A Perverse Question

I described my project--which is to name and rank the 81 most historically influential Scandinavians--to a Norwegian whom I met a few months ago. Which living Norwegian would rank highest, he asked. I replied "Gro Harlem Brundtland."  

Gro Harlem Brundtland, Norway's first (and to date only) female prime minister--who is also a former Director of the World Health organization and currently Special Envoy on Climate Change for the United Nations--remains, in my estimation, not only the most influential living Norwegian, but easily one of the most influential individuals ever to have originated from Norway. Off the top of my head, of all Norwegians in history, only Nansen and Ibsen, to date, can definitely claim equal or greater total influence.

Anders Behring Brievik apparently agreed. Gro Harlem Brundtland seems to have epitomized the "Multicultural Marxists" whom he railed against in his manifesto. He called her the murderer of his nation, presumably because of the liberalization of Norwegian immigration laws under her regime.

If Breivik had his way, Gro Harlem Brundtland would no longer be among the "living Norwegians." Just hours before his rampage, the wildly popular Brundtland, a life-long Labor Party member, had given a speech to the summer campers. They were still electrified in the aftermath of her presence when Brievik arrived on his "martyr's mission." Apparently, Brundtland had been his primary target.  She departed before he got there.

Now I must finally confront a perverse question. How about Anders Brievik? Is this self-proffesed "knight Templar Crusader" a candidate for the Scandinavian 81? I draw no distinction between positive and negative influence. Vidkun Quisling, the traitor who invited Hitler to invade Norway and ruled it briefly as a Nazi proxy, certainly has a place in the ranking. Nor is there any doubt that Brievik's horrible acts will be influential. They drew, and will continue to draw, the horrified attention of the planet. Norway has already irreperably changed.

I don't believe Brievik will have the influence--as he put it, "the ideological impact"--that he intended. No public tragedy goes unexpolited by politics. Far from inciting a right-wing revolution in Europe, I believe he has helped the opposite cause. His killing spree was a political disaster for resurgent European right, which has for the most part, and not at all surprisingly, denounced him in the strongest terms. But the damage was done. The reputations of all those he cited approvingly have suffered. The whole movement will be on the defensive for a long time. Anyone critical of European immigration policies, European Islamic cultural practices, or (so-called) "Multi-culturalism" will be tainted by the association. This will include, unfortunately, reasonable critics. Everyone but extremists and psychopaths will be alienated.

Brievik's "mission" indeed created martyrs, but he is not one of them. The martyrs are the 77 people (so far) whom he murdered in the coldest of blood.

Anders Brievik is not currently under consideration for placement on the Scandiavian 81. I don't expect he ever will be. But this is not to early to say: July 22, 2011 has replaced April 9th, 1940 as the most infamous date in Norwegian history. And "Anders Brievik" has replaced "Vidkun Quisling" as its most infamous name.