For me, one of the primary attractions of the now-dormant The Dish was the nature of the primary blogger, Andrew Sullivan, was that he was a British ex-pat now living – and loving – the United States. The observations of a place by someone embedded in, but not of, it may yield insights not apparent to those who grew up here – or don’t live here at all.
In that spirit, I offer up this post from Nancy Graham Holm on The Daily Kos. She is an American ex-pat embedded in the small nation of Denmark, where they speak as if their mouths are filled with ball-bearings (my observation from long ago), and seem to be uncommonly decent folks:
Personally, I like how Danes value work and workers. They seem to understand that nothing is produced or accomplished in society without labor and they honor rank and file workers just as much as managers. In Danish society, human beings are judged by the strength of their character, not by their professional status or size of their pay-check. Weekend getaway planning conferences often include everybody-at-the-office, not just upper and middle management, but secretaries, cantine workers and custodians. Everyone is entitled to express opinions and they do. In Denmark, medical doctors do not wear white coats (except in hospitals) and they normally introduce themselves by their first names. Professors and teachers are also called by their first names and everybody else too that you might meet on the job. The majority of work places have a kitchen and eating area so that mid-morning and mid-afternoon coffee breaks are social events with freshly brewed coffee served in cups and saucers and bakery goods – including, on occasion – wienerbrød (yes, what Americans call Danish).
