Thursday, July 28, 2011

"Connecting the Dots" Between Norway Shooter and Christianist/Anti-Muslim Websites

Most of the far right and falsely described "family values" organizations continue to play the victim card and/or deny that the vitriol spewed on their websites and propaganda pieces they disseminate daily had any relationship to the horrific carnage in Norway last Friday. However, as a CNN piece is reporting, Anders Behring Breivik was a prolific blogger and visitor to online sites that reaffirmed his anti-Muslim, Christianity under siege worldview. Words DO matter and these sites, like it or not, helped fuel the mindset that led to so much bloodshed. One cannot daily put out hatred that's the equivalent of shouting "fire" in a crowded theater and then disclaim any responsibility for the consequences. Hopefully, as even more details become known about Breivik's sick world view, the ties to the Christianist/anti-Muslim haters will become even more obvious. Here are highlights from the CNN piece:
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Breivik's taste in online conversation shows a compulsive interest in websites that see the modern world in terms of a "clash of civilizations," where Christian values are supposedly under siege in the face of an Islamic onslaught.
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The blogs and websites Breivik enthused about were pro-American and pro-Israel, extremely hostile to Islam and despairing that the European political elite would ever see the error of its liberal multicultural outlook. One such site is Gates of Vienna, whose banner reads: "At the siege of Vienna in 1683 Islam seemed poised to overrun Christian Europe. We are in a new phase of a very old war."
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Breivik regularly applauded a writer who goes by the name of Fjordman on the site, . . . . Breivik also praised Fjordman's book, "Defeating Eurabia," describing it as "the perfect Christmas gift for family and friends." The book contends that Europe is being overrun by Muslims -- and that its governing class is complicit in this surrender.
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Other websites and blogs he followed include Jihad Watch, Brussels Journal, TheReligionofPeace and Atlas Shrugs. ReligionofPeace describes Islam as a "rigid political and cultural system with a mandate to conquer and govern the lives of others via necessary force."
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Breivik points to a piece written by Pamela Geller in Atlas Shrugs in July 2009. "The Muslims have taken to rampaging, destroying and setting alight the streets of France. The media has abetted the fifth column with cowardly silence," she writes.
Geller has been prominent in opposition to the building of a mosque near Ground Zero in New York.
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But to her long-time adversary Jeffrey Goldberg at the Atlantic magazine, Geller and others of like mind clearly influenced Breivik: "Free speech means free speech. But she should be aware now that violent people look to her for guidance, and she should write with that in mind."

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