Breivik’s Confession and the Media’s Silence By Fjordman

http://www.frontpagemag.com/2014/fjordman/breiviks-confession-and-the-medias-silence/

From his prison cell, the confessed mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik in January 2014 circulated a letter in which he repudiated all association with the Counterjihad and anti-Islamists. He gloated over how easy it was to fool the Western mainstream media (MSM) into supporting his intended witch-hunt on peaceful anti-Islamists:

The idea was to manipulate the MSM and others so that they would launch a witch-hunt and send their <<media-rape-squads>> against our opponents. It worked quite well. (…) I tried to hint about this double-psychology, by quoting <<war is deceit>> x number of times, but I couldnt make it more obvious, as it had to be credible to the aggressive army of 2000 media psychopaths (the MSM-rape-squad). The <<hug-your-opponents, kick-the-ones-you-love>>-tactic is one of the oldest in the book.

The forensic psychiatrists Synne Sørheim and Torgeir Husby declared Breivik insane. Their conclusion was controversially overturned by the Oslo District Court in August 2012 after political and media pressure. Sørheim and Husby noted his frequent use of neologisms (made-up words or phrases) as one of many indications that he suffers from paranoid schizophrenia.

They were mocked for this claim. Yet if one examines the way Breivik uses the term “double-psychology” in the above quote, this is the kind of neologism that one would expect from somebody suffering from schizophrenia. “Reverse psychology” might be a real term, but I’ve never seen the term “double-psychology” being used in this manner or context by any sane person, regardless of their political views.

Inventing new words is normal for children. They have a vivid imagination and haven’t yet learned the proper use of the language. Yet for an adult, the extensive use of neologisms consistently displayed by Breivik is a common symptom of psychotic disorders such as schizophrenia. People suffering from this illness invent an alternative language in order to describe the alternative reality inside their own head.

Critics might object that coining new words by itself does not indicate insanity. After all, William Shakespeare introduced new words to the English language. That’s true, but he was a master communicator, still admired centuries after his death. Breivik is clearly not a new Shakespeare. His language is downright primitive, and just as unfocused as his logic.

As Ned May wrote when reading the letter: ”No one in his right mind believes that the mass-murder of dozens of unarmed teenagers will force newspaper editors to engage in ’dialogue.’ A person who seriously entertains the idea is deeply, deeply deranged.” Indeed he is. Breivik is deep into the territory of clinical delusions here.

Breivik now declares that he is a Nazi and despises me because of my alleged “Jewish network.” In his letter he praises Tore Tvedt, Varg Vikernes, Erik Blücher and Nicolai Kvisler. They are all among the (very few) genuine neo-Nazis in Norway. He further states that “When the norwegian MSM announced that Fjordman was my role model and idol, they couldnt be more wrong. These four individuals, on the other hand, are all worthy of trust, respect and praise, due to their past and continued efforts.”

I’ve been widely portrayed as Breivik’s “mentor” and viewed as morally co-responsible for mass murder. We now have Breivik’s own confirmation that those presenting such claims ”couldn’t be more wrong.”

It is worth noting that none of the neo-Nazis he mentions supported his attacks. So even Nazis don’t want Breivik. Varg Vikernes explicitly rejected his massacre at Utøya because most of his victims were from his own nation and ethnic group. Moreover, Breivik seems to think that to be an ethnic nationalist and a “Nazi” is the same thing. It’s not. Breivik has adopted the false claims of the radical Left. The Nazis were defeated by ethnic nationalists from other European countries.

In this letter Breivik claims that ”ethnocentrism gained momentum” through his mass murder. Is the man on drugs? Unfortunately not. Perhaps he should be, though.

He further indicates that he wanted to harm the anti-Islamists to strengthen ethnic nationalists. So in Breivik’s mind, the clever way to strengthen nationalists is to murder children from their (and his) own nation and ethnic group.

Is he crazy? Yes, that’s probably exactly what he is. Nuts. Clinically insane.

My impression when reading this letter was not that Breivik is a Nazi. He’s too incoherent to be taken seriously even as a neo-Nazi. My impression was that he is not receiving the anti-psychotic medications he so clearly needs. ABB first claimed that he was an anti-Nazi terrorist. Now, he’s suddenly a peaceful Nazi who wants non-violent “dialogue” with the media. Next month, he’ll be a smurf. The month after that, he may proclaim that he’s Kermit the Frog from The Muppet Show. He will say this partly because life in prison is boring and he craves personal attention, and partly because he might actually believe it. Perhaps he will design a new uniform for Commander Kermit of the Knights Templar?

There are two alternatives:

1. Anders Behring Breivik is just plain insane, and there is no point in taking anything he says seriously at all.

2. Anders Behring Breivik specifically wanted to instigate a mass media “witch-hunt” on peaceful anti-Islamists. He said both during the trial in 2012 and in this letter from 2014 that he’s very satisfied with the way the media behaved.

The Western mass media have portrayed ABB as a rational and sane person who was inspired to commit mass murder by texts written by me, Robert Spencer and other Islam-critics. This viewpoint can no longer be presented as the truth. It is false, and always has been.

He is almost certainly insane. To the extent that he is rational about anything — which is highly debatable — ABB has been very explicit for years that his intention was to use the mass media as allies to damage Islam-critics such as Robert Spencer, Bat Ye’or, Daniel Pipes or Fjordman as much as possible. Claims made by the established media that Breivik is an anti-Muslim terrorist are incorrect and should be rejected. He admired the Islamic Jihadist terrorists of al-Qaida, and copied them in order to kill non-Muslims and marginalize peaceful Islam-critics.

In between rantings indicative of medical insanity, Breivik occasionally touches upon real subjects. One of these is the issue of bias, distortions and dishonesty in Western mass media. Ironically, he has indirectly exposed just how biased, distorted and dishonest Western mass media can be and often are.

Breivik’s letter from prison was sent to a number of international media outlets. These included The Wall Street Journal, the largest newspaper in North America, Die Welt in Germany and Ekstra Bladet in Denmark. In January 2014, these publications acknowledged receiving the letter and stated that Breivik complained about “torture” in jail. Yet they were not honest enough to admit that he confessed that he had quoted anti-Islamic writers in order to harm them. The only outlet that stated this was the left-wing radical magazine Expo in Sweden, which is usually very hostile to Islam-critics.

As the author Robert Spencer noted on Jihad Watch: The New York Times, the BBC and many other Western media in the aftermath of Breivik’s attacks in 2011 contributed to a smear campaign against Islam-critical writers on both sides of the Atlantic who had done nothing wrong. When it later turns out that Breivik wanted to damage these writers and used the mass media as his allies to do so, the same media say…..nothing.

No apologies for having unfairly smeared decent people for years, just nothing. They pretend it never happened. Breivik was only useful as long as he could be employed to intimidate and silence critics of Islam and mass immigration. When that’s no longer the case, he ceases to be useful.

Anders Behring Breivik did great damage with his attacks. The single positive side effect is that he may have inadvertently helped to expose just how rotten and dishonest Western mass media are, how much information they hide and how much they distort. It is shocking to witness, although sadly not surprising. It leaves one wondering what information the same media distort on other topics.

Robert Spencer is perfectly correct in pointing out that the international press should apologize to Islam-critics for their behavior over the last few years. One of those who should receive a public apology is yours truly. Sadly, I don’t think most journalists have the decency to apologize.

The attacks of July 22 2011 are first and foremost a story about how many families lost their loved ones due to the actions of a sadistic and deeply sick individual. However, these events were cynically exploited in a political witch-hunt, much to the satisfaction of the terrorist himself. The media who participated in this witch-hunt have so far been unable or unwilling to engage in some healthy self-criticism over their unfair smears against their ideological opponents.

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