The results from today's Norwegian elections are more or less clear: with some 26.8% of the vote, the Conservative party (Høyre) is poised to head Norway's next coalition government.This, according to Alf, is an ‘unsettling rightward turn’.
The events that left 77 people dead, prompted public debate to focus on a deeply troubling question: what was it about Norwegian society that had made 22/7 possible?
Norwegian society had to confront deep-seated xenophobic attitudes and embrace the fact that cultural and ethnic diversity had come to stay.And it seemed to be working as Alf preferred; the electoral support for them dropped off in the wake of the Breivik massacre. But now, it’s rising. Leaving Alf with some uncomfortable truths to try and explain away.
He gives it his best shot:
A very likely reason is the fact that Norway has failed to take the lessons of the attacks that befell us that dreadful day to heart. Breivik's actions and ideology were quickly pathologised and turned into an aberration…You mean, just like all those 'aberrations' emanating from the Religion of Peace, Alf? Say, just why is it that this shouldn't also be 'an aberration'?
An aberration, of course, is not something that weighs down on a nation's collective conscience. Norwegian society could move along, safely ensconced in its affluent comfort zone. And this should be a matter of great concern for those of us who were hoping for a more tolerant society to emerge from the trauma of 22/7.Clearly, Norway isn't flagellating itself over this to Alf's satisfaction...
It is equally disconcerting that victory has been claimed by a conservative political party that advocates tax cuts, privatisation, deregulation, and a substantial reduction of public spending on welfare. This agenda is of course familiar in these austerity-ridden times, but the paradox is this: there is no crisis to warrant such policies.The voters clearly think differently.
In other words, the 2013 elections have thrown up a marriage of neoliberal conservatism and rightwing populism that threatens to entrench that which we need to rid ourselves of and erode that which we should struggle to keep.The voters will decide what they want to keep. Seems they don't share your views. They must be wrong, eh, Alf? It couldn't be you, could it?
Silly hair? Check
ReplyDeleteSilly beard? Check
Deluded attitude towards mass immigration? Check
An ideal leftie Guardian writer who can't abide popular opinion as usual.
Alf come and have a walk around Bradford,Brixton,Tower Hamlets etc etc and see what the future of Norway holds.
Jaded
""political party that advocates tax cuts, privatisation, deregulation, and a substantial reduction of public spending on welfare""
ReplyDeleteAhh. That must be nice...
"For example, there is still inequality and poverty amid plenty, and immigrants and minority communities suffer its consequences disproportionally."
ReplyDeleteThey don't suffer. They choose western poverty over the enlightened prosperity of their native lands.
It is always thus. Immigrant communities are brought in to do the dirty and the dangerous. They are also very plyable and wonderfully cheap !
ReplyDeleteThen said immigrant communities get being hacked off of being the but of jokes and abuse from the natives. They develop a siege mentality and a chip on their shoulders - not always undeserved.
The problem comes when you start to throw in the mix of religion and socialism and the latters need for a plyable angry but directionless 'community'. Hey presto ! You have the making of a revolution.
Socialism panders to the base emotions and needs of humanity purely to help further its own ends. It does not really care who or what it gets into bed with, just providing it is useful.
Norway may have just woke up. It is sad that it may have taken a tragedy to have made them do it.
XX Alf come and have a walk around Bradford,Brixton,Tower Hamlets etc etc and see what the future of Norway holds.
ReplyDeleteJaded XX
Jaded, you don't get it do you?
THAT is EXACTLY what this bastard and his ilk WANT!!!
I am going to leave my Putzfrau a 10 Euro tip. She makes my room nice and tidy, and is, no doubt, paid far less than Alf Gunvald Nilsen.
ReplyDeleteIf they dropped the Big One tomorrow, in the immediacy of the crisis, we wouldn't need a Putzfrau right away. Later, though, someone would have to clear away the mess, as they did in the city where I write this.
It is hard to imagine where a sociologist would fit into an emergency - any sort of emergency one can conjure up.
Like gout, widespread late onset diabetes or a pimple, sociologists are a phenomenon of a fat society.
Unless you're a dictator, how else can you state "These people disagree with me, therefore they are wrong and deluded"?
Some poor Putzfrau cleans toilets to put food on the table of self-obsessed, mewling parasites like this.
Why doesn't he bang on about that, I wonder?
The European elections next May could be interesting...
ReplyDeleteOslo is now the rape capital of Scandinavia. And it's not thanks to native Norwegians.
ReplyDeleteWellll. Stockholm say they are. But the "discussion" between Norway and Sweden, about who can beat who, is THOUSANDS of years old. :-)
ReplyDeleteLike gout, widespread late onset diabetes or a pimple, sociologists are a phenomenon of a fat society.
ReplyDeleteDepressingly, just one of the occupations on a VERY long list of folk we could do without.
"An ideal leftie Guardian writer who can't abide popular opinion as usual."
ReplyDeleteWhere do they find 'em? ;)
"Ahh. That must be nice..."
Even nicer, if they didn't just 'advocate', but actually did it!
"THAT is EXACTLY what this bastard and his ilk WANT!!!"
Spot on!
"Oslo is now the rape capital of Scandinavia. And it's not thanks to native Norwegians."
:/