I watched this video before the election and found it a bit too silly. That was untill I saw interviews with people that were shaking, crying and thinking their country was going under after Obama won and realized that it wasn't as far off as I thought.

See the video

I started writing a reflected entry about the American election but the more I read, the angrier I got. So instead I wrote a short, not so reflected angry version of that entry.

Let me ask straight out? How can an civilized, well educated country have a presidental candidate pair that isn't ridiculed by people for being opposed to equal right for homosexuals? We look down on people that discriminate people based on their skin color or sex. Why don't more people point out that it is equally stupid and last century to discriminate people based on their sexual orientation?

How can rich people with all the privileges in the world think they have a right to tell other people whether abortion is right or wrong? A couple with estimated net worth of $100 million and an Alaskan govenor with estimated assets over 1 million dollar are too well off to be able to put themselves in the shoes of other less fortunate people and tell them they should have no problem with raising a baby.

Those are the same people that think it is absurd to have national health care to take care of these same people and these same babies. It is not them that are likely to be denied coverage by the profit hungry insurance companies. They are also the same people that are against giving people proper sex education because they think teaching sex abstinence is so much better... And why do we think people get pregnant and need abortion? Why is it not obvious that the best here is to educate people so that there are less abortions?

Oh and those people are probably thinking it is not smart to encourage too much thinking. Lets teach people about creationism and intelligent design to water out that science education that might get people to think and see that we are just two monkeys from the stone age. Or do they really believe that stuff... not sure what is more worrying?

I am happy to be born in a country and live in another where this kind of thinking is considered ignorant and stupid! Ahhh... it was good to blow off some steam. Now crossing my finger for the more civilized and human candiates :)

As most people might have noticed Iceland is frequently mentioned in the newspapers these days because of the financial collapse there. People are working hard to try to amend the situation but it will be a rough ride for sure.

One thing that didn't help the situation is that Gordon Brown the British Prime Minister used the Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act to freeze the assets of an Icelandic bank and putting it up on the list together with Al-Qaeda and the famous axis of evil countries.

This was a blow for the little, peace loving nation far out in the Atlantic ocean that felt they were being unjustly accused. Iceland does not have an army and as far as I know, no Icelander has ever had a terrorist record. Iceland was even at the top of the Global Peace Index in 2008. Some people started a campain to clearly state that we are not terrorist. Particularly nice is a section on the page with postcards people have sent in. Take a look!

So, do you guys think that Osama will soon be calling and inviting me for a tea party? Do I look like a terrorist?

Haven't we all wished for a beauty queen that didn't just want world peace?

Well it looks like we just got one and it is just scary!

I am normally not a big fan of Berlusconi but this one time I think he might be onto something :D

Ronald comes running into the living room and shouts:

- Mommy, mommy grandma gave Harold a new baseball bat and I didn't get one.
* But Ronald, Harald got it for spending all weekend helping her clean out her basement. You didn't want to help.
- It is boring! I wanted to play the Wii and not drag dirty, ugly stuff around.
* Well grandma gave Harld the baseball bat because he worked hard all weekend. You can't expect to get one too when you don't help. I am
sure though that Ronald will let you play with it too.
- That is unfair! I want one too. If I don't get one, he shouldn't have one either! Take it away from him, take it away from him!!

Childish huh? Or is it unfair that Ronald didn't get one?

I had written a long entry about how left winged American polititcs are actually to the right of Norwegian right winged politics when looking at the political landscape as a whole. I had added in some harsh words and judgements about certain parties but I have become so horribly politically polite that I don't feel like posting it.

I need to go and work on my political impoliteness but until then I just want to say one thing as tonight's Democratic election could decide who will be their candidate.

"Go Hillary"!

It is becoming clearer and clearer to me that being a politician is not an easy job. Think about it! They have the difficult task of trying to do what is the best for their country as a whole and in the long run while at the same time they need to maintain people's confidence. How do you keep people's confidence? By being populist and acting to their whims. In other words, these two things often clash.



Next time you react to a case in the media, ask yourself few questions and keep few things in mind:

• What is the big picture here? Does solving it one way cause bigger problems later? What kind of effects will this have later?
• Everything costs money and money doesn't grow on trees. Would you be willing to pay double tax few years down the road to get this sorted out? Would you be willing to have no pension when you are old because the consequences of this cost a lot of money? Or will you just complain about that too?
• Do you feel good about yourself because of the opinions you have? Could it be that you are polishing your own ego by thinking that you are a better person than the politician? Remember that sitting and judging is always easier than actually running a country.

I have fallen into all these traps many times. I just sit there and judge thinking I am much better than the rest. From now on I am gonna try to ignore the media cases or at least always think about the underlying problem before starting to shout.

Last entry I wrote might have been misunderstood by some people and in a way I deliberately left it a bit open ended to get people thinking.

I would first like to clarify that I am making no assumptions about the accuracy of the statement the little boy made. I just brought it up because it was the case that got me thinking about this, and I decided to make it a hypothetical example since I had it at hand.

The point I am trying to make is that it should not be a complete taboo to point out problems even if it might involve something sensitive such as a minority of some sort. Keep in mind though that with this comes responsibility! We shouldn't just make inaccurate statements to try to blacken and spread hatred about other people. It should, however, be possible to say that maybe something is a problem and start an investigation to verify its truth. If you are wrong, then you should apologize and make sure it is known that you were wrong.

Lets make an example case here. What if we had a group of immigrant kids from Iceland which were causing a lot trouble in a Norwegian school. They are repeatedly beating up the other kids and harassing them. One of the Norwegian parents becomes aware of the situation and goes to the school authorities and says is straight out that the Icelandic kids are beating and harassing the other kids. The school authorities investigate and find out that this is true. There is really a gang of Icelandic kids which are terrorizing their school mates.

Would it be prejudiced to say that the Icelandic immigrants kids are causing problems? In my opinion no, but I can imagine that there might be people that start shouting out that this is prejudiced or even racist. Ignoring the problem will only spread more hatred towards the Icelandic kids. A hatred that could potentially last generations. I see the solution being open about the problem and addressing it as soon as possible.

Why am I writing about this? Because I feel like I live in a society where people constantly get called prejudiced or racists because of the wrong reasons and it is only causing more problems. Those two words are extremely powerful and some people have learned to use them as weapons to defend themselves from taking responsibility for their actions or to make themselves look superior. The only thing that it accomplishes is hatred, and something that is more serious, hidden hatred which is much more difficult to uproot from society.

This is not to say that you can openly go out and say whatever. Looking back at my example, it would for example be wrong to say that “All Icelandic kids beat up and harass their school mates”. It should however be perfectly fine to say that “The Icelandic kids at that school beat up and harass their school mates”. In that case it would be the truth and when did it become wrong to tell the truth?

Few of the blogs I read regularly have brought up the subject of prejudice lately in one form or another. That combined with a continuous discussion in the media got me thinking. It is a difficult subject and has many aspects to it which are going to be impossible to cover in one blog entry. Let me try to make one point here that I have thought about a lot. Here is a little thinking exercise.



Try to imagine:

It is Norway's national day. A parent is watching their kid in a parade and a TV reporter walks up to the parent and starts asking few questions. One of the questions is the following: “Almost half of the kids in you kid's school are immigrants. Do you see it having any cultural effects on your kid's school”. The parent answers: "Yes, there is a lot of fighting because of that".



If you were watching this on TV, what would your reaction be? Shocked? Would you say that the parent was prejudiced against foreigners? Maybe even a racist?



Now lets imagine something else:

Lets say it was not the parent that got asked but a little boy in his school's parade. He answers the same way. "Yes, there is a lot of fighting because of that".



What is your reaction to that? Still maybe a little shocked by the boys bluntness? I doubt that you would call a little innocent boy a racist. After all kids are just being honest and don't have the filter we start imposing on ourselves as we grow older? Or?



The latter case with the little boy is actually the true case and was shown on national TV on Norway's national day. My reaction was a little surprise and then I just brushed it off as a little boy being innocent and honest. Only later did I realize that I would have reacted differently if this had been the parent.



Whether what the little boy said is true or not I have no knowledge of and don't wish to make any guesses. That is not the issue I am trying to point out here but rather how differently we tend to react. Lets just make this an hypothetical example and say that the little boy was telling the truth. Why would it all of a sudden be such a bad, prejudiced thing to say if said by a grown-up? Shouldn't you still be able to state a fact even if it doesn't necessarily paint the prettiest picture of something.



Can anyone tell me how we are ever going to solve any problems if we aren't even allowed to say out loud that something is a problem?