!Spoiler Alert! "Controversial" opinion!!!

Anti-heroes for a non-heroic era or how a church-burning murder changed the world with his music

We are living in a non-heroic era where we have a desperate need to learn about heroism. Unfortunately we make a lot of “idiots” heroes in our desperate attempt to see a little heroism. Histories about great personalities gives us life, they inspire us and teaches us about morals and duties. But some of these so-called heroes are not real heroes; they are hateful but glorified people who only spread hate. Unfortunately a lot of people interpret this hate as a love for their own “race”, when it simply is racism.

You may wonder why I choose to write about such an infamous person as Vikernes, who has done so many bad things, but he has surely made a lot of people think about their heritage in addition to shook a lot of people’s faith. Varg Vikernes was one of the most omnipresent characters in the early black metal scene, and he was and inspiration for many other teenagers to start their own band and get involved in this type of music. Even though his methods of “recruiting” people into the black metal scene aren’t very acceptable (for example church burnings and extremely conservative and right-wing ideological-opinions). Almost all educated people and those who are up to date have heard about him, either in the news, in the newspapers or through his music project Burzum. You might also ask what he has done to change the world, and that is one of the things I’m going to write about in this article.

The reason why he has changed the world is mainly because of his extreme right wing ideology and his broadcast of the latter. I don’t think he would have changed the world so much or got so many followers if it wasn’t for the media attention he got after getting convicted of three church burnings in Norway (Åsane church, Skjold church and Holmenkollen chapel), but he still would have been known inside the black circle of black metal (an extremely secret and underground of elitist black metallers as they called themselves).

Actually a man like Vikernes can be able to change a lot of people’s in former pagan nations to regain their consciousness about their pagan roots in addition to educate them about old traditions of these old religions. His books (for example Sorcery and Religion in Ancient Scandinavia and Vargsmål) have been inter alia been translated to English and Russian, making them more accessible to people from all over the world.

Vargsmål

Not many people can change the world without a scene to broadcast their ideas on, and in most cases a dramatic thing must happen in order for their opinion to be heard, spread and broadcasted, this is no different in Vikernes’ case. Sometimes people get their ideas or actions glorified, but in most cases alike this case, the media has a responsibility to not affect young people’s mind into dangerous ideologies. In this case, the media had a great cover of the case, and headlines like “satanic church burning” and “Man killed by Swedish Satanists” filled the first pages in the most commercial newspapers in Norway at the time. The big international magazine Kerrang! also  had a case about Vikernes and the church burnings on its front page, leading to a chain of church burnings done by young copycats from all over the world. Headlines like this understandably affected many young minds in Norway too; some people copied Vikernes’ actions by burning a church and some even desecrated graves in desperate attempts to become popular in the black metal scene.

A lot of people who had never heard about black metal also started listening to this kind of music and maybe even started their own band because the great broadcasting about the black metal environment these headlines gave. Most of these people did nothing illegal to promote themselves and their bands in contrast to Vikernes who did illegal actions to promote his music project. This may not have been intentional, but it surely promoted his music on a greater scale, he even sold the first press of his first album with a lighter with a picture of burnt-down stave church on it. He had great success with promoting his music and people from all over the world listen to his music, and many of these have also adopted his ideas, for good and worse. Just one guy’s ramblings can affect a whole generation into becoming intolerant racists with no sense of compassion or understanding for other cultures than their own. You may not think that this can be the case, but just think about people like Hitler and Stalin; they also got a great number of followers despite their hateful and intolerant ideologies. Something that is very impressive with the latter is that they didn’t really have any other good charactertraits than their ability to hold moving speeches, and in this case Vikernes has a big benefit because he can also attract people with his music. During his court case in the 90’s we could also see that he was a very handsome in addition to being a very charismatic person with the ability to gain a lot of people’s attention. We didn’t see the same arrogance and pomposity in his court case last year, but he still managed to get a few supporters to show up outside the court after he wrote a post on his blog. A few other supporters would later reblog this, giving it even more attention.

We can already see an increasing number of people in Norway and the rest of the world who share stand on the right side of the political arena. I’m not saying that this necessarily has to be because of Vikernes, and this people usually aren’t very radical or extreme but it surely indicates a major change in the nation’s and the world’s mentality. I think that the world will get a big challenge in getting the courage to resist these hateful ideologies and opinions that people like Vikernes offer. We will also face a great challenge in educating our kids to become tolerant and good people who don’t easily fall into the well of the false idol of white supremacy. We have to give our youth something important and creative to believe in, not this destructive and non-including ideology.

Despite of hateful ideologies, we have to keep the right of speech as a torch throughout the world: a world where even people like Vikernes have the right to express himself without being silenced. But what can we do if cannot silence him due to the most important human right? We can come with counter reactions and teach ourselves to detect hate and propaganda when we see it. I have myself discussed with Vikernes on his blog (you can find the whole conversation in the attachment), and the reactions I got wasn’t very positive, in the end he ended up calling me “an average brainwashed Norwegian” (something that says a lot more about him than about me). I will still keep fighting against things I find unacceptable in today’s society in addition to things I find hateful. Another thing I’m going to do is to confront him face to face; hopefully I will meet him outside the court in France (he is accused for promoting hate against minorities and romanticizing war crimes after he moved to France in 2011). You may wonder why I’m going all the way to France next year only to see the court case, but I’m actually going there to attend a festival there which coincidentally takes place the day after the court case. The reason for doing this is to show the world and his supporters a counter reaction. I still support his right of free speech, but I won’t tolerate hate and complete ignorance of other people’s feelings.

Vikernes is defending his hateful opinions because he believes that Europa and the purity of the “European race” need to be saved from the Jewish people and their influence on the world. Personally I think it’s important with a little multiculturalism in order for nations and people to make strong bonds of friendship and alliance. I don’t see anything negative in migration and emigration, whether it’s from Sweden, Africa, America or Greenland. I think it only creates more possibilities and reasons to make the world as one. Some people say that it just causes more crime and violence, but if these people actually looked at the statistics they would have seen that their own people stand behind most of the crimes in their country.

Vikernes also states that our own culture will be destroyed if people with other cultures come here and influence us too much, but he also states that we have to fight for our own, strong culture. But why should we fight for a weak culture that eventually will be destroyed by a small amount of international influence? I think he didn’t think this statement thorough, since it’s pretty oxymoronic. In a very infamous interview he also states “if you want to build something new, you have to destroy the old one first”, this was also something he defended himself with after the church burnings. He actually burned the churches to avenge our forefather’s horgs (old norse worship place) who was burned by the Christians who came to Norway on the 11^th century, later they would build their churches on top of these burned-down horgs. The Christian’s actions a thousand years ago still doesn’t justify Vikernes’ actions 20 years ago, and there are many other ways to bring back the heathendom than to go to violent and destructive terms. The church burning actually served the opposite of Vikernes’ intention, and a lot of congregations got closer than ever before. As in his intention, Norway became more protective of its heritage after the church burnings, but not of the heritage he intended (the Norse heritage).

Vikernes plan of shaking them up into losing their old faith and then review their pagan roots. The churches was fortunately built up again, but 40 million kroners worth of beautiful and original architecture was lost, Vikernes has not to this day paid anything of his insurance claims.

I can’t I see why it would destroy our own already established culture if immigrants bring their culture with them, because if our culture is strong enough and good enough established it won’t be wiped out, pushed to the side or destroyed by another culture. If it unfortunately will be destroyed in the future it will just show that it weren’t good enough, and therefore it will deserve to be replaced with a new and better one. I really think it’s important for people to know about and be proud of their own culture because the culture is very important in order for people to define themselves and understand more about their history and even their future. Therefore I understand why they want to defend it by all means possible, still I don’t think that Vikernes’ fear have no relevance in reality, and there are so many other ways to be proud of and promote your own culture than to drag other’s into the dirt.

But the most important thing is what Vikernes writes on his blog: most of his posts are pure anti-Jewish propaganda with a touch of national-socialism and Scandinavian-romanticism. He writes a lot about ancient traditions of our forefathers, the right ways to praise the Old Norse gods and how to maintain the “purity” of the Scandinavian people by restricting non-Scandinavian peoples access to Scandinavia. One of the things that concern me most about this is the commentary column on the bottom of his blog: Almost every day 100-400 people comment on his posts and 99% of these commentaries are supportive of his ideology and opinions. Some people even discuss with these topics with Vikernes – something that can strengthen young and uneducated minds connection and bonds to this destructive and hostile ideology. It’s even scarier that persons that originally are very neutral in the political specter so easily can become affected by this blog that they turn into radical conservatives (in the nationalistic-socialist sense). I think most of the people that visit his blog are very insecure men in their twenties who look for a place to belong, unfortunately many of these men choose to fight instead of including people who isn’t exactly like themselves.

How the church burnings changed how the world will look at metal music, forever

The shocking church burnings in this little, peaceful land in the north would eventually get international coverage, and the papers exaggerating headlines and cases would contribute into giving black metal and metal music in general a bad reputation. Still to this day; a lot of people will not only flinch an eyebrow, but their whole head when you mention the word metal music. A lot of people will also think of the word Satan as soon as they hear the word metal, and some even say that metal is the devil’s own music. What do you think of when you hear the world black metal? Maybe you think of pale men all dressed in black, screeched vocals, drums that sound like a jackhammer or maybe even death? If you were more than 15 years old in 1990 you probably heard about one or more of these real incidents that happened in the black metal environment in the 90’s: the suicide of vocalist in the band Mayhem, The church burnings committed by various members of different black metal bands (some were even committed by people that didn’t have a band), The murder of the guitarist of Mayhem committed by Vikernes and the murder of a homosexual man in Olympic Park committed by the drummer of the band Emperor.

The reason why black metal got its reputation is not only because of the gruesome acts committed in the little black metal scene, but also the press’ wrong and exaggerated views on this small scene. There actually was no Satanists (in the old sense of the word, by that I mean theistic Satanists), but only people who praised individuality and a resistance towards the established society’s norms and way of living.

Vikernes was one of the first black metal musicians in Norway and he participated in bands like Old Funeral (which would later split up and form other successful bands like Immortal and Hades Almighty). I think that the black metal scene would be a lot smaller and have a completely different mentality if it wasn’t for Vikernes. With his one-man band Vikernes introduced new and different elements from ambient music; this later inspired other bands like Ulver.

I think Vikernes changed the world by his music, I mean, he clearly showed the world a completely new and innovative way to make music without the restraints of social norms. Nor did he care what was popular at the time, he just did what he wanted (and that is how artists are born). When you listen to his music you can almost instantly hear that you are listening to Burzum, not only by the way the guitars are distorted, the way the music is organized (many repetitive riffs are used) or the way he screams, but also by the atmosphere that the music creates. I think it’s important to keep in mind that music really can change people, but also make them dream. Another important principle here is that Vikernes never adopted any of his hateful or racist opinions into his music, making it very neutral. It’s also important to make a clear line between the person of Vikernes and his music, at least I do. Despite all of his hateful statements and opinions, I like the music, and I think it’s beautiful to make people dream and wish in a world that seems lacking with hope.

Burzum's music doesn't really sound like this to hardcore and informed fans, but to people that have never heard black metal before it does. 

Without black metal music there would be no genre of music that focus on the darker side of man, and therefore no other ways to escape for misfitted adolescents. Maybe black metal even prevented a lot of suicides and other destructive ways of expression by letting people get out their aggression and feelings through the music? But what is for sure is that black metal is a great way to release aggression and tense pain if you understand this type of music.

Vikernes surely affected a lot of youths and young adult to copy his actions in addition to “indoctrinate” them into his hateful ideology. He also shook a lot of congregations throughout the country by burning their beloved meeting places and houses of worship. He surely put a tag on himself, and most people who grew up in Norway during the 90’s know who he is, and most of these people despise his actions. If you could say that he has done something good, then it must the fact that he raised a consciousness about our old pagan religion, even though the way he achieved his goal, more or less, wasn’t the right way to do it. In the end, he has served his sentence, and is now a free man. The most important detail in this is that his sentence shows people that church burning is not tolerated in Norway. Hopefully it won’t happen again, and people will probably take other means into the light if they want to continue fighting for our old traditions and. Peaceful means gains most support, but still there will always be protagonist in our society who is willing to spread their message by violent means. Therefore it is very important that these voices also get a place in our society so we can understand what it is all about and also show a distance to such meanings.

I think it’s important to see the future of Vikernes opinions in the light of group mentality: if it weren’t for his large number of followers then he wouldn’t be able to change much in the world. Neither would he be able to spread his opinions. Therefore I must say that the future of our people and its compassion depends on our ability to take a stand against mindless rambling like Vikernes’.

Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups. 

Sources:

Most of what I wrote are things I simply remember because I'm so interested in this subject, but if a source need to be named then it must be this book: