We Grieve for Norway: The Eternal Questions of Terrorism

I would caution anyone to draw sweeping conclusions at this stage to this unspeakable horror in Norway. We know the culprit is about as Aryan-looking as they come -- not the currently-held stereotype of terrorist. We know he was involved in apparently right-wing politics. Most is subject to conjecture at this point aside from the body count.


There is NO form of idealogy that at its extreme can't find human life that does not conform to the "philosophy's" or "religion's" creed expendible. The world reaks of anarchists, bizarre nationalists, right and left-wing extremists, bizarre cults and of course the big one, radicalized Islam.

Before folks over-generalize and see this demon perhaps stated some affiliation with Christianity, to make any association that Christian fundementalism breeds terrorism or conservative political beliefs do likewise, we need to face up to a reality check. Fundementalist Christians are not prone to violence. From an intellectual standpoint, their embrace of certain social values and what the intellectual community would see as naive or antiquated views of the nature of the universe (such as embracing the literal Biblical account of creation) does not make them murders. Likewise, mainstream and maybe even more doctinaire conservatives are not prone to obliterating their oppostion though there can be no denying fellows like Glenn Beck (going, going, gone!!!!) and Alex Jones are fear mongers who induce mad paranoia in their faithful. We can see, sadly, that their kind of thinking can clearly pave the way for more radical pursuits.

In the 1960's and 70's, it was the radical left whose behavior more consistently led to violence, and western history has always been prone to anarchists. Who knows what kind of strange nilhism drives those who turn out to ransack cities everytime a G-8 meeting is held somewhere.

Conspiracy theories will emerge from this. Sweeping blame will be assigned. This is as inevitable, sadly, as the grief society feels after such an attrocity. Are we really ready to accept that one rotten human could alone be responsible for such calamity.

All this being said, we must come to terms that no matter what we think of Islam, there is a very real threat that is intent on destroying Western Culture in a perverted acceptance of a bastardized form of Islam. We can see the active roll of the theocracy in Iran and the lackies who condone such madness in Pakistan. All the while, potential "lone wolves" can be copy-cat or solo proponents of such wickedness.

Terror wears many faces. How do we deal with it on a grand scale where many people feel groped or abused simply boarding an airliner. Is such scrutiny just? Does the Norway episode change our perception of justifying such? The answers are complex.

Freedom is the most precious target beyond human life that lies in the gunsights here. We can start by looking at the great budget deficit debate how representatives of supposedly highly civilized people can get more hell-bent on destroying their opponent, than accepting responsibility for the financial stability of our country. If this is how we behave, is it any wonder the world is rich with far more wicked impulses that do get acted upon as we've seen in Oklahoma City and Norway.

There is no comfort that we have yet to see some 82 year old grandmother blow up a building. Can we justify that as a possibility too?

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