Interview with Varg Vikernes

Varg Vikernes, a.k.a. Count Grishnackh is a black metal musician, convicted murderer, arsonist and political activist. He's now in prison in Norway and also famous for his one-man band Burzum. I've just read this long interview with him from 2005 and thought it was really interesting.

I adore his music. Maybe not everything but most of it. It's music that even non metal heads would like because it's quite ambient and strangely melodic. His views are very old-fashioned, chauvinistic and racist and I'm not going to defend anything he says but I have to admit that I'm drawn to some of it simply because it's an unusual and different perspective. Some of the views he has reminds me of Daoism in that the right path in life is to live contently with the earth and not greedily search for material happiness the whole time.

Read it carefully. Some of it is quite offensive. Some parts are very profound, some are rubbish and some practical ones like the section about life in prison is really intelligent. Some quotes:

On our environment:

"I think the growing disregard for the environment, culture and heritage is a natural consequence of capitalism. When people care more about profit than the world they live in that is what happens. Capitalism in the "Western" world in turn is just a natural consequence of Christianity, because Christianity created a spiritual void when it ousted Paganism, and all that is left is materialism and a religion with no meaningful contents."

On women as equals:

"The modern women can no longer cook, they no longer want children and they are no longer warm, tidy and loving creatures who think spending time with their family is a good thing. They are probably too "independent" and "strong" to even have a family of their own. The only thing modern women have to offer men today is sex. So instead of being loving housewives who cook and raise children, they are reduced to being sexual objects only - and they are so messed up emotionally and intellectually that they often spend most of the money they make on their jobs on plastic surgery, cosmetics and tons of clothes they think will make them look good, in a desperate attempt to stay or become more attractive. Well, they have no other qualities attractive to men, so what else can we expect? This is the fruit of feminism. The fruit of "women's liberation"."

On the meaning of life:

"In the past we had a crude arrow and a crude bow, but at least we had something to aim at. Today our arrow and bow is very nice, golden, expensive, high-tech and fancy, but what good is that when we just fire randomly into the air, hoping we might hit something?"

On suicide:

"The suicide is the ultimate victory over the body, because the body's natural instincts will force you to try and survive, no matter what, while the spirit and hugr (mind, "soul") always seek to return to the gods. The suicide is also very attractive because it allows me to demonstrate the will to remove the effete, and to give room for the young and healthy, even if the effete is me - and naturally at one point I will become effete too, like we all will."