Listen to this NPR interview for the lastest. (Click on: Norway Attacks)
From the SD Peace and Justice Center:
As most of you probably know, on Friday there was a bombing and mass shooting in Norway; an attack that left 76 dead.  Anders Behring Breivik, a self-proclaimed “leader of the National and pan-European Patriotic Resistance Movement” and opponent of Muslim immigration and “cultural Marxism/multiculturalism”, claims responsibility for the attacks and has been charged with two acts of terror.  Many in the media are already describing Mr. Breivik as a “right-wing monster” and it is easy to understand why: the crimes were horrific, and we have difficulty comprehending how a person like you or me could do such a thing.  And by taking personhood away from Mr. Breivik, we can treat his crimes like acts of nature–events that others could not have impacted and, therefore, can claim no responsibility for.  But the truth is that “monsters” do not exist, and that Mr. Breivik is a person.  It is important to understand how a person was able to commit this crime, what could have been done to prevent the act, and what should be done, both overseas and here in the USA, to stop others from killing again.  In this newsletter, I have linked to many articles that give background on Mr. Breivik, suggest possible influences on him, and show the dangers of viewing others as objects of our possible disdain (murderers, Marxists, capitalists, terrorists, illegal immigrants, Republicans, etc.) before we see them as persons.
That entire situation is just so tragic. I only hope we can find middle ground again here – Where have all the moderates gone? It seems like its only way left or way right leaving no room for anything in between.
My exact thots. Why must we label ourselves politically?
The moderates are still around, you just can’t hear them over all the shouting.
I agree with Adolph…
No kidding, Huh?
What I don’t understand is how people can stand listening to the BS day after day, believe it, and in some cases like this dude and McVay act on it? I used to work part-time at WSN on Sundays. I would have to replay Rush’s shows. 3 hours of them. The only thing I took from it was that he was a gigantic, racist, asshole. The other night I walked past a table of 50 something couples bitching about Obama (note, they were all white). One lady says, “This global warming thing doesn’t exist.” And a guy across the table yells, “And Obama has made millions selling the lie to the public.” I busted up laughing as I was walking by, they didn’t even notice, because they were so entertained by their own bullshit.
Good statement from the Peace & Justice folks. It was interesting to track some of the media coverage. Mother Jones was pretty measured and sober; The Atlantic was wacky. Stuff’s all over the map, as folks grind their ideological axes. Like your customers in the anecdote, most see somebody else’s ideology (rather than blind ideology itself) as the problem, which of course simply perpetuates the problem.
“which of course simply perpetuates the problem.”
Oh come on – give the right wingnuts their do; they EXPECT it; don’t disappoint them.
“Onward Christian sooldiers, marching as to war . . .”
It’s part and parcel to the false flags the right wingnuts have and will always try to invent and stir up to put the unthinking masses under their thumbs of deceit and hate. Yesterday it was commies; today it’s Islamophobia.
No peace and justice center – there is evil in the world; there are evil people in the world. Even Jesus, Bonhoeffer, Ghandi, Martin Luther King, and Mandella recognized that. Don’t fret “the influences” on Breivik – he alone is the captain of his soul.