The Fateful Email

We reported last Sunday on the case of Anders Ulstein, a Norwegian writer who was persecuted and hounded from his job for criticizing the prime minister in a piece posted at Document.no after the 22/7 bombing in downtown Oslo.

A follow-up post about what was done to Mr. Ulstein has been translated by our Norwegian correspondent The Observer. The translator includes this introduction:

There are a few articles on Document.no about this incident, including one from the author himself in which he gives a very detailed account of the leftwing witch-hunt that he was subjected to. It is truly shocking to read about it and realize that this was taking place in the most ‘democratic’ nation in the world (according to a recent UN report). This is the type of behaviour one expects from dictatorships in the Third World.

Espen Daniel Hagen Olsen, the person who instigated the process that eventually led to the resignation of Anders Ulstein, even had the temerity to write a comment on Document.no yesterday in which he questioned Document.no’s right to publish excerpts from the e-mail that he himself had e-mailed to the website, Anders Ulstein, Ulstein’s boss and the media! He also lamented that he wasn’t notified in advance by Document.no and that he wasn’t given the opportunity to respond to the ‘accusations’ made by Christian Skaug, the author of the translated article.

But wasn’t it Hagen Olsen’s intention to get the media to cover this story? Well, guess what? Document.no is covering it now. And, yes, Hagen Olsen comes across as a vengeful little weasel, which I’m sure wasn’t his intention, so in that regard I guess it’s fair to say that it has backfired on him big time. Olsen apparently doesn’t like to be portrayed in such negative terms, despite (ostensibly) taking great delight in portraying his political opponents that way.

I think it’s only fair that an English-speaking audience is given the opportunity to read this article too, so they can see for themselves what type of undemocratic tactics the left-wing elites in Norway and their little minions are engaging in. I’m sure that Hagen Olsen will be given the opportunity to respond to this post and subsequent comments posted by the readers of GoV by the owners of this website should he want to do so.

It should also be noted that the treatment dished out to Fjordman by the left-wing Norwegian establishment was a lot worse than what Anders Ulstein had to endure, something that Ulstein himself acknowledges in his own account of the witch hunt against him, which was published on Document.no.

The translated article from Document.no:

The fateful email
by Christian Skaug

For those of us who believe that people should be entitled to hold whatever opinions they want, and that they from time to time should be allowed to be wrong without having their lives turned upside down, it’s a wee bit difficult to put ourselves in the mindset of the opinion police.

But when Espen Daniel Hagen Olsen (after the news from Utøya had finally been broken by the media) read Anders Ulstein’s comment about the Prime Minister’s response to the bombing of the government building (written before the Utøya massacre first appeared in the news) he truly let his moral indignation ran amok. It was simply not enough to send off an angry e-mail to Document.no and the author himself: Copies were also sent to the press and to Ulstein’s boss.

The intention behind this move was blatantly obvious: Ulstein was to be pushed into an awkward and uncomfortable position vis-à-vis his employer and in the eyes of the public. While the press had enough sense to ignore this private persecution, such sense was painfully lacking with the management of Actis. Instead of taking a deep breath and looking at it with a clear mind, the management was infected by Hagen Olsen’s indignation. The response that eventually followed in the hysterical memo made any possible retreat an impossibility.

The fateful email starts off in a fairly objective manner. Ulstein wasn’t the only one who had publicly assumed that the bomb was the work of Islamists, but no one else was labeled as paranoid because of it in the following days.

Hello Anders,

I have read Anders Behring Breivik’s comments posted on Document.no tonight. The fact that Hans Rustad decided to publish them is commendable.

But then I came across your op-ed: Why haven’t you publicly apologized for it? It is full of paranoia and speculation that turned out to be wrong! COMPLETELY WRONG! This horrible attack perpetrated on our politicians and youths is the work of a Norwegian Islam-critic. And you write “they are killing us” in a blatant attempt to stir up emotions.

And then the nasty recriminating tone kicks in:

You should be ashamed of yourself! The fact that you are the “international manager” of Actis is difficult to comprehend. Are you really that incapable of not jumping the gun?

I sincerely hope that you have problems sleeping in the future. You and your fellow travelers are not directly responsible for the attack; that is obvious. However, the tone of the discourse that you have contributed to with your hateful propaganda has not exactly helped. Where is your compassion? It is absolutely cowardly not to apologize for it!

I have notified the press via e-mail (I have also copied in your boss). It is quite possible that they choose not to write about this, but at least it gives you the opportunity to perform a shameful retreat. Shame on you and people like you!

With sad regards,
Espen D. H. Olsen

The text speaks for itself, but it is quite fascinating to witness the exquisitely nasty combination of poorly-disguised complacency and the desire to hurt others. One has to assume that Hagen Olsen found the tone of his own discourse beneficial in helping to create a better social climate, and consequently claimed moral superiority.

It would be interesting to find out whether Hagen Olsen realized how successful he had been in depriving Ulstein of sleep? Surely he must have spent some time and effort on acquiring the list of all the employees in Actis. Did he revisit the website to see if Ulstein had been removed from it? Did he at any point exhibit any sign of the same compassion that he upbraided Ulstein for failing to exhibit?

One thought on “The Fateful Email

  1. Keep your unapproved thoughts to yourself and keep your head down. How many people have been cowed into silence for this very fear for their professional and economic well being?

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