Fragments of a life

The moral quandrum that is filesharing/piracy

2012-01-28T12:25:00.000-08:00

Megaupload from New Zealand was closed down last week amidst some uproar. I lost some images and patches there myself in an account I used in my work. But I got the originals so no harm has happened. But that also proves that not everything on Megauploads was illegal. Only 99 % of it or thereabout.

The replacement for Megauploads is going to be servers and services from Russia with connections to and protected by the Russian government and the mafia over there. They are allready up and running and most of you musicians reading this are probably victims of them already. The problem I can see is if those uploading dodgy, not to mention directly illegal stuff like porn etc etc may be subjects of the Russian spy organisations and some good old KGB/CIA/MI6 like black mailing. "You give us the intelligence and we will not tell your wife/community/police about these pictures". There are scientists stupid enough to do that.

With Megaupload and the Swiss Rapidfiles, that was not a problem though.

Anyway..........

When I worked in the music industry as a record label owner and distributor, I got a pretty good idea about the markups, production costs & all other costs, profits and losses. In my cases, I had more losses than profits so that was the end of that. But I still got the knowledge so I should know a thing or two about this subject.

Just when Napster arrived on the scene, a CD sold for £ 15 here in the UK. The big artists lived like kings and wasted massive amount of money on the lifestyles CD prices like that gave them. Michael Jackson being the most known of the kings with a kind of lifestyle most would brand obscene. It was obscene times and there was a heck of a lot of money in the system. Mainly because the general public paid far too much for the music. They had no choice because there were in effect no competition. No competition whatsoever.

Napster changed all that. Suddenly, the music industry got competition from illegal downloading. Lars Ulrich & Metallica got Napster closed down. But the geni was out of the bottle and the good old days, morally corrupt old days will never return. The music industry has got real competition this time. Competition means the prices of music has fallen down to a more realistic level. The recent recession has probably made the music too cheap. But it is my view the arrogance from the music industry got them into the situation they are in now. Watching Michael Jackson (R.I.P) and other artists living like kings did not really earn them or music industry any respect. The general public therefore downloaded because they reckoned the artists were already loaded. The music industry therefore also lost the moral argument too.

Not everyone is as well off as the debt ridden Michael Jackson was just before he sadly passed away. The majority of the artists knows the recipe of tomato soup and noodles better than the recipe of any Russian Caviar based dishes. If any doubts, I can give you five recipes for noodles based dinners. Dinners costing less than a pound/ one and a half dollars. But Michael Jackson's lifestyle really also killed the income of the 1000 albums selling bands too. Those living on tomato soups were now living on nothing because those who downloaded albums from the rich artists broke a mental barrier and thereby started to download albums from artists who could least afford the loss of incomes.

The threats of police raids at dawn against all who illegally downloaded music did not work at all. In particular when people without internet connections and those who had been dead for many years was taken to court for illegal downloads. A massive PR disaster followed. This because neither the music industry or their solicitors understood the not-so-black art of IPs and networks.

After these PR disasters, the signals sent out was that everything could be downloaded without punity. That's where we are today. Off in total 750 000 000 illegal downloaders, 16 persons has been sent to jail for it. Scared ?

There is no doubts that piracy is stealing someone's elses property. Those who produce the goods stolen by everyone will sooner or later stop producing the goods. The gigs scene is drying up due to the deep recession we will enter now. Paying for food, electricity and heating will be hard enough. Going to gigs an impossibility.

On this market; nothing will be offered and that's the end of it all.

I do not have any solutions at all. It is morally wrong to steal and it is also a criminal offense. God will punish you with having to live with Marilyn Monroe when you go to heaven. So don't illegally download any music. That's all I can say, really.

Recession and the case for independence anno January 2012

2012-01-26T01:40:00.000-08:00

Watching BBC News yesterday almost required medical treatment for depressions afterwards. With good reasons. We are really in a deep hole now.

Our problem is manufacturing. Or rather; the lack of it.

Or rather.....

Our problem is how we always pandered to the whims of the financial sector in London instead of the interests of the manufacturing base in the mid to north England, Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.

For the last three decades or so, all interest rates and all economic priorities has been set according to the needs of London. Most often to the detriment of the manufacturing sector in the rest of United Kingdom. The latest UK veto in EU was due to the whims of the financial sector and did and will hurt the manufacturing base in both the medium and long term.

It is a fact that offering incencitives to the financial sector in London is hurting the very substantial manufacturing base in the rest of the United Kingdom. Their interests is the opposites of the manufacturers and exporters. And it is manufacturing and exports that will drag us out of the hole we are now in. Even elementary school pupils understand that.

Will it ever happen ? Somewhere down the line, the government in London has to choose between London or the manufacturing base in the rest of the country. They cannot get both. I know what I would choose. I would tell the boffins in London to make their own luck and support the apprentices, the workers and the factory owners in Truro, Sunderland, Derry, Aberdeen and Swansea to really get us out of this mess.

And in the middle of this; Alex Salmond has finally put the cards on the table and offered up a get-out solution to Scotland. That on the same day as UK reached a new low.

I am by instincts and in principle dead against Scottish independence from the rest of the UK. A divorce will be messy.

But.......

If the politicians in London is still set on sticking with the boffins in London instead of throwing their weight behind the manufacturing sector, a Scottish independence will make a heck of a lot sense to me. Just to get rid of London which is now a millstone around the neck of the British econonomy. And it will probably remain so for a long time too.

The Scottish economy in itself is in fact pretty healthy. Yes, we have a huge welfare problem with people dying of alcholism, drugs and a bad lifestyle in their middle ages. We also have a large unskilled workforce currently on benefits. Our public sector is far too big too.

But that can be fixed by importing skilled hard working Eastern Europeans to get our manufacturing side working until these problems has been sorted out. The public sector workers can be retrained and re employed in the private sector. And the most crucial thing is that we do not have a millstone around our neck like for example a financial sector in Edinburgh which makes the politicians go blind. Our export industry is very big and has a lot of potential. Ditto for the tourism sector and the farming sector. The energy sector is very strong and has a lot of potential. Farming and food producing has a lot of potential. The same goes for the IT and science sector.

I am in principle dead against Scottish independence and so is the majority of the people in Scotland too. But getting rid of London makes a heck of a lot sense if the interest rates can be set by Edinburgh. If that is the case, the manufacturing sector in Scotland will manage to keep Scotland afloat while England will slip further into recession.

The referendum will be held in two and a half years time and a lot of the potential very messy divorce details has yet to be determined. But I would not bet against myself and the majority up here voting for Scottish independence in 2014.

Scary.......

The great betrayal of the older generation

2012-01-24T07:44:00.001-08:00

I recently read a great interview with a record label owner in Norway who specialiced in music for the older generation. A pretty big market on the world basis in fact. The conclusion of the interview was very interesting and universal. In Norway, the shops who took his albums had been reduced from 300 to under 10 shops. That in a huge area. That is shops who was serving the 75 - 110 years age group. So his record label had albums, no distribution but a lot of potential customers.

So we are all online now and we buy our records either online or download online.

Wrong !

I cannot get my parents to shop online even with if their lives depended on that. And I am sure the same goes for a big percentage of the 65 to 110 age group. But we all agree that all human beings has a right to a worthy life.

Would any of you accept a life if your music was taken away from you and you had no possibility to purchase your favorite music ? Off course not. But that is in fact happening right now, right here with a large percentage of the population. They are being denied their rights, I would even say birthright, to purchase and listen to their music. Not only in Norway where my parents has no access whatsoever to the music they love, but also in the United Kingdom. No shops carries this music anylonger like they did a few years ago. I checked at my local HMV and an indiependent record store. Nothing there.

How the heck is it possible that decent, lovely human beings is being denied what most of us regards as our human rights ? It is a fact that our favorite music brings joy, tranquility and great benefits to our lives. Joys denied to everyone now who does not shop online.

This for me is a gross betrayal of a large segment of the mankind: The generation who worked hard and suffered a lot so we could go online to purchase our music.

Think about that next time you purchase an album online.

Christianity - a licence to lie, molest and cheat ?

2012-01-24T07:43:00.001-08:00

As a person with a Christian belief myself, I sometimes despair over Christians and the Christianity.

Christianity attracts a lot of what I would deem as less desireable elements of the mankind. People who use Christianity to further their own causes and desires. Just like Adolf Hitler did and Holocaust was the end product. Off course, the Bible said it is every Christian's duty to kill the Jews, Jesus murderers according to Hitler and the Nazis. A theological view Mel Gibson in his movie The Passion of the Christ also justified. A movie universally praised by the vast majority of the Christianity.

But the same Bible is also used to justify the pretty horrific things the Palestinians has to go through every day in the hands of Israel. We are being told by Christians that there is no such people like Palestinians and they therefore has no human rights. So says the Bible and the Christian faith, we are being told.

And we have Christian leaders being caught in the act molesting children. Christianity is a safe haven for those who seek to molest children and women. The detection rate is almost zero and you can freely molest everyone you want every day if you preach the "satan is everywhere and in particular in the police and the media" gospel. The Bible has said it is OK to molest, we are being told. And those who defends children and women against Christian leaders who abuse them are satanists and possessed by demons.

Lies......... there are plenty. In my Christian faith, lies are a deadly sin and I try to keep my lies to zero. A hard task, I have to admit and I sometimes fail to live up to this standard. But in Christianity, lies are acceptable and a desired tool in spreading the gospel. The Ten Commandments says something else, but.....

The Ten Commandments..... I have always admired the atheists in this respect. Most of them live lifes most Christians should admire. It is a paradox that most atheists lives closer to the Christian standards set down by the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Bible than the Christians themselves. Why is that ? I think atheists has higher moral standards than the Christians who believe "I can lie here and there, hate the Arabs, molest my children and be unfaithful to my wife because I will end up in Heaven whatever I do". And that is a view I really take issue with.

And that is the core of the problem. For many, Christianity is a licence to live a morally repugnant life. A licence taken up by everyone from an US president candidate who leaves his wife in her deathbed for a romp in the bed with his mistress to the young man/woman in the local congregation who spread lies about another race and another religion.

I do not see any difference between their branch of Christianity and the branch of Islam who commited 9/11. And I do not want to have anything to do with neither of them.

I have a Christian belief and I sometimes fails to live up to the Christian standards. But please do not lump me together with molesters, liars, cheaters, racists and advocates of genocides. I am a better person than that. If you want to label me, label me a human being. Thank you.

A lesson in nastiness and hatred

2012-01-16T06:16:00.000-08:00

The advent of internet and social media is a good thing. It has opened up the world and brought us all closer together. It has also reunited old friends. The positives outweighs the negatives by miles.

......but......

The internet and social media has also dredged up all hatred and nastiness within the mankind. Envy, bitterness and blind hatred. Mostly in anonyme comments added to news stories.

I read a story early this morning about an ex football player who had gone through hell with substantial substance abuse after he retired from football. He was only saved by a private clinic set up by other ex footballers. After many years as a suicidal alcohol and cocaine user, this ex footballer is now OK again and so is his wife and children. A really feel good story... until you read the reader comments. The hatred and nastiness runs like raw sewerage through the comments people has published as anonymous. I have problems understanding that any human being can be that hateful nasty. Then again; Holocaust has proven how low the mankind can sink. The anonymous comments fields in the newspapers and internet forums just replicate the hatred and nastiness which ended up in this genocide. Nothing has really changed.

Would these people really write these things if they was made to sign with their own names ? I doubt it. But remove the name (and the responsibility that means) from a person and you will get a lot of nastiness and hatred. Not from responsible people, I hasten to add. But there is a lot of haters out there and they have their say in the anonymous comment fields in every newspapers from Vladivostock to Los Angeles. And their hatred and nastiness is not pretty. It is like staring down a raw sewerage pipe.

I have over the last year come to the conclusion that having anonymous comments fields is not a human right. The haters are free to express their nastiness and hatred. But only with their full name and with a contact phone number as the guarantee that the name is a real name. The anonymous comment fields is also a good reason not to become a politician or have a public profile. I have thick skin, but I do not want my family to be exposed to the many pages of hatred and nastiness even a feature story like "He saved the world" will provoke these haters to produce. Nobody deserves hatred like that and I doubt we will see the right people volunteer their lives as politicians and public figures in these circumstances.

And that would be the end of democracy based on altruism. Is a civilization based on hatred really what we want ?

The cult of celebrities # 2 - The joy of not being a celebrity

2012-01-14T16:47:00.000-08:00

I have been asked by many why I do not publish work under my own name.

I am not ashamed of my name or myself. I have done my mistakes which includes a fishy tale which landed me on the frontpage of Norway's biggest selling newspaper a couple of years ago.
I have always owned up to my mistakes and have probably got more work and a better life because of that fishy tale and other mistakes I have done and promptly owned up to. In my culture, it is acceptable to do mistakes as long as you own up to them, apologise and eat the humble pies. Only fools and idiots never admits to their mistakes and only God himself never does mistakes.

My publishers and editors has argued that I would significant increase my earnings if I was published under my real name. They may be right. But money is not an issue for me.

The reason why I use a pseudo author name is very simple: I am very happy to blend into the landscape as anonymous as possible. To be able to go about in my daily life without being typecast. My girlfriend works in the police and is being typecast as a police officer everywhere she goes. This is not something I want to experience myself.

I am also, as I wrote in # 1, vehemently opposed to this celebrity culture. I do not like this culture at all and that also goes to how I want to be treated. When I am not sweating over a manuscript or a deadline for a newspaper, I am very happy to blend into the landscape as one of the many IT consultants in my area. For me; being anonymous is a wonderful thing and something I will never swap with what too many kids dreams about: A celebrity life.

But I respect those in my profession who want to be a celebrity. But each to their own and what works for me does not necessary works for anyone else. Life is life.

The Immigrant Song

2012-01-14T15:24:00.000-08:00

"We all stand together now". Well........

The tragic event has put the issue of immigration into a perspective again.

I speak as both a son of an immigrant and an emigrant and an immigrant.

My parents moved 400 km from the west of Norway to the east of Norway just before I was born. The cultural differences within Norway makes me in fact an immigrant son. There has been a lot of immigration and emigration within Norway itself. People from the north of Norway, from beyond the Arctic Circle, had the same status in Oslo as muslims have today in Oslo. They were discriminated against (only low skilled jobs and hardly any good housing) and was verbally abused. The culturual differences were highlighted in media and in newspapers on a regular basis. These Norwegians were not wanted in Norway. This discrimination continued up to the beginning of the 1980s. Oh yes, we Norwegian is such a liberal, tolerant society.

Even I, with my parents from the west of Norway, was treated like a semi-immigrant. My loyality to the area were questioned. I was meant to feel that I did not fit in. Then I moved to Scotland back in 1996 and I settled in far better here than I as an immigrant son settled in the east of Norway.

I have made a point of settling into the life of Great Britain to the best of my abilities. I have no contact with any other Norwegians here and I do not live in a Norwegian ghetto within Glasgow.

Here is the core of the issue with immigration in Norway. We as Norwegians let the immigrants settle in without inviting them in to becoming a part of the Norwegian socieity. We never offered them an ownership of Norway. Instead, we let them sort themselves out. The result was several parallell societies within the small country called Norway. You got ghettos and you got Norwegian citizens who cannot speak a word Norwegian. You also got a male youth culture where Norwegian girls are regarded as whores and morally acceptable to rape. This is un-islamic, but it still happened and it does happens. In short; you get parallell societies within a small geographic area, let's say ten square kilometers, with totally different moral codes and values which lives parallell to each other within one law system; the Norwegian laws.

In this type of society, 59 % of the Norwegians believe there is far too much immigration to Norway.

And these types of parallell societies is not multi-culturalism. It is mono-culturalism. And there is far too few multi-cultural immigrants and Norwegians in Norway.

In my view, there should be no parallell societies and no mono-culturalism in small countries like Scotland, Norway and Northern Ireland. The whole 30 years bloodshed in Northern Ireland was due to mono-culturalism where the two tribes isolated themselves in ghettos and shot and bombed each other from within these walls. The solution in Northern Ireland is multi culturalism as the solution in Norway too is multi-culturalism. Only then, we can protect ourselves against evil, against bomb and against bullets.

Multi-culturalism has not failed. Mono-culturalism though has failed.

(this piece was originally published in my regional newspaper in August 2011)

The big crush revisited through Facebook

2012-01-14T15:20:00.000-08:00

Facebook is a good thing. In my case, it took over from that Friends Revisited (I found none) concept and became an own animal. It is now a tool I use to promote various things. Not so much myself though.

Facebook is also a place where you can find various memories by clicking on a picture. I did that.... let's say some time ago. This time more or less by accident. Like a cat touching a live wire. I am a curious cat by nature and pushes buttons.

In this case, I pushed a live wire which reconnected me to my past. A past where I spent some years daydreaming about a girl in the same class. I got a massive crush on her, in other words. So did most everyone in the same class. The male ones, to be more precise. That's what I believe. She had her admirers. She was also in the cool part of the class. I was the clumsy nerd who everybody laughed at, but not with. Even if I was the last man on earth, we would never been an item. Something I knew all the way. We were in the same room and only a few yards away from each other, but in reallity we were on two very different planets, hundreds of light years apart.

The crush died out. Life moved on. I moved on. But I sometimes wondered how she was doing. And that without any bitterness whatsoever. Today, I know. She has done great and I am off course pleased. Not that it matters at all for her.

What do I feel ? It was like a cat playing with a live wire and I got an electric jolt through my body. But I refilled my mug with more coffee. Had a look at my flat. Gave some plates a solid rub over with washing up liquid in hot water and just reflected over it while staring out on the mountains around my flat. Yes, she has done well for herself. But so have I !

Life moves on with one question answered. It is called becoming middle aged. A couple of my ex classmates from that time is dead. The rest has moved on and I do not recognise their faces. Let alone their names.

And the picture of her ? I honestly did not recognice her and neither do I have any pictures of her from the time I got a crush on her. But she is a beautiful woman now and that's all. But crush ? No, I am too old. Hand me the slippers and the remote control. The Antiques Roadshow is on. And that is not an insult to my ex object of desire. A woman I have not a bad word to say about. But I am just stating the facts. The crush from the youth rarely carries over to the middle age, unless that crush is now your wife/husband.

I have moved on. So has life. I may be a nerd everyone laugh at and not with. But I am happy that way. Very happy, in fact. Even when I am waddling around with words and coffee mugs.

(this piece was originally published in my regional newspaper in October 2011)

"Can I get your autograph, please ?" The cult of celebrities # 1

2012-01-14T15:15:00.001-08:00

I spent some time with a celebrity and much admired person some days ago. A person I also to a large degree also admire. Strangely enough I did not had the urge to ask the person to sign a paper or even one of her products. Something that actually rankled her and she got the idea that I held her in contempt. I explained that was not the case and gave my reasoning. Which cemented my status as plainly weird and eccentric.

Perhaps I am. But I really do not see any point of getting an autograph from anyone unless it is written on a cheque, payable to myself and/or my ltd. Neither do I see the point of doing personal appearances and booksigning sessions either. What's the point ? I very much prefer that my readers does not meet me at all. The books is all that matters.

Frankly, I do not like this celebrity culture whatsoever. A celebrity culture which means British youths does not want to take manufacturing and factory work because they believe they can become celebrities instead. So everyone, talented or not, is queing up around the block everytime a TV talent show is in town and the Eastern Europeans fills the vacancies in the factories. Then the UK youths claims there is no jobs and the Eastern Europeans are taking all their jobs. The cheek........ All this is down to a celebrity culture where even the most tone deaf crow think they can make it as a pop singer.

I see no point of asking anyone for their autograph. So I get an autograph and briefly meet a celebrity. So what ? A much admired man, Neil Peart in Rush, asked this question himself in his excellent book Travelling Music. He likes to travel around without being hassled for autographs and having to pose for photographs. I got all the Rush albums myself. I am indeed a collector and that also goes for Rush bootlegs. Neil Peart is a man I admire. But I see no point of walking over to him and ask him for an autograph or getting my photo taken with him. His greatness is in the Rush albums and in his books. I feel Neil Peart has given me everything I need/he can give me. I do not need two minutes with him and/or a photo with me and him posing together. Items which will prove or give me what ? Pointless. Absolute pointless.

I am very in favour of artists and authors producing their work and then be left in peace to do their shopping and walks. Off course, if they misbehave with breaking the law and/or is doing immoral things; the free press should expose them. But I see no reason for cornering celebs and artists/authors for autographs and pictures. I think the whole celebrity culture is wrong. Both morally and for the society in general. Mark Knofler's lyrics to the big Dire Straits hit Money For Nothing is spot on. This culture is money for nothing. It is also a culture where you get deluded starry eyed youngsters which does not take the jobs their grandfathers and fathers was happy to take one generation ago. In growing economy, that is a luxury we can afford. But in a recession like today, that is a fatal flaw in our culture.

A fatal flaw in a culture is no good for any of us.

For the sake of the children....... Happy Christmas

2011-12-23T05:58:00.001-08:00

One of my workmates was waiting for me when I finally made it to my office early this morning. Her network card was dead and I replaced it. She was very depressed though and I told her that a flimsy network card is no reason to be crying. She then broke down and told me why she was depressed. The story will haunt me for a some time. It is a story too familiar these days.

One of her patients had terminal cancer. She was a young mother and a very fine human being. She passed away yesterday, surrounded by her two children at 8 and 10 years old, her husband and her parents. She was one of far too many young parents passing away these days. Cancer patients slowly withering away surrounded by young children who will be traumatised forever.
I cannot even start to imagine how this must feel for parents and children alike. But I cannot imagine there is any bigger tragedy in today's socalled developed world than young mothers dying of cancer, surrounded by their young children. The young mothers torn apart by both this horrible illness and their mother instincts.

And then I feel such a wild rage and blind hatred towards cancer and all this unspeakable misery it brings to us human beings. Cancer is not a fashionable illness. But nothing destroys and ravages societies as much as cancer does. I speak of personal and professional experiences. Experiences I would have given everything to have been without. But nobody can turn a blind eye to cancer. The facts speaks for itself: One in three will get it. Not everyone will die, but all of us will sooner or later be scarred by cancer in some form or another. That is why I am pretty heavy involved in raising awareness and raising funds for cancer charities.

I am extreme happy that I could celebrate Christmas together with my family which at that was not torn apart by cancer. I remember all these good times. All those useful clothes I got instead of the cassettes and CDs I rather wanted is also remember by affection. I was angry then, but misty eyed happy now. I also remember my two uncles who are sadly not with me after loosing their battles against cancer. And my heart and tears goes out to the young children who has lost their mother and father this year due to the icecold grip of cancer. This is such an unspeakable tragedy and I just feel so frustrated about it all. This should not happen in our world today. For the sake of our children, this has to stop.

Please have a happy Christmas and a Happy New Year. But also please donate some money to support the fight against the biggest injustice in our society today; cancer.

Strikes......... for what ?

2011-11-30T15:41:00.001-08:00

It seems like the word "trade union" no longer means workers standing shoulder to shoulder. The new definition of this previously honourable term means workers selling each others down the river for a fistful of banknotes. We are all equal, but some are more equal than others.

In case some wonder. The new meaning of the term Trade Union here in the UK is now that "an union of likeminded individuals fighting for their special privileges paid for by lower paid workers in other sectors of the economy paying higher taxes and working longer to fund these priveleges".

I am thoroughly disgusted. And I see no future for the trade unions movement after they walked into this trap as a bull running into a Spanish bull fighting arena.

Why Norway ?

2011-11-14T04:43:00.000-08:00

Today's the day when Anders Behring Breivik get the chance to meet the survivors and the relatives of the kids he brutally murdered a few months ago. He smiles at them and still regards his killing spree as a necessity in the defence of Norway. He has said that his actions will be understood in 60 years time. Having followed the debate, I would say the seeds of understanding is already there. 60 years ? More like 60 days is the inconvenient truth.

Norway does not have the pretty substantial conflicts between immigrants and locals other countries have. Countries like France, Italy, Holland, England and Germany. But there are still tensions there.

So why have we not seen terrorism like the one Anders Behring Breivik carried out in any other countries in Europe ?

The answer can be found in Norway itself. It can be found in the Norwegian mentality itself.

Norway is a country of extremes by all means.
Back in the 1930s, there was rife anti-semitism in Norway. 99 % of all Norwegian jews perished in Holocaust. This was only possible with a helping hand from the Norwegian police and...... frightening enough; the Norwegian general public.
Three times more Norwegians fought for Hitler than for the Allies (England). Something we conviniently enough forgets in Norway.
There was also rife anti-gypsies feelings in Noway for a long time. State financed medical experiements and sterilizations was carried out even after the horrors of Holocaust was revealed.
The Sami people has been the victims of pretty unpleasant persecution and that even long after the gates of the Auschwitz concentration camp was opened to reveal what persecution of minorities really meant.
Our very own quisling during the war, Vidkun Quisling, was rightly excecuted after the war. Conveniently enough, his political party's (Nasjonal Samling = translated to National Union in English) programme has been forgotten. A party programme which has been adopted by other parties after the war. The racial elements exluded; the majority by a mainstream party which is now a miniority party in the government. I do not think adopted by intent, but by default.
In Norway, the marxist-leninists was pretty vocal and strong during the 1970s. Many visited Pol Pot during his murdering regime in Cambodia when 1/3 of their population perished during the few years of his murdering regime.
There are still a substantial amount of people in Norway who does not believe the facts that this genocide took place. Just like there are people who does not believe that Holocaust ever took place. I Norway, the Holocaust deniers are hounded out of the communities while the Cambodia genocide deniers are the pillars of the community.
The same people was leading the successful no to a Norwegian membership in the European Union with an isolation agenda. In the choice between joining an union of democratic capitalist European countries and staying isolated on the fringes, Norway chose isolation and the nationalist and mono-cultural cause.
Norway has also given us the black metal scene. Another pretty extreme scene with a nationalist mono cultural agenda.

So why has there not been any Anders Behring Breivik type of massacres in any other European countries ? Why is Anders Behring Breivik's 1500 pages long manifest something no other person or even nationality has written ? The frightening thing is; no other nationality could even have written this manifest. This manifest is unique Norwegian.

At any crime scene, the question Why will always be raised. But not in this case. It will never be raised.

It is a strong probability that the frightening truth is that Anders Behring Breivik just followed a Norwegian tradition. He just followed the path of Vidkun Quisling and many other Norwegians who always justified their actions by saying "the nation will understand us in the future". And we declare Anders Behring Breivik as insane, jail him and throw away the keys like we excecuted Vidkun Quisling and conveniently forgot the truths that does not suit our self beliefs. After all; we just shot Vidkun Quisling, declared his follower Knut Hamsun as insane and did not take the Why debate in the post WW2 Norway either.

I don't see the question Why being raised today either. Why is it that Norway is so unique in giving the world Vidkun Quisling's political manifesto, genocide deniers which is now the pillars of the society and Anders Behring Breivik own manifesto ? Why Norway ?

I am afraid the lack of a more constructive debate means Norway is doomed to repeat it self. And Anders Behring Breivik's hideous crimes will not be the last of this sort on Norwegian soil. More blood will be shed. The seeds to more atrocities has been sown and no pesticides has been applied.

The lack of a more constructive debate has at least proved to me that there is no place for me in the Norwegian society. For me; it is goodbye Norway and thanx for everything.

(originally published in a national newspaper in November 2011)