acd: Whether or not Norway is an amazing place is a question related to the famous "eye of the beholder". It certainly is a place with enourmos wealth, and lack of poverty makes it easier for a society to establish humane ideals. Still, its important to remember that poverty is a relative factor. Its not easy being poor in a country where the average person is wealthy.
Norway is not used to high crime rates. It is a big country with few people (now close to five millions). I guess its hard for other countries to understand this norwegian mentality of openess and equality. Police are generally unarmed, and the King and Queen take part in mass gatherings, and walk among people without considerable safety measures. Norwegians take great proud in this egalitarian way of thinking. People who become too arrogant, who separate themselves from main society, just dont sustain leaders over time. It is a mentality that has both its pros and cons. A person like Silvio Berlusconi would never had much of a political career in Norway i am sure. He is too rich, too much of womanizer, too clownish, irresponsible and slick.
Norwegians want to identify with their leaders. They want to think that the PM could have been me, or my neighbour. It certainly is a good thing that people with power dont remove themselves too far from the masses. Still there is a downside. It is best described by the norwegian/danish term "jante". You shouldnt stand out too much, you shant think too highly of yourself. Its a mentality that can be very destructive, especially to artists. Its kind of a small-town mentality that has grown into the whole nation. Its ok to do well in school, just not too well... if you know what i mean. Norwegians can be very envious. Its probably easier to stand out in a nation like us, i dont know.
I dont find it strange that other countries might look upon Norway and norwegians as naive. Breivik certainly did. But to give an analysis about the current tragedy, i certainly cannot see anything that could have been done different before the incident. For instane, Israel is one of the most well guarded countries in the whole world. Still terror attacks are part of everyday life in that society. I certainly do not want to live in a society like that. Freedom is not for free, it has its prize.
After the disaster there has been much talk about responding to hatred with love. Some critics say that the mentality of norwegians would have been different if the killer was not one of our own. Its hard to say.
Yet i am proud of the way young people handled the situation. Victims at Ut
