Why is the New York Times celebrating the slave-trading Vikings?

The Spectator ^ | June 29, 2026 | Gavin Mortimer

[MinorityRepublican]

Norway plays the Ivory Coast tomorrow afternoon in the first knockout phase of the soccer World Cup, and one suspects the New York Times will be backing the Norsemen.

The Gray Lady has gone gaga for Norway’s “Viking Row,” a synchronized routine where fans mime the rowing of a Viking longboat to the bang of a drum. It’s caught on among the Norwegian players as well as politicians back in Norway, who performed the row in parliament last week.

For the last two weeks the NYT has been publishing breathless pieces about the zany Norwegians and their Viking antics. “The ‘Viking Row’ is in full flow” was one headline on June 18; five days later they described how it “has taken the World Cup by storm.” And their editorial office from the sound of things.

You would have to be a crotchety killjoy to complain about the Viking Row. It’s just a bit of humorous high jinks. Humorous but also a little hypocritical.

The man who claims he came up with the idea of the Viking Row is Ole Froystad, who goes by the nickname “Mr. Row Row.” He recently explained the thinking behind the stunt. “It’s about rowing for the team, making sure that we get the team to feel good… A thousand years ago, the Vikings rowed.”

That’s not all they did. Vikings also raped, pillaged, murdered and enslaved. From the eighth to the 11th century the Vikings terrorized Europe, from the British Isles in the north as far as Sicily in the south.

The Dublinia Museum in the heart of the Irish capital explains that “slaves were a valuable commodity in the Viking age… Vikings took Irishmen and Irishwomen as slaves.”

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TOPICS: Sports
KEYWORDS: britishslavetrade; gavinmortimer; ivorycoast; middleages; muzzieslavetrade; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes; norway; vikings; worldcup

[Tell It Right]

Good article.

And don't forget all of the rowing the white male slaves did in the galleys for their North African Berber slave masters.

https://www.ancient-origins.net/ancient-places-africa/white-slaves-barbary-002171

[ClearCase_guy]

Vikings also raped, pillaged, murdered and enslaved. From the eighth to the 11th century

They weren't the only ones doing this. But the Vikings eventually stopped. The Muslims never stopped.

[Sirius Lee]

Vikings took Irishmen and Irishwomen as slaves.

And regretted it immediately.

"Yumping Yiminy, Olaf! All der Irelanders do is get drunk and into fights! I just wanted someone to milk the cows and fetch der water."

[GingisK]

Because Vikings were cool.

[FLT-bird]

That’s not all they did. Vikings also raped, pillaged, murdered and enslaved. From the eighth to the 11th century the Vikings terrorized Europe, from the British Isles in the north as far as Sicily in the south. The Dublinia Museum in the heart of the Irish capital explains that “slaves were a valuable commodity in the Viking age… Vikings took Irishmen and Irishwomen as slaves.”

"This is supposed to be a happy occasion. Let's not bicker and argue over who killed who."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y05eFDQnSfE

[SeekAndFind]

Should The Minnesota Vikings change their name as well?

[No name given]

Big time.

[No name given]

‘But the Vikings eventually stopped. The Muslims never stopped.’

Exactly.

[Kid Shelleen]

Because leftists love socialist countries regardless of their past.

[Pontiac]

They weren't the only ones doing this. But the Vikings eventually stopped. The Muslims never stopped.

The Vikings stopped trading slaves when they were converted to Catholicism.

The Muslims traded slaves because Mohammed traded slaves and Mohammed (in Mohammed's opinion) is the finest man that ever lived and the perfect example of how to live your life.

As long as Muslims follow Mohammed they will trade slaves, commit piracy and invade and enslave non-Muslim lands.

[Verginius Rufus]

It's OK because the people enslaved by the Vikings were white people. Slavery is only an issue if the victims are black and the enslavers are white.

Apparently there is a lot of Celtic DNA in modern Icelanders--because some of their ancestors were women taken as slaves from Ireland or the Hebrides.

[spintreebob]

Somali Opportunists will now face the Chicago Beers.

[Pontiac]

The Dublinia Museum in the heart of the Irish capital explains that “slaves were a valuable commodity in the Viking age… Vikings took Irishmen and Irishwomen as slaves.”

The Irish took slaves as well. Saint Patric was taken as a slave from France as a youth.

Taking slaves was the norm in all the world until the it became unfashionable in the Western World in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Slavery is illegal in most of the world but it still happens everywhere.

[ansel12]

I thought they were converted to Christianity, isn’t that what it was really about?

[Vermont Lt]

The NY Times see Vikings as “manly men.” It both scares and titillates them.

[SunkenCiv]

Figures that a British tabloid would fail to mention that the British also used slavery as a punishment tool against the Irish while raiding, pillaging, and ruling at least parts of the island for about 850 years.

[Pontiac]

At the time Christianity = Catholicism.

Unfortunately Christianity isn’t what it used to be.

When so called Christians abort their children divorce more easily than they marry, accept homosexuals as priest and bishops the end is near.

Even the Catholic Church is falling to the sin of modernism.

[Pontiac]

Good article

https://sonsofvikings.com/blogs/history/the-vikings-and-christianity

[ansel12]

I think it is more important that a people convert to “Christianity”, regardless of how powerful militarily and politically any particular denomination is at the moment.