| A Bewitching Idea |
27 October 2003
|
Norway Subsidizes Witch's Business
Lena Skarning is a thirtysomething woman who just won herself a grant from the Norwegian government. She gets NOK53,000 (around US$7,400) to run a business engaged in potion making, fortune telling and magic -- she's a self-proclaimed witch. It seems that the Norwegians were jealous of the Sweden's professor of parapsychology, until now the leader in the Scandinavian Silliness Sweepstakes.
The name of Ms. Skarning's firm is Forest Witch Magic Consulting, and her business plan was, according to the regional development fund officials, "pretty reasonable and well thought out". [Translation by the BBC]. No doubt, as many of the numbers provided by Wall Street analysts over the years have been the product of witchcraft rather than sound business practices.
As P.T. Barnum said, there is a sucker born every minute, and perhaps, there is a substantial business to be done in Norway selling potions and casting spells. What is troublesome is the government authorities condition under which the witch gets her kroner. She has been forbidden, and has agreed, not to cast spells that could bring harm to others.
It is hard not to laugh. Ms. Skarning may well believe in all this piffle. And maybe there is some merit in an artistic sense to it that merits the government's funds. But if one really could cast spells, if there really were such a thing as witchcraft that could work wonders, wouldn't doing one's enemies harm be the best use of it? It would certainly be in keeping with the way mankind uses technology -- billions for fission bombs while 2 million people will die this year because they can't get clean drinking water.
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