Covid in Norway: Gaslighting, Fear Porn, and Lies Continue to Rise

Brief Notes on the Emerging Witch-Hunt of 'the Unvaxxed'--for 'anti-social' behaviour, i.e., non-compliance to get 'jabbed' with vaxxes that don't prevent (re-) infection, spread, and transmission

So far, Scandinavia and Covid-19 were two sides of the same coin, which typically look like this: on the one hand, there were very few ‘cases’, hospitalisations, and deaths, typically coupled with triumphant noises about high vaccine uptake (Denmark, Iceland, Norway). Then there is much-defamed Sweden, which was either hailed as ‘reasonable’ and ‘cool’ (by those who advocated its path) or damned as ‘abnormal’ and the like, on the other hand.

All countries in the ‘Nordic’ category, however, exhibit significantly elevated levels of compliance with ‘recommendations’ and the like, which all resulted in comparatively high levels of ‘vaccine’ uptake, as shown in the below illustrations, courtesy of OWID.

As always, we don’t live in a Manichean (black-or-white) world, hence there’s much more to these issues than first meets the eye.

As I noted earlier this week, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (IPH) admitted to a number of astonishing non-Covid factoids, in particular highlighting the long-standing problems of the healthcare sector (lack of qualified personnel) and the potential system overload for reasons other than Covid.

In addition, the new more stringent national and local measures in place since Monday (13 Dec. 2021) are, by and large, making for tougher restrictions than last year, i.e., before the ‘vaccine’ roll-out, which commenced on 28 Dec. 2021.

As a consequence, sentiments are rising in Norway, which are the subjects of this post:

Rising anti-unvaccinated sentiment in Norway

Already before the IPH issued its report one could find the occasional hit-piece, such as this one (from my earlier post)

There were some hate-filled comments about ‘the unvaccinated [who] prolong the pandemic for everyone else’, as…this one [shows which], e.g., appeared a few days ago in Bergens Tidende, much to the disgrace of its author, Morten Mkysvoll (who mentions that it’s a civic duty to get jabbed, hence there’s no need to force-jab if everybody just rolls up his or her sleeves and takes one for the team).

Speaking of disgraces, there’s more and more of this crap now filling the papers in Norway. A random sampling includes:

An op-ed by Joachim Lund in Aftenposten, entitled ‘The measures are to blame on those who refuse to get jabbed’ (14 Dec. 2021).

Or an editorial in Bergens Tidende, entitled ‘It cannot be said clearly enough: People must get vaccinated’ (16 Dec. 2021).

I could go on, but you get the point.

Just a few representative, if idiotic, quotes to drive home this point:

In the editorial in Bergens Tidende (BT), we find this nugget:

The unvaccinated are the direct cause why the country, for all intents and purposes, is locked down again. This was avoidable.

Go ahead and click on that link, which will bring you to a piece by Ole Alexander Saue in Aftenposten (13 Dec. 2021, updated on the 14th), entitled ‘Something has changed lately. See who is admitted to Norwegian hospitals’ (my emphases):

They are older. They are vaccinated.

The number of patients in Norwegian hospitals can tell us a lot about the measures to combat the Coronavirus. Covid-19 patients are demanding [a lot of resources], and they take up a lot of capacity.

But who is admitted? Most are fully vaccinated. But do not think that the vaccine does not work.

Now, I don’t know how Mr Saue’s logic works (or that of the editorial board of Bergens Tidende, for that matter), but one thing is evident: the editorial in Bergens Tidende can only be deemed ‘successful’, IF readers take it at face-value and don’t click on the link. For if they do, readers might think: WTF?

Still, in the BT’s editorial, we get to read:

In its weekly report, the Institute of Public Health (IPH) writes that ‘hospital admissions and deaths in recent weeks are significantly higher for the unvaccinated than the fully vaccinated’.

Now, as readers here know, that’s quite a statement to make, mainly because it’s not true. I’ve been all over this in these pages (see here for week 47, here for week 48, here for a Christmas season update, and here for week 49).

From week 41 through 48, the majority of hospitalisations for Covid-19 as main cause were among the ‘vaccinated’. It’s only in week 49, and barely so (52% of admissions were ‘unvaccinated’) that this trend has reversed itself, and it remains to be seen if this isn’t a data glitch or a one-off.

As I related in these and earlier Covid-in-Norway updates, the majority of Covid-associated deaths—by a margin of 4 : 1—were among the fully vaccinated since late summer/early autumn 2021.

Now, I do get the impression that the people over at Bergens Tidende didn’t read the earlier reports, which would be bad. If they did and elected to ignore these facts (which I think they did), it would be even worse.

Here’s why I think the latter is actually true: there were no such hit-pieces since summer, because the numbers didn’t support them. Now, by contrast, there is such a report, hence the editorial and the rising anti-unvaccinated sentiments.

Furthermore, there’s also the anti-immigrant card, which the IPH itself played by remarking, consistently, that ‘vaccine’ uptake has been significantly lower among non-native residents. To his credit, the PM has spoken out against this xenophobic gaslighting recently (which contrast starkly with, say, Covidistan, but that’s a different matter).

To wrap up this post, here’s the final two paragraphs from the Bergens Tidende editorial:

Coercion is authoritarian. Vaccination should be voluntary. But authorities must be even clearer in their communication: Unvaccinated people must now put their skepticism aside.

It is not moralism to expect all citizens to take responsibility for society in a pandemic. On the other hand, it is everyone’s duty to protect oneself and others.

While, much like a broken clock, there’s some truth in this (i.e., the first two short sentences).

What’s more, though, is the moronic rest, in particular the highlighted part (my emphasis): authorities are pretty clear in their communication, and to drive home this point I shall, however briefly, quote from the IPH’s recent assessment, issued on 13 Dec. 2021 (full coverage incl. sources are here; emphases mine)

Vaccine-induced protection against (re-) infection is gone after a few months. It looks like protection against serious illness lasts longer. This means that both vaccinated and previously infected after some time can become reinfected and spread the disease [again]. Thus, while vaccination with the current vaccines alone cannot keep the spread of infection under control, these [current vaccines] can reduce Covid-19’s burden (…)

The implications of immunity after infection in vaccinated people must be examined. Since the virus will be with us forever, a long-term strategy must be drawn up to deal with an endemic disease that will probably follow this winter wave.

To me, it looks like ‘the unvaccinated’ looked at this, however briefly, and determined, much like ‘the authorities’, that ‘vaccination with the current vaccines alone cannot keep the spread of infection under control’.

Speaking of control, how about what Bergens Tidende wrote about earlier today (17 Dec.):

The municipality does not know how nine out of ten became infected.

So, before making such accusatory and, frankly, inflammatory statements, dear editors of Bergens Tidende, why don’t you call on the local government to improve upon its performance?

To me, your gaslighting editorial reeks, rather badly I’d add, of two things: scapegoating and gaslighting.