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[Casiella]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14254705

Thoughts and prayers with everyone there. I know we have several Norwegian members, and I certainly hope you and your loved ones are okay.

[Raze Valadeus]

Oh my....

No one has claimed responsibility for the attack yet.

My prayers certainly go out to those families of the two confirmed lost and those that are still unconfirmed (and missing).

[Victoria Stecker]

What Raze said. If I can take five minutes out of my workday to mess around on backstage, i can certainly take five and pray.

[Esna Pitoojee]

Putting my thoughts and wishes out there as well.

[Saede Riordan]

Wow...yeah, thats awful, my heart goes out to everyone in Norway.

[Saikoyu]

My thoughts go out to those who have been hurt in any way by this. 

[BloodBird]

So far, 10 confirmed in the rough sweep of the island, and 7 in the explosion - they are not done yet searching every building and doing fine sweeps of the island, or so I heard.

Now I know what 9/11 must have felt like to those not directly involved.

[Lyn Farel]

Hope that none of you is affected by this. :/

[Mizhara]

It's been confirmed. The fellow behind the attacks is a right-wing extremist and Christian, which I found grimly amusing.

I can also confirm, this is not going to do much beyond lightly anger most of us. We're still far more likely to be hit by a car or fall down the stairs and break our necks than see action like this happen, and those who weren't afraid last week won't be afraid next week. I've been in contact with current and former colleagues across the country, and the mood is in general just grim anger and there's an air of 'well, let's buck up and get to work...' thing going.

Politically, this won't change anything but for the better. If anything, it'll further strengthen the attitude towards peace efforts and such.

This is Norway. We are a small nation and there's not many of us... but we're hard people. Takes hell of a lot more than this to change us.

[Casiella]

My response to someone else speculating on an organization having done this was, "the Norwegians have dealt with organized attacks for a long time and this is who they are now."

[BloodBird]

Hope that none of you is affected by this. :/

It's a national tradgedy, the entire kingdom is affected in some way or another. But yes, I too hope none - either Norwegian or foreign - who frequent these boards are directly affected personally or through friends or family.

It's been confirmed. The fellow behind the attacks is a right-wing extremist and Christian, which I found grimly amusing.

I can also confirm, this is not going to do much beyond lightly anger most of us. We're still far more likely to be hit by a car or fall down the stairs and break our necks than see action like this happen, and those who weren't afraid last week won't be afraid next week. I've been in contact with current and former colleagues across the country, and the mood is in general just grim anger and there's an air of 'well, let's buck up and get to work...' thing going.

Politically, this won't change anything but for the better. If anything, it'll further strengthen the attitude towards peace efforts and such.

This is Norway. We are a small nation and there's not many of us... but we're hard people. Takes hell of a lot more than this to change us.

^
This, mostly. Crap like this ofthen have the effect of cementing the national relationship everyone in the affected nation has - it affects everyone, and thus everyone stands together to weather the storm, metaphorically speaking. This would likely have been the case no-matter what nation it affected. I think much like Miz here, the changes from this, if any wider changes make themselves known in time, are highly likely to be for the better.

Perhaps we will even grasp some more spine and make a higher punishment-range for especially vile criminals. 21 years in our cuddly norwegian prisons simply is not sufficent for someone who plan for years, then murder nearly a hundred people in a deliberate act of terrorism.

I'm also rather glad it was a norwegian national and ethnic who did this; I would not want to see the racism-fueled rage if it was some mis-guided immigrant of any sort. Proves for anyone who might have believed otherwise that, any nation can and like do, have their share of unstable people like this.

[Raze Valadeus]

Right-wing extremist and Christian, eh?

That is truly saddening. The loss of life is never easy and though the Norwegians are a tough spirited people, those directly affected will still be in mourning over lost family/friends. I will certainly continue to keep them in my prayers.

I can't help but feel personally attached to things like this, especially when I hear that a professing Christian is the guilty party. We do more damage to ourselves through actions like these than any opponent of Christianity could ever do. It truly saddens me.

[Mizhara]

Perhaps we will even grasp some more spine and make a higher punishment-range for especially vile criminals. 21 years in our cuddly norwegian prisons simply is not sufficent for someone who plan for years, then murder nearly a hundred people in a deliberate act of terrorism.

And what good will that do? We can't allow an event like this turning us blood-thirsty. There's a reason we don't have higher punishment ranges here, and it's because they don't do any good. Why would we increase it? For vengeance? For punishment? It becomes irrelevant. Anyone who can be punished or rehabilitated will be so by the 21 years, and those who can't be won't be affected if it's 21 hundred years.

This isn't about punishment... it's about safeguarding society. A knee-jerk increase in our upper limits is a defeat, nothing more. It won't safeguard our society any more than it already is. It won't deter anyone like this guy, nor will it aid those who can be rehabilitated. It won't bring anyone back to life, nor will the bereaved suffer any less.

Bloodthirst or anger is understandable... but it's not going to do us any good.

[orange]

If it is about safeguarding society and someone may not be rehabilitated in X time, would it not be a good idea to remove them permanently from the society they seek to harm vs releasing them back into said society?

[Mizhara]

If they can't be released into society as safe and functional members of society at the end of their sentence, it's either extended to the 21 year maximum, or they're transferred into closed mental health facilities, because then they're clearly beyond criminals and well into the land of mental instability.

This guy? I doubt he'll ever walk as a free man again... but we still can't allow that to be a matter of punishment and vengeance. It'll be measures taken to safeguard others from him.