Who Has More Freedom: Denmark or America? 

Having been born in America and having lived in Europe (two countries, now) for more than twenty years, I have NEVER wanted to return, and I find that the U.S. (which I visit regularly) has gotten worse with every visit. After just two or three days on the west side of the Atlantic, I just want to go home to EUROPE. I have felt since 1980 that the U.S. reached its best years in the 1970s and has begun a decline from which I don't expect it to recover. The flaws in the U.S. Constitution and the political system have led American society to a place from which it cannot recover without significant changes that I don't think there is sufficient societal cohesion to effect.

I want to point out something that's frequently forgotten when discussing taxes in Denmark vs the US. I'm a Dane living in the US so I've lived both versions myself and I can assure you that the real difference isn't that big. Once you've paid for your own benefits (yes you have pay a portion of your health insurance and dental insurance, potentially your Health Savings Account and legal insurance and your 401k retirement account) and you've paid your student loan payments, you're probably close to 35-45% of your paycheck gone, which is close to what you're paying in Denmark, but this comes with all the negatives of those systems, like for instance mostly children from rich families go to certain colleges because it's too expensive, health care costs are artificial inflated and you don't have any social net to catch people who fall through the cracks. I would absolutely take the Danish system any day.

A good example is how the individual right to bear arms is valued less than the collective right to not worry about people bearing arms.

As a Dane who has worked in Colorado, I felt much less personal freedom, and I think a lot of it is about not feeling safe. Not in an extreme way, but enough that I made different choices than I would have made in Denmark. But I'd also rather be able to bring a beer than a gun to the park on the weekend.

In Denmark we have just watched to much Star Trek, to quote Spock: “ the need of the many outweighs the need of the one. So our freedom is based on that if your freedom can harm others you can not have that freedom.

As a UK national having liived in the US and family in Denmark, the main difference is the level of inequality of living standards between the US and Denmark. The common good (collective freedom) is definitely a Danish way of thinking, as the country is very proud and endeavours to preserve their culture and customs. As a small country, immigration laws are very strict, as is gaining Danish Citizenship, which again, is the right to preserve the Danish way of life. The recent immigration law eg sending Syrians back to their home country as perceived it is now safe, is still highly contentious as sending people to Rwanda. The attempt to disperse immigrants to enable closer integration within Denmark is a work in progress. One thing, we do share, is the freedom to openly voice our views, at least for now, as globally, Democracy is under fire in many countries and should be cherished by all who can speak up and speak out without fear. Freedom of thought is the only freedom we truly have.

I think for many other countries it can be hard to understand just how large the US actually is, and with that how different each state truly is from each other. I mean visiting family in Jutland exposes me to a much different political view, habits, everyday life, opinions and more. And that's like a 4-6 hour drive from the Copenhagen area.. I do think when we hear about USA, we do not see it as a collection of multiple states, we think of it as a whole, just like Denmark is one whole, and that makes it hard for many that haven't seen or visited the US to remember that it is a very diverse country with a wide range of people, cultures, political opinions and so on! :)

It is difficult to talk about freedom without defining it and whether you mean positive freedoms to do things or freedom from having things done to you, like the freedom to oppress and exploit people for your own personal gain opposed to the freedom from oppression and exploitation. The US tends to support the former types of freedom whereas Denmark, in line with most of Europe, puts more emphasis on the latter. This fits with the narrative of individual vs collective thinking.

I do like your view on the difference between collective and personal freedom. The Getto law, where the politicians are trying to tell people immigrants (mostly from the middle east) not to movie into the same neighborhood together is an interesting example. It might go against their personal freedom, but looking at places like Paris or Sweeden, where the police can't get into those neighborhoods without a considerable amount of backup, is not an ideal situation for neither society nor the people living there. integrating immigrants into society, would make it easier also for them to establish networks among local Danes, that could help them out with education and job contacts. I know you compare it to Korean and Italian neighborhoods, but it would properly be more fair to compare it to how you treat black neighborhoods in the US. Where in many cities the keep being underdeveloped, not funded and because of how you fund school districts, make it really hard for young black people to get ahead in education and job. In the US you often have Rich (predominately white) neighborhoods, that are walled off, with a gate-guard on service, to keep all the poor people away, then you have predominately white middle class neighborhoods, that are nice and clean and then on the other side of the freeway or train tracks you have the trailerparks, and the predominately black neighborhoods. So you can of course decide which system gives the most personal freedom, but I am pretty sure that people in trailer parks and in the Black underfunded neighborhoods dont feel like they have the same freedom, equality or choice in their life as the white people on the other side of the freeway/train tracks, so collective freedom always rubs off on personal freedom.

Gotta be honest. Every time I hear someone say 'Freedom' in an American accent. My brain automatically starts playing the theme song from Team America - World Police. 😄

There is an old saying "show me who your friends are and I will tell you, who you are"... so if you live in very poor and/or criminal area, they will become the kids friends. Having different types of friends, give the kids the possibility to get a broader view on life and to see more choices.

You guys are great! I really enjoy the high and informative quallyty of the content of your channel 👍

I love this video! It's so interesting to see how our different countries view freedom and how it affects our culture. It's amazing that you see that danes are progressive and open-minded when it comes to freedom and how we are actively working to improve the lives of our citizens. Keep up the great work!

Clever and non-judgemental. Thanks guys.

With all the examples I think we can agree that Freedom is not that easy to compare. It is the culture that define what freedom is. What is the normal where you live. Small town/big city. But as you have mentioned in an other video. In DK we can drink alcohol in public. That is individual freedom 🤣😆

As a Dane i think the Americans are proud of their freedom, and ya. US i a free country, but i see it more like the freedom comes with responsibility. In Denmark we allways have the government behind us. And in the US your kind of alone, and have to take care of yourself. In the US you have the freedom to earn a lot of money, as a businessman-women, but if you gets sick and cant work for some time, all of the money is comming straight from your own pocket. In the US you have the freedom to own a weapon, but in Denmark i more see it we have the freedom not to. Somewhere in the US people feel unsafe not owning a weapon, and therefore buys one. But in Denmark its not really a problem. Thats just some of the reasons why i love living in Denmark. Its just a wonderfull country.

It's weird how your accents becomes more and more Danish :)

Probably your best video!

What differs most between US vs DK are our economic freedom, by that I mean I dont have to worry if I get sick, even if I loose my job, my kids can get an education .. 😁

A highly interesting topic. Could you do a video on the concept of freedom of speech and how its viewed in Denmark and the US?

Speaking of abortion: The South Carolina Supreme Court struck down the 'heartbeat law' as unconstitutional, violating the right to privacy. There's a thing you don't see everyday here in the South. On another note: Have you guys heard of George Santos (if that's his name) and his resume?

I am Danish, but I have been living abroad for the last 13 years, where I follow US news every day and for me that has resulted in a nearly anti-American view, as I think the US is going backwards in the human perspective. I grew up loving everything about America, so this is a quiet new experience for me, and I think that the US is in a bad place, seeing from a humanistic point of view. Sorry to say 🤔 but anyway, this is just my point of view and enjoying my freedom to speak my mind 🤣 Thanks for all your great videos it's great to experience how others view my country, and also for my wife who is not Danish to here your opinion not only my biased one 😉 have a great day you two 🙏

4:29 the US to this day is extremely segregated when it come to where people live. And you re fare off by the timeframe. This really picked up steam post WWII when the GI bill allowed for white veterans to move buy houses in in the suburbs and colored veterans was stopped from doing so. And this divide still exist to this day in much of the US.

Truly an interesting topic this time, and very important to discuss in these times of anti-freedom spreading around the world.

great the difference between individual and collective freedome! well done!

I think it is an interesting perspective. That americans cannot envision that people of a specific ethinc group can't be told that they can't live together, calling it "individual freedom". Considering that this was basically that norm up until the 1960'ies. Segregation was very much a government mandated concept, that required ethinc groups to NOT, intermix. (living arrangements, use of public facilities, schools, etc.) I would consider the anti-.ghetto laws in Denmark to be the opposite of segregation, you cannot choose to become selfoppointed "mini" cultures in Denmark, you must become danish, to be danish. You must assimilate. I don't mean you must eradicate your own culture, but you must integrate well enough, that you understand the "colletivist freedom" as you name it. I understand that segregation has ended in the US. But it was way less than 100 years ago. And one could claim that while there is law banning direct segregation today, there are principles in place that simply disguises those concepts in other laws. Like economic rules, that certain areas where specific ethnic groups live, have a poor credit score, poor education, poor healthcare, poor oppertunities. Basically making the ethnic group a "poor group", and then enforcing laws against "poor people" rather than a specific ethnic group. The laws like the anti ghetto law, are in spirit meant to fight these concepts, and yet, it is perceived as an infraction on the individual rights? I find that perspective confusing. I understand the knee-jerk reaction, but I think you will find with self-reflection that this is not so. I would also say, that the actually implementation of these laws do not always come off as the way they were intended, as there are a lot of danish people that are racist. I am not talking about the people whom intend to coexist in a collective spirit with immigrants, but people whom actually think danes are the chosen people or something. These people exist, and are to be feared for what they can do to our laws and our culture, what they are currently doing. (Looking at you DF) And while I agree that the collective "spirit" is sometimes out of proportion, there is a reason behind the madness. To be socially responsible for your actions, your words, is not, in my opinion, an unreasonable criteria for an adult. Even for teenagers. So once you are told that the rules ensure that you and others, can coexist without it resulting in a civil war, hate crimes, or other negative events, then a civilized adult should be able to grasp that as a core concept "collective freedom" is a concept that you have to partially encourporate into individual freedom. Best of both worlds, so to speak. I am not saying collective freedom superceeds individual freedom overall, but there are specific areas in a social structure where it could be required. I believe, not being able to "cooperate" or find room in your heart and mind for the "collective freedom" is a hard bit for Danish people to swallow. If you can't see that personal sacrifice for the common good can be required, to danes, you have a flawed view of how the danish society should work, and does work, for the most part. It doesn't mean you sacrifice your first born on the altar of Odin, to appease the gods, but it does mean, you pay taxes, so everybody can get good quality, medical-care, education, oppertunities. No sacrifice, means no golden society. If you are a "me-first", in all things, you are screwing it up for the rest of us. I am not saying you cannot, or should not, excel, You should. But you should also sacrifice for the society that got you there. You didn't build your house with your own to hands, the phones lines, the street lights, the school, the roads, the universities, the hospitals, you are a part of a huge machine, that requires you sacrifice for it to run. I am not saying Denmark does this perfectly, far from it. But it does it better than, the USA. There can be little doubt in my mind from the way, you actually still perceive the "individual freedom" to trumph collective freedom. I encourage you to not let my words sway that opinion, there must to an opposite reaction to every action, but we must seek to be in balance on the events, so that the actions and reactions don't become chain reactions, but as close to stable, non-reactions as possible.

I grew up in different African countries due to my parents work. I have lived with dictatorial governments like Mugabe in Zimbabwe and the apartheid system in South Africa. I returned to Denmark in 1985, aged 23. I was gobsmacked - only by living here did I understand freedom as a citizen. Yes, we definitely have some dreadful immigration laws which anger me no end, but in every other way, I feel the same as the report. There is one day every year where that freedom really becomes obvious and that is the Pride Parade. Tears run down my cheeks as the parade passes and I think of all my friends who were persecuted for their sexuality and I feel so proud that so many tens of thousands of Danes, line the streets and cheer for love, equality and diversity. This was a great segment, thank you

Love the intro ;) but also maybe a missed opportunity for a William Wallace Freeeedom intro (tho probably be out of place... :))

It's basically negative vs positive liberty Negative liberty would be a freedom to not worry about guns. Positive would be freedom to own guns. Both are forms of "freedom" you're just going to have to argue which is more beneficial.

At some point in the video you say that you can't live with the ethnic's you want. That is NOT correct. you can live with whomever you want as long it does not fall into: low employment rate, low income, high crime stats in the area as this is known as factor for people not evolving and will stay in the same position for a long time. It has nothing to do with where you come from or whom you find yourself drawn too.

".. the government telling people where they live or who they can live with? I can't imagine that!" Wow! Did the non-native American really just say that? You literally have reservations for the native population that was ejected from their homelands! You might want to remember that Danes are the natives in Denmark, and they might not feel the the need to alter their country or culture to please others. Not every other country in the world, might be interested in having their culture supplanted or diluted. All those lists of "equality, happiness, human development, education, etc.." where denmark figures in the top ten; Denmark got there by being the country that it is. No need to dilute that. Anyone who doesn't like the culture that provided all of these benefits for them, are free to leave for countries that better match their culture. - When in Rome, do as the Romans -

We are extremely biased here in Denmark, but most of the time we do have good reasons to. Bias often works very well for us because stuff usually just works in Denmark.

I’m a dual citizen who has lived in Austin TX and now lives in Copenhagen. To me, freedom first and foremost means literal freedom to do stuff outside of work. That 6 weeks of PTO a year is the least I can survive on if I’m going to be a happy human being. In the US, I didn’t have anywhere near that much, and it’s the top thing that I didn’t like about living there. I felt much more like a slave of the labor market even though I was making a decent living and had 18 days of PTO - probably far more than most Americans do. If you are a working poor American with no PTO, you might as well literally be a slave. Freedom to quit your job while maintaining access to healthcare is another big one. Now, as for those constant US culture wars being a sign of progress? I don’t know about that. They are a sign that the Angry Old Caucasian Male demographic that Trump represents feels like they have given enough ground to minority groups over the years, and now they want some of that ground back. Back to the “good old days” where women and people of color had less freedom than now. The abolition of the universal right to abortion is just one casualty of this trend. Another casualty is the constant weakening of voting rights for minority groups, designed to keep them in check. I feel like the backsliding of civil rights progress in the US could very easily pick up speed again next time the GOP is in power.

the US does not have a longer tradition for immigration. The history of immigration in Denmark is as old as the history of the country it self. Just saying,,

I’m going to abstain from commenting on this video. There is just too much here. And I don’t see anything good coming from it. I’m not having a great day and this is not your best work. Let’s just leave it at that.

Good content guys, although potentially explosive 😵‍💫 Which ever way, I think I still prefer Euro freedoms to US freedoms, just bc almost every country here, has had 'the freedom' talk a long time ago and our values haven't changed that much over time. Freedoms are given, not taken away, like Roe~vs~Wade 😊 hello from Hundested 🌸 🌧

I value my personal and individual freedom to: To jaywalk without fearing to get shot. Or have a party and get drunk and maybe end up in someone's garden without fearing to get shot for tresspassing. To go to doctor and hospital if I individually need it, regardless of my financial situation. Freedom to go to university if I want to, regardless of my financial situation. Not fear others around me being able to have guns. And I could keep going.... these personal and individual freedoms are so important that I would feel personally and individually miserable if I lost them.

I know the answer without watching, and sadly, it's Danmark by a furlong or two. Was there a week in 94, been in Mrca for 40 plus years, save one in Europe. (Tusend tak!--sp. on tusend, as I studied norsk before dansk, and OE and ON a decade before that--BTW, for these informative, and well-produced bits.) // Potentially, I may move there next fall. Any vids about job finding and/or bringing along cats, for someone who intends to be near fluent by then, are appreciated at your leisure. Again, thanks.

While watcing your video (brillant as usual), Kennedy popped up on my inner monitor. "Ask not, what your country can do for you..." . Antother thing: Do you really pay tax in both DK and US, even if you don't live over there?

One of the major reasons for the anti ghetto law is to try to diminish the fairly high crime rates in the "ghettoes"

It,s very interesting to listen and see Your RU-vid videos. I have learned, so much. Thank you for Your honesty and respect. Denmark is not the finest country. But we are trying to be the best. So the same as America. But it,s more difficult, as describe In s Big country as America. I wish you the best. Hope you would continue. I ❤ to Watch and listen Your videoes. Best og luck forward to you.👍

Everyone is free to do whatever he wants, and if he doesn't want to that, we'll definitely make him do it.

I am Danish, i feel my freedom are violated in a too large degree in several ways. If i won a little money in the lottery i would move to another place so in a few years i can die a free man.

In the US Freedom is bought. In Denmark Freedom is free.

Interesting topic. But I find the music in the background very distracting 🥺

The 'ghetto law' is actually based upon level of education, level of unemployment, lower income, and level of crime which on face value have nothing to do with ethnic background. It seems that way, unfortunately, as areas with a lot of immigrants tend to have higher level of unemployment, lower income, and/or lower level of education. The lower level of employment is partly due to the covert rasicm of our society (harder to get a job if your name is Abdul or Fatima)

As an American who was raised very conservative and has been on the education path of studying other countries systems. I would choose a more Nordic or European system any day. I don’t care about wealth or greed for a metric of how good a country is doing. I care about the people as a whole. An everyone pitching in and supporting each other so people don’t suffer even those who may not contribute as much will benefit is more moral than caring more about individually thriving anyday. People are stronger supporting each other. America has done an extremely poor job in emphasizing that & coming into my adulthood years I’m highly disappointed in this. This is my belief and I know others won’t agree but I don’t care. That is the truth that I’ve come to know.

How is the overturn of Roe v. Wade not going backwards? Or all the gerrymandering? Both things are “getting it wrong” when it comes to both individual freedom (bodily autonomy) and collective freedom, where gerrymandering can turn a clear majority (most often of ethnic minorities) into a minority.

It is funny how you understand a particular word. Freedom for one person isnt the same meaning for the next. A bit like the word liberal. In the US it is mainly used towards leftwingers, and in Denmark its more to the right side

A huge difference is also that Denmark has a parlament that defines crimes in the laws given in advance, and in the USA there is also a common law system that judges apply afterwards.

collective freedom is a lot more valuable to me over the personal freedom. my ex lived in a gated community in cali, and that just never really suited me..theres were a lot less cohesion in the american selfawareness as i am used to as a dane

Love your concent. Please make som reaction vids on Denmark. You living here maybe can say oooh yes or no no no (: Asyou 2 see it. Thank you for comming to Denmark at make it bigge and better.

Well, you do a better job of trying to nuance the US concept of freedom than I can. Still, from a fairly multicultural and global (long story) perspective springing from Danish roots I have to admit that I have a hard time buying the idea that individual freedom is truly possible without collective freedom taking first place. Given that we are social apes, not polar bears, we simply haven’t evolved to prioritise individual freedom to that extent.

On the subject of the amount of news that reaches us from the US, Niel DeGrass Tyson nailed it to the wall. He said: "Today, when someone gets shot or run over by a bus, it will be international news for a day, national news for a week and local news for a month." 🙂

The problem with ghettos is that they are becoming small closed societies. The problem with this is that they dont have the need for learning danish, or at least not to the point where it's that important as it would be to know the laungage of the country that youre moving too in other cases. i believe this is caused by mothers most often being stay at home wives/moms (atleast to my understanding) and the dads work jobs that dont require them to learn the laungage. this in turn are hindrering their integration and some of them still keeps to values that are not perceived very highly in Denmark. thats why the law was passed, to get imigrants intergrated. It is btw. extremely expensive to have immigrants that dont work living here, because the government tries to take care of them, u can look it up. i believe the numbers might chok u. and this is ofcourse for immigrants without a danish citizenship. There are ofcourse way more to this but i believe this sums it up pretty well :D I also believe that imigrants have tried to get some of the laws of their home countries passed here in Denmark which is absolutely not OK!!!!! if we let u in u better not try to change anything (i am not completely sure about this so please take it with a grain of salt :D ) - I know my grammar is probably off but im not going to sit here and correct grammar mistakes so please dont comment on that ;)

Like most foreigners, you have completely misunderstood the "ghetto law", the majority it affects are ethnic Danes and not immigrants. First, know the criteria for what a "ghetto" is in Denmark. Then read who is affected by the "ghetto law"...Many immigrants are only one of many criteria, in what makes a ghetto a ghetto in Denmark, but everyone who contributes to a ghetto being a ghetto is affected by the ghetto law, not just immigrants and not just people living in "ghettos" atm.

Just like all government is, in the end, backed by violence (Law enforcement, military), all freedom is defined by its borders. I need my government to set up (and enforce) rules for individual behavior, so nobody harms me or nicks my stuff. Sometimes we need rules that protect the air, nature, or foreign relations. Ever tried to build a house or similar, either in DK or US? The amount of rules you have to accommodate is staggering! Environmental, worker safety, personal safety, structural integrity, ect. I would love to have "more freedom" in Denmark, but I lean toward "societal freedom", frankly because there are bad, mean, and just plain dumb people out there who can not be trusted to exercise "personal freedom". Not a lot, mind you, but a few is all it takes (Jan. 6, anyone?). -And yes, we need to streamline our immigration rules! :)

I really enjoy your videos. I think the one mistake made though is comparing some things, in this case politics, between the two when it's really apples and oranges. It might be better to compare Danmark to a compable state i.e. WA, MA or another further left-leaning state of equitable size. Also, European parliamentary political parties are more like caucuses in the US, with there being many that form a coalition to rule but sometimes deviate from the main party. Debt-ceiling, ACA, speakerships and appointees can are good examples where different caucuses created division in a controlling party.

we have 3 large parliamentary parties in Denmark which have the majority to vote a law through. These parties say they want to cooperate across the middle, this is just a sham they are doing. They have threatened the minority parties several times to vote for a bill. the government has stated that if the other parties do not vote in favour, the government will implement the bill anyway. I would call that a dictatorship. More recently, the government has run for a settlement that they have entered into with the minority parties. So governments do what suits them and they are very power hungry. We do not currently have a democratic society.

I love America but sadly they won't allow me to visit my American fiance through 6 years anymore as I'm not vaccinated.

is that a nisse behind you? Now you cant put him away before after next christmas cause that means bad luck :D

The anti ghetto initiatives has been critiqued by many, but from a Danish perspective they work. When you end up on the list of socially challenged city areas, there is only one way to get off that list again, and that is to improve the statistics. Since fewer and fewer areas are mentioned on the list, it means the rest has improved themselves away from it. The reasons for ending up on the list is 1) above 30% of those aged 18-64 without a job or under education. 2) 2 times the nation average of people convicted for crime in the past 2 years. 3) Above 60% of people aged 30-59 with only basic school education. 4) Average taxable income is less than 65% of the average for the local region. As mentioned the Danish collective mindset dictates that defending crime rates, unemployment, low income, poor education is simply not understood. Why would anyone want that, (if they could get the life of the Danes instead).

why don't you talk about the "jantelov" an important topic in Denmark, and has been difficult for me to understand as a German in Denmark.

I would like to add that the ghetto law isn’t only targeted at certain ethnicities! - It also regards people who are unemployed and people like me - chronically ill and/or disabled people on disability pension. They hate us too...

Hello, in the video you say that the US is in the process of improving freedom even more and you refer to the debates. But statistics show that freedom in the US is getting worse and worse. Just my opinion, so no hate please: I see the crime rate in the US as a problem. Caused by the increasing number of underpaid/unemployed/sick/broke people. I hope that doesn't happen, but if the situation gets any worse then I think there must be new rules/laws to avoid chaos. New laws - less freedom. Freedom is a good thing, but from a European perspective sometimes restrictions are needed to stabilize a system. Again, I don't mean to discredit anything or anyone. It's your country, your rules, your way of life.

I think it was Churchill who said: you can always count on the Americans to do the right thing, once they've tried everything else

Somehow you forgot to mention that the ghetto law only apply to those who don't own their own appartment... If you got the capital you can buy a home where ever you like to.. If it's for sale that is..

I guess it depends on how you define freedom because freedom is really worthless if not exercised responsibly and with the full understanding that you will be held accountable when overstepping the law. Some people believe freedom is about being able to do anything at anytime. That is definitely not the case. Freedom is worthless without responsibility and accountability.

Excellent video. Regarding bipartisanship, the word itself points to the irony that even if in the US all opinions are “created politicallly equal”, in reality only two parties compete for Congress and presidency. In Denmark, the political differencies are maintained in parliament, and often in government, by way of a lower barrier towards political parties in elections. I would count that as a more liberal attitude towards government.

Having to choose between just two parties is less freedom than having more choice.

we are more 446 mil people in eu and in the hole of Europa there are 746,4 mil

the anti ghetto law, why move to a country if you dont want to asimelate with the population there, if you just want to live among your own "kind" then why come to another country?

Great video though as a dane who has lived almost 20 years in the US, I do not think that neither Denmark or the US really promotes individual freedom. As you mentioned Denmark may view freedom as more collective, however the so called individual freedom in the US generally has to give in to both corporal and national freedom. In Denmark you have the freedom to have hidden address and avoid adds, phone sells or door to door sales, which you would be hard pressed to be able to avoid in the US. You also have more individual freedom in terms of health and education in Denmark where you have more opportunity if you are not born into wealth. Still that said I have never really felt "free" in neither Denmark or the US, but probably would agree with the Denmark being about a 9.5 out of 10 in freedom and the US a 8 out of 10 in freedom relative to other countries. They are both two of the best places to live in the world, but I have never understood the argument which claims you have more individual freedom in the US, I dont think this is true at all. We have to remember that with more freedom, you may also have the freedom to take the freedom from others, and this is especially done in countries where there is great inequality, such as the US.

Not good to listen to this right before bed time... My brain is like "yeah but there are crazy arguments being aired all over the place in america"... But I don't know the norm of living in America? Like we probably do a lot of crazy things in your eyes... And some of the things I find crazy in Danish culture could be the norm in a lot of different places... So I hope I remember to watch this with a more open mind tomorrow 😅

I think it would be interesting to focus a bit on individual freedoms, and I suspect a finding would be that in Denmark there are plenty which do not exist in the US, and some of the freedoms in the US in reality require that you have economic wealth, that is to say they are freedoms for the rich, but not the poor.

The US : in god we trust. Denmark : in society we trust.

The thing with integration is, our forefathers fought for this country to be as it is, we were taught and raised in their spirit. Americans didn't build something like Denmark, Taiwanese didn't build Denmark, Arabs didn't build Denmark, so we want to make sure that anyone who wants to be here understand what it takes to keep something like this. Another thing about integration is, we were taught in school that to integrate someone or something we need to make space, if i were to integrate a Disney character into my Lego set, I'd need to change both for them to fit

The problems with living amongst your own people comming to Denmark where, that too many didn´t work and got educatet. Most of them where on social support and too many of the young men where getting criminals. The gourvement where trying to get more social balance into those areas and hoped to make them more safe to live in too. And so on.

Ghetto has been legal for over 50 years but has shown to be a huge problem. Imagine huge areas where people functions by their own laws, language, costumes and where they hide the few terrorists and criminals because these areas refuses to live by and obey the danish laws. This does that we have people who have created their own country inside our small country, where it is life-threatening for any danish person to enter, even the police gets attacked. There has been found bombs, drugs, human trafficking, abuse and rape of women and children and nobody could do anything against it. This resulted in saying, ghettos are no longer allowed, if you chose to live in our country, get all the benefits, freedoms and rights do you also have to be a part of our society, you can no longer just say "fuck you" to every law and human rights, therefore will you know be placed out among the danish people and get the danish people as your neighbor and your surroundings.

Jeg troede det var min tinitus, men det viste sig at det var baggrundsstøj/ musak på videoen.

You guys would probably know that the same topics are talked about in Denmark if you actually watched the Danish news and debate programmes. Reading The Local Denmark doesn’t really give a detailed picture of what’s going on in Denmark.

Am i the only one who think mike would look good in a van dyke style beard 🙂 (mustache(handlebar maybe), soulpatch and a pointy goatee)

I'd argue one of the biggest issues coming out of the US, having spread, maybe not by the letter of the law, but in day to day practice all over the world, is the combination of deregulation and companies being identified as a person. This especially since most places, companies are required to strive for profit, yet with companies, there is no morality and zero accountability. Although a company has sunk half the world, the worst that can happen is that it gets dissolved and declared bankrupt, and half an hour later, the individuals behind can do it all over again. If it's as bad in DK, or maybe even worse, I don't know, but it should be outlawed globally. And definitely controlled and enforced a lot stricter to secure both individual and collective rights. Gender, racial and all other rights are of course as important, or more, than they are credited with, but I have a strong hunch this is very much being overlooked, to the detrement of the majority, and only in favor of a very select few.

The way you see freedom is strange.

My whole family is Danish, I speak Danish fluently and know the country well. America is much freer, by a country mile. Anyone who seriously questions this isn't well informed. But sadly, the US is becoming more and more like Denmark every year, with high taxes, big government and a culture of resentment of success.

The problem with the so called ghetto's is not that the people who live there is ethnic. Imagine a whole bunch of americans came and all settled down in the same area. no problem in that, the problem comes when the americans "adobt" the area and treats it as America. There by ignoring danish laws. All the sudden all the americans are going around with guns, because as americans thats a constiutional right or something. Then people are starting "gangs" to be the law of "little America". The gangs start fighting each other for territorie, people get shot. Now the non americans don't feel safe moveing into that area or even just passing thrugh the area. Its not that you are not allowed to be american. You be american all you like. I hope it makes sense :)

The reason why the ghetto law is god is that if groups of people are in the same area and are a collective “not like the mani people of the country” there will be a stronger us. Vs. them. And that can lead to hate and crime. When you put people that are different together, they learn about each other and in the long way it will become easier to accept and respect each other and the difference that there are in the different cultures ❤️

In many ghettos individual freedoms are infringed upon by tight social control within ethnic groups. In th long run it may increase individual freedom.

you can live wherever you want if you buy your own apartment or house

As a Dane, I watch this channel in large part to get a perspective of how others view Danish culture. Without outsiders pointing things out, it can be very easy to bend your worldview into a fairly nationalistic "Everyone thinks we're the best and everything we do is right for everyone". As far as politics go, from the outside the US feels like sure you're allowed to have any political opinion, but only as long as it falls in line with the current official Democrat or Republican doctrine. It is obviously far more nuanced than that and political shifts don't happen in a vacuum or because a party leader decided it. And the Danish way of doing politics does mean that laws don't get instantly repealed once power shifts, unlike what we've seen happen with executive orders from the last couple of US presidents.

Stereotypes are always fun

Danes generally abhor the concept of freedom - it creates anxiety, dissatisfaction and envy. Danes, on the other hand, worship the concept of equality and a BIG STATE that 'lovingly' interacts with every aspect of your life and which knows best how to spend your money.

Denmark by far.

Here is my take on the difference in freedoms in the two countries. I am American. I have a very big fascination with European, especially Nordic culture and history. Where the Nordic countrries, especially Denmark, far outstrip the US in the freedom market is in how prevalant the collective system is in how the healthcare, education and welfare systems are run. Even how prevelant the collective system is in how businesses operate. You are way better than we are when it comes to economic freedom and equality. Where the US excels is in how much more personal freedom we get to express ourselves. However, unfortunately, in the US individual freedom tends to be considered so culturally important that collective freedoms that would truly make Americans equal are either downplayed, ignored, or, in some cases, vilified. I think both countries would benefit if we could figure out how to marry collective and individual freedoms in a balanced manner. Nordic countries could do with opening up immigration laws a bit more and allowing more free cultural exchange. And, the US could do with a major overhaul to the political system and needs to adopt universal healthcare, welfar and education. As well as an overhaul to the economic laws allowing more labor unions to exist and have more power.

You need to have both collective and personal freedom for a society to work. Look at Sweden. We have both. Check those indexes which country has the top spot in the category Personal freedom. Sweden. That's the biggest reason to why Sweden handled the pandemic the way they did. No country has stronger protection for the citizens. The government couldn't order people around. But as we also have the collective the government asked us to do things to minimize things, and we mostly complied.

Judging by some of your comments I’m not sure that ‘FREEEEDOM is a subject that you guys are quite ready to make an intellectual judgement about until you have spent more time living outside of ‘the US-centric bubble’. I would be really interested to see a re-make in 3 years time though.

First! again!

Do you guys really see more diversity in American politics than in Danish politics? How many political parties are represented in Congress? How many of the senators are socialists? How many represent progressive green parties? There's currently 16 (sixteen)! different political parties represented in Folketinget ranging from deeply national conservatives over liberals to social democrats to hardcore socialists and green parties. And then there's special Greenlandic and Faroese parties on top of those. And there's only 179 members of Folketinget in all! I'd call that diverse.

I think that the main differences boils down to the different views in how the cultures perceive the question of nationality. With regards to the newspapers, it is widely assumed by the Danish population that most of the journalists on major outlets have a "Radikale venstre (internationalist center party)" or a far-left bend. So information about events are filtered by that pro-neoliberal view on international politics. Democrats are an international oriented party, while republicans are perceived to be a more protectionist / isolationist party, when it comes to trade policy. So news outlets are very biased in favor of Democrats. It is simply the idea of international cooperation that the outlets prefer. So the media can be very wrong on many occasions, as news can be copied information from outlets like CNN or American journalists on twitter. The national news "Danmarks radio" is usually a little less biased on the reporting on US, but still have some issues. I simply don't know that much about US politics to really have an informed opinion on it. We do all live in news bubbles, so it is often good to view stuff from different parts of the world, whether it's NHK, Al-Jazeera, Russia Today, BBC, etc. to get a better understanding of controversies.

It always depends on what you desire to be free to do and no less importantly what you desire to be free from. I think the greatest freedom they have in the US to set up local communities with their own laws that can restrict the freedom of those living there to obscene extents at all levels - State, county, municipality, HOA etc. Eg. any law enforcement agency can arbitraily confiscate your belongings as civil forfeiture by claiming they are the results of criminal activities and then you have to sue them to get it back - good luck finding someone who will help you get it back if the police took all your money - its a civil matter, so no right to have an attorney provided for free. Usually the funds resulting from this then goes to finance the police department or other local public spendings leading to a lot of corruption. In Denmark property can only be confiscated as resulting from criminal activities by a court order. And many of the freedoms given by the US constitution only count vs the state while private persons and companies are much less restricted.