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I’m guessing “nordnorsk debatt” is a place where a vocal minority gets to let off steam with relatively little moderation or consequence. In any community that don’t work hard enough to prevent it, the most belligerent members will almost always try to seize dominance and suppress other voices. As a result, the hateful messages are overrepresented, and people with other opinions rarely dare speak; they will face retaliation if they do. A similar problem happened on a larger scale during the last Norwegian parliamentary election, when the hatred against, for example, certain female MDG politicians was so great that many experts declared this phenomenom a serious threat to Norwegian democracy, and called for more regulation of online communities, in order to protect the diverse voices necessary for our civilization to function. It has since been established that the demographic primarily responsible for that kind of online hate, tend to be older white men. So my guess is that it’s all the same thing. The hatred is not really about the Sámi people, or unique to it. It’s really about entitled, predominantly white men and women, who want to believe they’re smarter than they really are, that they deserve more than they get, and most importantly, that others are to blame for their own lives not being perfect. Thus, they blame and hate e.g. immigrants because they’re “others”, and for the same reasons, also blame and hate the Sámi. Some will even blame and hate just about anyone who won’t tell them what they want to hear. And these people will voice their hate whenever and wherever they can (and if they can’t, they’ll cry about “free speech”, of course without understanding what free speech really is). It’s a bit like an addiction, I think. It helps them feel a bit better about themselves, and I’m sure it also gives some sort of kick. This phenomenon is everywhere today. It’s human nature, but amplified by modern social media, particularly those with clueless and selfish management, such as Facebook. It has created a worldwide wave of hate that’s corrupting pretty much every civilization on Earth (including the United States, who’s now tiptoeing on the edge of no longer being a democracy). As I’ve always tried to see the bigger picture, I simply can’t see it as just about the Sámi now. There’s still abundant racism against the Sámi, and they’re regularly harassed. But still, the chances of reconciliation seem it should be high anyway if Norway, and Norwegians in general, take the issues seriously. So I wouldn’t say this committee is either of those things yet. Rather, it’s a matter of whether the Norwegians are going to treat it as make-believe or not. If they do, then that’s what it’ll become, and reconciliation will become harder. If they take it seriously, then it will have the actual power to heal, and make reconciliation easier. This is one of those things where it matters less what something is, and matters more what people do with it.
You’re saying that the Sami people are still being harassed, right? I have noticed that there are online communities where people are extremely critical of the Sami people. Even though I have to run what they write through Google Translate, the message appears to be clear, and some of these places comes across as hateful. A site named “Nordnorskdebatt.no” seems to be quite a venom filled pit in that regard. Why is there so much hatred against the Sami people in Norway?
Having that said:
How would you say the science of epigenetic inheritance of the effects of trauma is impacting on the willingness of investigating these matters, granted the presence of a perception that this particular science is valid? On the condition, of course, that there is established at least some consensus that trauma is, in its different extents and variations, inflicted on the indigenous people (not necessarily all) in the era of the missionaries. I’m aware that there’s also been other events, like the attempts to eradicate both culture and language at the hands of the government later on that could be causing trauma.
Which is leading me to “Sannhets- og forsoningskommisjonen”. How would you rate their mandate and the chances of reconciliation? Is it a fair game or is it rather just make believe?
Best regards,
Jenny
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