A nation of consummate Eloi

It took Norwegian police 90 minutes to get to Utoya island (distance from Oslo by car 24 miles) once they received reports of the mass killing that was in progress there. One reason they took so long was that they couldn’t travel there by helicopter, because all the helicopter pilots were on vacation (see below). Another reason they took so long was that when they finally arrived by car at Tyrifjorden lake, where the island is located, and got in a boat to cross to the island, which is 1,600 feet offshore, there were too many policemen on the boat, and it began to sink, and they had to stop and turn back. The killer must have been shocked and delighted that he had so much extra time to carry out so many more murders—unless the fecklessness of and long delay by the police were also anticipated by him and were part of his plan. Either way, we can understand why, as the New York Times reported, he had a “contented” look on his face when the Keystone Cops finally arrived and he surrendered to them.

Then there’s the fact—which is so shocking and horrible that this is the first time I’ve mentioned it though I heard about it three days ago—that the maximum prison sentence in Norway is 21 years.

The Norwegians think of their small country (pop. 4 million) as superior. To me they sound like a bunch of deluded, incompetent hippies, superior only in the degree of their Eloidom.

UPDATE

Here is the shocking information in today’s New York Post on which I based the above:

In other developments: [ … ]

* Police admitted they didn’t send a SWAT team to Utoya island until 50 minutes after receiving reports that Breivik had opened fire Friday. He continued to shoot while police were delayed another 40 minutes because there was no available helicopter. All helicopter crew members had been on vacation.

Also, a police boat was dispatched to the island but was so overloaded with cops and equipment that it began taking on water and had to stop.

Norway Justice Minister Knut Storberget will meet police chiefs today to demand explanations.

* Police also said they grossly misjudged the number of victims on Utoya by double-counting bodies. The dead total 76, not 93. [Whoops, there goes the idea that humans evolve higher intelligence in cold, northern climates.]

Also this:

* It was revealed that Breivik targeted the camp because it is affiliated with the ruling Labor Party.

The judge at yesterday’s hearing told reporters that Breivik’s object, “was not to kill as many people as possible but to give a strong signal that could not be misunderstood that as long as the Labor Party keeps driving its ideological lie and keeps deconstructing Norwegian culture and mass importing Muslims, then they must assume responsibility for this treason.”

- end of initial entry -

Garrick writes:

All police helicopter pilots and police affiliated helicopter pilots were on vacation? I’m dubious. Surely in such an advanced, civilized nation the police could have scrounged up an offshore oil industry helicopter on short notice if the alarm had been sent out. Norwegians are soft and spoiled due to their oil wealth. This allows them to indulge their Jew hatred and Israel hatred and support the Palestinians. This allows them to bask lazily in the glow of being a moral superpower. Due to easy oil wealth they never joined the EU, they have no need for such monetary schemes.

Meanwhile, the native girls and women get raped by Muslim immigrants and it’s all kept quiet.

Here is a pro-Palestinian banner from this Utoya Island socialist youth camp:

LA replies:

That is one of the most disgusting photographs I’ve ever seen. Think of a leftish leaning summer camp (I went to one for two summers in my teens, though it wasn’t overtly political). What do you think of? Idealistic young people singing folk songs, working on communal projects, that kind of thing. And in this picture we see the smiling young man in the striped shirt, the picture of youthful, hopeful idealism, the dream of a better world. The expression on his face says, “We’re doing the right thing, we stand for goodness.” But what is his and his fellow campers’ idealism directed toward? Toward the boycott of Israel, the tiny forever beseiged country targeted for destruction by the entire Muslim world. For these Norwegians, ganging up on Israel, making it impossible for it to defend itself, is the height of goodness. Then let’s remember that this camp is not just any leftish camp, it is the camp, the almost sacred gathering place, of the ruling party of Norway. So this repulsive photograph represents Norway. Norway is deep, deep in the liberal mire.

Alissa writes:

The passivity during the attack was astonishing. In an island with 650 people during summer camp like Utoya one man can terrorize them all into silence and install deep fear into them. The boys didn’t fight back either. If 20 people or more banded and tried to get Anders Breivik they would have stopped him. But they didn’t. They could have used knives, pans, fire and whatnot but they didn’t. A few were scared for their lives and didn’t want to do a huge sacrifice but the others were just passive. Even two men (if Breivik had an accomplice) wouldn’t be able to stand 650 people unless they had bombs and were releasing poisonous chemicals into the air.

A reader from Canada writes:

In addition to the police’s problem in getting there in time to save dying youths, I find the following story amazing, especially since it is accompanied by this picture, of the killer in action!

AP EDITORS NOTE: THIS PHOTO WAS DIGITALLY ALTERED BY NRK BROADCASTERS TO PROTECT THE IDENTITIES OF THE VICTIMS—This photo taken from a helicopter above Utoya island near Oslo, Norway, shows what police believe is the alleged gunman walking among victims after opening fire on a youth retreat, killing at least 85, Friday, July 22, 2011. (AP Photo/NRK, Marius Arnesen via Scanpix)

The reader continues:

This is taken from a helicopter belonging to Norway’s National Radio and TV organization NRK, presumably filmed well ahead of the police arriving on the island.

The questions that then arise are of course many:

- Why would the news helicopter not have returned to land and brought back an armed sniper policeman?

- Why would the pilot and the photo journalist not have landed on top of the monster and tried to distract him, maybe even blowing him off balance with their large rotor blades?

- Why would they not have used the helicopter to evacuate kids, even if they were simply to sit on the helicopter landing gear while being flown away? The distance indicates that such trips would have taken less than a minute.

- Why were not more news helicopters pressed into service, they seem to have been available?

I am flabbergasted at the seeming inaction of all of these people!

The reader continues:

Here is video that includes the picture I sent you earlier.

To see the short video taken from the helicopter, click on the white-on-red arrow at the top of the island.

Alexis Zarkov writes:

Norway lives in an alternate reality of extreme liberalism. Their attitude towards guns is the tip off. As this article in the New York Times reveals, the Norwegian police “rarely” carry weapons:

Currently, only beat police officers in patrol cars have immediate access to weapons. By law, however, they have to remain unloaded and locked in a box in the car unless authorization is given.

Who gives the authorization? I hate this use of the passive voice to conceal information.

Such a policy goes beyond stupid. Quick response is the major reason for having a firearm. If a policeman has to fumble with a lock, and then load the gun, he or someone else could end up dead. Having an unloaded fireman can be worse than no firearm at all because an attacker will generally assume the gun is loaded and act more aggressively. In Norway when seconds count, the police are only hours away. Now the punch line:

Some experts worry that arming police officers all the time will only lead to an escalation of violence as criminals arm themselves in response. For many, though, resistance to the idea has more to do with national pride.

“I would prefer to live in a society where police normally work unarmed,” said Johannes Knutsson, a professor of police research at the Norwegian Police University College. “It is a very forceful and symbolic sign to the citizens that this is a peaceful society.”

There you have it. The perfect example of an Eloi mentality. The abstraction, “symbolic sign to the citizens that this is a peaceful society,” trumps reality. This kind of magical thinking believes that by manipulating symbols, one creates reality. They will sacrifice their children to worship at the alter of liberalism.

JC writes:

According to the linked article the Norwegian “Penal Code gives the state prosecutor the right to seek an extension of sentences beyond the 21-year maximum for up to five years at a time, on the condition that the inmate is deemed to be a “high risk” of repeating serious offences.” Such extensions could be theoretically indefinite, but are rarely used.

July 27

Jason R. writes:

Most of your coverage of the Norwegian massacre has been up to your usual high standard, but I’m unhappy with this entry on three grounds.

First, as I understand it, the still taken from the video filmed by the TV helicopter was only noticed many hours later upon close examination. The footage was not being shown live and the camera crew had no clear idea what they were filming during the flyover. [LA replies: You mean, they didn’t see what they were filming? They had their camera trained on Breivik as he walked among his victims, but they didn’t know that they were looking at Breivik walking among his victims? I find that hard to believe.] But even if they had immediately recognised the killer in action, I don’t see how the brief presence of a TV helicopter on scene translates into an indictment of the police because they didn’t have a special-forces laden chopper at the ready.

Second, the animosity directed at Norway by you and your correspondents comes across as completely inappropriate. As this poll shows, Norway is really no different from any other Western country, so I’m not sure why they’re the target of such venom unless it’s because of their anti-Israeli reputation. [LA replies: I was shocked and disgusted by that photo of the “Boycott Israel” demonstration at Utoya island, and, for the reasons I explained, that certainly added to my negative picture of the Norwegians. They don’t seem just like other Western countries. They seem more extravagant in their dhimmitude and in the preening moral self-approbation they derive from it. However, I acknowledge your point that the hostility I expressed toward Norway was probably excessive.]

Finally, this:

Police also said they grossly misjudged the number of victims on Utoya by double-counting bodies. The dead total 76, not 93. [Whoops, there goes the idea that humans evolve higher intelligence in cold, northern climates.]

This snark and the Keystone Cops jibe is really unworthy of you!

LA replies:

Can’t I make an occasional joke? And it’s simply the case that it’s normal for humans to find humor even in the midst of horror. Also, if the huge miscounting of the bodies had been an isolated incident, I wouldn’t have made a point about it. But, in conjunction with the other amazing foul-ups reported by the NY Post—that the Norwegian police let ALL of their helicopter pilots go on vacation AT THE SAME TIME, that they took NINETY MINUTES to get to the island where a mass murder was in progress—the discovery that they had miscounted the bodies by such a large number completed a picture of comical incompetence in the middle of bloody horror. At the same time, I can understand why you felt that this was a cheap shot, and not appropriate. It probably would have been better if I hadn’t said it.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at July 26, 2011 08:05 PM | Send