A Norwegian anti-immigration group has received a roasting online after they collectively mistook empty bus seats for women in Burqas.
The image was placed on Fedrelandet Viktigst (which roughly translates as ‘Fatherland First) as a joke by Johan Slåttavik, with the caption ‘What do people think about this?’
As expected, the Facebook post resulted in some quite alarming responses that point out the ridiculous nature of bigotry.
Translated by The Local, users sounded off saying the image was ‘frightening’, ‘scary’, and ‘they [the burqas] should be banned’.
The comments, which were screenshotted and shared by Sindre Beyer, prompted many users to take jabs at the alarmist responses.
One user commented:
I think I passed the test because the first thing I saw was a group of Darth Vaders.
Another added:
I can definitely see the humour in it but with that being said I’m left shaking my head over the fact that people could react like that; sad.
The head of the Norwegian Centre Against Racism told Nettavisen this response proves how people can jump to irrational conclusions about something, without the full facts.
The original poster, Johan, spoke to UNILAD to tell us about the post.
He said:
I was bored and curious to see how they would react.
The picture is an old internet meme I had in my meme-collection, so I got the idea to check what kind of reactions it would get.
Johan continued:
I expected that a few people would be fooled by the picture. Perhaps.
But a lot of people saw what they wanted to see, despite others telling them the bus seats were empty.
The response to Johan’s trolling has been largely positive, but he has received some negative comments, including this disgusting response from someone who Johan claims is from an ‘antifa, leftist, anti-racist’.
The message read:
Your a f*cking f*ggot! I hope someone with a burka rapes you with a baseball bat then crushes you skull with it [sic].
Speaking of the responses on the original post, Johan said:
Seeing those responses was both amusing and alarming. Witnessing such blind and blatant racism is alarming.
Especially now in hindsight. But I must say it was quite amusing at first, seeing people go bananas over nothing.
It just goes to show that people will see what they want to see, and they will be quick to judge if it fits their agenda.
It would be funny if it weren’t so alarming.
