Why Norway Prime Minister Gone Crazy on Pokémon Go???
Norway’s politicians might require ratifying legislation by playing Pokémon Go during meetings and debates of parliament in Storting. It was first, Trine Skei Grande (46 yrs), the leader of Norway’s Liberal Party, got busted playing it during the meeting on national security. Foreign and defence affairs committee back in the month of August hearing about the proposed military base shut-downs in the country.
It’s not the first time a member of the government has been caught playing the game in the chamber. But now, it was the Prime Minister herself, Erna Solberg (55 yrs). She has been pictured playing Pokémon Go during a debate in Norway’s parliament. This shows the heights of Pokémon Go mania.
In fact, the minister who was at the Dias, Trine Skei Grande, snapped by cameras in August playing the game Pokémon Go during a national security meeting! Is the process of governance that boring? Why even the world leaders are falling for the game’s spell??
Gotta catch ’em all, even if you’re busy running a country, debates can get pretty boring.
Governing is not only concerned with all the big, long speeches and campaign trails. There also is a lot of boring, banal humdrum, for which the Norway’s Prime Minister shows us an effective solution.
Pokémon Go, an augmented and live reality game that bets the players find and catch Pokémon characters in the real world scenarios.
The 55 old leader, Solberg trying to “catch ‘em all” and being a fan of Pokémon Go is not at all a secret. During a recent official trip to Slovakia, she told the reporters that she was keen to take a short break from her official duties to play the game hunting for Pokémon monsters. She then yet had some 10km eggs to hatch.
Grande being amused by the hot news, tweeting: “She heard what I said; we ladies can do two things at the same time you know.”
For which the leader of Norway’s political conservative party and Prime Minister of the country. Solberg replied: “I think that Trine will like that I opened the game while she was in the pulpit.”
However, this issue led to the criticism towards Norway’s PM from colleagues. After she was seen playing Pokémon Go during a Parliamentary hearing.
She is not the only one Norwegian politician who plays the game. Pokémon Go Mania also has peaked in U.S. But this mobile game is still popular among Norwegian politicians, with the evidence as the captured clicks. PM Solberg had her phone out not during a break or boring hold up. But during a very active debate while another minister was speaking.
The Pokémon Go fever may have been receding in the US but it is still raging in Norway.
The game’s huge popularity led to numerous unintended consequences. In the US, four armed robbers lured unsuspecting players to a remote car park to rob them. While in another incident a US player doddered across a dead body.
The Washington DC’s Holocaust museum resorted to asking Pokémon Go players to vacate the premises. And a warning is given to the players in Bosnia about the dangers of venturing too far and stepping on landmines.
An alert warning is given to all the players around the world to take care crossing roads and not to play it while driving. A woman died, who was reportedly playing the game after being knocked down by a motorist in Japan.
The State Broadcaster NRK said, “It is pure and simple disrespectful to sit and play Pokémon during such a serious hearing.”
Halvar Ronneberg, group leader for the Progress Party in Andoy Ronnenberg said Grande’s Pokemon hunting “also shows a lack of respect for voters and those who are here in the Parliament today on an important mission.”
Grande said that she had stopped playing the game after complaints from her colleagues but during the break. She defended herself from the accusation that her actions were disrespectful and disobeying. Saying that she has a head that ‘listens better when she is doing brain dead’ activities. She also told VG “Some of us have heads that listen better when we can do something brain-dead on the side and we’re not all alike. More sensational things came up during the hearing than this.”
Ironically, Erna Solberg snapped playing the game while her co-politician. Trine Skei Grande is the one who has also been caught playing the game while addressing the house.
Some might also argue that Solberg is only doing her patriotic duty. The Government Pension Fund has invested in Nintendo. Through which the sovereign wealth fund has gotten a nice boost up from the Pokémon Go craze, earning at least $148 million due to its popularity.
