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Are you for Bush or Kerry? and other Norwegian quizzes (I)

© Valerie Borey

While not directly involved in the upcoming US presidential elections, Norwegians are taking a strong interest in the how the elections will influence the war in Iraq. A Norwegian citizen's organization (www.tellhim.no) recently raised 340,000 kroner in order to place an ad in the Washington Post, asking for an apology on behalf of the Iraqi people (click here http://www.tellhim.no/dokumenter/annonse... to read the ad). The ad claimed that four out of five Norwegians were opposed to the war and did not support their own government in sending troops to join the coalition forces. The ad brought international attention to the issue of public support for the war on Iraq.

More recently, Norway's TV2 published a popular quiz to guide Norwegian citizens in making a philosophical choice between George W. Bush and John Kerry. The quiz helps Norwegians determine which US presidential candidate best represents their beliefs, based on their opinions about abortion, the war in Iraq, and homosexual partnerships. Interesting in that like many popular quizzes, it highlights a real area of concern for the general population; it also seeks to inform the public about the very issues that are at stake.

If quizzes such as these seek to resolve feelings of ambivalence, the themes around which they revolve may be considered contentious and therefore revealing as marking the "fault lines" of culturally held beliefs. What emerged from a quick survey of popular quizzes available in Norwegian online were over 200 tests that fell into the following categories:

• Politics, current events, and social issues
• Personality
• Pop culture
• Health & body
• Beauty, fashion, and consumer issues
• Sex and relationships
• Work and personal finance
• Intelligence and trivia
• Sports & fitness

Politics, Current Events, and Social Issues

Quizzes in this category could be further broken down into four subcategories: the war on Iraq, human rights, domestic politics, and national/historical identity.

The war on Iraq

The quizzes below underscore the troubling psychological conflict experienced by many across the globe at the prospect of a long-term war in Iraq. Widespread fear of terrorism and an international concern for safety is weighed against the potential cost of an extended war and consequences on the local economy. With Bush symbolizing the first fear and Kerry the second, an effort is made to reduce the argument as the distinction between two very different men.

Wartime economy (http://www.dinside.no/php/art.php?id=871... )
Terrified of terrorists? (http://www.dinside.no/php/art.php?id=271... )
Are you for Bush or Kerry? (http://pub.tv2.no/nettavisen/spray/testd... )

Human rights

With deeply held convictions about and a commitment to the value of human life, Norwegian quizzes seem to hesitate over the distinction between self and other. To what extent is foreign intervention ok? In what circumstances is it all right for a nation to intervene in the culturally and historically rooted issues of another? Two messages are implied by the quizzes below: the first is to use oneself as a measure of what should be considered acceptable treatment, the second is to adopt a position (through humor or by other means) that allows for some emotional distance and an effort toward balanced understanding.

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