A Moment For Norway
Norway is an interesting country. On the 22nd, one of their own citizens committed a heinous crime in two parts. Anders Behring Breivik set off a car bomb in Oslo that killed 7 and was most certainly meant as a distraction, then he drove to a ferry that would take him to the small island of Utoeya, where hundreds of teenagers were on a retreat sponsored by the country’s Labor party. When he arrived on the island, dressed in a police uniform and wearing body armor, he methodically took aim at person after person, with what has been reported as a calm demeanor. As if he were shooting clay pigeons and there wasn’t carnage falling all around him.
As of this morning, a confirmed total of 86 have been found dead on Utoeya and in the waters surrounding the tiny island. Authorities are expecting that the number of wounded (currently at 97) and dead will rise as they continue combing through the heavy woods of the island and dredge the waters surrounding it. That’s 190 people physically harmed or killed by Breivik in a one day, 2 hour rampage. And Norway’s harshest possible penalty for his actions? 21 years in prison.
Yeah, you read that right. Norway doesn’t have capital punishment. The most he would face is 21 years. Total. Not life behind bars. No lethal injection. Nothing. Maybe I’m too American for my own good, but that really doesn’t sit well with me. I’m not going to sit here and say ‘Fry sucker, fry’, but still. It’s an affront to my sensibility and world views.
The more appalling part of this whole episode is that he planned his attacks for at least 9 years. 9 years! He posted online about his ideas for years. YouTube videos (which were subsequently deleted), Facebook and Twitter posts, and most disturbingly, a 1500 page manifesto entitled: ‘2083 – The European Declaration of Independence’, which was posted online some time ago and rails against what he described as the ‘cultural Marxism’ and ‘Islamization’ of Europe. I have a very hard time believing this guy wasn’t on anyone’s radar as being a potential threat.
If he lived in the US, he would have been hauled in for questioning by the FBI, CIA, NSA and whatever other departments felt they needed a piece of him. I have no doubt his internet activities and phone calls would have been heavily monitored, and he certainly wouldn’t have been able to purchase 6 tons of fertilizer, even if he did live on a farm. I think the Patriot Act took things a little too far, but in the past few years several similar plots to commit these types of terrorist acts have been stopped, and I think that is a great thing.
I also think it is a lesson to other countries. Yes, countries around the world railed against Bush’s implementation of increased government surveillance of it’s own citizens, and so did I. But, in certain lights, the benefits of greater monitoring for suspicious behavior far, far outweigh the outcry of a loss of civil liberties. I’m sorry, but I want authorities to know if my neighbor is searching the internet for plans on how to construct a bomb or is ordering chemical components of explosives. I want to know if someone in town has posted a manifesto against the way of life around them. I want someone to be wary.
Granted, most people would have shrugged off Breivik’s rantings about the rise of multi-culturalism and the popularity of Islam as being somewhat harmless…at first. Add in the photos he posted of himself in ritualistic Freemason garb and his self-proclaimed status as a Freemason and the beliefs he espoused that Europe would be ‘saved’ by a revolution led by the Knights Templar (yes, the same folks in the history books who lead the Holy Crusades), and well, most people would pay a little closer attention. The fact that his diatribe increased exponentially over the past 9 years and no one in Norway seemed the wiser is just ridiculous.
Equally disturbing and ridiculous is the post-script on this. Media outlets are quick to report that he frequently posted about his reading interests (John Stuart Mill’s ‘On Liberty’, George Orwell’s ‘1984’ and Franz Kafka’s ‘The Trial’), his video game preferences (World of Warcraft and Call of Duty – Modern Warfare), and his frequent postings of music videos he liked. I’m waiting for the similar accusations of blame to be placed on entertainment media as the root cause of his actions that occurred here post Columbine. This seems to be a lot of people’s response after an unacceptable act that they didn’t see coming. Blame the media. Yes, because almost every student has to read ‘1984’ in high school and it clearly causes delusional violence.
I guess the thing about this that bothers me the most is the lack of attention this is getting here in the US. Yes, Columbine was 12 years ago, and that is the closest event that Americans can relate to it, but we are not completely safe nor immune to this sort of thing happening again. After every tragic event that has happened on American soil (Waco, Ruby Ridge, Oklahoma City, Columbine, 9/11, the Amish school shootings), there is a brief sense of never again that quickly turns into a cocky sense of invincibility. I know better.
No one is invincible. No one can pick precisely when someone will snap, but precautions can be taken.
Respect can also be paid. My hope is that Americans will put aside their cockiness and sense of invincibility and recognize what a tragedy the events in Oslo are, and take a minute to pay their respects for the people whose lives have been forever altered by a single man.
I would also hope that Norwegian officials would at least think about altering their laws and implementing life sentences or even the death penalty in extreme cases as this. I shudder to think that he would be allowed to re-enter public life after 21 years.
Naked 
beautifully written with fantastic points.
i was pretty annoyed to see that the death of Amy Winehouse received significantly more news time than did this horrid event.