Hats off to the Norwegian democracy; just tells you that the noisy, vengeful Anglo-Saxon version that we are so accustomed to seeing in action isn’t the best the West has to offer. There are more mature, less emotional and less revenge-seeking democratic nations out there that practise a more evolved form of civilised, democratic behaviour even in the face of adversity; those who don’t exercise double standards, and call a terrorist a terrorist without attaching qualifying tags that defame and degrade an entire people sharing a faith or a creed — at a time when the temptation to do so is the norm.

It was shocking to see the BBC’s handling of the Norway tragedy, with anchor persons feeding clichés to Norwegian officials, from police to ministers to the prime minister, as the tragedy was unfolding. None took the bait and refused to indulge in speculation, sticking to the facts as they knew them at the point of questioning. One official finally retorted as the accused man was arrested: “This was not Norway’s 9/11 (or Madrid, London or Mumbai) but Oklahoma!” Anyone remember Timothy McVeigh who had bombed Oklahoma City back in the ‘90s long before such attacks came to be associated with al Qaeda and its inspired organisations?

The world capitals waited with bated breath for the composed and calm Norwegians to investigate and make the truth known. When it was, alas, no condemnations were voiced, because it wasn’t Muslims who had done it after all. Had the case been otherwise a barrage of denunciations would have followed, with Israel and the West insisting that their bêtes noire, Iran, Syria, Hizbollah and Hamas, must also condemn the gruesome act.

Norway and the Norwegians alone must be thanked for the lack of hysteria around the grave tragedy despite their unprecedented shock, hurt and anger that this despicable act of terrorism caused them. This really pulled the rug from under the feet of Fox News and the like channels everywhere, including the subcontinent.

Even now the Norwegian authorities’ priority remains comforting the victim families to help them come to grips with grief rather than wasting their time and energies on speculating how the tragedy would reshape Norway and its people’s way of life — an obsession that came across in an all too vulgar and ungainly manner as the Anglo-Saxon media organs grilled Norwegian officials. The judge who represented the judiciary before the media (unprecedented), the Labour Party prime minister who is in charge of running the country and the intelligence chief whom the BBC were able to grill, all put up brave composure by their refusal to speculate. The intelligence chief rebuffed the BBC, which implied that the perpetrator might be insane, by saying that “he is an evil man.” This was the only time the religious lexicon (evil) was resorted to, but one must make allowance for the fact that English isn’t the mother tongue of the Norwegians.

There is no capital punishment in Norway, and the law there will take its course in bringing to justice the accused perpetrator of the heinous crimes committed on Friday and Saturday last. But in doing so, Norway will ensure that no witch hunt is launched against any one targeted community or a group of individuals. How the Norwegian state denies the labeling of an individual or a group of individuals is its true, unique strength —something that the accused Anders Behring Breivik set out to change but failed. He failed because the over 150,000 who turned up in the streets of Oslo to condemn the tragedy the other day would not listen to him. That he was also denied by the presiding judge the audience he sought for explaining himself and his hateful agenda also points to the maturity and evenhandedness inherent in the Norwegian democracy. That the BBC and the CNN cast aspersions over the judge’s denial of this privilege as a possible question mark on Norway’s freedom of speech laws is just repulsive.

Would the same channels air anti-Semitic views or defence of Hitler, God forbid, in the name of freedom of speech? Would they report as daringly what happened to prisoners at Guantanamo bay? No, because they are not from Norway.

—The writer is an editor with Dawn