Can you work out why this photo sparked a race storm?
TO most us, this is a picture of six ordinary – and empty – bus seats.
But when it was posted on the Facebook page of a far Right organisation with the caption ‘What do we think of this?’ it somehow became a group of burka-clad foreign women.
Members of the Fatherland First group reacted with dozens of comments, some saying the ‘women’ could be carrying bombs on the bus in Oslo, Norway.
One wrote: ‘This looks really scary. Should be banned.
‘You can’t tell who’s underneath. Could be terrorists’.
Another said: ‘Get them out of our country – frightening times. I thought it would be like this in the year 2050, but it is happening now.’
The photo was shared thousands of times on social media – to the embarrassment of Fatherland First.
A Norwegian MP said: ‘I’m shocked at how much hate and fake news is spread. So much hatred against empty bus seats certainly shows that prejudice wins out over wisdom.’
The picture was posted by Johan
‘People see what they want to see’
Slattavik who said he was ‘interested to see how people’s perceptions of an image are influenced by how others around them react’.
‘I ended up having a good laugh,’ he added.
Rune Berglund Steen, the head of the Norwegian Centre Against Racism, said the pictures showed how easily people jump to conclusions.
He said: ‘People see what they want to see and what they want to see are dangerous Muslims.
‘In a way it’s an interesting test of how quickly people can find confirmations of their own delusions.’
Norway has become the latest European country to propose restrictions on the wearing of burkas and niqabs.
It has tabled a law that will bar them from kindergartens, schools and universities. France, the Netherlands, Belgium, Bulgaria and the German state of Bavaria all restrict full-face veils in public places.