A filmmaker and a crooked lawyer shattered Denmark's self-image

Filmmaker’s Track Record and Credibility

• Commenters note the director’s history of provocative undercover documentaries (North Korea, Dag Hammarskjöld, alleged apartheid-era HIV plots).
• Some praise these works as essential exposés implicating Western and African actors in serious crimes.
• Others are strongly skeptical, citing reporting that key witnesses’ stories “evolved” under questioning and that claims about deliberate AIDS spread rest on shaky evidence.
• This leads to a broader question: is the director uncovering hidden truths, or stretching limited evidence into grand conspiracies?

Denmark, Scandinavia, and Self-Image

• Several Danes and other Nordics argue the article overstates how “religious” ordinary people are about the welfare state and system; many are more “carefree” than devoutly trusting.
• Others insist Scandinavians cultivate a self-flattering myth of exceptional honesty, ignoring everyday corruption and tax cheating.
• Examples include: small-scale “under the table” work, creative use of companies for private benefit, and a notorious Danish ex–prime minister’s financial scandals.
• Some say similar denial exists in Sweden, where privatization, lobbying, and organized crime have produced what they see as growing corruption behind a façade of purity.

Tax Evasion, Avoidance, and Loopholes

• Long subthread on the difference between tax minimization, avoidance, and evasion.
• Denmark/Sweden described as high-tax systems that aggressively constrain corporate perks and loopholes, but still see:
  • Cash work, underreported restaurant revenue, company cars used privately, “sort arbejde” (untaxed jobs).
  • Legal tax-favored schemes in Sweden (interest deductions, special investment accounts) that heavily benefit the middle and upper-middle class.
• Debate over whether exploiting legal loopholes is morally equivalent to illegal evasion.

Corruption Perceptions and Reality

• Multiple commenters doubt that Denmark’s top ranking on the Corruption Perceptions Index reflects reality; they see it as self- and externally-reinforcing “perception.”
• Some immigrants from Southern Europe say corruption in Scandinavia feels as pervasive as at home, just more normalized or disguised.
• Broader comparisons:
  • In the “third world,” corruption is direct bribes;
  • In the West, it often appears as legal collusion—revolving doors, NGOs siphoning funds, consultancy sinecures, program design captured by insiders.
• A Canadian example is given where allegedly “green” or development programs channel money to politically connected firms with minimal consequences.

Human Nature, Culture, and Corruption

• Extensive philosophical side debate:
  • One view: “people are the same everywhere” and will game any metric or system when incentives allow.
  • Others emphasize cultural, economic, and genetic differences in average behavior, while acknowledging individuals vary widely.
  • Several note how norms and incentives (e.g., enforcement, social expectations) strongly shape whether corruption is visible or suppressed.

Documentary Ethics and Manipulation

• Some highlight that all documentaries are constructed: editing, music, framing, and question selection can radically change meaning.
• The Black Swan is praised as powerful, but commenters stress viewers should remember they are seeing a curated narrative, not raw reality.
• The lawyer at the center reportedly claims she was misled about the project’s scope and not properly protected; the broadcaster disputes this.
• This feeds a more general caution: journalists and filmmakers have agendas and are not automatically more trustworthy than other institutions.

Impact on Danish Society

• One side says Black Swan was a “big deal” but didn’t fundamentally shock Danes who already knew there was some corruption; the novelty is scale and brazenness, especially around environmental crimes.
• Another argues the series has punctured a long-standing taboo against questioning the moral superiority of the Scandinavian model, especially around high taxation and trust in elites.
• Some insist the documentary mainly exposed sleazy private-sector behavior, with state investigators already on the case—evidence, in their view, that the system ultimately works rather than being fundamentally broken.