Whoa, 500+ visitors on this blog yesterday, and all because of this one giant loser named Anders Behring Breivik. It's sad, really.
Indeed, he got the attention he wanted, but hopefully not the way he wanted it, because I've yet to find one person of true relevance who seriously takes this loser's side. That being said, Breivik is not stupid. He's crazy, but not stupid.
His actions must be taken seriously, of course, but I believe it's very important not to feed his ego. I've read a lot of comments saying he's ”academic” and such, but when studying the manifesto it's quite easy to distinguish his own personal writings from what is just plain copy/paste work (I'd say about 70%). He is nothing, yet thinks he is everything, therefore he must be ridiculed and exposed as a fraud. Also, he is everything but a deep thinker, and therefore the comparisons some people have made with Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, are just plain silly.
Two lessons to be learned so far:
The Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Jonas Gahr Støre, made an important point early on:
We’ve seen in Europe in recent years that politicians have been jumping to conclusions about suspects before investigations have been conducted, and we will not commit that error.
Unfortunately, a lot of people were not that bright.
Yes, I admit, my very first thought was ”Fuck, I hope it's not the Islamists!”... But I didn't cry it out loud, making a complete fool of myself. Hence, the second lesson: Terrorists come in all sizes, heritages, shapes and skin colors. Or as Counterblast put it some 16 years ago: Terror has no shape.
Most of us already knew that, but it still was an important reminder, since our minds are clogged up by the war on terror. Jan Guillou writes about that here (in Swedish).
Until further information has been revealed I thought I'd gather some articles and websites that have helped me when trying to understand what's going on. I hope you too find them helpful.
- Document.no – A complete list of comments Behring Breivik has left at Document.no (in Norwegian). Rough translations in English here and here.
- 2083 – A European Declaration of Independence (PDF, 8.1 Mb, 1518 pages) – The infamous manifesto. Bear in mind that at least 70% (my guess, Breivik himself admits to about 50%) is copy/paste work from other people's writings. In my opinion, the most disturbing part is the diary, or Knights Templar Log as he prefers to call it (starting at p. 1413).
- Fjordman (the old blog) – Most of the well written texts in the manifest are written by Fjordman (Wikipedia), at least 35 of them (most of them between paragraph 2.50 and 2.99 in the manifesto). Fjordman is an anonymous extreme Zionist blogger and has obviously been a huge influence on Breivik. Perhaps there are several people using the Fjordman monicker. There have been claims that Breivik himself is Fjordman, but in my opinion that is highly unlikely.
The Fjordman files – Everything written by this dude. - Gates of Vienna – Fjordman resides here for now, alongside some other Islam-critical writers. Read his Thoughts on the recent atrocities.
- Norway, Islam and the threat of the West – Aljazeera is almost always on point.
- The irrelevance of the Knights in a global society – What Breivik says about the Knights Templar is in my opinion the most irrelevant topic in the manifesto, but Juan Cole still writes excellent about it. Maybe that Christian fantasy stuff is more important in America?
- Terrorn och den europeiska nyfascismen – A summary of Breivik's mishmash of ideologies. (in Swedish)
- Åter till frågan om Europas två extremhögrar – Rasmus Fleischer's take on the two European extreme right-wing ideologies, as he sees it. (in Swedish)
- EDIT
Konsten att läsa statistik om brottslighet – It's almost impossible to compare criminal statistics between countries, simply because what counts as a terrorist attack by ETA in Spain, for example, does not necessarily count as a terrorist attack in another country. It's a matter of definitions. That's why the link of statistics that's been spreading (and seems to do so everytime there's a terror attack) may be misleading. Read a discussion about that right here. (in Swedish)
To be continued.
Do we want them to burn in toxic flames?
Shall we forget about the facts? The future is dark
Shall we continue ignore, while feeding the sharks?
In front of our eyes, the deceit of all time
Take a stand or be part of the ultimate crime
The dung at the top, can we see their devotion?
No, it's them against us, the end versus the solution
Scream -- while there is still air to breathe
End this global rape
Scream -- while there is still air to breathe
Terror has no shape
Wherever I walk I can hear the cries
Wherever I look, I can't believe my eyes
What I see is what they'll get
Can't wipe them out, visions of fear
Nothing's left of what used to be green
No life, no nature, just cold and empty streets
We're gonna blow, time will show
Nailed to my brain, visions of grief
The future ain't ours, the future ain't yours
Still we cut in the heart of the natural laws
Respect for the living, it's only empty words?
I'm waiting for the day when we'll act as once learned
In front of our eyes, the deceit of all time
Take a stand or be part of the ultimate crime
The dung at the top, can we see their devotion?
No, it's them against us, the end versus the solution
