and beeing on the receiving end of the stick made working together a necessity for quite some time in history.
Nephilim2016 on
He visited in the 70s when his statements were correct. The population makeup has changed a lot since then.
I’d say these comments apply more to Eastern Europe now. You still have more homogeneous populations there.
aaaak4 on
In Denmark we call it sammenhængskraft
A55Man-Norway on
He describes it surprisingly well.
_____michel_____ on
What kind of racist propaganda is this?
No, we are not just one tribe here. I’m ethnically Norwegian and atheist but I’ve got more in common with some immigrants that come here than most of our home grown radical right wing racists shitheads.
We’re far from just being one tribe.
I doubt this was ever the case. I know that ethnic Norwegians from the north of Norway used to be treated badly by ethnic Norwegians in Oslo a few decades back, before my time. (Just as an example.)
helgur on
Norway was mostly racially homogenous in the 8th century also. Didn’t stop a large part of the population fleeing to Iceland over the prospect over founding the kingdom of Norway, because they didn’t want to pay taxes and loose their little fiefdoms scattered all over the place.
It’s just nonsense, and relies on the myth that people with a different skin color can’t integrate into the existing society and will forever be a separate part, creating a fractured, non cohesive society.
Back when this country actually practiced conscription I served with a few immigrants and children of immigrants. They where no different then the rest of us. I even served with a Turkish guy that had fled Turkey as a refugee because he didn’t want to fight the kurds, and voluntarily signed up here because he felt he wanted to do his part for this country, like all the other eligible native Norwegians of military age.
It’s all about mindset, nothing to do with skin color.
pingmr on
Singaporean here.
I wish people stopped making these completely shallow references to LKY. Lee was many things, and some of his beliefs have simply not aged well. The most obvious is his racial views, which are partially reflected in the extract above.
Just as an example – Lee believed that Malays (the actual indigenous people of Singapore) were naturally less productive than Chinese (immigrants). Or in other words, that Singapore has succeeded not because, but *despite* its multi-cultural society. I can’t remember the exact quote here but he has stated something along the lines of how nation building would be so much better if the country was majority Chinese. He also loved the Jews and the Japanese as examples of productive ethnic groups.
I don’t blame Lee directly for these views. They are the product of his time. But none of this is applicable today.
OrionRedacted on
So you’re saying after the oil fund things changed? Strange!….
perpetual_stew on
There’s a lot that can be said about this, and not much of it would be very interesting.
However, I want to address one thing I’ve always found grating. Norway has two parliaments (Sami and Norwegian), we have three official written languages (Sami, Norwegian, Neo-Norwegian) and two official spoken languages (Norwegian and Sami). But we also officially recognize that there are three sami languages as well as three further languages having a long national history (kvensk, romani and romanes). About 67% are formally part of the largest religion, which is a lower percentage belonging to the majority religion than in, for example, the US (77%), Thailand (93%) or India (80%), to mention a few countries known for diversity. Politically we have everything from straight up communists to Trump supporters representing in our parliament.
But somehow we are held up as an example of a homogenous society?
I think it’s much more interesting to ask why do a Christian west-coaster writing and reading neo-Norwegian, a secular city-dweller in Oslo and a Sami in Kautokeino all comfortably feel part of the same group as Norwegians. I actually don’t have a good answer, but I know it’s not because I – as a secular city boy – has a lot in common with a religious person from the bible belt. But I wouldn’t even consider that guy as less Norwegian than me, so it’s not that. I actually think it is – as unpopular as this might be – because we are a tolerant and inclusive society.
When I read things like the stuff in the post, it reminds me of westerners who say they can’t tell Chinese people apart. It’s just out-group homogeneity bias – we all tend to look at other groups as more similar internally than the groups we belong to ourselves. So basically this dude racked up in Norway, saw a lot of white people, and that was similar enough for him.
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Who? 70s? Can I have my time back please?
and beeing on the receiving end of the stick made working together a necessity for quite some time in history.
He visited in the 70s when his statements were correct. The population makeup has changed a lot since then.
I’d say these comments apply more to Eastern Europe now. You still have more homogeneous populations there.
In Denmark we call it sammenhængskraft
He describes it surprisingly well.
What kind of racist propaganda is this?
No, we are not just one tribe here. I’m ethnically Norwegian and atheist but I’ve got more in common with some immigrants that come here than most of our home grown radical right wing racists shitheads.
We’re far from just being one tribe.
I doubt this was ever the case. I know that ethnic Norwegians from the north of Norway used to be treated badly by ethnic Norwegians in Oslo a few decades back, before my time. (Just as an example.)
Norway was mostly racially homogenous in the 8th century also. Didn’t stop a large part of the population fleeing to Iceland over the prospect over founding the kingdom of Norway, because they didn’t want to pay taxes and loose their little fiefdoms scattered all over the place.
It’s just nonsense, and relies on the myth that people with a different skin color can’t integrate into the existing society and will forever be a separate part, creating a fractured, non cohesive society.
Back when this country actually practiced conscription I served with a few immigrants and children of immigrants. They where no different then the rest of us. I even served with a Turkish guy that had fled Turkey as a refugee because he didn’t want to fight the kurds, and voluntarily signed up here because he felt he wanted to do his part for this country, like all the other eligible native Norwegians of military age.
It’s all about mindset, nothing to do with skin color.
Singaporean here.
I wish people stopped making these completely shallow references to LKY. Lee was many things, and some of his beliefs have simply not aged well. The most obvious is his racial views, which are partially reflected in the extract above.
Just as an example – Lee believed that Malays (the actual indigenous people of Singapore) were naturally less productive than Chinese (immigrants). Or in other words, that Singapore has succeeded not because, but *despite* its multi-cultural society. I can’t remember the exact quote here but he has stated something along the lines of how nation building would be so much better if the country was majority Chinese. He also loved the Jews and the Japanese as examples of productive ethnic groups.
I don’t blame Lee directly for these views. They are the product of his time. But none of this is applicable today.
So you’re saying after the oil fund things changed? Strange!….
There’s a lot that can be said about this, and not much of it would be very interesting.
However, I want to address one thing I’ve always found grating. Norway has two parliaments (Sami and Norwegian), we have three official written languages (Sami, Norwegian, Neo-Norwegian) and two official spoken languages (Norwegian and Sami). But we also officially recognize that there are three sami languages as well as three further languages having a long national history (kvensk, romani and romanes). About 67% are formally part of the largest religion, which is a lower percentage belonging to the majority religion than in, for example, the US (77%), Thailand (93%) or India (80%), to mention a few countries known for diversity. Politically we have everything from straight up communists to Trump supporters representing in our parliament.
But somehow we are held up as an example of a homogenous society?
I think it’s much more interesting to ask why do a Christian west-coaster writing and reading neo-Norwegian, a secular city-dweller in Oslo and a Sami in Kautokeino all comfortably feel part of the same group as Norwegians. I actually don’t have a good answer, but I know it’s not because I – as a secular city boy – has a lot in common with a religious person from the bible belt. But I wouldn’t even consider that guy as less Norwegian than me, so it’s not that. I actually think it is – as unpopular as this might be – because we are a tolerant and inclusive society.
When I read things like the stuff in the post, it reminds me of westerners who say they can’t tell Chinese people apart. It’s just out-group homogeneity bias – we all tend to look at other groups as more similar internally than the groups we belong to ourselves. So basically this dude racked up in Norway, saw a lot of white people, and that was similar enough for him.