In the Name of Nationalism: Thoughts on the Oslo Bomber

My blood boiled as I watched the shifting media coverage in lieu of the Oslo Bombing late last week. Every major news network had their own 'expert' and every right-wing crank was crying 'jihad' until it was discovered the 'jihadist' was a white Norwegian right-wing extremist. I haven't yet seen any apologies for misguided speculation or assumptions. In fact, it was rather annoying how quickly the framing of the story changed once it was discovered the 'terrorist' was a white guy. And we should call Anders Behring Breivik out for exactly what he is - a terrorist - a man who acted with full intent on a political agenda he believed to be right at the expense of the lives of others he thought he was sacrificing for his twisted utopian vision.

But, no, saith the 'News Gods': we need criminal psychologists to examine him, his lawyer even insists he's clinically insane, mentally ill, etc. etc. Soon they will seek to lighten the culpability with some sob story about his youth because being a 'white guy' of course he's not a terrorist! He is an exceptional case. However, no one brings out psychologists to examine Osama bin Laden as an equally deluded exceptional head case or considers the trials and travails of his childhood. No, Bin Laden is a terrorist linked to a bigger religio-ideological war against the West, therefore, the implicit assumption the media frames is that 'terrorism' is endemic to Islam.

Let's take this apart with the use of common sense: terrorism is a means to a political or ideological end.  It is the use of violence to make a point, to get attention, and to terrorize people into adopting your point of view. And guess what? Islam does not hold the monopoly over violence. Breivik was a terrorist in every sense of the word, equal to Bin Laden. He published a 1500 word manifesto against European multiculturalism, Western feminism, and Islam echoing romantic notions of the medieval crusades to restore Europe to it's former Christian glory. He even posted a video on Youtube prior to the attacks depicting paintings of crusader knights, deriding liberals as cultural traitors, and then calling for other far-right wing believers to join his 'crusade' with the use of violence against liberal traitors and multiculturalism.

If this doesn't echo the same fundamentalism that inspires Salafists who condone violence in re-establishing a universal Muslim ummah and calling other extremists to join in the 'jihad' then read the above paragraph again because it is the exact same logic.

So, please, if it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it's a duck! Breivik is a terrorist and we should all be concerned of other right-wing extremists who buy the political agenda he's selling. Fundamentalism of any sort is blinding and it is in our best interest to fight it and to challenge right-wing pundits who sell us discrimination, exclusionary politics, and inspire hatred. 

My heart goes out to the Norwegians. I pray this is not a foreshadow for Europe in the future. I hope that out of a terrorist act, people will stand in unity against justifying their politics through violence. Extremism, whether it is nationalistic or religious, must be challenged for the sake of all of us living within the same borders and stuck in this world together.