Norwegian State Secretary Oddmund L. Hoel advises us all to chill.
When (former!) Minister of Education and Research Ole Borten Moe called for an ‘extreme makeover’ of the university and college sector, Hoel explained, it was just a metaphor:
‘Extreme makeover’ was said with a twinkle in his eye.
Well, metaphors matter. We use them to explain abstract concepts, to justify our views, and to persuade people to follow our lead. We use them to highlight certain elements and hide others. And in discussion and debate, we extend them, play with them and negotiate them… which is exactly what happened.
Rector Vidar Haanes (MF Nowegian School of Theology, Religion and Society) responded:
But all of us who hear that think of the TV program with the same name, where the people who live there are sent away while their house is renovated really quickly, and then they are supposed to be very surprised and pleased when they come back. In those cases, you can be sure of poor quality. We houseowners know the importance of long-term maintenance, and that is also how we think of the university and college sector.
Guro Lind (head of the Norwegian Association of Researchers) added:
It’s all well and good with a stroke of paint and new furniture, but real change requires collaboration and good processes together.
But such metaphor extensions are clearly unappreciated by Hoel, who feels “it will be a more fruitful discussion if people look at what the government is actually doing, rather than getting hung up on a funny label.” So there.
What’s really going on…
Implying that everyone is overreacting and that a particular claim was ‘just a metaphor’ is an old trick. We have seen it before. Trump instigating a mob on January 6th, telling the crowd to “fight like hell” was – according Trump’s lawyers – ‘only’ figurative. Who could possibly have thought he was actually encouraging a coup?
Hoel would probably be better off if he actually encouraged people to examine the quality of the metaphor more closely. With any luck for the government, people would simply begin critiquing its aesthetic appeal and poetic nature. Instead, they have been engaging with the intended message and using the same metaphor to get across their own points.
Through building on the ‘makeover’ metaphor, people show their understanding of what the government is really doing: a top-down, systematic deprioritization of Norwegian R&D, artistic research and internationalization.
