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Originally posted by Se�n

It's sad how many people immediately blamed Islamists for this. It never smelled like it, for a start the guy was shooting people at a political youth camp, that is not exactly an al-Qaeda-style target.

"He said that the fact that the suspect is a blond Norwegian man should underscore the importance of allowing police to do their work before drawing any conclusions. "We've seen in Europe in recent years that politicians have been jumping to conclusions about suspects before investigations have been conducted, and we will not commit that error.""

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/07/22/norway.explosion/

And I do recall Islamists were blamed for Oklahoma before it became clear it was home-grown...

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Originally posted by GHcool

quote:

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Originally posted by Se�n

It's sad how many people immediately blamed Islamists for this. It never smelled like it, for a start the guy was shooting people at a political youth camp, that is not exactly an al-Qaeda-style target.

"He said that the fact that the suspect is a blond Norwegian man should underscore the importance of allowing police to do their work before drawing any conclusions. "We've seen in Europe in recent years that politicians have been jumping to conclusions about suspects before investigations have been conducted, and we will not commit that error.""

http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/07/22/norway.explosion/

And I do recall Islamists were blamed for Oklahoma before it became clear it was home-grown...

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Ansar al-Jihad al-Alami claimed responsibility for the attack. The group is as Islamist as they come. True, an investigation must be done, but what's more sad than people immediately blaming Islamists are Islamists immediately claiming responsibility for the attack.

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Originally posted by Se�n

I found this event (i.e., the media feast) wholly predictable. It is a shitty winter Saturday here, too nasty to go outside, so I spent a few hours following the media/blogosphere reaction to this event in real-time. It went something like this:-

a) Bombing + shooting in Norway
b) Some media outlets write about the facts then spend the last part of the article reminding everyone of previous attacks by Islamist terrorists
c) Web (FB statuses, blogs etc) react with "Oh no, those fucking Muslims again"
d) Previously-unknown Muslim extremist group claims responsibility
e) Disingenuous media outlets think "Thank God for that" then write articles about the event while making a major focus on Islamic terrorism, bin Laden, al-Qaeda etc and their threat to Western democracy
f) Anti-Muslim blogs fill with more anti-Muslim hate
g) Killer is arrested, named, and described as a Norwegian blue-eyed blonde
h) In the meantime, reputable news outlets quote the facts as they unfold and refrain from speculation and polemics
i) Disreputable news outlets update the facts as they unfold (e.g, death count up to 87) but continue their anti-Islamist invective with statements like "suspicion has been cast on Islamic extremists" - an undeniable fact, but statement of said fact is clearly intended to deceive the reader and justify the continuance of the anti-Islamist invective that constitutes the second half of the article (I'm looking at you, LA Times)
j) Talk of Islamic extremism slowly wanes in media outlets (although it continues in the blogosphere) as it becomes undeniable that the killer was a blond, blue-eyed, white, Norwegian, anti-Islamic, conservative Christian

My conclusions:-

a) Norwegian press proved trustworthy; - even though the killer was one of their own and the most disgusting ugliness in their midst - I never saw any attempt to blame anyone else. Norwegian officials and the press were at pains to point out that there was no reason whatsoever to cast responsibility on anyone outside of their shores
b) LA Times can't be trusted
c) The Independent and The Guardian are slow off the mark, but won't jump to conclusions
c) Islamists will initially get the blame for ALL terrorist attacks on anyone, anywhere, until further notice

I'm half-pissed when writing this, hope it makes sense.

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Originally posted by Se�n
In the end, this appears to be simply a spree-killing. Yeah, I said 'simply'. Whether it's a suicidal spree killer or a political spree killer (this guy seems like the latter) doesn't matter much, they crop up occasionally, and crop up anywhere (NZ had one in 1990).

I wouldn't read much into it, other than it does raise issues about access to guns, explosives etc and general police work. I don't think you can blame anyone else for the fact that some people are inherently 'broken'.

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