When asked to comment on the Scandinavians, most Americans think of jagged coasts, beautiful women, darn good skiers and an affinity for molded shark meat. I prefer this kind of image because it makes them a little quirky. However, two major incidents over the last week have brought a different image – one that defines them as morally confused and so liberal as to be a little goofy, and not in a good way.
The Norwegian ambassador to Israel, Svein Sevje, said in an interview, “We Norwegians consider the occupation (of Palestine) to be the cause of the terror against Israel…In the case of the terror attack in Norway, the murderer had an ideology that says that Norway, particularly the Labor Party, is forgoing Norwegian culture.” It is hard to believe that one so educated and accomplished could have said something so inane and worse yet, without the permission of the government. When one represents a country as an ambassador, the tendency to go off the reservation is extremely limited. It would take about five seconds on a Google search to find out that terrorists’ attacks on Israel predate the “occupation.” Indeed, it does not seem to take too much for the Palestinian terrorists and Hamas to launch attacks on civilians.
I should state my affiliation. I’m a Jew but as a history teacher, I’m not blind to the controversies surrounding the conflict between Israel and Palestinian Arabs. However, Israel also deals with something that Norway could not comprehend and indeed, in their actions, have chosen to ignore – Israel is surrounded by people who want to destroy them. The intimation that Israel has it coming because they control the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, while at the same time being the largest donator of supplies and relief (more so than any Arab country), is as absurd as some of Norway’s anti-Semitic policies. Alan Dershowitz, in an article for the Jerusalem Post, wrote of Norway’s attempt to recognize Palestinian statehood while circumventing the peace process as well as outlawing sacrificial Jewish practices while allowing similar Muslim practices. Norway is dangerously flirting with a policy that aligns itself with a terrorist organization such as Hamas. That is awful bad company for such a liberal, civilized country.
On a lighter note but no less bizarre are the actions taken by a pre-school in Sweden. At the Egalia Preschool in Stockholm, the staff has decided to cease using any word that would denote gender. If you’ve always had a problem with personal pronouns, your salvation is here. The children are now referred to as “friends.” Toys, books and even the colors on the wall have been chosen carefully to allow the children to be as gender ambiguous as possible. In a rather draconian measure, the Swedish education system is no longer attempting to teach people to value every person, despite their gender but rather to teach them that gender does not exist. It does make one wonder what will happen when little Sven and Elsa figure out that their parts don’t match.
A friend once told me that nature is ambivalent to fairness and equality. It is blind to the inequities it creates – it merely sets the groundwork and people are tasked with dealing with the difference. To act as if the differences don’t exist seems childish. According to articles on the school, parents are also concerned that the school has left its pedagogical turf and entered the world of engineered asexuality. While the school officials preach that they are teaching their children not to see gender, sexual preference or society-mandated roles or occupations, others consider it a form of brainwashing. All of this is being done to reverse the inequity of nature. Being careful here, it seems almost Aryan – the idea of trying to create the socially perfect person. In doing so, an educator is trying to wipe out all unfavorable characteristics as determined by the state. It sounds a bit suspicious in motive and catastrophic in design.
What is a Sweden without extolling the womanhood of such Swedes as Ingrid Bergman, Lena Olin and Inger Stevens? Perhaps, not as interesting.
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