Sad real-world news

[cleolinda]

Between a massive explosion and a shooting at a Labour Party youth camp, 92 dead in Norway attacks. The victim count has been rising as recovery efforts continue. At the moment, 85 deaths, mostly kids, have been reported from the island camp alone.

Norway attacks: latest developments being added on CNN.com; Norway attacks: ‘A nightmare,’ PM says;

Comments

[profbutters]

So, so horrible on Norway. I notice a lot of self-defence in the comments: "he's not a real Christian," etc. I think the point is that not every single terrorist is an Islamic fundamentalist. Horribly, we grow them right here, and you'd think after Oklahoma City, people would know that. But it's a horrible thing to happen anywhere, no matter who did it.

As for Amy Winehouse: I think it's awfully sad that Keith Richards said she needed to clean up, and that Boy George begged her to "come to a meeting--you have no idea how loved you are." It's too bad that didn't get through to her, coming from people who have had so much trouble themselves.

[cleolinda]

I think the point is that not every single terrorist is an Islamic fundamentalist.

Exactly. And that it works the other way as well, with "real" Muslims.

[ginmar]

Well, when it's an Xitan white guy, it's always an 'isolated incident.' Eric Robert Rudolph, for example, was supported for five years by a community while he hid from the FBI for bombing Atlanta's Olympic Park. Scott Roeder conspired with convicted bomb conspiracist Cheryl Sullenger to murder Dr. George Tiller.

What's really notable about so-called Muslim plots is that forty percent of them are turned into the authorities by members of their own community. I'd be willing to bet that a lot of foreign-born Muslims who come to the US are coming here to flee exactly the same kind of crap that terrorists do.

It's funny how close fundamentalists are all over the world. This guy (the Norwegian terrorist) is starting to have all his manifestos come out and he didn't want women to be educated.

[choiseul]

I remember watching the BBC last night and one of the correspondents was talking about how Norway has been involved in the Middle East, but mostly in a contractor type way, not with troops. Which could be taken a couple of ways, but our first reaction was along the lines of "Oy! Terrorist attacks come from places other than the Middle East!" Of course, I didn't catch the whole broadcast, so they could have been saying it in a "This is why it's unlikely" type context.

They say bad things come in threes. Does the collapse of the debt talks in the US count, or are we still due another one?

[cleolinda]

I saw an article (it might have been BBC) to the effect of, "Here's how Norway is involved in the Middle East and thus it is totally Muslim terrorists." Sigh.

[choiseul]

Living in the US, I used to think the BBC was so much better than most of our news outlets. Living in the UK... not so much. I mean, it's not awful, and compared to 99.9% of the media sources over here, it's great. But the media everywhere is just awful. Maybe we're all just awful. Very sigh.

[mirhanda]

To be fair, at first a jihadist group claimed responsibility but later retracted. So it's kind of understandable if articles based on that claim were published at first. Most of what I'm reading now isn't really saying anything about it being islamic.

[kudzita]

Yeah, the BBC on NPR last night seemed to have taken it as read that it was totally Muslim-related. I just hope the outlets who've made that assumption end up correcting it...

[cleolinda]

I think a lot of news outlets proceeded from a given that this kind of mass violence had to be foreign terrorism, and then worked backwards to figure out how that could be true ("Norway is SOOOOOO involved in the Middle East, you guys!" Which is a case of correlation not equaling causation, probably).

[jadis17]

it's the no true Scotsman defence at least I think thats what wikipedia called it.
People take a look at yourselves and what your leaders are promoting.

Amy Winehouse ...I hope she finds peace.