Hot Air comments are never quite as fiery as those at Free Republic but sometimes they can be irritating. At the thread about the Norwegian terrorist attack I was struck by two reoccuring themes – firstly that the perpetrator must, by definition, be Muslim…you know like the IRA or ETA….and, more disturbing, comments almost making light of the situation with “amusing” remarks implying that the Norwegian authorities didn’t really have a grip on events.
Because the Norwegian Prime Minister is the leader of the Labour Party and the young people killed and injured at the island were attending a summer camp organised by the youth section of the party there were also remarks about socialism as a manifestation of the decadence of Europe, marxist indoctrination etc
Norway was a dull, boring place where nothing had happened for 200 years opined one commenter (conveniently forgetting the German invasion of 1940, the five years of Nazi occupation and the very active Norwegian resistance) while another proclaimed that Norwegians were “soft” because gun ownwership was highly restrictive…..which, interestingly enough, is absolutely untrue – in fact it ranks 11th in the world for gun ownership.
The ignorance displayed about Norway was simply astonishing, almost as astonishing as the strange definition of “education” held by one or two of the commenters. When I, a South Londoner, born in 1940, spoke of my education being interrupted by bombs, I was referring to the V2 rocket attacks that devastasted certain areas of South London in 1944 which held back my entry into full time infants reception class for several months. Obviously to some education can only mean university so much was made of earnest calculations.
I as a baby lived with my mother in London during the bombing of 1940 and 1941 but, of course have no personal memory – but by the time of the V2 rockets I was well over four years old and I do have disjointed recollections of sheltering in the cellar at the sound of the air raid siren.
I don’t mind being criticised for my opinions or even mocked by those who have little understanding of history – that’s all part of the rough and tumble of political activism – but I am as sure as hell not going to be called a liar by a bunch of gormless morons who, like that IRA admiring bandwagon jumping weasel Rep Peter King, think that terrorism only began in New York at the start of the 21st century.
Someimes I wonder at the mutual ignorance of each other’s history and tradition displayed by Brits and Americans and despair. For if our two countries, so closely linked by language, law and culture are so full of misconceptions, what hope for our relationship and understanding with the likes of India and China….
BTW – unlike some of the Hot Air commenters I shall not jump to conclusions even though it is being suggested that the perpetrator might be a non Muslim Norwegian with right wing views….
