An addiction occurs over time and often without the addicted noticing. A recreational activity introduces itself into your life and because it’s so fun, you perform the fun act as much and as often as you can. But then, you slack off your duties, like say, being Norway’s Prime Minister for example, and instead play Pokemon Go while you should be working.
Everyone accuses you of having a problem. You wave off the concerns. There was a Pikachu on the Parliament floor. Like you’re really going to miss an opportunity to catch a Pikachu because Trine Skei Grande, the leader of Norway’s Liberal Party, is speaking. You are Erna Solberg after all, the PM and leader of the Norwegian Conservative Party. What could she say to convince you of, well, anything?
And she was caught playing Pokemon Go during an August meeting of the Norwegian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense! She’s the one with the problem. Not you.
However, we at the Fresh Toast feel it is our duty to speak up. When you see someone falling, what are you supposed to do?
That’s right. Let them fall. But then you pick them up. And that is why we are here today. To lift up our dear friend, Erna Solberg.
The symptoms of possible addiction in this client began two years with a game you know as Candy Crush. She admitting while running for office that she enjoyed playing the game.
“It is relaxing to play Candy Crush and other relatively uncomplicated games,” she told Norway’s VG newspaper. “In a hectic election campaign there will not be much time for it, but sometimes I take the iPad with me on a plane or in the back seat of the car.”
She had taken a break, though, when she, you know, became Norway’s actual Prime Minister. But reports then surfaced she beat level 300 in Candy Crush. Level 300!
So when she was seen playing Pokemon Go in Slovakia, there was cause for concern. Taking a break from official duties in Bratislava, “Iron Erna” (no really, they call her that) strolled throughout the capital’s old town, catching Pokemon. A camera crew followed her moves, giving viewers a frontline glimpse of how Solberg catches them all.
(By the way, Solberg was there for a European Union meeting revolving around Britain’s upcoming Brexit vote. Seeing how that went, little wonder why this didn’t make rounds overseas.)
It all led to the recent moment where photographers captured Solberg playing Pokemon Go on the Parliament Floor.
@erna_solberg med Pokémon under trontaledebatten på #Stortinget i går. Les hva hun sier om det selv, i @Klassekampen. pic.twitter.com/bJwoc1PRvQ
— Tom Henning Bratlie (@tomehning) October 5, 2016
It just hurts, you know. Seeing someone reach this point. The Norwegian Prime Minster really enjoys gaming. Like a lot.
Then again, considering how our presidential election’s been going, maybe we should just let the woman catch ’em all.
