Culture

I am a proud European, but, a lot more than that, I am also a citizen of the Republic of Poland. Watching what is happening west of us is difficult to put into words. When watching nations, that were formerly the greatest empires to have ever existed in human history – The British Empire, The German Empire, The French Empire – systematically orchestrating their own annihilation, you cannot just accept that at face value. You are forced to rationalise it. You invent comforting lies to explain why your neighbors are systematically eradicating their own kind. You have to do that, since they are your neighbours, who are nice. To readily accept and dispassionately observe their downfall would be a cruel betrayal of our good and long-lasting relationships. ...

On 10th September 2025, a shooter climbed onto the roof of a building at Utah State University, Utah, USA. He was positioned approximately 200 metres away from Charlie Kirk, the founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA). Charlie sat in his iconic ‘Prove Me Wrong’ tent, seated in front of a table, where he would invite university students to debate him. It was one of the many ordinary tours that Charlie was well-known for, having done them since the age of 18. ...

As always, before we get to meat of the matter, let’s first establish the terms. What is public school? In Europe, one most often does not think about school in terms of whether it is public or private, at least at the primary level. In Europe especially, public school is considered such an integral part of life that simply saying ‘school’ in the context of primary education is immediately understood. In places like Norway, private primary education is not even legal. This also means that public school is seldom examined critically. ...

My name is Maxwell Jensen. I was born and raised in Norway, but my story begins in Poland. My father was a naval officer from Gdańsk who sought asylum in Norway in 1986, and my mother immigrated from Zambrów in 1996. The goal here is to share some insights that might be relevant to Norwegians, or really, anyone who finds multicultural exchanges interesting. We all know we live in a world of global exchange – not just of goods, but of ideas and culture. With this short essay, I hope to offer some insights and constructive criticism that everyone can use to expand their worldview. While I don’t believe that simply importing people of fundamentally incompatible cultures constitutes a valid social policy, I do believe every culture offers at least one thing that can widen our perception of the world for the better. And let me be clear, this is a two-way street: my life in Norway has had a formative, profoundly positive impact on how I view the world, which I will get into later. ...