The less happy among us

Except for the free newspaper MX Metroxpress, Politiken is Denmark’s largest-circulation daily (DK). In the past, it was associated with the Social Liberal Party. Now it is formally independent, but it still has a left-leaning political stance and its readership is decidedly sympathetic to socialistic currents in the country and the welfare state in general. One expression of this approach is a tendency to see victims everywhere, that is, to identify people as neglected or slighted and to showcase their plights. Of course the media have responsibility to identify injustice, analyze its origins and workings, and place the blame where it belongs. But Politiken’s treatment seems excessive.

I’m hardly the first to notice this phenomenon, but surveying some examples offers a curious angle on the ramifications of the “welfare society” that produces the highest relative happiness rankings in the world. Few of the opinions represent the newspaper’s own explicit editorial positions. Some reflect the journalist’s or commentator’s views, some belong to the subject of the pieces, and some are from letters to the editor. But they all reflect the kind of topic the paper wants to draw attention to (the paper has an English-language extract).

Disasters natural and man-made

So who are victims? I’m not referring to the obvious, indisputable cases covered by all newspapers: hurricane victims, earthquake victims, the persecuted Rohingya. Migrants who drown in the Mediterranean. Yemenis suffering from hunger, cholera and war. Sri Lankan children kidnapped and sold for adoption. Random shooting victims and residents of Copenhagen neighborhoods with gang wars. These people may be portrayed with more or less pathos and indignation, but they are not the type that Politiken specializes in. Here is a random sample from the past couple of weeks.

Students who feel compelled to take Ritalin and beta blockers because of pressure to perform. Families with more than three children, who because of an administration proposal would see their “child-check” reduced. One hundred and ten Siemens employees in Jutland who were laid off because jobs were moved to France and Germany. Train passengers who are delayed more than an hour and don’t get the free meal they’re entitled to according to an EU directive. Divorced men who miss out on those same “child-checks” because their children have their official address with their mother.

Jobless, pedestrians, girls, the EU

Children who are bullied at school, despite the decline from 25 percent to 10 percent over the past 20 years. Local citizens who must pay for the cleanup of a nature preserve polluted by the military. Young girls who don’t read a book everyday (41 percent instead of 32 percent seven years ago) because peer pressure makes them chat on social media instead. Quota refugees whose reception the Danish administration has postponed until 2018. The unemployed who are denied permanent disability benefits and forced to undergo job training because of a stricter policy. The mentally ill and handicapped who were not approved for aid by their municipalities and won on appeal.

Children seduced into becoming compulsive gamblers by computer games. Pedestrians on a new bridge over Copenhagen Harbor who are endangered by cyclists. The EU, which is being cheated out of EUR 5 billion in taxes by the likes of Google and Facebook. Civil servants who get emails from work on Sunday. People swindled into sending money for purchases of iPhones on Facebook. Senior citizens who want to supplement their low income with home equity loans and are rejected because their income is too low. Young women who have to live with emasculated men.

Smokers, politicians, nurses, trippers

Smokers on welfare who do not get a bonus for quitting smoking as other citizens do. Hospital employees who are overworked and hospital patients who are under-served because of a reduction of funding. An adoptee from India who is perceived as non-Danish. Children born to older mothers who have an elevated risk of ADHD. Politicians whose budget proposals are heavily criticized in the media. University students who can’t find an apartment or room to rent. Children whose parents won’t let them be vaccinated. The world, which will experience more hurricanes because of global warming.

Denmark, which will get a politically unqualified US ambassador. Alcoholics, who can’t get good treatment because Danish culture encourages overdrinking. The unemployed, who are subject to a longer qualifying period for benefits. Students who are abroad for more than one year and according to a legislative proposal would lose their stipend. The elderly, who do not receive adequate care in nursing homes. Babies who suffer from understaffing at day-care centers. Everyone who does not have access to psychedelics, which according to the chair of the Psychedelic Society should be a human right.

Universal basic well-being

I’m not saying that many of these things aren’t legitimate grievances. Only noting that there seems to be an endless supply and asking, in the welfare society, where do these purported human rights end? The Danish concept of “millimeter democracy” refers to a contest in which if one person gets favorable treatment, another person feels entitled to the equivalent, and the next in turn, ad infinitum, or at least until you have accumulated the world’s largest public sector. If it confers great happiness, why does it also produce so much resentment? What used to be known as the right to the pursuit of happiness often comes to be viewed as a right to every comfort and convenience, if not happiness itself. Why not just break out the soma?