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Aug. 6th, 2011 01:41 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
martasficThis post really got me thinking:
An un-American response to the Oslo attack by Glenn Greenwald @ Salon.com
Basically, Mr. Greenwald summarized the Norwegian response to Mr. Breivik's attacks and compared it to the American response to 9/11. One such reaction that really struck me was that of the mayor of Oslo:
I found myself smiling at the Norwegian response to these events. It was exactly what I wish my own country's response had been to 9/11. Or for that matter to the Virginia Tech shooting, or Jared Loughner's attacks. I'm not talking so much about the security state. I should care about that much more than I do - I just can't get myself worked up over it, for some reason. But I'm thinking of the way that our response to lone-wolf violence is the drive to carry a gun. I feel safer knowing that only lunatics and criminals have guns, than I do thinking that any random person walking down the street may have one. It really bothers me, to think that I have to be ready to protect myself.
And I guess in a lot of ways, that is the security-state issues made real to me. It irks me that I am attacked (vicariously if no other way) and then I have my freedom, my sense that my home is a place that values ideas over brute force - I have that attacked again.
Anyway... just wanted to say attaboy to Mayor Stang and all the rest. I am proud of you for not letting Breivik rob you of your freedom and dignity on top of all those lives he already took.
This entry was originally posted at http://fidesquaerens.dreamwidth.org/1725.html. Please comment there using OpenID.
An un-American response to the Oslo attack by Glenn Greenwald @ Salon.com
Basically, Mr. Greenwald summarized the Norwegian response to Mr. Breivik's attacks and compared it to the American response to 9/11. One such reaction that really struck me was that of the mayor of Oslo:
The day after the attack -- one which, per capita, was as significant for Norway as 9/11 was for the U.S. -- Oslo Mayor Fabian Stang, when asked whether greater security measures were needed, sternly rejected that notion: "I don't think security can solve problems. We need to teach greater respect."
I found myself smiling at the Norwegian response to these events. It was exactly what I wish my own country's response had been to 9/11. Or for that matter to the Virginia Tech shooting, or Jared Loughner's attacks. I'm not talking so much about the security state. I should care about that much more than I do - I just can't get myself worked up over it, for some reason. But I'm thinking of the way that our response to lone-wolf violence is the drive to carry a gun. I feel safer knowing that only lunatics and criminals have guns, than I do thinking that any random person walking down the street may have one. It really bothers me, to think that I have to be ready to protect myself.
And I guess in a lot of ways, that is the security-state issues made real to me. It irks me that I am attacked (vicariously if no other way) and then I have my freedom, my sense that my home is a place that values ideas over brute force - I have that attacked again.
Anyway... just wanted to say attaboy to Mayor Stang and all the rest. I am proud of you for not letting Breivik rob you of your freedom and dignity on top of all those lives he already took.
This entry was originally posted at http://fidesquaerens.dreamwidth.org/1725.html. Please comment there using OpenID.