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 Post subject: Freedom of speech and judgment down the drain?
PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 7:42 am 
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Freedom of speech and judgment down the drain?


The disciplining of everyone in Norway to speak with one voice – the voice of the state – and to act exactly as the state wishes are prominent concerns of our authorities.

One might wonder why things have gone this far. One root of the problem is probably the unlimited trust of Norwegians not only in our public employees being well-intentioned, but in actually acting to everybody's benefit.

Another root is perhaps the extreme build-up of a bureaucracy and public institutions for nearly every need (cf the opinions of Zygmunt Bauman).

A recent example is this:
A warning issued to a psychologist who will not report families to the CPS Barnevernet
18 September 2018


*


Related to this pressure from our authorities are pressures and sometimes downright threats from private sources. Here is an example of a lawyer who wants the way our mainstream press treats information to impose a pattern on independent publication also:

Jan-Aage Torp:
KKN accused by **** (Name censored due to Norwegian authorities. -admin) lawyer for publishing his name
19 September 2018


  

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 Post subject: Re: Freedom of speech and judgment down the drain?
PostPosted: Wed Sep 19, 2018 8:32 pm 
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Joined: Fri May 29, 2015 2:49 pm
Posts: 906
MH Skånland wrote:
  

Freedom of speech and judgment down the drain?

(...)

A recent example is this:
A warning issued to a psychologist who will not report families to the CPS Barnevernet
18 September 2018
  



This psychologist has found himself in a squeeze between the government demand for him to report families where children might be burdened, and his professional assessment of what the CPS has to offer.

He has possibly seen cases where the CPS has made things worse for families and children, and speaks out on social media, probably driven by his conscience and empathy for his patients/clients.

Although his remarks on facebook are indeed insulting towards CPS employees, there are certainly strong indicators supporting his view on the CPS as a malfunctioning system. So is he someone who riots against the system, or is he a whistle-blower who puts his own career at risk to alert the public? If The Board of Health Supervision has absolutely no understanding that health professionals might be hesitant to refer families to this system, it is worrying indeed.

But it is easier to punish a frustrated psychologist, than to fix a broken system.

It is a little disturbing to me that this Board is the very same that victims of the CPS have to file their complaints to. What can they expect?
Is it a coincidence that I have rarely heard that CPS-victims get any help when they consult the Board of Health Supervision, or their regional representatives (Fylkeslegen/The County Doctor)? Certainly my own family and I did not get any help from them.

I personally do not believe that honesty and transparency from a psychologist compromises the confidence the public has in psychologists and the CPS in general. To the contrary, I believe that use of different measures to keep uncomfortable but founded statements out of the way, is more of a threat as such.

One of the medical journals in Norway, Dagens Medisin (Daily Medicine), now allows commentaries to be anonymous, with this argument:

"Dårlig ytringsklima beskrives som et problem i deler av helsetjenesten, derfor har vi en åpning for anonyme kommentarer." ("Bad climate for free speech is a problem in parts of our healthcare, and therefore we allow anonymous commentaries.")

Are the health-authorities themselves now fueling such climate conditions?

Professional participation in the public debate is important. It initiates continuous change and necessary reforms, and is the bloodstream of a free society. Even strong and emotional statements should be accepted, because it is in the battle of words that new ideas and directions are born.

Nevertheless, The Board of Health Supervision has a limited mandate, and it is possible that this case - which touches on to important and basic principles in a country based on freedom of speech, human rights and democracy - also should be tried by other authorities. Because we don`t have freedom of speech, if we don`t have freedom of speech that we don`t like.


And by the way - how ironic is it that the Board of Health Supervision has been given the task to investigate, evaluate and validate the CPS through the study of single cases?

I guess former judge of human rights, Gro Hillestad Thune, has pinpointed this already. She simply states that the Board of Health Supervision is biased and part of the problem. 1) and 2)

1)Hvis barnevernet er dårlig, er det fordi Helsetilsynet som overordnet kontrollinstans ikke har gjort jobben sin, sier Thune(...) (If the CPS is bad, it is because the Board of Health Supervision has not done it`s job, Thune says)

- Hele tilsyns- og kontrollapparatet bør settes under lupen. (-The whole supervision- and control system must be investigated)

https://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/hornes ... e/60455897

2) Gro Hillestad Thune, advokat og ekspert på menneskerettigheter, sier til avisa at gjennomgangen er for tidkrevende og at Statens helsetilsyn ikke er upartisk. (Gro Hillestad Thune, lawyer and human rights expert, says that the investigation is too time-consuming and that the Board of Health Supervision is not unbiased)

http://www.dagen.no/Nyheter/granskning/ ... net-360638


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