There are three major groups that are completely neglected in Norway: the homeless, the gypsies and the criminally insane.
Voices that speak for these groups are rarely heard. No politician is going to lose an election over ignoring them.
You might be surprised to hear that Norway has such problems; the international press likes to pretend that Scandinavia is some kind of socialist utopia, but there is plenty of rotten wood to be found if you scratch beneath the veneer.
@thor
Wasn't aware of that. Even in ostensibly "progressive" areas of the US like California, the homeless problem is getting worse. Some places are seeing shanty towns not dissimilar from those erected in the Great Depression.
@skypage Whenever the gypsies try to set up camps, the police chases them away, at least after attention is drawn to the problem.
As for the homeless: On paper, being homeless isn't possible in Norway. There is always help to get, if you're functional enough to request it by filling out the right paperwork, so these are the basket cases who have given up on society. The bums, basically, but I don't like that word.
@skypage It's definitely harsher to face economic adversity in the United States than in Norway. You can always get food and rent covered, but they do require you to put in some effort in return for that (taking courses, taking odd jobs, filing employment status reports), which is where a junkie or other dysfunctional person might face some problems, and fall through the gaps in the social security net.
@skypage The gypsies are technically EU citizens, at least the ones that come from Romania, and could in theory find jobs in Norway, but they are often illiterate and without qualifications. Also, due to their reputation for begging and stealing, no one trusts them.
@skypage I'm not sure she understands why I cut her off. White people might not be seen as anything but a source of money in their culture, and she might've been raised that way. She might not be very bothered by the fact that I cut her off, and might just be trying to catch the big fish that slipped out of her hands. The sad thing is that the gypsies could be much better off if they started thinking long term. That's exactly what they're famous for not doing, of course.
@skypage Long term vs short term: She was focused on the short term goal of getting material things from me, but wasn't receptive to the idea of benefitting on the long term from nurturing a friendship with a natural citizen. In our culture, the value of such relationships is understood, but in gipsy culture, it clearly isn't, and that makes it risky and difficult to help them.
@skypage I tried to befriend a gypsy woman once and gave her an old cellphone I didn't need anymore, since hers was broken. That was a bad idea. Once she realised she could get free stuff from me, that's all she would talk about, and she didn't seem interested in finding a job. It felt like she was trying to use me as a provider, so I had to cut her off. From time to time, I run into her, and she tries to talk to me, but I'm forced to ignore her for my own protection.