My first visit to Norway in August 2005 made me realize I could live here. I was 38 at that time. There are many excuses as to why I didn´t participate in public debates or have avoided participating in many voluntary activities outside my neighborhood or the Norwegian-Philippine friendship circles that I have built in the past 14 years. I’d like to change this stance now through this blog “Norway-Norwegian,” where I intend to publish articles about my opinions on various events in the outside world that affect Norway as well as how Norwegian politics and policies affect the outside world.
I believe that criticism can also be positive, for as long as it leads to alternative solutions, otherwise it is just empty talk. In the 14 years that I have lived in the municipality of Vågsøy, I have seen, heard and experienced a lot in my various roles such as: an ordinary woman with a “new” Norwegian family, an immigrant from the Philippines who chose to embrace Norwegian citizenship in 2009 or 2010, an entrepreneur or an employee and work colleague or friend to some Norwegian and Filipino residents in Vågsøy, neighboring towns, and other places in Norway.
There were many times that the local media was awash with negative opinions on this place that has become my “new” home. It wasn´t fun to read such, sometimes it even felt depressing for me, but what could I do, I’m just part of the minority here. But then I thought: the focus on negativity, as well as an apparent inability to fight fake news, led to the world not being able to make bigger strides in promoting economic growth and peace, or ending war and terrorism and reducing poverty in the last 10 years.
It might be too simplistic to say that the propensity of the media to highlight negativity has dampened growth in the local community and the outside world. But one can’t also rule out that negative words and hateful expressions as well as bullying, online or offline, may lead to direct discomfort, anxiety, and even depression for the targets of such negativity, thus, fueling more negativity in the atmosphere, and eventually dampening people´s cooperative and creative spirit in the society.
So maybe, it won’t be stupid to throw myself now into public debates through this site, or to do my part in spreading some good words that can alleviate the pain or general “societal angst” suffered by some groups in the local community.
Perhaps, my small attempts to help the local population in identifying and separating fake news and fighting digital fraud might achieve something positive in the long-run.
I like to dream and this site may be a good channel for me to share with both Norway and the outside world some of my dreams for Norway and its multicultural population which now includes me.
I´ll soon write about some some local events, politics, and policies. The municipality of Vågsøy will soon be merged with the municipality of Flora to form Kinn, a new and larger municipality with approximately 18 000 inhabitants. As a private resident of Vågsøy, I have supported the merger between these two municipalities because I believed this merger can eventually bring about the construction of a physical bridge between Vågsøy and Flora. A bridge could create new economic opportunities for many entrepreneurs here in Vågsøy or younger people in other municipalities who might have hesitated to move here earlier due to lack of physical and social infrastructure that could expand the tight employment opportunities in the municipality.
Working on this Web site can also give me the chance to look at how Norway, a country rich in oil, gas and fish, could further develop its economy amidst uncertainties in the outside world. Occasionally, I will also write about events “out there” that may affect Norway’s further development as a country that is willing to share part of its wealth to help the outside world evolve into a better and more sustainable place for the human species and other living beings that will coexist well with productivity-enhancing tools, machines – and robots.
