A few words on Norway and the illusion of "us"

What Anders Breivik did, and the reasons why he did it, have not gone unnoticed in Canada. Coming from another Nordic country, we have been asked some tough questions by ordinary Canadians who are utterly dumbfounded that something like this could happen in a region they have come to perceive as peaceful, progressive and internationally oriented.

Since Canada was practically built on immigration and has developed a sophisticated structure of current-day immigration, it seems inconceivable to most people we have spoken with that a 2-3% immigrant segment could cause a rise of the populist right in the scale of Finland or Norway. A dose of Halla-Aho's greatest hits in English has further added to the astonishment, to put it mildly. That obvious hate speech can be freely spread even by MP's in Finland seems to raise quite a few eyebrows.

Unfortunately, we are as much at a loss than the guys over here when it comes to explaining this. Seen across the transatlantic distance, the Nordic nationalist populism looks like a very small group of people, very dependant on the world around them, gone totally bonkers in the grip of some kind of megalomaniac, absurd delusion. That they would spill blood to defend what they see as the "true culture"(whatever the hell *that* means - beer? expensive houses? lottery on Saturday? mandatory military service? meat-eating? passive membership in the Lutheran church? easily sunburnt skin? Who knows!) is just beyond everybody here.

Because the average Finnish populist does not hate merely Muslims but also has issues with gays, feminists, environmentalists, Swedish speakers etc etc, we have to conclude that racism is not the accurate term here. Xenophobia, the deep fear of anything perceived as alien or "other" seems to be closer to the truth. Unfortunately, our history of relative isolation, demands of uniformity and the culture of "no small talk, please" have created a situation where it's hard for us to take the Other's (capital letter intended) point of view, let alone let him into our house for coffee and chat. In this, we have no other option but to learn.

"Quick to judge, quick to anger, slow to understand. Ignorance, prejudice and fear walk hand in hand". Words of Neil Peart, a Canadian. So it's not perfect here either, but they seem to have moved a bit further. We have a very long road ahead of us, but it's the only one there is, if we don't want to enter the deep dark woods and live with the beasts.