Why should Holger be fucked, and who is Thorborg?

The reactions to my video have been far stronger than I imagined. I want to explain why I wrote "Fuck Holger" and why, as an entrepreneur in the US, I still worry about Denmark. It’s about what attracts our attention and my frustration with the country’s direction in March 2011.

An entrepreneur in the US, and still concerned about Denmark

I got up just after seven, read about another extra tax on entrepreneurship and also saw how much space the Holger stories were taking in the newspapers. He’d been found several days earlier but still occupied many of the most-read story slots. After my run, I recorded a little video about it.

I hadn’t expected it to go so crazy. Suddenly, the story was in BT and elsewhere, and when I last checked there were 360 comments on YouTube. That’s more than my roughly 250 other posts have received combined. It gives you a strange feeling in your stomach when something goes so far beyond what you’d imagined.

Most people are kind and friendly. I’m really grateful for all the great comments and encouragement, so thank you very much. It’s not the few angry comments making me feel that way either. It’s more the feeling of things suddenly being beyond your control. But I’d like to answer some of the questions and objections that have come in.

I moved to Florida because of the weather

One question goes: Why the hell do you live in the US, and what business is it of yours what happens in Denmark?

I live in Delray Beach, Florida, with my wife and our two children. I’ve lived here for three years, primarily because of the weather. I simply enjoy it. As an IT entrepreneur, I’ve been able to move somewhere else and still run my businesses.

It’s not because I’ve moved a fortune over here or have a secret account in the Bahamas. That sort of thing doesn’t interest me much. My companies are Danish, and that’s where they pay tax.

I work with SPAMfighter, which I own with some good friends and where we make spam-filter tools. And I work with Amino, where I do things such as tidying up posts, encouraging people to talk and trying to create a place where entrepreneurs enjoy themselves and help each other improve. In my view, Denmark needs that enormously.

At this point, I don’t know when I’ll return home. Perhaps as soon as June; perhaps in a year. My wife is a Danish police officer and wants to return to work. Among other things, it depends on whether we can get more leave.

But my interest in Denmark doesn’t just depend on when the removal van leaves. I was born and raised in Denmark, and I’m very fond of the country. I love the beech woods and the people who live there. I love practically everything except the weather. Of course I worry about Denmark. I love the country, and I’ll be returning myself.

"Fuck Holger" was wordplay, not a wish for a child to be harmed

I thought it was funny to play on "Find Holger". "Fuck Holger" sounded provocative, and I thought it could attract attention. I shouldn’t pretend I wasn’t aware of that.

But I have nothing against children. I have a four-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter myself. If the slightest thing happened to them, I’d react strongly. The video was made after Holger had been found. So the point wasn’t that I didn’t care whether he came to harm in the woods.

What upset me was the continuing attention to tiny details several days later. Details about his jacket and everything else don’t interest me much. I think we should be able to take a deep breath and distinguish concern for a missing child from the stream of stories afterwards, once he’s thankfully been found.

I want more attention on the big problems

Why do we spend so much energy on Knut the polar bear, the winner of X Factor and what little Holger is having for dinner several days after being found? At that point, we’re at war in Libya, Japan is in a serious nuclear crisis, and I’m worried about where Denmark is heading.

My assessment is harsh: I think Denmark is going to hell. That’s my concern here in March 2011. I’m not claiming to be particularly clever myself or have all the answers. But I know and network with many capable people who express the same concern. When I look at hospitals, schools and our welfare system, I worry about the future.

Who should we blame? I don’t know, and it isn’t what interests me most. I just struggle to see a solution at Christiansborg. Neither among those governing the country nor those wanting to take power.

It frustrates me. It doesn’t depress me. I’m an entrepreneur and an optimist, and I want to see things grow and improve. So it frustrates me when I feel we’re directing attention to something entirely different from the problems I think we should take seriously.

I want to run businesses and create something

Then comes the next question: Martin, why don’t you do something about it yourself?

I’m not a politician. I think I’m good at sitting and talking into a video, but a trained politician could outmanoeuvre me instantly. I can’t back every single statement with facts, and I have neither time nor desire to sit all day with an encyclopaedia training to argue with professional politicians.

What I find interesting is running a business. Getting things to grow and flourish. Hiring people, inspiring and motivating them and creating value for others. And making money. I tell my own entrepreneurial story in Iværksætter til jeg dør.

Yes, I like making money, and I like spending it. At this point, I drive an Audi S4 convertible. It cost me 110,000 Danish kroner in the US and has 340 horsepower. You’re welcome to accuse me of thinking about money too, because I do. I don’t hide it.

That’s the background to the video and my motivation. If you have more questions, you’re welcome to write to me or leave a comment on my blog or YouTube.