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There has been a lot of loud talking on the internets today about what has happened in Norway, about the death of Amy Winehouse and how people should react to both situations. There is a great deal of judgment going on, which is the nature of humans.
Both are incredibly sad awful things. I said elsewhere that the death of a singer is easier for people to wrap their heads around in terms of grief. Though the comments made by some about the nature of drug addiction seem to come from rather emotionally charged and not terribly educated places. It isn't a black or white situation. The situation in Norway is incredibly complicated and it brings up some rather delicate subjects like identity, the changing multi-cultural society, violence and the evolution of any culture or nation after such an event. There are the "I told you so" people, there are the "well this problem is because of this and that" group and there are there are the "civilization is doomed, Imma moving to Canada and in my day harrumph harrumph" sorts. They always pop up after such tragedies. Maybe it is how they work through the pain? I don't know. I sometimes wonder if they take a certain delight in these situations. "Ha! I was right!" *smug smug smug*
I have my own complicated feelings about this. I think that the people of Norway need the time to grieve and take care of themselves. I applaud the PM for being open about his feelings and talking in an honest manner about what has happened. He seems like someone who is going to approach this carefully. My hope is that this tragedy will be one that can be used to do good things and to bring about a more open conversation about the complexities of different ideas and how they work together. I know there are other European nations that are grappling with this as well. (some better than others) I hope we can come to understand how the man who did these acts, arrived at the point where he felt justified in what he did to others. We may not always understand completely but it might shed some light. It might give us answers about ourselves and our culture.
Both are incredibly sad awful things. I said elsewhere that the death of a singer is easier for people to wrap their heads around in terms of grief. Though the comments made by some about the nature of drug addiction seem to come from rather emotionally charged and not terribly educated places. It isn't a black or white situation. The situation in Norway is incredibly complicated and it brings up some rather delicate subjects like identity, the changing multi-cultural society, violence and the evolution of any culture or nation after such an event. There are the "I told you so" people, there are the "well this problem is because of this and that" group and there are there are the "civilization is doomed, Imma moving to Canada and in my day harrumph harrumph" sorts. They always pop up after such tragedies. Maybe it is how they work through the pain? I don't know. I sometimes wonder if they take a certain delight in these situations. "Ha! I was right!" *smug smug smug*
I have my own complicated feelings about this. I think that the people of Norway need the time to grieve and take care of themselves. I applaud the PM for being open about his feelings and talking in an honest manner about what has happened. He seems like someone who is going to approach this carefully. My hope is that this tragedy will be one that can be used to do good things and to bring about a more open conversation about the complexities of different ideas and how they work together. I know there are other European nations that are grappling with this as well. (some better than others) I hope we can come to understand how the man who did these acts, arrived at the point where he felt justified in what he did to others. We may not always understand completely but it might shed some light. It might give us answers about ourselves and our culture.
