Explosion in Oslo

[OhYouBadBadKitten]

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.

[ManateeEquineOhara]

This is just so awful :( :( :( I cannot understand how someone can do this. This is incomprehensible :(

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

We can't blame the media for reporting this story in detail. What would we prefer? A casual one-liner on the 10 o'clock news and then some kind of blackout. It's a dreadful and sensational story and it's going to get a lot of coverage. How we choose to respond to that coverage is our own choice.... and if someone chooses to treat it as inspirational then really, they have problems.

When I mentioned 'hate-crime' earlier, I was also thinking of the wave of moral indignation that is sweeping the country about government, the press, the Murdochs, the police etc. In some places - even on MN - it is turning into hate already... and that's something we have to be very aware of.

[TheRealMBJ]

Cogito no, it does need to be covered, but the forensic psychologist on the CB piece made a lot of sense. Reporting the news but making at boring as possible, not feeding the need for sensationalism.

[HopeForTheBest]

I would prefer less coverage. I don't need quarter-hourly updates, with "breaking news" on something which happened yesterday and is "over". I realise the effects are not over, so it is appropriate to bring us up to date on what is now known etc. But really, this is just going over and over the details in a way that has nothing to do with reporting news and everything to do with sensationalism.

I guess I don't necessarily mean less coverage, I mean more appropriate coverage.

[HopeForTheBest]

That report by Charlie Brooker is spot on.

[ShowOfHands]

Yes we should absolutely report it. We should try to understand it. We should try to prevent it. We should meet it with democracy as Norway will.

BUT...

Flashing lights, sombre faces, pictures of the killer, snippets from his fb and twitter and a doom-laden voice intoning "91 DEAD, CHILDREN FLEEING FOR THEIR LIVES, ONE LONE SHOOTER LURING INNOCENT VICTIMS TO HIM BEFORE OPENING FIRE" etc. It's horrific. It's not a tag line for a film

The psychologist is right. If it is about the immediate local impact, about those children and their families, the people in the governement building, the bare facts and the way the community handles it then it's cast as what it is, a terrible atrocious act which affects people on a personal level. The immediate shouts of terrorism, the linking it to Al Qaeda in speculation etc only heightens it into what the gunman wants it to be.

I don't blame the media and I don't wish for them to be casual about it. I want them to treat it with the respect it deserves. I don't want a seriously ill man who is in custody and those like him the world over thinking that they're as influential as terrorist groups, worthy of celluloid gore and sensationalism. I want them to see the reality of what they've done, not the furore it can create.

But like I said, it's an argument for another day.

[dollydoodledo]

It's unbelievable, what's also sad is that Norway wouldn't have been prepared for it, it's the middle of their 'common holiday' leaving a skeleton workforce across the board while everyone is on holiday, I bet that's why he planned it for this time. Just so devastating ...

[StealthPolarBear]

So was this actions of a right wing group, or the actions of some killer who happened to be far right wing?

[Psammead]

Jesus.

Sorry if I am being a bit sensationalist here, but 10 days ago, bins, lampposts, busstops etc in my small town got plastered in Neo-Nazi stickers. I am in Germany, this is very illegal here and I have never seen it before.

The stickers were saying Nazi, and had a picture of a clenched fist, with the words 'we will get you all' in German. They were horrible, and most all of them had been partly or completely torn off, presumably by decent members of the public who were outraged at seeing them.

I know that's probably a coincidence. At the time I was angry and thought 'stupid kids, playing games they don't understand' but I feel quite spooked now. Sorry, I don't mean to be all scare-mongery. I just feel unsettled.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

Havent the German authorities recently dug up old Rudolf Hess, cremated him and dispatched him to the sea because his grave was becoming a shrine for neo-nazis? I suppose, if you think about it, today's economic crises are an echo of the 1930's Depression when far-right promises of a better future, largely coupled with blaming innocent bystanders or foreigners, first got a hold. Another reason why we need as much information as possible.

[ThumbsNoseAtSnapewitch]

Urgh Psamme - that is a bit worrying! :(

[NotJustKangaskhan]

I don't think it is known whether he acted individually or part of a group. From what I've heard, it's possibly like Timothy McVeigh - a member of a right wing group but only carried out/known to be happening to a few members who want to push things farther.

Psa I've noticed an increase as well in my area, and this has certainly put it into an unsettling perspective. I think we all need to notice and stand up against the lower-level things more, to prevent the rooting in of any extreme kind of mindset.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

@stealth... they don't know yet. Still working out if the gunman/bomber was a well-organised lone nutter or if he had back-up from a sympathetic group of like-minded individuals

[Psammead]

Whereabouts are you, NotJustKangaskhan ?

[ChristinedePizan]

This is so, so awful. One of DS's favourite teachers at his preschool is Norwegian and she is going back to Norway for 3 weeks with her children on Tuesday. She was telling me yesterday morning how excited they all were, and how peaceful it is there but they are only an hour from Oslo.

I keep thinking about how she must be feeling, she was so happy yesterday :(

[NotJustKangaskhan]

I'm the UK, East Midlands.

[TartyDoris]

The man's trial will be an absolute circus. I can't remember something like this where the killer was taken alive.

Norway's justice system is fairly lenient. I wonder if there will be calls to change this?

[DuelingFanjo]

cocito and showofhands I agree. That Charlie Brooker piece is so true. I think we have to be careful not to live in fear but also be vigilant. Though it is so hard to know when these kinds of attacks will happen when they are the work of a lone man with extreme views.

[eandz]

i just feel absolutely devastated about the next few years that will resound with this act.

I remember walking into official buildings as a little girl in Florida to get my siblings birth certificates with my dad and just be excited to see the insides; and then the week after my son was born here in London, I begged my mother in law to go get his birth certificate stuff done because I didn't want anything to happen to me or my dh.

[Hevian]

eandz - get a grip.

[CogitoErgoSometimes]

@eeandz... that's really not a normal level of anxiety and if it is preventing you from leading a normal life, you should consider seeking medical help. There are many real risks in life and walking into an official building is, thankfully, not one of them. These incidents make the headlines because they are extremely unusual.

[ChristinedePizan]

I think I would have been rather offended if I were your MIL eandz

[NerfHerder]

dollydoodledo- it's a damn good thing it was a public holiday. It means those buildings bombed and on fire were not filled with workers, otherwise there would have been many more deaths I fear. (my loved one included-building directly opposite bomb, and ablaze almost immediately it seems.)

[teejwood]

i just don't understand how someone can gun down scores of innocent children all because of political ideology. well, to be fair i don't understand how people feel justified in killing anyone because of what they think. it is a form of genocide in a way, trying to wipe out the next generation like that.

i agree he allowed himself to be arrested because he wants to soap box and if we can minimise that, that might be a good thing....

my heart goes out to all the families involved. and bloody hell, Nerf glad your DH was not at work!!

[ThumbsNoseAtSnapewitch]

Lucky day for your DH there Nerf.

Earlier I was having trouble understanding why he would choose the holiday period to do this - but he wanted to hit the camp as well, so it would have had to have been the holiday time. And I wondered why he did it the day before the PM was due to visit the camp - but I suppose the security would have been tighter when the PM was there.

I can't understand why he felt the need to kill teenagers, unless it was because they were the next generation of the Labour party who he can't stand and he thought it would break the party? Doesn't excuse it in any way, of course.

I agree though - whatever he says his reasons for this were, they need to be stated and then ignored, not picked over and analysed to the nth degree.