Miss. Andersen is belonging to the Danish upper class and has in Denmark special rights regarding Danish laws. Recently we saw a high profile rape-case where a student from one of our two elite schools was on trail. He was acquitted as it is custom. Could it have been the case outside Denmark? In order to find this question we have to look at the events during the flight and later in Miami.
Currently there are two theories of how the incident went to bad as it did:
1) The Dutch's flight attendant was angry of Danes because Denmark as a country has aided the Unites Nation in clearing up what exactly did occur when 7000 people were shot under Dutch protection during the Balkan wars. It was pretty clear that the amount of dead would not have been so huge if the Dutch soldiers had not help with the selection of men and woman.
2) The Dutch's flight attendant was seeking a hero status hiding behind your hero's from 9/11. Reviews from customers which have used the company have shown arrogant and rude people among their personnel. Today it takes just one bitter man to put you in jail if he has a job as a flight attendant.
Did she hurt someone?
Accounts made by co-passengers on the flight and the woman herself have shown that she indeed did push a flight attendant away because he tried to adjust her seat during the flight when she was asleep. She woke by the adjustment with his face just a few centimetres away from her. It took her by surprise and she pushed him away making him angry. But how angry she did not know at the time a she went to sleep a minute later. Her girlfriend next to her did not wake during this incident.
So she agreed to a kind of violent behaviour even if it is a kind of reflex.
It would not be regarded as violence in Denmark because of her status. As a reference we could use a trial 10 years ago where another student from an elite school was acquitted of stabbing a guard with a knife.
Did she resist the police?
She was still sleeping as the plane landed as she woke by the police grapping her and pulling her up to her feet's. She was confused and still sleepy. She was not able to understand what the officers said and did in that way refuse the arrest.
So the police were right. She did not respond immediately to their orders so she had to be arrested.
But also in this case the Danish police would have tried to talk to the woman and calm her down. It is only with low class people like former boxers and people which went to soccer matches they hit first and without warning. Foreigners watching soccer games in Denmark are often surprised when some unknown guy who has been seeking for a fight all day suddenly appears to be a cop. But that is OK, because we have not asked them to visit us.
Cultural differences or?
It seems pretty clear that the Danish traditions where people are judged not only for their own work or life but also by their parent’s life are not widespread in other countries. These countries are simply not developed to our standards.
So beware if you think about a career outside Denmark. Your reputation does not travel with you. You are a like blank sheet and should bow a lick peoples shoes every time there is a problem. If you can live with that then you are mentally ready to travel in the outside world.
Ordered to harsh treatment without being diagnosed
In July Miss. Andersen was ordered to undergo "Anger Management" therapy. In Denmark this is regarded as a harsh treatment, especially taken into fact that she was never diagnosed with a sickness. No one would order a person to put a bandage on a leg that is not broken. Therefore it would have been appropriate to order Miss. Andersen to an examination and obtain a diagnose for an specific illness before ordering a treatment.
Mads Timm is a young foot-ball player which played for Manchester United. About January 2004 he drove home from training. A team-mates also decided drive home at the same time and became involved in an accident where a disrespectful woman maneuvered her car so that the team-mate hit her car.
Because Mr. Timm was a foreigner in the same town where the accident occurred he of cause was the first to blame. By a act of unjust he was convicted to serve 12 months at a young offenders' institute. In May 2006 he returned to civilization and started to play for a Danish football club, where he is quiet successful.
The Danish population regards this event as a typically sick act of xenophobia against Danish citizens.
Prison term gives chastened Timm a new perspective, The Guardian
As his ship was boarded by the U.S.Coast Guard the Danish Captain Villy Larsen wanted the inspection done by the book. The staff from the Coast Guard did not want to follow the regulations, but the price of following safety measures did cost him months stays in prison.
Safety at see - not to be followed!!
| Villy Larsen: I regret my behaviour, Shipping Gazette |
| Søfartens Lederes ”LOGBOG” over sagen ”Danica White”, Søfartens Ledere |
| Dansk kaptajn løslades i USA, TV2 nyhederne |
Sometime you are tourist and doing totally normal things like driving a car or using a slow boat, it pays to check whether the vehicle is insured. Because third world countries are filled with people (Gold diggers believing that Westerners have a lot of money), who will fake a accident by throwing them under in front of you, which could very much be the case in a case where a 15 year old boy - Kristian Hesseldahl in what most people would call a mock trial was sentenced to be guilt in a boat crash.
He had rented a water scooter - a type of slow boat any 10 year old boy can be taught to use in 15 minutes. But the firm he rented the scooter by was not insured and then he came in trouble when a man by reasons not known decided to crash into his boat killing himself.
The embassy could have contributed to smuggle him out like the Americans would have done, but they were kind of inefficient during the entire case properly based on the fact that many Danish firms have investments in the area.
The poor family was targeted by a real extortion plot and had to borrow about DKK 500,000 in order to leave this area calling themselves a country.
| 15-årige Kristian fange i Thailand, BT |
| Låner 500.000 kr: Nu kan Kristian komme hjem, BT |
| Nu kommer Kristian hjem til Danmark, BT |
| Kristian: Jeg føler ingen skyld, BT |
| Husk ansvarsforsikring når du kører på vandscooter, Forsikringsoplysningen |
| Stranded Danish Family Free To Leave Thailand, a thread on Thailand Visa forum |
A Danish driver - Marcus Christian Lellan - got 8 years in prison for an ordinary traffic accident involving speeding which is quiet normal in Denmark. He was chased by member of one of the widespread Hispanic gang members, when he lost control of his car, but the police and the prosecution had some interest in making a case to warn young drivers and did not investigate that claim. However, he decided to plead guilt because the lawyers made him believe that he would get off with probation only.
Denmark has after introduction of harsher sentences one of the toughest legislation in Europe, but not even the new laws would have made him end up in jail for 8 years. A car accident involving 4 deaths and drunken driving in the wrong lane on a highway resulted in only 2.5 years and 10 years without drivers license - after Denmark have introduced extremely harsh sentences for such incidents!
It is more than double the sentence that he would have become in Denmark, which must be considered a fine example of xenophobia.
Transportation cost lives. An old saying is that you can not make eggs without breaking the shell. It is just sad that a society, which regards themselves as civilized can not realize that.
| "Streng straf til dansk bilist", danske nyheder, June 22, 2000 |
| Teen Driver Will Plead No Contest, LA Times, April 11 2000 |
| Danske Marcus idømt otte år, BT, June 23 2000 |
| Danske Marcus kørte fire ihjel, BT, April 13 2000 |
| A MOTHER'S WAKING NIGHTMARE HEARTBROKEN GITTE LELLAN COPES WITH THE AFTERMATH OF FATAL COLLISION, Free Library |
| JUDGE REJECTS LELLAN CLAIM DRIVER IN FATAL CRASH SAYS PLEA COERCED, Free Library |
The story was published in Denmark and sparked outrage due to the clearly improper proceedings. Properly angered by the international crisis, the authorities later attacked the mother - Gitte Lellan. Her son was deported to Denmark in 2004 where he was treated a victim of this unjust justice system. Maybe it is likely for him to make a living some day if he recover from his ordeal. RTC is known for having good results. Until that the Danish welfare system will gladly pay for the result of simple bullying in a foreign system.
| Realtor to Stay Jailed Until Trial |
| Lellan Mom Indicted, Santa Clarita Radio |
The local population still hells a memorial over their act of xenophobia to a warning to foreigners of a harsh sentence if they want to drive like the local population.
| Healing with the Help of Angels, Inside SCV |
Anette Sorensen was arrested in New York on claim of child endangering because she followed the advice of the Danish Health Department, which mandate that children under 1 year have to sleep outside during the day in order to get fresh air.
Some may argue that New York have no fresh air at all, but what can a Danish tourist know about that. She acted in the interest of the health of her child and that got her arrested.
Of course she decided to sue the city of New York for a false arrest but due to unknown juridical technicalities she lost the trial, but received a total of $66,401 in compensatory and punitive damages for events after her arrest, including what the jury called the police's ''widespread practice'' of failing to advise foreigners who are arrested in New York of their right to assistance from their consulate. Her lawyer stated afterwards: ''It may have been a cultural question,'' he said, adding, ''A little xenophobia was at play here.''
Link til blog-entry about this case
References:
Danish Mother's Claim of False Arrest Is Rejected, New York Times, December 15, 1999
According to an article the famous newspaper Jyllandsposten the local industry in the Spanish town Lloret de Mar are not to happy about having Danish tourist. They are not confined to their room only leaving it for attending church like they are expected to. They go into the town and while placing their money benefiting the local industry, they also enjoy life, drinks and eat.
But is spending money not a good thing for the local industry? Apparently not!
Not only do they want people to visit them. They also want them to be bored and keep away from public streets.
But it is not going to happening. There are plenty of other places to visit instead. Young Danes are during these years helping to rebuilt Bulgaria after 50 years of communist rule have left the country destroyed.
Lets send a clear message to this totalitarian regime: If you don't like how we are behaving, then say it and we will stop posting money in your local businesses.
| Træt af fulde danskere, Jyllandsposten, July 17 2008 |