As we have seen occur repeatedly over the weekend, the tragedy in Norway sparked a deluge of premature accusations, finger pointing and instant analyses—sometimes followed by retractions and apologies, sometimes not—as journalists and bloggers blamed Islamic militants, religious groups and even “leftist” political thought, movements and parties for the carnage in Norway.
Once it became clear that the perpetrator was “an over six-foot blond Norwegian,” the pendulum of accusations and political haymaking started swinging the other way—mainly towards the “extreme right” and towards “fundamentalist Christians and nationalists.” But not before some criticized those who criticized those who “jumped the gun.”
Talking about jumping the gun, Rick Moran wrote an interesting article on the pros and cons, possible justifications and on the “both sides do it” aspects of this phenomenon. (More later)
While, late into the weekend, some clearer heads seemed to prevail, I was surprised to read in the New York Times this morning what, to me, still are premature analyses and conclusions.
In Scott Shane’s “Killings in Norway Spotlight Anti-Muslim Thought in U.S,” we read:
The man accused of the killing spree in Norway was deeply influenced by a small group of American bloggers and writers who have warned for years about the threat from Islam, lacing his 1,500-page manifesto with quotations from them, as well as copying multiple passages from the tract of the Unabomber.
The article claims that [Anders Behring] Breivik’s “manifesto” shows that “that he had closely followed the acrimonious American debate over Islam and that Breivik quotes Robert Spencer, “who operates the Jihad Watch Web site, 64 times,” and that he cites “other Western writers who shared his view that Muslim immigrants pose a grave danger to Western culture.”
It goes on to claim that the Norway massacre “echoes” the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing by “an antigovernment militant” and that it is focusing new attention “on the subculture of anti-Muslim bloggers and right-wing activists and renewed a debate over the focus of counterterrorism efforts.”
Furthermore, that:
The revelations about Mr. Breivik’s American influences exploded on the blogs over the weekend, putting Mr. Spencer and other self-described “counterjihad” activists on the defensive, as their critics suggested that their portrayal of Islam as a threat to the West indirectly fostered the crimes in Norway.
While Breivik may have indeed been influenced by U.S. “counterjihad activists,” I believe that, just as with the initial handwringing accusations against Islamic terrorists—or indirectly the “Left”—we should have a cooling-off period before continuing our rampant speculation, playing the blame game or coming up with final judgments.
Having said so—and I am no psychologist—I believe that our initial reactions to such horrific events are deeply colored and affected by our emotions and core beliefs, or as Moran questions, “how much did our prejudices and pre-conceived ideas about terrorism lead most of us to get it so wrong?”
Having been guilty of “jumping the gun” myself, I know it is tempting and easy to do so and I share with Rick Moran the following sentiments and admission of guilt:
In people’s haste to be first, or different, or just plain ornery and contrary (all the better to get links and readers) a culture of “shoot first and ask questions later” has arisen in the blogosphere that quite frankly, is proving every bad thing that the MSM has been saying about blogs from the beginning. Many of us – including myself – have been guilty in the past of hitting that “Publish” button when perhaps it would have been prudent and proper to take a beat or two to think about what we just wrote and the impact it might have beyond the small little world we inhabit in this corner of Blogland.
Will we ever do better? Don’t know. Again, Moran: “It is the nature of the beast, as Joyner says. But perhaps the beast has learned a small lesson and next time, will reign in the natural desire to promote a particular agenda at the expense of the facts.”
But perhaps the “bottom line” on this entire sad episode has been “written” by John D. Cohen, principal deputy counterterrorism coordinator at the Department of Homeland Security, who said, “What happened in Norway is a dramatic reminder that in trying to prevent attacks, we cannot focus on a single ideology.”
Amen!
Image: Courtesy peterdaou.com
