On this day four years ago, Anders Behring Breivik killed 77 people (mostly children) in two separate attacks in Norway. Needless to say, these were not terrorism. Need proof? Look at the photo on the left. Do you see a beard? Does he look like he might be from the Middle East? What about eastern looking clothes? No. You don’t see any of that at all. For God’s sake, he’s blond. He is clearly not a terrorist and his acts were clearly not terrorism.
Slightly before the attacks, he sent out a thousand copies of his 1,518-page compendium, 2083: A European Declaration of Independence. In it, he explained — largely using the words of other far right ideologues — his positions on various matters, especially his hatred of Muslims and liberals writ large, his support of nationalism and patriarchy, and above all, his support for a Christian Europe. But it wasn’t the political document of a terrorist Christian. It was just some stuff he had found on the internet. It’s just the kind of thing that happens to men with light hair and blue eyes.
At 3:25 pm local time, Breivik detonated a car bomb in central Oslo. It killed 8 people. But it wasn’t a terrorist act. It was just a crazy guy. That’s just what happens to men with blond hair and blue eyes. It was the same thing with another man with light hair and blue eyes: Timothy McVeigh. They both used the same kinds of bombs. But it wasn’t terrorism in either case. They were just lone wolves — bad guys doing bad things — not indicative of any larger narrative.
After detonating his bomb, Anders Behring Breivik — dressed as a police officer — made his way to a summer camp organized by the Labour Party on the island of Utøya. There were approximate 600 teenagers there. And it is terrible that he killed 69 people there — mostly teens. But despite the fact that he had compiled a 1,518-page document talking about his political motivations, these murders were not terrorism. You see, he isn’t a Muslim. So it was not terrorism.
It’s clear that Breivik is mentally ill. And that’s another reason why we know his crimes were not terrorism. Because we know that the Muslim murderers in the US and Canada have all been in a blind rage because of Islam. They weren’t mentally ill. And even if they were, they had the telltale signs of being a terrorist. Note the complete lack of light hair and eyes. And in the case of Anders Behring Breivik, he had blond hair and blue eye and he was a Christian. His murders don’t mean anything outside of the narrative of a crazy guy doing bad things. Let’s just forget the whole thing.
We mark this day four years go and all the senseless deaths at the hand of this entirely typical terrorist.