Hasta La Creative!

Apparently in Norway, refugees are rejected the same was as they are on reality shows. At least according to NOAS (Norwegian Organisation for Asylum Seekers). While these obviously aren’t real asylum seekers, NOAS maintains the Norwegian authorities who are rejecting real seekers are doing it randomly.

This first one in the series features “Amir,” from Gaza , who was tortured by masked men, accused of collaborating with Israeli forces. There’s also Leila Hasani, another contestant who wants to flee Iran because she converted from Islam to Christianity. In both cases, Norwegian authorities rejected their plea for asylum. Again, these are real stories, even if the people we see are fictitious.

While I appreciate how hard it is for refugees to seek asylum, and completely understand the cold-hearted Scandinavian mentality that would never judge something on a case-by-case basis, but rather takes a blanket approach, my problem with this concept is that it cheapens the efforts of people to seek asylum. Using the construct of a game to tell is this isn’t a game just isn’t working for me. And even watching it, I have no idea what I’m supposed to do, and you are relying on my being interested enough to go to the So You Think You Can Stay website and dig further. It just feels too clever for its own good.