Songs of Solace in Norway

Here’s what just made me gasp aloud:

A small story, almost a filler, on NPR. A Norwegian radio station has been asking people to request songs that speak to them of solace, support and unity. The announcer said there were many – – but three top requests. One, almost a lullaby, is about Norway as a small country on the edge of the world, and he played a few verses.

Next, he described a song that was originally a poem from the 1930s telling young people to beware of growing Fascism in the world. Sounds heavy-handed, but it was set to music in the ’50s and is a fine folk song. Some young people said they sang it to themselves to find courage as they swam away from the island under fire.

Then the announcer talked about songs from all over the world that people had requested. But said there was one above all. I half-way expected “Imagine.” Instead, it was Bob Marley, Redemption Song. In grief-stricken Norway.

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From friend Kelly Stupple:

If the person who killed 70+ people in Norway was a Muslim, the Press would have declared him as terrorist. For now though, he is just an ‘Assailant ‘, ‘Attacker’ (Reuters), ‘Gunman’ (BBC, CNN & Al Jazeera). Looks like ‘Terrorist’ is a name reserved for Muslims? The US Dept of State calls it an ‘Act of Violence’, Not an ‘Act of Terrorism’. Share this status and let the world know, hypocrisy is leading us all astray.

And from friend Freddie McKenna:

 I wonder what it would take to convey terrorist status on this guy (other than his wearing a keffiyeh and riding a camel through the streets of Oslo). Thinking the press rationalizes that if you act alone and are not part of some kind of terrorist organization, you’re just a lone whack job. Never heard them call Timothy McVeigh a terrorist either.