes, she says, where you leave with the feeling that EVERYONE needs to hear what you just learned because it's that important and paradigm - shifting. The professor didn't say anything descriptive about Denmark that she didn't already know, but she did frame the Danish social system from a totally fresh perspective.
The welfare state is NOT, Ida explained to me, at all connected to moneys for those who are unable to work, or are too poor to provide for themselves. This whole system comes from two sets of logic. The pure welfare state logic derives from the idea that if we all chip in our savings than we will be insured when times are rough for us or simply when we're old. Essentially - pay in now and your children will have a good start out into the world and you'll be cared for later. It's really a large-scale security program. Not a romantic "long-of-Denmark" driven exercise. Programs for those who can't work because they are injured, prematurely ill, or whatever reason - stem from a different logic. The belief that everyone should have enough to get by because it's best for society and it's simply what is right. So when political discourse starts to talk about how much immigrants or refugees "cost the welfare state" they're muddling with two sets of logic. The issue is that people who haven't been here for a while have not paid into the system and are not PART of the welfare state - they are part of the other set of logic.
One of the scariest challenges to the welfare state, Ida was saying - and I heartily agree, is that young people take it for granted and don't quite understand it. Young people generally think it's "awesome" that they get the student stipend (S.U.) but really take that for granted - and they fact that of course they wouldn't pay for education or health care. It's something that the generation before witnessed being achieved but now... it's how life has always been for young people.
I have more to think about, I'll come back to it.
Here's Ida helping me learn Danish with "Peter Pedal" - Curious George in Denmark.
So happy to see you reading!
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