NYT: The Norway slaughter is the fault of US bloggers
You knew that somehow it has to be our fault that Anders Behring Breivik murdered scores of Norwegians on Friday, and the New York Times is quick to point fingers;
The author of a 2009 Department of Homeland Security report on right-wing extremism withdrawn by the department after criticism from conservatives repeated on Sunday his claim that the department had tilted too heavily toward the threat from Islamic militants.
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.
Oh, look, there’s that Homeland Security Department report again. Imagine my surprise. There are millions of Americans ho read those blogs and have yet to act on their “fears” in the way that Behring Breivik acted on his fears.
The killings in Norway “could easily happen here,” [Daryl Johnson, the Department of Homeland Security analyst who was the primary author of the DHS report] said. The Hutaree, an extremist Christian militia in Michigan accused last year of plotting to kill police officers and planting bombs at their funerals, had an arsenal of weapons larger than all the Muslim plotters charged in the United States since the Sept. 11 attacks combined, he said.
Yeah, the Hutaree boogeyman – we looked at laughed at the Hutaree last year. Nine guys who played soldier in the woods on weekends were going to embroil the nation in civil war. And if they’re so dangerous, why are they out of jail on their own recognizance. One of them was declared incompetent for trial earlier this month.
The Times waves the Oklahoma City bloody shirt, too;
John D. Cohen, principal deputy counterterrorism coordinator at the Department of Homeland Security, said Ms. Napolitano, who visited Oklahoma City last year for the 15th anniversary of the bombing there, had often spoken of the need to assess the risk of violence without regard to politics or religion.
“What happened in Norway,” Mr. Cohen said, “is a dramatic reminder that in trying to prevent attacks, we cannot focus on a single ideology.”
So what if that single ideology has people in this country facing trials this week. There is a more immediate threat in this country that no one except bloggers recognize, and it’s completely irresponsible og the New York Times to place the blame on anyone except the guy who perpetrated the crime. Most of us are just content to be aware of the threat and prepare ourselves to face it when it knocks on our door.
Category: Liberals suck, Media
You (us?) right-wing bloggers are as responsible for Breivik’s crimes as the left-wing bloggers are responsible for Jared Loughner’s crimes. Oh, wait….
There it is, again, that DHS report. The “author” of that report is the SPLC, not anyone within DHS.
Norway has laws against hate speech, including inciting ridicule or contempt for someone because of their religion or philosophy of life (among other protected categories).
Is it not equally possible that a person who has no outlet for their opinion of Islam (like a right-wing blog) because they stand to be criminally punished for expressing an opinion, will, if pressed far enough by this intolerance of their unpopular view, resort to violence instead?
Maybe the reason we don’t have attacks like that here, is because we don’t have bullshit “hate speech” laws, and we closely defend this basic freedom for all.
Go read the Jihad Watch comments section sometime. It’s a paranoid sewer, completely at odds with the current practical reality of servicemen and women working alongside Muslims in Iraq and Astan.
I’d be careful about throwing your lot in with JW as a “right wing blogger.”
Scott: we do have such laws against hate speech, and they are enforced. But we have SCOTUS Justice Kennedy who always votes for Free Speech, so we and our opponents get away with more.
JihadWatch is benign, regardless of TAH’s decision to associate with them or not. The bloggers here, along with a fair number of commenters all fill the bill for domestic terrorist as defined by DHS and SPLC (and any other leftist, anti-American group).
The current practical realities over there are even when you trust the Afghani or Iraqi, don’t put yourself in his line of fire; and always always always keep your personal firearm at the ready. We’ve lost a lot of good men and women to insta-jihadists in the ANA and Iraqi forces.
You guys really did it this time
I don’t know, but if I was going to engage in counter-jihad I would have wasted a few hundred Muslims rather than my own peeps.
I’ll bite, because I’m bored. What did we really do this time, Richter?
BeatandRelease: that’s the question – why write and behave one way (counter-jihad), then do the opposite (jihad)? My question presumes a measure of sanity on the shooter’s part, of course.
PN, maybe Sphincter is hinting that everything in the world is the fault of TAH?
Yes, UpNorth, that’s kind of what it sounded like. I’m disappointed, though; I WAS sort of hoping he’d at least answer THAT question.
I seem to remember someone in a previous thread saying it was only a matter of time till the Right-wing bloggers (you evil people you), but I seem to remember talk radio being blamed for OKC, and I seem to remember it was all Sarah Palin’s fault that loughtner did what he did, and I seem to remember DHS was terrified that Veterans would get disgruntled and try to overthrow the government.
So here’s a thought. How about instead of always blaming the right, as the OBVIOUS source of this violence, how about we examine the violence of the left. Oh wait that would be racist, sexist or some other form of ism.
And as I sit here also reading CNN when I should be doing something less painful like punching myself in the balls, it’s nice to see that they’re also piling on with the right wing extremist meme. Never let a crisis go to waste, kids.
#7 Exactly! I mean in nearby Sweden, Malmo is practically a muslim majority city, where paramedics and firemen won’t travel ins some areas without a police escort. Eh, you know nothing to see there.
Jonn nice refutation there. Didn’t take long for a full media campaign to pin this on us crazy rightwingers. This guy is going to be used against anyone/organisation(s) that share some of the same policy goals.