Denmark's O.J. Simpson

Apologies to those of you who do not read Danish (yes, it's also a language). And a recommendation to take some classes as soon as possible.

Politiken, the Danish newspaper I read on a daily basis, has a list of yesterday's and this week's most read of its articles. I have been following it for years now, as I sense knowing what the readers prefer is like having a finger on the pulse of Copenhagen (which for me is the most important part of Denmark by far, politically, culturally, scientifically, aesthetically, historically, socially, spiritually, ironically, relatively, and absolutely).

Anyhow, today the lists show an interesting trend. The first eight, the tenth, eleventh, fourteenth, and the fifteenth of the most read articles yesterday, and the first seven, the ninth, eleventh, twelfth, thirteenth, and fourteenth of the most read articles in the last week are related to Stein Bagger. Stein Bagger is a business man who has, allegedly, cheated his business partners, and possibly broken the law. He has also run away from all of them and his wife, and has now given himself up to the police in Los Angeles. I have no interest in any of these matters myself whatsoever, and what I know I know from reading the headlines and nothing more.

However, I find it overwhelmingly interesting that this episode can generate so much interest with the populace, and expecting a legal resolution, I am at this point prone to naming Stein Bagger the O.J. Simpson of Copenhagen (see above). The fact that twelve out of the fifteen most read articles are about Stein Bagger et al. suggest that people are shutting themselves off from other news, ignoring all the things that really matters, just like the Americans did during the O.J. Simpson trial.

It's depressing. But then again, the real news take the cake on that measure these days.