First of all, a little number crunching … Norway has a population of around 5 million as compared to the 309 million in the United States. Or around 1.43% of the size (in population). If we were to “scale up” the known casualty figure of 76 dead to the equivalent figure in terms of the US population, we get a figure of around 5,300 “casualties”. So whilst the Norway bombing and shootings casualties are “only” 76 in number, it is hardly an exaggeration to call this Norway’s 9/11 moment.
There are of course differences – not least of which is that this appears to be the work of a single individual rather than a network of terrorists. The fact that this was a christian fundamentalist rather than an islamic fundamentalist ? That’s only on the surface – when someone’s heart is as black as hades, the shade of black hardly makes a difference. As I said a long time ago, it is not Muslims or Christians that are the enemy, but extremist fundamentalists who want to force their view of the world onto others.
Perhaps you could claim that Norway’s catastrophe has more in common with the London 7/7 bombings because the terrorist was “home grown”. Fair enough, but even 7/7 has been called Britain’s 9/11.
There are those who say that this is the end of Norway’s “time of innocence” … which frankly I find a little odd, and perhaps a touch patronising. Whilst on first reaction, Norwegians may not have seen themselves as a target for terrorism, those Norwegians in charge of security matters will have on reflection realised that it is still possible for Norway to be attacked. And well before the events of last Friday.
Norway deliberately chose an open society – perhaps one of the most open societies there has ever been. And despite the risks of an open society where a nutter can commit these sorts of crimes, it seems that Norway is determined to remain free and open. Many other countries when attacked by terrorists have reacted by clamping down on their freedoms in order to make terrorism just a little less likely, but it does not stop it.
It seems that Norwegians have reacted to this tragedy in a way that can only be called mature – whilst there is undoubtedly anger at the killer, and some concern about security, they are determined to keep their freedoms.