...
Thoughts from a newcomer: Now tell the truth! | BT Debate - www.bt.dk On a recently sunny day in the center of Aalborg, I fell into conversation with a couple who were just older than me. A boomer pair, if you will. All in all, it was an incredibly enjoyable experience, but in the end, the man comes up with a bad, unnecessary, and offensive joke. Something with the difference between men and women is that ladies never keep their mouths shut and take their men's free will from them as soon as they get a ring on their finger. In other words, there was full plate in boomer bingo. And I caught myself breaking out in a fake laugh that could have gotten me an Oscar nomination. I laughed. The gravel. I clapped my hand in the air and said something along the lines of 'no, now you're in a light and frivolous tone. In fact, I wanted to look at him with a stiff, tired and uninspired look and explain to him a thing or 15 about feminism and the danger of keeping such stereotypical gender roles alive. But I did not care. I could not. I simply did not dare. Just a few days before, I had talked to actress Sidsel Siem Koch. She is currently in the horror film ‘Speak No Evil’, where she plays one half of a Danish married couple who suffer a tragic fate because they smile and laugh through situations that become increasingly abnormally unpleasant. During the filming, one thing had dawned on her. She did it herself on a daily basis. And I just have to state that I'm not a shit better myself. Since I became aware of the ‘Speak No Evil’ effect, I have found that not a single day goes by that I answer at least once something completely different and far more easily digestible than I feel. It's a tough discovery to make, because it completely turns upside down the narrative one has created about oneself. That one is a bad bitch. Defender of truth. One of those people who says something as annoying as 'I'm one of those people who dares to say it out loud as everyone thinks' but actually does not. But why do we do it? what is it that lies on the other side of polite smiles and harmless answers that is so frightening that we dare not go into it at all? Why is the good mood our holy grail, our religion? It's a real risk that it's just because I'm incredibly bad at my job, but when I tried to ask Google in two different languages and 18 different ways, it did not answer either. Maybe it's just the good old flock mentality. Our Stone Age brain that tells us that we will be chilled out of the tribe and thrown alone into the woods to be devoured by angry wild boars if we put ourselves in opposition to the majority position. But we have to try to get better. How else to learn to be a better person? Now I have sent the really sweet man with the very bad joke further out into the world in the belief that his joke is a real thigh slap and a mood spreader of another world. And neither he nor I can use it for much. Now tell the truth to each other! Say it with love, but not least with the necessary amount of honesty. Rebecca Haugaard Christensen Rebecca Haugaard Christensen is a journalist at B.T. Aalborg. She graduated from the Danish School of Media and Journalism in 2021. She is originally from Aarhus and now lives in Aalborg. ABROAD Save 40% ABROAD B.T.s judgment sport Exclusive interview WEEKENDAVISEN Drama Naomi Judd B.T.s royal correspondent: Berlingske Media A / S Pilestræde 34 DK-1147 Copenhagen KTlf. +45 33 75 75 33 CVR.no .: 29 20 73 13