Here's the beginnings of a draft of the Scandinavian 81. For the moment, I'll content myself with the top 27. Each name links to the subject's wikipedia page. One day, I hope, this project will morph into a full-fledged, moderated wiki of its own.
1. Niels Bohr
2. Alfred Nobel
3. Tycho Brahe
4. Fridtjof Nansen
5. Dag Hammarskjold
6. Margrete Valemarsdatter
7. Henrik Ibsen
8. Carl Linnaeus
9. Hans Orsted
10. Jon Berzelius
11. Alva and Gunnar Myrdal
13. Kristian Birkeland
14. Svante Arrhenius
15. Soren Kierkegaard
16. Gustavus Adolphus
17. Gro Harlem Brundtland
18. Frederika Bremer
19. Ole Romer
20. Carl Wilhelm Scheele
21. Anders Celsius
22. Olof Palme
23. Linus Torvalds
24. Hjalmar Branting
25. Emmanuel Swedenborg
26. Sven Hedin
27. Raoul Wallenberg
I'm nowhere near satisfied with this yet, probably I never will be. I'm not certain that it's even possible to rank individual human beings in terms of their historical influence, even within the same field, much less between fields as various as science, cinema, politics, literature, art. But my reservations won't stop me from trying. If anything, they spur me on.
Sunday, May 20, 2012
Sunday, April 15, 2012
My own personal Jormungandr
- This may be among the final posts of Scandinaviana, at least at this address. Hopefully the smoother, more professional incarnation that I've occassionally foretold will materialize before too much longer. A forward step can be seen above, in the beautiful image of Jormungandr recently created by my talented and generous friend, the graphic novelist Gina Siciliano. Jormungandr, you may recall, in addition to being one of my favorite mythological monsters, provides The Scandinavian 81 with one of its central metaphors. From the beginning of this project, I wanted it to be represented by the World Serpent. I'm thrilled with the logo that Gina came up with--I damn well may get a tattoo based on it!-- and I would like to take this opportunity to thank her. For what it's worth, I'll also happily plug her latest published work, Summertime, (not available on Amazon yet unfortunately, but for sale in certain Seattle independent bookstores). She has begun work on her next novel, to based on the life of the fascinating Baroque Italian painter Artemisia Gentileschi.
Friday, March 16, 2012
Breivik Indicted
There is no question of his guilt. There is only the question of his sanity.
And Anders Behring Breivik, a team of psychiatrists in Norway has concluded, is insane. His unprecedented murder rampage of last July was driven, in their opinion, by “paranoid psychosis” and “psychotic rage.” Based on their findings, prosecutors will seek to confine Breivik in a psychiatric hospital rather than in prison. The verdict "disappointed" Breivik. "He wants to get sentenced to prisong, because he thinks he is sane," said his lawyer, Geir Leppestad. "He feels that he made these actions based on rational considerations." Many others agree, questioning how an insane man could have so painstakingly premeditated the terrorist onslaught that left 78 people dead.
A barrage of gruesome details emerged at his indictment last week. They began with the two-thousand-pound fertilizer bomb that Breivik detonated outside a government building in Oslo, killing eight. One of the survivors had to have a foot- long splinter surgically removed from her head. Another had to have a leg amputated below the knee. Several others were seriously wounded in the blast.
Prosecutors then described how Breivik drove to Utoya island, the location of the Labor Party youth camp, where he opened fire at terrified crowds with two automatic weapons. “There was panic and fear of death in children, adolescents and adults during the shooting, reinforced by the fact that there were limited opportunities to flee or hide,” said prosecutor Inga Beher Engh.
Brievik, she noted, shot exactly 100 people, some of them up to eight times, 56 of them in the head. One camper drowned trying to escape. Of the 69 who died, all but seven were under the age of 25. Almost half were under 18. The youngest had just turned 14.
Breivik listened calmly as a 19-page summary of his crimes was presented to the court. He is formally charged with “acts of terrorism involving murder, with the intention of destabilizing the basic functions of society.” Although Breivik has admitted to both the bombing and shooting, he has entered a plea of “not guilty,” on the grounds that his victims were traitors abetting the Muslim colonization of Norway.
A second psychiatric evaluation is due to be published on April 10th, less than a week before Breivik's trial is scheduled to begin. If it conflicts with the first report, prosecutors may decide to seek prison for Breivik after all. Norwegian law allows for a maximum penalty of 21 years, but convicts can be held indefinitely if they are judged to remain a threat to society.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
I haven't entirely forgotten about this blog, even if everyone else has. Yet I'm far from finished with my Scandinaivian history project; in some ways, it's more of an obsession than ever of mine. A blog was never the format that I envisioned for my multibiography of history's 81 most influential Scandinavians. I tried it because it was recommended to me--and available for free. Although blogging proved more fun than I anticipated, and has helped focus my thoughts on this undertaking, it has outlived most of its usefulness. Soon, I hope, there will be a proffesional-looking "Scandinaviana" home page. It will link to the Scandinavian 81, in progress, and also to this blog, or another like it, in which I'll continue to report and reminisce about Scandinavian-related news, particularly pertaining to influential persons of Scandinavian descent. Other features will follow as they occur to me.
When I finally bother to learn how to do it, I'll be linking rather than sumarizing most Scandinavian-related stories, offering only the briefest comments to contextualize and tie them together.
Fortunately, I'm far from alone in this brave new world. I have one friend, for example, who's just designed an excellent web page to accompany his recently published book, also excellent, on Seattle history. He claims to be eager to help me design and create a new page for Scandinaviana. I have another friend who's a very talented artist. She has just published an intensely personal graphic novel, and has started working on another; but despite her workload, she has agreed to create a "Jormungandr" logo for me, probably to be used as the "header" for the 81. I saw some of her initial sketches, which were beautiful. I can't wait to see the final rendition and to post it here.
In short, I believe better times are ahead for this project. It might even turn into something someone might actually want to look at!
....Meanwhile, in Scandinavian news....The low level war between Denmark and Somalia continues. Readers of Scandinaviana may recall that late last year seven Danish citizens, including three children, were released after a capitivy of several months at the hands of Somoli pirates. A $1 million ransom was allegedly paid. Last Tuesday more hostages were freed by a different method as the Danish navy intercepted and attacked a Somali pirate "mothership". 17 suspected pirates were apprehended in the fight, and over a dozen captives liberated. Two hostages, however, were apparently killed during the fighting--by what means, the New York Times did not specify.
Did you know there even was a Danish navy? I'll bet it was the most action it's seen since King Canute the Great invaded England in 1015.
Two more distinct modern countries could hardly be imagined than these two antagonists, Denmark and Somalia. Denmark is a stable industrialized democracy with little unemployment, crime or corruption. Its citizens enjoy one of the world's highest average incomes, and they're apparently among the happiest people in the world. Somalia, by contrast, is a failed state even by African standards. There hasn't been a government to speak of in over twenty years; the country is controlled by brutal warlords, and its people have lived with violence and extreme poverty on a daily basis for decades.
It's worth reflecting that Denmark was once also best known to the outside world for piracy. For hundreds of years Danish pirates invaded and inflicted untold misery on England, Ireland, Frisia (Holland) and France--burning towns, abducting women, and carrying as much loot back north with them as they could stuff into their fearsome dragon-headed warships. It was a long, long road from Viking times to the age of Social Democracy. The Somalia of this epoch seems to have been a relatively tranquil and civilized place. A sobering reminder of how the fortunes of history can, and indeed must, shift over the long course of time.
When I finally bother to learn how to do it, I'll be linking rather than sumarizing most Scandinavian-related stories, offering only the briefest comments to contextualize and tie them together.
Fortunately, I'm far from alone in this brave new world. I have one friend, for example, who's just designed an excellent web page to accompany his recently published book, also excellent, on Seattle history. He claims to be eager to help me design and create a new page for Scandinaviana. I have another friend who's a very talented artist. She has just published an intensely personal graphic novel, and has started working on another; but despite her workload, she has agreed to create a "Jormungandr" logo for me, probably to be used as the "header" for the 81. I saw some of her initial sketches, which were beautiful. I can't wait to see the final rendition and to post it here.
In short, I believe better times are ahead for this project. It might even turn into something someone might actually want to look at!
....Meanwhile, in Scandinavian news....The low level war between Denmark and Somalia continues. Readers of Scandinaviana may recall that late last year seven Danish citizens, including three children, were released after a capitivy of several months at the hands of Somoli pirates. A $1 million ransom was allegedly paid. Last Tuesday more hostages were freed by a different method as the Danish navy intercepted and attacked a Somali pirate "mothership". 17 suspected pirates were apprehended in the fight, and over a dozen captives liberated. Two hostages, however, were apparently killed during the fighting--by what means, the New York Times did not specify.
Did you know there even was a Danish navy? I'll bet it was the most action it's seen since King Canute the Great invaded England in 1015.
Two more distinct modern countries could hardly be imagined than these two antagonists, Denmark and Somalia. Denmark is a stable industrialized democracy with little unemployment, crime or corruption. Its citizens enjoy one of the world's highest average incomes, and they're apparently among the happiest people in the world. Somalia, by contrast, is a failed state even by African standards. There hasn't been a government to speak of in over twenty years; the country is controlled by brutal warlords, and its people have lived with violence and extreme poverty on a daily basis for decades.
It's worth reflecting that Denmark was once also best known to the outside world for piracy. For hundreds of years Danish pirates invaded and inflicted untold misery on England, Ireland, Frisia (Holland) and France--burning towns, abducting women, and carrying as much loot back north with them as they could stuff into their fearsome dragon-headed warships. It was a long, long road from Viking times to the age of Social Democracy. The Somalia of this epoch seems to have been a relatively tranquil and civilized place. A sobering reminder of how the fortunes of history can, and indeed must, shift over the long course of time.
Thursday, December 29, 2011
Trollhunter
I finally saw Trollhunter, the Norwegian monster mockumentary notable for having achieved some box office success last summer in the U.S. (at least here in Seattle). Trolls, the terrifyingly mishapen griants out of Norse mythology, are real; the Norwegian government, like the American government in the Xfiles, conspiratorially keeps this secret from the public. Occassionally, the monsters stray from their remote wilderness territories, threatening human and animal life. It then falls to Hans (Otto Jespersen), the government's designated troll hunter, to track down and exterminate them--humanely, if possible, but above all discretely. Under no circumstances are the people to discover the truth, that trolls are real. Human fatalities of troll attacks are blamed on bears. But, disgruntled by the thankless task of "troll management," Hans permits three determined college students to observe and film him at work. After all, the people "have the right to know."
Though I found Trollhunter a satisfying blend of horror, humor, science fiction and satire, it left me slightly disappointed. The word-of-mouth recommendations I received were all glowing. I let my expectations get high. It's a good movie--unpretentious, funny and fun. Early on, it achieves genuine suspense. It just didn't live up what I wanted to see.
Sadly, an American remake of Trollhunter is already in production. Americans are a parochial people. Like baby birds, we need our cinematic fare chewed up and regurgitated for us: Americanized. Scandinavians watch Holywood movies all the time.They don't require, as we seem to require, their own specially-tailored versions of even the pulpiest of motion pictures. What's the matter with us?
I predict the American Trollhunter will
(1) have twenty times and budget of,
(2) and be less than half as good as the original.
Though I found Trollhunter a satisfying blend of horror, humor, science fiction and satire, it left me slightly disappointed. The word-of-mouth recommendations I received were all glowing. I let my expectations get high. It's a good movie--unpretentious, funny and fun. Early on, it achieves genuine suspense. It just didn't live up what I wanted to see.
Sadly, an American remake of Trollhunter is already in production. Americans are a parochial people. Like baby birds, we need our cinematic fare chewed up and regurgitated for us: Americanized. Scandinavians watch Holywood movies all the time.They don't require, as we seem to require, their own specially-tailored versions of even the pulpiest of motion pictures. What's the matter with us?
I predict the American Trollhunter will
(1) have twenty times and budget of,
(2) and be less than half as good as the original.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Utoya Massacre Update
Confessed mass murderer Anders Breivik, self-described "military commander in the Norwegian resistance movement and Knight Templar Norway," had his first public court hearing in Oslo on Monday. "I acknowledge the acts, but I do not plead guilty," he said, adding that the court had no legitimacy because it was sanctioned by multiculturalism, "a hateful ideology that aims to destroy Norwegian society." The judge remanded his custody through early February. Breivik's lawyer, Geir Lippestad, has asked that his client be freed. He must also be insane.
Brievik requested permission to address the relatives of his victims, who had been permitted in the courtroom with him for the first time. What might he possibly have said to the mothers and fathers of the children he slaughtered? The judge denied Brievik's request, and ruled that he is to remain in solitary confinement. He will be allowed access to newspapers and visitors next month. His "sadistic torture" continues.
Breivik's trial is tentatively scheduled to begin in April. Before then, the courtroom will be restructured to double its current capacity, and include a press center for the hundreds of journalists expected to be covering the trial. Breivik faces up to twenty one years in prison. That's not a typo. It's not a sick joke. The man who murdered 77 people, most of them teenagers, in a record three hour killing spree last June, could be a free man under Norwegian law by the time he reaches his mid fifties. If additionally charged under "crimes against humanity" he could be out by his early sixties.
I can't honestly imagine that, law or no law, Anders Brievik will ever walk free. Some loophole, even in liberal, rights' vigilant Norway, surely will be found to keep him locked up in a cage forever. In a perverse way, it's unfortunate. If by some miracle he ever was released, vigilante justice presumably will quickly, finally, end his life. But I believe he'll spend the rest of his existence confined within and provided for by the very maternalistic state that he railed against.
Maybe that was his deepest intention of his apocalyptic rampage. To crawl back into the symbolic womb of the state.
Brievik requested permission to address the relatives of his victims, who had been permitted in the courtroom with him for the first time. What might he possibly have said to the mothers and fathers of the children he slaughtered? The judge denied Brievik's request, and ruled that he is to remain in solitary confinement. He will be allowed access to newspapers and visitors next month. His "sadistic torture" continues.
Breivik's trial is tentatively scheduled to begin in April. Before then, the courtroom will be restructured to double its current capacity, and include a press center for the hundreds of journalists expected to be covering the trial. Breivik faces up to twenty one years in prison. That's not a typo. It's not a sick joke. The man who murdered 77 people, most of them teenagers, in a record three hour killing spree last June, could be a free man under Norwegian law by the time he reaches his mid fifties. If additionally charged under "crimes against humanity" he could be out by his early sixties.
I can't honestly imagine that, law or no law, Anders Brievik will ever walk free. Some loophole, even in liberal, rights' vigilant Norway, surely will be found to keep him locked up in a cage forever. In a perverse way, it's unfortunate. If by some miracle he ever was released, vigilante justice presumably will quickly, finally, end his life. But I believe he'll spend the rest of his existence confined within and provided for by the very maternalistic state that he railed against.
Maybe that was his deepest intention of his apocalyptic rampage. To crawl back into the symbolic womb of the state.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Axel Axgil
Axel Axgil, the gay rights activist instrumental in making Denmark the first country in the world to legalize same sex marriage (1989), has died. He was 96.
Originally named Axel Lundahl-Madsen, he and his partner, Eigil Eskildsen, defiantly amalgamized their first names into the shared last name of "Axgil." They were in prison for distributing pornography at the time.
In 1948, Axel organized "the Association," one of the earliest gay rights groups, upon being terminated from his job for being a homosexual. Forty one years later, he and Eigil were the first gay couple to be legally married in European and, I presume, modern world history.
Originally named Axel Lundahl-Madsen, he and his partner, Eigil Eskildsen, defiantly amalgamized their first names into the shared last name of "Axgil." They were in prison for distributing pornography at the time.
In 1948, Axel organized "the Association," one of the earliest gay rights groups, upon being terminated from his job for being a homosexual. Forty one years later, he and Eigil were the first gay couple to be legally married in European and, I presume, modern world history.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Nordic 9/11
The government buildings that were ripped open in last July's bombing are still cordoned in Oslo. Nearby Utoya, the island where the bomber then slaughtered scores of children, remains riddled with hundreds of hollow point bullet holes. The scars of a devastating terrorist attack are fresh on the Norwegian landscape.
They're also fresh on the Norwegian national psyche. "We haven't got to the stage where people have gotten mad yet," said Norway's king Harald in a rare interview. "I think we'll go through that as well. That has to come and go before we finish with this. And we have to let that happen."
According to the New York Times, King Harald is widely percieved by his nominal subjects to have performed adaquately in the aftermath of the attack, giving a moving speech on television, and weeping at the national memorial service for the 77 victims Norway's homegrown, right wing Christian terrorist.
His Majesty referred to the attack, predictably, as Norway's 9/11.
King Harald, the first native born Norwegian king since the 14th century, is scheduled to arrive in these United States later this year, with his wife, Queen Sonja. The royal couple will visit Manhattan's ground zero for a second time, before heading off to Minnesota to address the American Scandinavian Foundation.
They're also fresh on the Norwegian national psyche. "We haven't got to the stage where people have gotten mad yet," said Norway's king Harald in a rare interview. "I think we'll go through that as well. That has to come and go before we finish with this. And we have to let that happen."
According to the New York Times, King Harald is widely percieved by his nominal subjects to have performed adaquately in the aftermath of the attack, giving a moving speech on television, and weeping at the national memorial service for the 77 victims Norway's homegrown, right wing Christian terrorist.
His Majesty referred to the attack, predictably, as Norway's 9/11.
King Harald, the first native born Norwegian king since the 14th century, is scheduled to arrive in these United States later this year, with his wife, Queen Sonja. The royal couple will visit Manhattan's ground zero for a second time, before heading off to Minnesota to address the American Scandinavian Foundation.
Friday, October 7, 2011
Swede Wins Swedish Prize
Swedish Poet Tomas Transtromer, 80, whose work "explores themes of isolation, emotion and identity while remaining rooted in the commonplace," according to the New York Times, has been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. I'd never heard of him.
Here's one of his poems, "The Couple," also courtesy of the Times.
They switch off the light and its white shade
glimmers for a moment before dissolving
like a tablet in a glass of darkness. Then up.
The hotel walls rise into the black sky.
The movements of love have settled, and they sleep
but their most secret thoughts meet as when
two colors meet and flow into each other
on the wet paper of a schoolboy’s painting.
It is dark and silent. But the town has pulled closer
tonight. With quenched windows. The houses have approached.
They stand close up in a throng, waiting,
a crowd whose faces have no expressions.
Here's one of his poems, "The Couple," also courtesy of the Times.
They switch off the light and its white shade
glimmers for a moment before dissolving
like a tablet in a glass of darkness. Then up.
The hotel walls rise into the black sky.
The movements of love have settled, and they sleep
but their most secret thoughts meet as when
two colors meet and flow into each other
on the wet paper of a schoolboy’s painting.
It is dark and silent. But the town has pulled closer
tonight. With quenched windows. The houses have approached.
They stand close up in a throng, waiting,
a crowd whose faces have no expressions.
Sunday, October 2, 2011
Nansen
"I am an enigma to myself," wrote Fridtjof Nansen. After devoting months to reading about him, thinking about him, he remains an enigma to me. A year ago I hadn't heard of Nansen. That fact alone now astonishes me. How is it possible? This much I do know about Nansen: his name needs be known by everyone of Scandinavian ancestry; it deserves to be remembered by everybody.
My job is to convince you. To that end, I have before me a sheaf of notes from various sources, more pages than I care to count, many of them typed and amended. I have educated myself in the history and techniques of polar exploration, the histories of neuroscience and oceanography, the independence of Norway, and post-Great War diplomacy and humanitarianism--the diverse areas in which Nansen left enormous contributions. I have read two biographies of the man. I have read one book by him: Farthest North, his account of the unsuccessful effort to be the first man to the North Pole. I have also perused general histories of Arctic exploration, in all of which Nansen inevitably features prominently. I have reread all the chapters of my several general Scandinavian histories in which his name appears.
But I still can't seen to scale his heights, plumb his depths, or circumnavigate the range of his achievements.
But I retain a shred of hope, as usual, from synchronicity. Last Wednesday, I hiked along a stretch of Puget Sound shoreline with a friend. A bright, blustery cold day turned dark as the sun sunk behind the Olympic mountain range--a superior spectacle to most movies, and free. We visited the massive statue of Leif Ericson which, thanks to the Nordic Heritage Center, stands guard over a harbor full of creaky yachts in north Seattle. But even in the shadow of Leif, it was Fridtjof Nansen who I couldn't shut up about. What he did and what he didn't, and how, and why-- and what a fit I was working myself into by my inability to summarize him, or even formulate a good plan for describing him. I must have tested my companion's patience with my ranting. I can only hope he wasn't listening.
Later, we re-routed to his office, to wait out the southbound traffic and continue our conversation, which had mercifully turned to other subjects. I excused myself to the shitter, grabbed a magazine at random from the several that were available--Outside, as it happened-- opened to a page at random, and met immeidately with an article commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen's conquest of the South Pole (1911). Brief and breezy though it was, the article mentioned Amundsen's mentor, Fridtjof Nansen.
The gods, it seems, won't let my thoughts stray far.
***
Roald Amundsen, by the way, was also once a candidate for the Scandinavian 81. I consider him now a longshot, an honorable also-ran, impressive though his achievements were in every way. He has been overlooked, as the article claimed, in the English speaking world, because he of his British rival, Robert F. Scott. The two of them raced, with their teams, to be the first man to set foot on the South Pole. Amundsen and the Norwegians won by over a month. Scot arrived at the Pole to find a Norwegian flag planted triumphantly in the ice. Scott and his men had little time to regret their defeat--they all froze and starved to death on the return trip. They lost the race, and their lives. But Scott left a journal of the futile expedition. It was discovered with his body, and when published made him a national hero, a martyr to British imperialism, and the focus of national adulation.
Maybe it better for Scott to have died. While one Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, was destroying his dream to be the first man to the South Pole, another, the famous Fridtjof Nansen, was having an affair with his wife. Never in history can an Englishman have been more thoroughly ill-used by the sons of Norway! At least he was spared ever having to learn about it.
My job is to convince you. To that end, I have before me a sheaf of notes from various sources, more pages than I care to count, many of them typed and amended. I have educated myself in the history and techniques of polar exploration, the histories of neuroscience and oceanography, the independence of Norway, and post-Great War diplomacy and humanitarianism--the diverse areas in which Nansen left enormous contributions. I have read two biographies of the man. I have read one book by him: Farthest North, his account of the unsuccessful effort to be the first man to the North Pole. I have also perused general histories of Arctic exploration, in all of which Nansen inevitably features prominently. I have reread all the chapters of my several general Scandinavian histories in which his name appears.
But I still can't seen to scale his heights, plumb his depths, or circumnavigate the range of his achievements.
But I retain a shred of hope, as usual, from synchronicity. Last Wednesday, I hiked along a stretch of Puget Sound shoreline with a friend. A bright, blustery cold day turned dark as the sun sunk behind the Olympic mountain range--a superior spectacle to most movies, and free. We visited the massive statue of Leif Ericson which, thanks to the Nordic Heritage Center, stands guard over a harbor full of creaky yachts in north Seattle. But even in the shadow of Leif, it was Fridtjof Nansen who I couldn't shut up about. What he did and what he didn't, and how, and why-- and what a fit I was working myself into by my inability to summarize him, or even formulate a good plan for describing him. I must have tested my companion's patience with my ranting. I can only hope he wasn't listening.
Later, we re-routed to his office, to wait out the southbound traffic and continue our conversation, which had mercifully turned to other subjects. I excused myself to the shitter, grabbed a magazine at random from the several that were available--Outside, as it happened-- opened to a page at random, and met immeidately with an article commemorating the one hundredth anniversary of Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen's conquest of the South Pole (1911). Brief and breezy though it was, the article mentioned Amundsen's mentor, Fridtjof Nansen.
The gods, it seems, won't let my thoughts stray far.
***
Roald Amundsen, by the way, was also once a candidate for the Scandinavian 81. I consider him now a longshot, an honorable also-ran, impressive though his achievements were in every way. He has been overlooked, as the article claimed, in the English speaking world, because he of his British rival, Robert F. Scott. The two of them raced, with their teams, to be the first man to set foot on the South Pole. Amundsen and the Norwegians won by over a month. Scot arrived at the Pole to find a Norwegian flag planted triumphantly in the ice. Scott and his men had little time to regret their defeat--they all froze and starved to death on the return trip. They lost the race, and their lives. But Scott left a journal of the futile expedition. It was discovered with his body, and when published made him a national hero, a martyr to British imperialism, and the focus of national adulation.
Maybe it better for Scott to have died. While one Norwegian explorer, Roald Amundsen, was destroying his dream to be the first man to the South Pole, another, the famous Fridtjof Nansen, was having an affair with his wife. Never in history can an Englishman have been more thoroughly ill-used by the sons of Norway! At least he was spared ever having to learn about it.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Danes Elect Dame
Meanwhile, in Norway, support for the far-right, anti-immigrant Progress Party plummeted in local elctions, sinking from second to third in national prominence. The confessed mass murderer, Anders Behring Breivik had been affiliated with the Progress Party for several years. The ruling Norwegian labor party, which had been targeted for extermination by Breivik, attained its best results in over two decades.
Sunday, September 11, 2011
Swedish Suicide Bomber
Four people were arrested yesterday in the Swedish city of Goteborg by a task force specializing in terrorist threats. An art center, crowded with the premier of a new exhibit, was evacuated, and a section of the city cordoned off. Authorities have declined to reveal anything about the suspects. Whether the timing has anything to do with the tenth anniversary of 9/11 is unknown. There was no panic reported.
Last December, Sweden suffered its first suicide bombing. Taymour Abdulwahab, a Swedish National of Iraqi descent blew himself up in a popular Stockholm shopping district to protest the Afghan war and the publication of a cartoon depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed with a dog's head. Although reportedly wearing a knapsack full of nails, he suceeded in killing no-one but himself. Apparently the bomb went off prematurely. There's a metaphor in there, somewhere.
The cartoonist, Lars Vilk, described as a "free speech activist," has lived in seclusion and under guard since a $100,000 bounty was placed on his head by an Al Qaeda affiliate.
Last December, Sweden suffered its first suicide bombing. Taymour Abdulwahab, a Swedish National of Iraqi descent blew himself up in a popular Stockholm shopping district to protest the Afghan war and the publication of a cartoon depicting the Muslim prophet Mohammed with a dog's head. Although reportedly wearing a knapsack full of nails, he suceeded in killing no-one but himself. Apparently the bomb went off prematurely. There's a metaphor in there, somewhere.
The cartoonist, Lars Vilk, described as a "free speech activist," has lived in seclusion and under guard since a $100,000 bounty was placed on his head by an Al Qaeda affiliate.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Big-Brained Danes
Scandinavians have the largest brains, says a recent report by Oxford phrenologists. Extra gray matter, along with larger-than-average-eyes, according to their hypothesis, helped Scandinavians to see clearly in the low levels of light at high latitudes. The conclusion was based on a study of 55 human skulls from around the world.
Meanwhile, seven Danes, including a family of five, were released after nine months of captivity in Somalia. A Somali pirate named Hussein claims to have received a $3 million ransom.
The Oxford scientists were quick to point out that larger brain size doesn't necessarily indicate higher intelligence. This would seem to be bourne out by the fact that the newly-freed Danes had been pleasure-boating with their children in the Arabian Sea, a known hunting ground of Somali pirates. How smart is that?
Meanwhile, seven Danes, including a family of five, were released after nine months of captivity in Somalia. A Somali pirate named Hussein claims to have received a $3 million ransom.
The Oxford scientists were quick to point out that larger brain size doesn't necessarily indicate higher intelligence. This would seem to be bourne out by the fact that the newly-freed Danes had been pleasure-boating with their children in the Arabian Sea, a known hunting ground of Somali pirates. How smart is that?
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Utoya Massacre Update
Five hundred family members of the Utoya Massacre victims were permitted to visit the island where their loved ones were gunned down in the worst shooting rampage in human history.
The confessed perpetrator, Anders Brievik has been sitting in solitary confinement for most of the two months since. According to judicial ruling, he could be held in isolation until mid-October, and may have to wait until mid November before being permitted visitors and correspondence with the outside world. He is being kept in isolation to prevent contact with possible accomplices, and to prevent him from tampering with evidence. Brievik has complained that this treatment is "sadistic torture." One wonders when in where in history he would have preferred prison to 21st century Norway?
Norwegian police meanwhile have released transcripts of phone conversations that occured between Brievik and police during his drug-fueled killing spree. Apparently "the commander of the Norwegian anti-Communist Resistance Movement" twice called police and offered to surrender. But he went on killing kids for another 28 minutes before they finally arrived.
The confessed perpetrator, Anders Brievik has been sitting in solitary confinement for most of the two months since. According to judicial ruling, he could be held in isolation until mid-October, and may have to wait until mid November before being permitted visitors and correspondence with the outside world. He is being kept in isolation to prevent contact with possible accomplices, and to prevent him from tampering with evidence. Brievik has complained that this treatment is "sadistic torture." One wonders when in where in history he would have preferred prison to 21st century Norway?
Norwegian police meanwhile have released transcripts of phone conversations that occured between Brievik and police during his drug-fueled killing spree. Apparently "the commander of the Norwegian anti-Communist Resistance Movement" twice called police and offered to surrender. But he went on killing kids for another 28 minutes before they finally arrived.
Thursday, August 25, 2011
NazIKEA
Ingvar Kamprad--or, as I called him in my earliest notes, "the guy who founded IKEA"--has been a Scandinavian 81 candidate from almost the start. In a previous post, I mentioned the flatpack furniture tycoon in a discussion on influential Scandinavians with known ties to Nazism. In the mid-90s, Kamprad confessed to having had a teenage association with the SSS (the Swedish Nazi party). It was, he said, his "biggest mistake," a "youthful sin," resulting from "stupidity." He had deeply repented.
A new book claims that Kamprad's Nazi assoications were stronger, and went on longer, than he has admitted. According to author Elisabeth Asbrink, Swedish intelligence files demonstrate activities going well beyond "teenage confusion." Kamprad was an enthusiastic recruiter, says Asbrink, and seems to have been some kind of an SSS functionary. He also maintained ties with Nazi sympathizers at least into the 1950s, she says.
Kamprad spokesmen dismissed the allegations "old news." "The IKEA he created is based on democratic principles and embraces a multicultural society."
Ten or twelve days ago, I got around to ordering two books about Ingvar Kamprad. The first was Leading By Design: The Ikea Story by Kamprad and a collaborator. The second was The Truth About Ikea:The Secret About the World's Fifth Richest Man, by John Stenebo. It advertizes itself as an expose of the dark side of the IKEA empire by a long-time corporate insider. (The extent of Kamprad's wealth is disputed; according to Forbes he's "only" the 162nd richest human being.) These books arrived in my mailbox just a day or two before Ingvar Kamrad and his infamy were back in the news. A perfect example of the synchronicity that has frequently, though still-startlingly, attended to this project.
A new book claims that Kamprad's Nazi assoications were stronger, and went on longer, than he has admitted. According to author Elisabeth Asbrink, Swedish intelligence files demonstrate activities going well beyond "teenage confusion." Kamprad was an enthusiastic recruiter, says Asbrink, and seems to have been some kind of an SSS functionary. He also maintained ties with Nazi sympathizers at least into the 1950s, she says.
Kamprad spokesmen dismissed the allegations "old news." "The IKEA he created is based on democratic principles and embraces a multicultural society."
Ten or twelve days ago, I got around to ordering two books about Ingvar Kamprad. The first was Leading By Design: The Ikea Story by Kamprad and a collaborator. The second was The Truth About Ikea:The Secret About the World's Fifth Richest Man, by John Stenebo. It advertizes itself as an expose of the dark side of the IKEA empire by a long-time corporate insider. (The extent of Kamprad's wealth is disputed; according to Forbes he's "only" the 162nd richest human being.) These books arrived in my mailbox just a day or two before Ingvar Kamrad and his infamy were back in the news. A perfect example of the synchronicity that has frequently, though still-startlingly, attended to this project.
Friday, August 19, 2011
Vikings vs. Social Democrats
My knowledge of 20th century Scandinavian political history is relatively weak. I began at the beginning, and so of course, as yet, I know more about Vikings than Social Democrats. It only makes chronological sense.
So I tell myself. I don't believe me. This is the truth: I know less about Tage Erlander than Erik Bloodax because Vikings fascinate me much, much more than modern statesmen. Maybe this speaks poorly of my character, but so would denying the truth.
Indeed, I dread trying to learn as much about modern politicans, economists, activists and social reformers as I already know about ancient Norsemen. I could die of boredom.
Which may be as good as admiting this multibiography needs another author.
But since I couldn't stop now if I wanted to, here are the names of several Social Democrats newly under consideration for the Scandinavian 81: Tage Erlander, Karl Hjalmar Branting, Ernst Wigorss, Gustav Moller, and Knut Wicksell. They're all Swedes. Along with Gunnar and Alva Myrdal and Olof Palme (and, in Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland) they seem to bear important responsibility for developing and implementating the modern Scandinavian welfare state.
None of them, insofar as I have any reason to believe, ever killed anyone with an ax.
So I tell myself. I don't believe me. This is the truth: I know less about Tage Erlander than Erik Bloodax because Vikings fascinate me much, much more than modern statesmen. Maybe this speaks poorly of my character, but so would denying the truth.
Indeed, I dread trying to learn as much about modern politicans, economists, activists and social reformers as I already know about ancient Norsemen. I could die of boredom.
Which may be as good as admiting this multibiography needs another author.
But since I couldn't stop now if I wanted to, here are the names of several Social Democrats newly under consideration for the Scandinavian 81: Tage Erlander, Karl Hjalmar Branting, Ernst Wigorss, Gustav Moller, and Knut Wicksell. They're all Swedes. Along with Gunnar and Alva Myrdal and Olof Palme (and, in Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland) they seem to bear important responsibility for developing and implementating the modern Scandinavian welfare state.
None of them, insofar as I have any reason to believe, ever killed anyone with an ax.
Thursday, August 18, 2011
Utoya Massacre Update
By November 1st, court-appointed psychiatrists are scheduled to make their recommendation as to whether Anders Behring Brievik is sane enough to be tried for murdering 77 people last month in Norway. Brievik has agreed to be evaluated, but has demanded to be also to be seen by a Japanese psychiatrist. "The wish has to do with the concept of honor," explained his lawyer, Geir Lippestad. "He believes that a Japanese person would understand him better than someone from Europe."
Brevik's manifesto supposedly exhibits an admiration for Japanese and Korean cultures--presumably for their unwillingness to admit, assimilate or extend citizenship to large numbers of foreigners.
A few days ago, Brievik returned to Utoya island, where he spent eight hours reenacting his shooting rampage for the police. The simulation was required to clarify details of the attack for the trial. Portions aired on Norwegian television and show Breivik restricted a tether harness, demonstrating details of his murder spree with an imaginary rifle. He was reportedly calm and cooperative. He displayed no remorse for his actions.
Lippestad claims that Brievik spared those on Utoya island whom he considered too young to have been indoctrinated by Labor Party propaganda. Brievik's youngest victim is believed to have been Sharidyn Svebakk-Bohn. She was 14.
Brevik's manifesto supposedly exhibits an admiration for Japanese and Korean cultures--presumably for their unwillingness to admit, assimilate or extend citizenship to large numbers of foreigners.
A few days ago, Brievik returned to Utoya island, where he spent eight hours reenacting his shooting rampage for the police. The simulation was required to clarify details of the attack for the trial. Portions aired on Norwegian television and show Breivik restricted a tether harness, demonstrating details of his murder spree with an imaginary rifle. He was reportedly calm and cooperative. He displayed no remorse for his actions.
Lippestad claims that Brievik spared those on Utoya island whom he considered too young to have been indoctrinated by Labor Party propaganda. Brievik's youngest victim is believed to have been Sharidyn Svebakk-Bohn. She was 14.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Fjordman Revealed
The pseudonymous right-wing, anti-Islamic blogger "Fjordman," who was cited frequently and deeply admired by terrorist mass murderer Anders Brievik, has revealed his identity. Peder Jensen, 36, has professed deep disgust at Brievik's acts. He will no longer use the "Fjordman" pseudonym. He will go into hiding.
Anders Brievik's mother has also absconded; his father, who lives in France, has claimed that he may never return to his native Norway.
In other Norwegian news, a 17 year old Norwegian boy was recent killed by a polar bear on a remote island. This sad story reminds me of the premise of the recent horror film, "Troll Hunter:" A spate of supposed bear attacks in rural Norway turn out to be the work of not-mythological-after-all trolls. The Norwegian government is aware of their existence but, as in the Xfiles and such, covers it up. At least, this is how this movie has been described to me: I haven't seen it yet. I intended to, while it was still playing in Seattle theatres, but then I got distracted by the real monster in Norway.
Anders Brievik's mother has also absconded; his father, who lives in France, has claimed that he may never return to his native Norway.
In other Norwegian news, a 17 year old Norwegian boy was recent killed by a polar bear on a remote island. This sad story reminds me of the premise of the recent horror film, "Troll Hunter:" A spate of supposed bear attacks in rural Norway turn out to be the work of not-mythological-after-all trolls. The Norwegian government is aware of their existence but, as in the Xfiles and such, covers it up. At least, this is how this movie has been described to me: I haven't seen it yet. I intended to, while it was still playing in Seattle theatres, but then I got distracted by the real monster in Norway.
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