John Oliver is appalled by the actions of Norway’s Minister of Immigration Sylvi Lusthaug, whose stunt to ‘feel empathy’ for Syrian refugees was bizarre, but her continued actions to turn them away, justified by a quotation by Jesus Christ is Twilight Zone material.
You may have seen photos of Lusthaug happily floating in the Mediterranean, wearing a survival suit while an aid ship waited to pull her back out of the ocean. The Minister said that by floating in the sea she would get a chance to see things from the perspective of migrants who risk their lives crossing the sea to Europe. John commented, “For the record, it’s not drowning it’s floating around, giggling while dressed like a giant aquatic Cheeto.”
Lusthaug was certain that this attempt to empathize with refugees would quell worldwide criticism of the country, which has refused about approximately 10,000 literally tempest tossed individuals in the past year. She didn’t quell criticism on Twitter where it was suggested that sitting in a chair for five minutes was the equivalent of being paralyzed. Another volunteer offered to wear a rag over her eyes for five minutes to build empathy for the blind.
Odder still was the way in which Lusthaug turned the famous exhortation by Jesus to ‘Do Unto Others’ into a justification for turning people away. There is room in conservative politics here in the U.S. if Sylvi is ever run out of Norway.