Norway’s cultural elite loved Obama – until he actually did something terrific.
In today’s Aftenposten, Norway’s #1 communications consultant, Kjell Terje Ringdal, who founded the country’s first PR firm and runs the Washington Seminars (which takes Norwegian politicians to Washington and teaches them about “politics and PR”), offers up a “rhetorical analysis” of Obama’s speech about killing bin Laden. The speech, Ringdal says, was “a hymn to revenge,” a “cowboy action,” a rationalization of state terror. By announcing that the U.S. had Osama’s remains, Obama sought “to humiliate”; it was “a kind of Indian reference – a moral scalp.” (In other words, Obama taking Osama’s corpse was like cowboys scalping Indians.) When Obama referred to the 9/11 victims and families, it was to justify the killing – for only by citing the suffering of mothers and children could he hope to make such an atrocity seem acceptable. The speech’s closing flourish – in which Obama said that “we can do these things not just because of wealth and power, but because of who we are: one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all” – “sums up the entire psychology and politics of Americans.” Ringdal does not mean this as a compliment.
One plus: though Obama, says Ringdal, has proven to be, like Bush (and like all Americans), at heart a “cowboy,” his rhetoric is at least more “elegant,” more – yes, yes, wait for it – “European.”
Meanwhile, Dagbladet reports that after Osama’s death Norwegian novelist Elin Brodin tweeted: “R.I.P. Osama bin Laden. No matter what one may otherwise think of him. Achtung: I will not tolerate any crude and flippant chitchat here.” In an interview with the newspaper, Brodin expanded on her tweet: bin Laden was “brave,” an “idealist” who “put his life in danger for what he believed in.” He was David, she said, taking on Goliath: “We don’t listen to those who don’t think the ‘right’ way; it must be very frustrating for them. We must learn to see things from other people’s perspectives even if we don’t agree.”
David taking on Goliath: what a brilliantly original analogy! Boy, those novels of hers must be dazzling.
It’s Norway. A pack of weaklings that collaborated with the Nazi’s.
What more need be said?
The Vikings are rolling in their graves
We’ll keep this in mind when Norway is being threatened with Sharia because of their tolerance of islam.
Quislings
Norways gift to the world.
I love cowboys!
And Nobel Prizes mean what, exactly?
In 2009, the Norwegian legislature gave President Obama the Nobel Peace Prize because, according to them, “Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play. Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts.”
Yeah, right. That was some dialogue those Navy Seals had with Bin Laden and as I write this NATO is using a lot of ordnance in its negotiations with Khaddafi.
I rather hope that their disdain for Obama’s execution of Bin Laden inspires the Norwegians take back the Nobel Prize they gave to Obama. It would restore some credibility to the Nobel Peace Prize and the committee that awarded it to Obama for, essentially, just giving a couple of nice speeches but not actually accomplishing ANYTHING.
Obama did not deserve the Nobel Prize. From his remarks, I think even Obama realized that! Unfortunately, he didn’t have the moral sensibility to decline the undeserved prize. This would be a great opportunity to redress the mistake of having given Obama the prize in the first place.
As for the opinions of two Norwegian “intellectuals”, I have the same contempt for them as expressed by the other commenters.
“In other words, Obama taking Osama’s corpse was like cowboys scalping Indians.”
Someone needs to tell the genius Scandi that it was usually the other way around.
And, yes, I’m aware of the story passed around the intelligentsia claiming the British started the practice of scalping. It’s an utter lie; there were scalpings going on often enough to show up in the archaeological record hundreds of years before Columbus made his way to the Americas, let alone the British.
Wasn’t it some of our own terribly clever people who likewise called the 9/11 hijackers courageous and the attack itself a brilliant piece of performance art?
I don’t want to sound anti-intellectual – not in a Hitlerian sense – but would somebody remind me why we keep these people around, let them breathe our oxygen, and most of all, say anything? What value do they add to anyone’s lives?
Really, who cares what these foppish europeans think? Was it legal? Only a weakling, dependant European could formulate such a question. Look what is going on in your own country, Norway. Honor killings, rapes, intimidation and no-go areas. The writing is on the wall, but probably too scary for you to contemplate.
Wow. I would find this troubling if Norway was not a insignificant country whose citizens opinions on anything mean less than nothing at all.
Norway is in advanced stages of dhimmification..
http://gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/2011/03/its-hard-to-be-norwegian-in-groruddalen.html
“There are kindergartens where almost no children or parents speak Norwegian, and there are schools where children are threatened with beatings if they bring salami with them for their school lunch.
“Girls are bullied for being blond, and they colour their hair dark to avoid it and fit in. It is especially not okay to be gay at the school, nor atheist, and especially not Jewish.
“Over the last three years it has been particularly frightening to watch and hear about everything that happens,” says Åserud.
Miserable quislings. They deserve the Islamic slavery that is in store for them.
Yes, novelist Elin Broden comparing Osama vs. the US to David vs. Goliath is a good one,given Osama’s attitude towards the Joos.
Another gem from Elin Broden:
“We don’t listen to those who don’t think the ‘right’ way; it must be very frustrating for them. We must learn to see things from other people’s perspectives even if we don’t agree.”
Would she ever learn to see things from the American cowboy perspective? Don’t think so.
I’m not sure what you’re upset about. Let Norway be Norway; let the EU be the EU. Nothing can change EUropeans. It’s who and what they are. Their modern culture, their modern state, their modern political class would make the editors, writers, and KGB advisors at Krokdil belly laugh (on orders from the top, of course) with joy. The USSR won; the EU has become them: hate-filled, anti-Semitic, anti-American.
It’s not all bad over there. The Brits run a pretty good operation. And several years ago, Hugo Chavez was mouthing off about how his “brothers and sisters” in Curacao and Aruba would be better off with their “family” in Venezuela (of course, the Dutch citizens living there want nothing to do with Chavez’s socialist paradise).
The commander of the Dutch navy was quoted as saying his sailors would take care of business if Chavez wanted to play, or something like that. End of discussion; Chavez shut up.
Nice.
The weird thing is that while he’s something of a dweeb, and a bit incompetent, he’s *our* incompetent dweeb, and I frankly am pretty insulted by some Norwegian idiot spouting this sort of tripe. For once Obama got something right, and frankly took a political risk in doing so. Can anyone imagine what the backlash would have been like if Osama hadn’t been there, and one of the SEALs wound up wounded in a Pakistani hospital? Supposedly there was considerable opinion among White House advisors that a drone strike would have been a good option, but apparently Obama insisted on people on the ground doing the work, and the result is a dead Osama at the bottom of the Arabian Sea. Norwegian novelists no one reads aren’t that worthy of attention, anyway.
The other reason for the boots-on-ground strike was the intelligence haul that we got. All indications are that it was quite significant.
Bruce: What percent of Norwegians believe this sort of evil garbage?
Elin Brodin?
Looks like someone who ain’t getting the good stuff, if you know what I mean.
I am 1/4 Apache. I would have LITERALLY scalped bin Laden and worn his scalp on my belt. Uh-uh! No calling this barbaric. We have to honor the noble Red-man’s traditions, too. No calling it cowboy, because it is “Indian”, not cowboy.
If I’d caught him alive, I would have staked him out on an anthill. What can I say? I am a traditionalist.
;D
And that, folks, is why the AH-64 is named what it is.
Tell me again what is elegant about a country banning Jewish ritual slaughter on “animal welfare” grounds, but then actively engaging in whaling. Oh yeah, that’s right. They were so concerned with animal rights that they banned kosher slaughter even before the Nazis. I would love some more lessons in proper behaviour from a country that has banned Jews from its territory for the vast majority of its existence.
I look forward to the day that the spineless Norwegians (who more than any other European country collaborated most with the Nazis) wake up to the fact that they have within their midst tens of thousands of new immigrants plundering their welfare system, threatening minorities, gays and adherents of other religions, raping their women, destroying their schools and breeding faster than rabbits. Perhaps their conduct is already based on fear of their new countrymen. So much so that the mayor of one Norwegian town where Norwegian Jews were consistently being beaten up by enlightened newcomers said: “This is what the Jews deserve for the way the Palestinians are treated”. Good luck Norway. I hope you and our new friends all rot in damnation.
They already have. Why do you think Europe is shuffeling “right?” And the European “right” scares the hell out of me. A lot of it is about “conserving” ethnicity. Shouldn’t it be about human freedoms and where they conflict?
It’s possible that there are those on the European left who want to do something about the immigration issue but are afraid of being on the same side as the far-right racists. It’s possible that they *can’t* do anything about immigration without the help of the far-right racists. Is it possible to separate a “goodwill” effort to control immigration from a “racist” one? Especially when you have hardcore leftists claiming that there’s no difference between the two?
Politics is complicated. That’s why I don’t do it.
Damn right, cowboy-up or get killed. I know what Ringdal is saying, but his perspective is warped by being under the U.S. umbrella when it’s rainging f***ing cats and dogs out here. No one is running planes into Norwegian buildings. There is a certain luxury that essentially minor European countries enjoy where they can afford to look at matters from multiple perspective. And I must add that I speak Norwegian and I read the original artical. The analysis is correct. Norwegians actually love the “alternative” perspective. I kind of respect them because I do like to look at things from differnt perspectives, and we often do not get it here. But I still think they’re shamefully wrong. But let people speak their minds… and let them be known as ABSOLUTE FOOLS!!! If you push them, they would rather have an American way of life than an Islamist one. That is a fact. They just have the luxury of neutrality. They are an important voice to help use see things differently, but in the end, thanks America… just don’t expect flowers.
One more caveat: post-moderism is the ligua du jur der borte (the language of the day over there). What was once bad can be seen as good, and what we think of as good can be seen ad bad. This is the language of the lazy “intillectual.” If you do not know what you stand for, you will fall to someone who does. Is it better when we constrict everybody and make them obey certain moral principals, or if we understand differences, yet strive to reconcile differnces into an acceptal solution? One is simple and efficient, the other is messy and free. We’ve got something good going on here people, we just need to work on it and not expect perfection.
I am Norwegian and I agree to Bruce Bawers article above. However if we look at the comments below such articles as the ones he refer to there are always a lot of comments from Norwegians that disagree with this sosialist crap. But unfortunately our cultural and political elite as well as the whole media in our country are communists and sosialists. This makes it hard for us that disagree to this to even get our opinions put forward to other people. I hope that attention from the rest of the world towards this may help us solve the problem. There are a lot of Norwegians that do not agree to the antisemittic and muslim loving politics that our elites has been performing for many years now.
As a Norwegian, I must admit that I’m bit personally offended by the allegation that the Norwegian people collaborated with the Nazis during the WW2.
This is simply not true!
Anyone who had bothered to acquire some knowledge about the Norwegian resistance movement and the special force unit, which in official Norwegian and British war documentation is named the Oslo Detachment, was recognized by the British high command during the war as the best sabotage group in whole Europe.
Period.
The Oslo Detachment was a part of the British SOE (Special Operation Executive) and commanded by Colonel Wilson. After the war, the company was named Kompani Linge, after the company’s first commander, Captain Martin Linge, which was killed in an operation at the Norwegian west cost i 41 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oslogjengen – Please not that this wiki has a bit inaccurate regarding the timeline. The crew was not officially named the Oslo Detachment before 44, but their core member received the sabotage training from the British special forces in the beginning of the war, and was active i several sabotage operations during the whole the war).
Some of the operations they carried out was extremely bold, and the achievements was applauded not only by prime minister Churchill but President Roosevelt as well.
During the invasion of Norway, which was initiated at April 9th. 1940, the Germans met far more resistance than they expected, nothing like the walkover as in Denmark and which later became a danish trauma that they did not put up a fight. The most important incident was the sinking of the major German battle ship Blücher (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_cruiser_Bl%C3%BCcher). The decision to sink Blücher was taken by the command at the Oscarsborg Fortress alone, with no backing. Duo to fog (which is not unusual in this area) the visibility was poor, and he could not know if this was an “friendly invasion” by the British (who had serious plans to invade Norway before the Germans, but was stopped by the Norwegian government), or hostile ships. His decision, which he know would either give him a medal or send him to the gallows, was to consider them hostile and opened fire. Unfortunately he got cold feet’s when he saw the massive consequences of his attach and let some of the ships pass.
However, his decision to open fire alone killed over 1500 German soldiers, slowed down the main invasion forces, gave the King Haakon and the government a window to escape, and completely ruined the German plan of capturing the Norwegian King Haakon and the prime minister Nygaardsvold (http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johan_Nygaardsvolds_regjering) and the planned triumph march down the parade street of Norway, Karl Johans Gate, which goes from the Kings Castle to the central station, right through the heart of Oslo.
It also led up the event which really inspired the whole Norwegian people in their everyday resistance against the occupation forces. That same day, Vidqun Quisling, which had remarkable achievements from the Norwegian Military Academy (one of the best ever), marched up the national radio broadcaster (NRK) and claimed that he was the new prime minister of the country and that the king should appoint him. These requirements was all rejected by King Haakon, at the risk of his life, and was later known as King Haakon’s three NOs. This was a huge inspiration to the Norwegian people, and Vidqun Quisling was never accepted as the leader of the country. In fact, for 99,9% of the population, the loyalty layed with King Haakon and the Norwegian exile government in London.
During the war, the Norwegians build up one of the biggest home resistant forces, called milorg (short for Military Organisation) under the direct command of the Norwegian exile government and was led by Jens Christian Hauge, who also was the connection to the Oslo Detachment. During the last few month of the war, the exile government was able to raise a force over 100 000 trained men to fight of the 300 000 Germans troops stationed in Norway. At least 50 000 of these camped in the woods, and this would not have been possible without the loyalty of the Norwegian people as they were vulnerable to traitors because of their needs of supplies like clothing and food.
The majority of the Norwegian people was also engaged in their private resistance battle against the Germans on a daily basis. My wifes grandmother has told us about how they used to sneeze, spit and even put fecal in food they were forced to hand over to the Germans in order to make them sick. Their farm was located in one of the major drop zones for supplies to the resistance movement since its a forest surrounded by several villages and lots escape routes (Ski / Enebakk), so they had Germans forced visitors the whole time during the war. This was the case with almost all Norwegian which could not avoid interacting with the Germans. The plummer would make bad repairs, the mechanic would make subtile damages to vital parts, one bus driver drove whole bus of a cliff, killing himself and 50 German soldiers, and so on. The examples are many. My grand father was a forced labor at Vemork Power Plant in Rjukan, which was the scene of one of the most spectacular sabotage attacks during the whole war, known as the Heavy Water Raid (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vemork). The sabotage team, which was performed a team from Kompani Linge (the company of the Oslo Detachment), made a perfect attack and even the current commander of the US Navy Seals holds this operation as one of his top favorite special force operations ever. The Heavy Water Raid more or less ruined Nazi Germans dream of making an atomic bomb as heavy water is key component in the production of nuclear explosives.
Like many other Norwegians, my grand father made deliberate errors and did poor work in order to put as much sand grain in the Germany machinery as possible. He was discovered, and as punishment he was pushed down the pipes to the power plant (look at the pictures in the wiki, these hills are steep), miraculously he survived and was rushed to the hospital by locals, which again risked punishment as well.
Now, this was some small drops of the true engagement of the Norwegian people against the Nazis, and its nothing like the description in comments above.
However, regarding muslim immigration, the true catastrophic consequences are now, after 35 year, finally starting to sink into the major parties. The problem is that they have to admit that their politics over the last three decades has been a failure, and that the common European bad conscience over the past centuries occupation and robbing of now third world countries has resulted in a self wiping servile immigration politics to make a mens, and not taking the true dangers of Islam into account. And even worse for the socialist parties in Norway, they would have to admit that the right winged parties, like FrP, has been right all the time, leaving the whole political and cultural elite in a bad light and robbing they of creditability in these questions as they have played the racism card heavily in all debates.
As a result of the 68th generation and the communist movement in the 70s, the cultural elite and journalist as a majority, is way over to the far left. This fact has now sinked into the general population, which never asked for the muslim immigration in the first place, and was mislead by the “need of protection” argumentation and “racism” accusation (who want to be labeled as racist). They understand now that the map the elite has drawn is not consistent with the terrain they are seeing, forcing the elite to retreat. The other aspect is that the heavy inflation of the racist label, has rendered useless as a weapon to the keep opponents silent, so the real facts are now coming out, and people can make a stand as muslim immigration opponent without the risk of loosing their jobs and friends.
The truth is also surely but slowly coming out to the the general public by knowledgeable and increasingly popular blogs, forcing the major newspapers to write more critical articles to maintain credibility in these questions. The servile immigration forces is loosing momentum and my prediction is that we are going to see it reversed withing 10 years and that there will be a huge settlement with this immigration politics.
Thanks for setting the record straight regarding Norwegian resistance to Nazi occupation. Even Americans who don’t know WWII history should be aware of movies like “The Heroes of Telemark” which show the Norwegian resistance in action. Even though a country is betrayed and occupied by its enemy, that doesn’t mean its people are collaborators or cowards.
As I pointed out above, a number of our own intellectual magpies have stated their admiration for the 9/11 attackers, Osama bin Laden, Palestinian suicide bombers, and other fringe fanatics. That doesn’t reflect on Americans in general, other than highlighting our tolerance for even extreme and loathsome points of view. I think the same applies to Norway’s insane intellectual class. These people live their lives inside their heads – in a mental world where nobody bleeds and and ideas are more important than reality. They push these ideas around all day, making interesting patterns out of them. Sometimes the patterns are beautiful or useful. Sometimes the patterns are bizarre and ugly, and often result in bizarre, ugly speech. Again, we tolerate this nonsense because…well, I’m not sure why. Most of us function pretty well without it.
I hope Norway can resolve its cultural and population problems without too much suffering.
Another (embarassed) norwegian.
This kind of journalist-crap is served by 90% of our newspapers on a weekly basis. It`s not all gullibility but the leftist writers (at least 75% of them are) feeling of great loss by the breakdown of communism. Islamism became the next “ism” to be embraced. Anyway, there is a growing consciousness among our population. More and more are discovering alternative sources of information and are able to take a stand against radical islam. I haven`t seen anything but thumbs up following the death of Bin Laden.
Remind me again why almost 400,000 American soldiers died liberating this increasingly absurd continent? (OK, Ok, it’s rhetorical…but damn, why do we listen to this tripe?)
In spite of the comments above by Norwegians, a large majority of Europeans do not view America and her people in a positive light. All things come to an end. It is time for the POTUS to travel to Europe and thank the small number of Europeans who have supported us over the years and give notice that NATO has served its purpose and that we will be leaving. Like the couple that has grown apart over the years, the relationship no longer works and it is time to get out.