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News

Explosion in Oslo

256 replies

OhYouBadBadKitten · 22/07/2011 16:04

No threads here yet?
It looks like a very big explosion, one fatality reported so far. May be terrorism but bbc saying that is speculation.

OP posts:

Report

QOD · 23/07/2011 08:51

Its just so awful. My aunt, cousin and his wife and their kids left Oslo airport just before it happened so are here with us on holiday, they don't know yet how bad it all is :(
My cousin who stayed home lives in Oslo in the city by the university and is so upset about everything. He is a mature student and has spent a lot of time with young students - for so many to be wiped out, so many promising youth in one foul sweep - will have such a profound effect on this little country.
Awful dreadful thing :(

QuincyMincemeat · 23/07/2011 08:54

oh god cogito that is beyond horrific

BellaBearisWideAwake · 23/07/2011 08:58

Is there anything people can do?? I just keep hugging my kids but I feel so wretched.

PestoCaffeinisto · 23/07/2011 09:06

ThumbsNoseAtSnapewitch · 23/07/2011 09:13

It is horrendous. Apparently, in latest news I've just watched, he was an ex-military man with a grudge against the Govt - the camp was one for junior members of the Labour Party (in power in Norway).

Again apparently he had 3 guns on him, a shotgun, a handgun and an automatic weapon that might have been an M16. the eye-witness accounts are heartbreaking and terrifying.

Those poor families - my heart really goes out to them. :(

PhilipJFry · 23/07/2011 09:18

I felt sick reading this, but when I read about him wanting to talk to police and to explain himself I felt so angry. He's going to be some sicko with an obsessively-built ideological standpoint- I bet he uses this as a platform to rant and rave about it. Never mind all those dead children and adults, all he'll care about is himself and his grandiose worldview.

This is what he tweeted on the 17th of July: "One person with a belief is equal to the force of 100 000 who have only interests."

CogitoErgoSometimes · 23/07/2011 09:20

Norway is a very organised country & the PM's offered help on a national level. There's not much we can practically do as individuals - not like an earthquake or famine in poor country. I think, however, that a lesson from these kinds of events is vigilance in our own communities and awareness that hate-crime is not exclusive to one type of person.

NerfHerder · 23/07/2011 09:23

I just can't take it in. To shoot 80 children and young people. Why a youth camp and not a party politcal conference seems unbelievable.

CogitoErgoSometimes · 23/07/2011 09:29

Youth camp because it's isolated (on an island) & undefended. Sitting duck. The bomb diverted police to the centre of Oslo leaving the gunman free for quite some time. Unlike the mass shooting incidents elsewhere where the usual pattern is to end with the gunman shooting themselves, this man clearly wants to be caught, maybe to achieve infamy, and almost certainly to soap-box whatever political/religious/delusion he claims as his rationale.

suburbophobe · 23/07/2011 09:29

It's just horrendous and unbelievable. Words fail me.....

noddyholder · 23/07/2011 09:34

this is hugely shocking and distressing.

DirtyMartini · 23/07/2011 09:46

I think, however, that a lesson from these kinds of events is vigilance in our own communities and awareness that hate-crime is not exclusive to one type of person.

That's the first thing I have read anywhere that is even remotely comforting Cogito, thank you - it at least gives those of us who are horrified from a safe distance somewhere to focus our thoughts & discussion.

DirtyMartini · 23/07/2011 09:47

"Comforting" = bad word choice. I suppose I meant ... helpful.

Ariesgirl · 23/07/2011 09:50

Very good point Cogito. I bet I was not the only one to think "Why on earth would Norway be a target for extremists?" little imagining what sort of extremist it was.

The other thing which has been making me shake my head is that the kind of kids who are compelled to attend such an event, those who are interested in politics and debating, would have been the country's future leaders and doctors and lawyers etc. And because of one man they are gone. I can't get over that thought.

AuntieMonica · 23/07/2011 09:51

my heart goes out to Norway and all who live there.

i'm crying too now

DirtyMartini · 23/07/2011 09:53

I know Ariesgirl. The loss of one of those kids would have been an awful, awful thing. He has killed so, so many ... it's beyond comprehension, the impact of that.

belledechocchipcookie · 23/07/2011 09:59

There are just no words. Over half a century later the Nazi's still harm children. My thoughts are with Norway and her families.

duckdodgers · 23/07/2011 10:01

"He's going to be some sicko with an obsessively-built ideological standpoint- I bet he uses this as a platform to rant and rave about it. Never mind all those dead children and adults, all he'll care about is himself and his grandiose worldview."

Totally agree, self obsessed and full of an over inflated sense of his own importance and "role" in whatever crazy cause he is trying to promote no doubt.

queenoffairies · 23/07/2011 10:10

Just evil, and

TheRealMBJ · 23/07/2011 10:12

FUCKING HELL

Those poor kids and their families

ShowOfHands · 23/07/2011 10:15

It's just incomprehensible.

I've turned off the television and radio as dd is up and about.

When these terrible things happen, I'm always reminded of piece by Charlie Brooker. The constant coverage, the sensationalism and hyperbole, they all perpetuate the climate which bred this sort of nonsensical act in the first place. Of course it must be reported, but I am always disgusted by pockets of the media and the way they leap on the salacious details.

It's a discussion for another time I know, but the terrible man who did this will see this coverage as a proxy soapbox.

suburbophobe · 23/07/2011 10:18

What is also totally creepy this guy is going to end up as some sort of "hero" in far right wing circles, like Timothy McVeigh became....

I really can't get my head around these people....

Empusa · 23/07/2011 10:28

This just gets worse and worse.

It's terrifying, those poor children. :(

BitOfFun · 23/07/2011 10:35

That was very sobering, SOH. I've turned over- you're right, this sort of coverage can't meet our urge to understand, and ends up glorifying the shooter as an anti-hero, which will only ever inspire more incidents. I am so very very sorry for all those families.

I feel very proud of the Norwegian government's determination to meet this with "more democracy, not less" though- I doubt that's how it would be handled here.

TheRealMBJ · 23/07/2011 10:40

I remember watching that SoH and thinking how right he was. I haven't seen any of the news coverage but even the papers are quite salacious.

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