Bruce Bawer recently held a talk about his experiences while in Europe. You can see the video here (opens in a new window; the first minute is in French, the remainder in English). If you are pressed for time, go to 12:35 to hear how Walid Al-Kubaisi, a critical muslim is treated by a Norwegian official.
“Bawer is unquestionably correct, and that fact is quite simply terrifying.”
- Stephen Pollard, New York Times Book Review
I have already mentioned a couple of times the democratic problem with journalists not representing the public. A new article by the organisation of journalists made an inquiry into the political likings of journalist students. Turns out that a semi-communist party (“Rødt”) gets three times as many votes as the Progress party. While in real life the Progress party is the second strongest party, and Rødt is a very much marginalized institution.
The results from the poll (in brackets: how the population would vote, according to the latest polls):
Rødt: 11% (< 1%)
SV: 14% (7-8%)
Ap: 23% (>30%)
Sp: 3% (8%)
Venstre: 9% (5-6%)
KrF: 9% (6-7%)
Høyre: 9% (12-13%)
FrP: 3% (>25%)
Veit ikkje: 19%
Incidentially, tonight are also the polls from schools elections published, where school children can cast their vote (but those votes are not counted for the election, in Norway one has to fill 18 years in the year of the election.):
Ap 23,8
Frp 23,7
H 16,3
SV 10,4
Venstre 6,0
Sp 5,7
Rødt 4,8
Krf 3,7
If you have listened to the past week’s constant journalistic carpet bombing here in Norway, you would be convinced that if the Progress party (FrP) should get elected:
Also, pretty much every day we hear new polls, which coincidentally show the “decline” of the FrP. The other day I read that young people have stopped voting FrP, today we can read that women also supposedly flee the FrP. So basically, only stupid people would cast their vote for the FrP.
But why do people still elect this party?
Thankfully people are not letting themselves fully manipulated by the state-controlled main TV station or the state-supported newspapers. People have come to the point where they realize that what journalists serve as reality has little to do with one’s own perception of the world.
People are painfully aware that under the current administration, roads have deteriorated. Families have to drive around in overpriced 10 year old cars, because they cannot afford the 400.000 kroner ($70.000) a decent family car costs. The current administration has already lost a full year’s worth on GNP during their speculation with the oil fund. People know that their grandmother may not get the treatment she deserves, and pensioners have to make a living with a ridiculous low pension. Their children go to overcrowded schools, where sometimes up to 97% are of non-Norwegian background. They see the inflated prices in the shops (just imagine that we have to pay a tax on milk containers; while soda pop has no such tax), while farmers have to work with ever decreasing margins.
I wish that journalists could take up burning issues – of which there should be plenty. Why is this election campaign mostly giving reasons why one should not vote for FrP? Aren’t there any visions as to where Norway is/should be heading? Is the only message: More of the same?
In the meantime, the “Worker’s” Party (AP) is busy handing out red roses. And because they don’t want to go through the trouble of having to deal with a number of Norwegian rose growers, they spend 2.5 million kroner on foreign grown roses.
Just a simple symbol of where the AP is heading in the wrong direction.
