The typical step a society takes after a terrorist attack is towards stricter security measures. It happened after 9/11 and has continued to happen in the US in the decade that is soon to have passed. Obviously, as a symbol of Western civilisation the US is a more prominent terrorist target, and concise parallels are difficult to draw. However, Norway has surprised foreign observers I have spoken to, and maybe even ourselves, in that we instead have managed to take a step back. Through careful reflection proving that there are other ways of maintaining order than merely through more rules and regulations. That increasing the social trust, in a society that already enjoys amongst the highest levels of social trust in the world, is a more rewarding option…. Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg has stated clearly that the terror will be met with more democracy and more openness. Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Støre has made clear that tomorrow’s Norway will be fully recognisable. Not only have these phrases been repeated. They have been implemented…. Even more interesting, perhaps, there hasn’t even been a public outcry for more security for the politicians to address. No opposition politicians, not even social media voices, have demanded more public security or pointed to the lack thereof as potential discouragements to the attacks. There has been no visible debate on gun laws or even on the sale of fertilizer, used by the attacker. Neither has there been calls for stricter legal punishment, Norway has 21 years as its maximum prison sentence.
I feel almost guilty talking about the tragic terrorist attacks in Norway in dispassionate, borderline academic turns, but it’s the nature of tragedy, I suppose, that leads thinking people to re-examine their world. Humans at their most basic are about self-preservation, and few things trigger that instinct more powerfully than the idea, or worse, the reality of our children being taken violently from us.
Comparing countries can be a tenuous and often difficult thing. Different historical and cultural contexts and considerations often make for an apples-and-oranges comparison. Norway and the US may be two wealthy and successful Western nations, but that’s really about where the similariites end. To compare and contrast how each country has reacted to a horrific terroristic attack is a challenging thing to do and to draw any real conclusions from…except that we as a Americans could do well to learn from how Norway has chosen to harness and channel their fear, grief, and outrage.
One could argue that the scope and scale of the 9.11 attacks and Anders Behring Breivik’s murderous rampage are very different and therefore incomparable. Perhaps so. What each incident has in common, though, is being so horrific as to be almost beyond normal, rational human comprehenion. How can someone plan to fly airplanes into office buildings? How can someone coolly and dispassionately execute children? How can we possibly hope to understand acts so thoroughly horrific and incomprehensibly evil? I’m not certain that it’s even possible to reduce either horrible day to something that can be understood by a rational mind.
So how does a country and it’s grieving people recover from such a staggering blow? Well, here’s where Norway and the US diverge, and the different paths they’ve chosen should give those of us on this side of the pond reason to stop and ponder what we’ve done to ourselves in the 10 years since 9.11. In many ways, the America I live in barely resembles the America that existed on 9.10.01. Not that the previous America was some sort of Paradise, of course, but we didn’t live in abject fear and we didn’t allow those fears to govern virtually aspect of our lives. Now our fear and the resulting hatred and mistrust rule so many aspects of the American existence. As a general rule, we fear and hate all things Muslim- mostly because we can’t be bothered to take the time to understand any religion not named “Christianity.” It’s easier to fear, hate, and marginalize that which which have neither the ability nor the inclination to understand…and so we live in fear of the Other, someone whose customs, mores, and, worst of all, religion are so completely foreign to us.
America has in effect become a shining example of how terrorism can achieve its ends. Through selective interpretation of horrific events, Americans can be convinced that the best way to ensure their safety is to live in fear, trust no one, suspect everything, and be terrified of that which they dont’/can’t/refuse to understand. That’s how terrorism wins, and that’s how this nation has handed al-Qaeda the very victory we so desperately seek to deny them.
Norway, a small country with a relatively low international profile, appears to have absorbed Brievik’s savagery by reaffirming who they are and what they stand for. They’ve chose to fight back by remaining true to themselves and their belief in their country and their way of life. Yes, Norway is a far more homogenous country with far fewer negative international entanglements than the US, but Norwegians believe that their strength lies in being true to themselves and what they stand for. That strength and courage stands in stark contrast to the cowardly fear-mongering and terrified insularity that has run rampant in America since 9.11.
A few weeks after 9.11, I flew to North Carolina, and was greeted at the Raleigh-Durham airport by uniformed National Guradsmen patrolling the concourses with rifles on their shoulders. It was then that I realized that things had changed, and that being an American would going forward be an experience in dealing with various levels of fear and loathing- fear of traveling and loathing of The Other. Things have certainly not improved since, which is why I think I can make a convincing argument that the terrorists have in fact won when it comes to their battle with America. Norway has simply refused to concede the high ground, and fighting the forces of Darkness with yet more democracy and openness is both sensible and brave.
Would that we could have seen our way clear to taking the same path Norway has. Would that we could have translated the sense of unity and common purpose that we experienced in the immediate aftermath of 9.11 into a stronger sense of community and inter-connectedness. Then again, we’re Americans; the Social Contract is for losers and Liberals….
