Its a small island and there probably wasen't anyone else around with guns to shoot back. Plus the dude apparently had no inclination to kill himself in the process, unlike most people that do this sort of thing.
I wonder what his real story was. Too many mentions of being rightwing Christian Fundementalist, but also a Free Mason. None of this makes much sense and I'm sure as hell not going to let the "bought and paid for" media clear it up for me. Not saying it's all lies, but it's not 100% truth either. I'm sorry for all the victims and the families of the victims left to make sense of all this, I pray for God to comfort them in their time of need and true justice in the end.
The dude dressed up like a norwegian police man and shot every kid that came to him. I think Utøya was his main target and the bomb at the goverment building is just a distraction for police
Religious beliefs and stuff probably doesn't have as much to do with the massacre as his political views have. His choice of targets are important. The killer is racist, nationalistic, with a past membership in the right-wing extremist party Fremskrittspartiet, and he has expressed an intense hatred for Gro Harlem Brundtland, former prime minister and former leader of the Norwegian social democratic party, Arbeiderpartiet. The bomb in central Oslo which it seems the killer used as some kind of "distraction"(!) detonated just outside the government building, apparently quite close to the current prime minister's office - the prime minister who is also the current leader of Arbeiderpartiet. And the summer camp that he attacked is organized by Arbeiderpartiet. So it's not far-fetched to see the terrorist actions as an attack on the political symbols. The social democratic parties work towards equality and integration, and the right-wing extremists cannot accept that. By the way, I don't know if it's been said in the news elsewhere in the world (outside the Nordic region), but it seems likely that there was more than one gunman. The testimonies by the survivors indicate that there have been at least two people shooting - one in a police uniform, and one in other clothes.
I don't want to defend what appears to be a mass-murderer, but really? A racist? Nothing supports the idea that the guy is a racist. He's against the Islamification of Europe, and last I checked Islam is a religious/political/economic/social system and not a race or ethnicity. And I really grow tired of the left-right paradigm. It's something I regret the US importing from Europe. So this guy's a conservative which connects him to "extreme right" movements like fascism and nazism? Regardless, I suppose in Europe conservatives are considered, at least extrapolating from your comments, grossly bigoted. It seems that like in the US, Europeans consider those they disagree with "extremists". This guy, according to what we actually know: Is Pro-gay Is Pro-Israel Is a Freemason Admired nationalists, social liberals, conservatives, and utilitarians Is not a racist Completed military service Helped victims of bullying Some far-right extremist. His actions are indeed extreme, but his ideology doesn't show itself as extreme as you've cast it. As far as we know he's just a pissed off citizen like Timothy McVeigh was here in America.
Honestly I'm not really suprised about these tragedies. After killing of Olof Palme and Anna Lindh I do believe that there is something wrong with Scandinavian national security systems. One thing I don't understand where Harald V. is who represent the unity of the Norwegian nation??? Anyway I say a BIG F**k OFF for all media who published the photo of this motherf****r, creating a new 'idol'.
I'm still having a hard time imagining the terror those poor teenagers felt. Imagine being trapped on an island with that psycho for an hour, it's a plot ripped straight out of a horror movie.
Yes, a racist. The murderer has been an active poster on various message boards as well as Facebook, and many of his postings have been of a racist nature. It makes little difference to these people. This imaginary "islamification" threat causes them to attack people based on skin colour; they don't bother to ask them first what religious belief they have. That makes them racist. Is he? First claim I've heard of that; there have been no such reports in the news that I have seen. If he claims to be "pro-Israel", it's quite possibly only because he takes their side in Israeli/Palestinean conflict, i.e. he hates the muslims more. I don't know exactly what the situation is with the right-wing extremists in Norway, but here in Sweden they actually split in two groups many years ago because they couldn't agree on who they perceived as the bigger threat. Some of them, the ones with stronger ties to the old nazi movements I guess, still insist on seeing the Jews as the "larger evil", while the other ones like to pretend that they side with the Israelis against the muslims. With Sweden and Norway being so much alike, it may be the same situation with the extremists there. Debatable (last line) I don't see how that is relevant. Norway uses conscription, so most of the male adult population has completed military service. It does, if you know what opinions he's expressed on the Internet and what political groups he's been a member of.
I was just in Oslo last month, incredible place. This is an absolute tragedy and an outrage. What makes this particularly disturbing is that he isn't your typical hate-fueled maniac on a suicidal spree. It seems to be a lot more cold and calculated. The most he can get for this is something like 21 years. It would appear his intention was to wipe out a generation of political leaders he disagrees with. It's quite possible that among these kids would've been a potential future prime minister of Norway. And undoubtedly he wants to use the media spotlight generated by his atrocity to promote his twisted ideology. Well, they captured him alive, so I'm sure the truth will out. I don't see any overt agenda in how it's being reported. The initial speculation on Friday concentrated on Muslim terrorists. It does have to be pointed out that he was in fact both Christian and Norwegian.. He is a lot of things. Nationalist, fundamentalist Christian, far-right Islamophobe, anti-Marxist, cultural conservative.
I feel greatly for the families, I am glad the families don't have to wait a decade for justice. Peace be with them all.
OH. PLEASE. Please provide some of this proof of racism. And by that I mean him saying stuff about skin color rather than religion. Just because you don't agree with his beliefs on what he calls "social nationalism" doesn't give you the right to attribute racism to him. So please, provide evidence of racism instead of just presuming it. Some, you know, proof would be nice. Then you haven't been reading much. Or it's possible that he sees them as victims of Islamic violence, rather than the lesser of two evils. I know he killed a bunch of people, but you really take assuming bad faith in others to a new level. The idea that anti-semitism is considered a characteristic of "right-wingers" in your country (assuming that's not just your biased slant on people that disagree with you), is proof enough that the left-right spectrum doesn't make sense. I'm going to assume you're completely wrong about those parties and are projecting ideas you disagree with onto conservatives that you disagree with. Not really, because it's factual. I was listing what was known about him as of then. Regardless, seeing him fulfill his obligations to society with no incidents doesn't really shout extremist to me. *yawn* Not liking Islam isn't racist, and posting on anti-jihadist websites doesn't count as extremist. I can tell you're coming from this "it's a small world afterall" mindset where even thinking that maybe a society should protect itself from other cultures is a crime against humanity, but you should move past your preconceived notions of political identity and actually examine people's positions. Islam isn't a race, period.
He can (and I think, probably will) be sentenced to upto 21 years of custody. Custody can be extended as long as a judge is satisfied a prisoner is still a danger to society. (In norwegian law, jail is to rehabilitate a person; custody is to protect society from a dangerous person)
If you fellows from Norway can verify two items for me I would be grateful. Was the street for the government building closed in the week/ days beforehand, and were bomb drills carried out in the same time frame? I had read that the latter may have been done up two 48 hours before.
Wait, what? Seriously? Since when does skin color enter at all into racism? It is entirely possible to be "racist" against a religion. See: Spoiler Hitler . Even if it does not fit strictly under the word 'racism', it still is is the same category of bigotry. To argue against this is fundamentally absurd. Especially when you are talking about a terrorist who just murdered innocent people, as well as anyone else who commits such a violent crime of hate against a person due to their religion. Actually, I think most people would classify that as being a racist thing. Its alright to dislike extremists, but to say that about a world wide long established religion, where most members are nowhere near the extremest stereotype is still under the color of racism. So basically, you should just stop making excuses for racists.
